quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

.....The cool thing is the buyer shows up exactly when he said he would, looks it over, touches the 6 pack of IPA to see if the fridge is working, and just handed me the $110 without negotiating. He asks if I can help lift the fridge in his truck bed so I informed him that he needed to take his beer out of the fridge before I'd help lift it. He just grinned and put the IPA in his extended cab. He pulled out this twine like rope to tie it down with so I grabbed a ratchet strap and gave it to him. He asked why I was being so nice and I told him it's because he was the only nice person I had encountered all day.

Isn't it great dealing with an informed buyer who also happens to be a nice person?

Sure was.

The parts of the story that I didn't include was that he had his pregnant SO with him, and his fridge had died earlier that day. He told me I was making him look like a hero for bringing home a good fridge at a great price 3 hours after his broke.

I had a Honda XR250 that was almost factory new. I bought it from a guy that had money and lots of toys. He bought that and a Yamaha 225 so he and his wife could follow the kids on their quads. Each bike had 17 miles on them. I bought both bikes for a great price, kept them for 3 years hardly putting any miles on them, IIRC each had just over 1,000 miles on them when put up for sale.
I looked up the value and priced the bikes at $300 lower. I was asking $2,000 firm for the Honda. A guy called 3 times in 20 minutes offering $1,700 cash as if I was getting a good deal from him paying cash. He couldn't understand why I would not accept his offer. That afternoon the Honda sold for the asking price. The fellow that bought it ask why I was selling it so cheap. I explained that I got a deal on it when I bought it and thought I would sell it at a fair price.

My response to unreasonable offers is to counter with price higher than that in the ad.

Their head spins and can't understand

"For Sale by Owner".

WHO else should be selling it? The guy who just stole it? For some reason always found that sign amusing.

A few of my buddies and I will do local gun shows maybe 2-3 times a year. Fill the table with stuff we no longer use, need, are interested in, etc.

We price it to move NOT the usual "add 50%" and hope for an idiot, show prices.

We will usually tell folks..."The price shown IS the price".

Still get guys who will look at a bargain priced item and offer you 50% of that! I usually tell them to move on. If they piss me off enough I will NOT sell the item to them.

Or the guy who shows up to buy a bike or a car. Bike is listed at $8K . He says...How about $5K CASH? Or...Whats your CASH price? Like I was going to take $8K worth of animal hides or whatever?

Who here doesn't offer a lower price when buying something, just about everyone I know puts a little bit on top because buyers negotiate and like to feel they got a deal.

It' just part of the game, if you are going to sell stuff to the public and this bothers you then maybe have someone sell it for you, been this way since man first began bartering in caves...

I make an offer. Then maybe we haggle or maybe I walk away. Ideally I get the goods for less than listing price and the seller gets some cash. No deal no problem.

As a seller my price is what I listed. OBO means you bring me a number and we get to dealin.

If I think the price listed is a good deal, or even fair, I'll generally just offer the asking price. If I think it's marginal I'll counter with something I think is more reasonable. (I've never had a counter-offer refused.)

I never low-ball. Never.

quote:

Originally posted by rsbolo:
Do stupid lowball offers ever work? It seems like someone is just trying to get something for nothing. Seriously, I get it if you put something up for sale with no asking price and only "make offer" in the ad but otherwise it seems like a jerk move to see an item advertised at $1000 and offering $100 for it.

It does make me appreciate a smooth transaction.

Just out of curiosity what would the lowest offer that you would consider NOT to be a lowball? Obviously 10% as in your example is pretty extreme.

quote:

Originally posted by rsbolo:
Do stupid lowball offers ever work? It seems like someone is just trying to get something for nothing. Seriously, I get it if you put something up for sale with no asking price and only "make offer" in the ad but otherwise it seems like a jerk move to see an item advertised at $1000 and offering $100 for it.

It does make me appreciate a smooth transaction.

Lowballing is a negotiating tactic also known as anchoring. It can be effective to some extent. It largely depends on how motivated (or desperate) the seller is or if the seller is ignorant of his item's FMV.

What posters in this thread are complaining about are interested buyers who think they are a lot more savvy at negotiating than they really are. So yeah... if you post something at $1000 knowing that is a fair price, they will try to anchor you at $500 hoping you'll split the difference at ~$750.

We've all come across sellers who think they're clever and anchor the other way too. Pawn shops are notorious for tagging their used crap at brand new prices, b/c they expect their customers to 'make an offer' on everything.

As others here have touched on:
1. If you anchor or lowball too low, then you risk offending the seller and ending negotiation all together.
2. If you really want/need something, you should avoid offending the seller due to #1.
3. If you don't mind offending the seller, b/c hey, it's just business, then you must not want the item that badly.

Some ppl are natural hagglers. If you offer them a pistol mag for $1, they'll offer you 50 cents. It's part of their personality. They always want to see if they can get something for less. There's also the cultural aspect where in some cultures this kind of haggling is common and accepted.

Finally, there's the element of, "You never know unless you ask."
I've bought my fair share of stuff for less than I was expecting, simply b/c I threw out a low figure, and then the seller accepted.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
I never put OBO in my WTS. And, if you still email me with a lowball, you're getting ignored. I'll decide to adjust the price, whenever I feel is appropriate.

Everything I see you list on this forum is usually gone in minutes and I am kicking myself for not seeing it before it is sold. I did get lucky on a set of grips you were selling.