Quoted from jonny_eh

What would really annoy me is if someone was a tire-kicker/low-baller (low-ball-kicker?). They ask for lots of pictures, but then give you a lowball, especially when you said your price was firm. This didn't happen to me, but has happened to someone I know, WTF? To me, that's a bit dishonest. Once you start asking for extra pictures, you are no longer allowed to lowball. If you want to lowball, take the risk with the pictures you've got.

Damn, that story sounds familiar. Oh wait, that was me.

Yes, I can put up with the low ballers. What really gets me is when we agree to a price, I send a whack of pictures, the guy then says "Oh you forgot the shooter lane". Of course, it's mint like the rest of the game and I take that picture, send it the next night. Then the a$$ tries to knock off a couple of hundred for no reason and wants free delivery to bloody Toronto -- we're not talking 20 minutes away. That pisses me off.

Duane

Quoted from TwilightZone

Damn, that story sounds familiar. Oh wait, that was me.

Yes, I can put up with the low ballers. What really gets me is when we agree to a price, I send a whack of pictures, the guy then says "Oh you forgot the shooter lane". Of course, it's mint like the rest of the game and I take that picture, send it the next night. Then the a$$ tries to knock off a couple of hundred for no reason and wants free delivery to bloody Toronto -- we're not talking 20 minutes away. That pisses me off.

Duane

Duane, could it be because the only thing missing was the "inspected by 21" label inside the cabinet????

tartagliag

Teehee!

THis thread is blowing up FAST!  I gotta say my useless crap before someone else does!

I have sold here, sold elsewhere, online and in person, Guitars, pins and Vids. and i worked in retail for a number of years.  Heres my take on "lowballing"

I have NO problem with someone asking if i can do a better deal... Example, if i am selling a guitar for $2k+shipping, and someone asks if i can cover shipping, I have no problem withthe request... case by case as far as the answer....  Or if it has sat for a while and been bumped (on a forum) and someone asks "Would you take 1800?" no problem there either.  I consider up to around 15%-20% in the "realm of possibility"

This is based on my pricing though... I try to get a fair price, not an inflated one.  If someone has a price i think is too high already, i am not even considering buying. I'll wait for their price to come into what i consider the proper range.

But asking if someone will take half, (or 1/4 which prompted this whole thread) is WAY off base.  SUre Terry has offered us all a Jpac and a smile for everything from a broken cab to a used truck, but it is in fun.  Someone seriously offering half or less than my asking? I immediately put them on a blacklist. and won't sell to them

I had an electric drum kit up for sale,  worth about 3.5k before taxes (got it on a trade for a high end guitar)  I decided i needed to sell it quick for a fair price and asked $1600 on kijiji.  There was someone who listed he was looking for one, so after i posted, I sent him a message that my ad was up if he was interested.  I got a reply offereing me $800 and no higher. so I didn't even bother returning the email.  I had it sold by the next morning at 8 am. less than 12 hours online.  He emailed me later, saying he might be able to do $850, and mad that i hadn't replied to him!!!  I told him it sold for full price to someone who laughed all the time he loaded up his van with my drums.  Since it was on Kijiji I din't know the guy, but if it was on a forum, i wouldn't accept an offer from him ever again.

Theres a candy cab floating around Kijij right now, and i am all "candy crazy"  But the guy wants $750 for an astro city.  I might pay up to $500 for it, but i am not going to send the offer, since i think it would be insulting to him/her.  I'll wait.  if the price lowers to my "safe range" I'll bite, if it doesn't then it was never meant to be.

I tend to not buy as much mind you, but i am usually happy that a deal is fair.


My $0.02

Sorry but I gotta open my pie hole again since I am so much into hostile negotiation.  Last summer I had a really nice dining set for sale on Kijiji for $600. The thing was mint as we never ate in the dining room, and I paid about $1200.00 for it when I lived in a condo.

Anyway, a lady with a thick East Indian accent (not relevant) calls and after several questions and my reassurance that it was mint, she offers me $200.00  I asked her why she thought to offer me that amount and her reply was that she was new to this country. I simply told her thank you for the offer and good luck but I dont need the money that bad and would rather donate it to charity if I had to.

Next day a really nice couple showed up (relatively new Canadians) and I agreed to $500. Also, as his wife was obviously pregnant, we gave them a whole bunch of baby stuff worth several hundred for free, some that had literally never been used.

See, it pays to be polite, Canadian style.

Quoted from wbradley

Sorry but I gotta open my pie hole again since I am so much into hostile negotiation.  Last summer I had a really nice dining set for sale on Kijiji for $600. The thing was mint as we never ate in the dining room, and I paid about $1200.00 for it when I lived in a condo.

Anyway, a lady with a thick East Indian accent (not relevant) calls and after several questions and my reassurance that it was mint, she offers me $200.00  I asked her why she thought to offer me that amount and her reply was that she was new to this country. I simply told her thank you for the offer and good luck but I dont need the money that bad and would rather donate it to charity if I had to.

Next day a really nice couple showed up (relatively new Canadians) and I agreed to $500. Also, as his wife was obviously pregnant, we gave them a whole bunch of baby stuff worth several hundred for free, some that had literally never been used.

See, it pays to be polite, Canadian style.

Nice gesture, good for you.   I consider myself a lucky guy and like you I try to help

Quoted from axe

Theres a candy cab floating around Kijij right now, and i am all "candy crazy"  But the guy wants $750 for an astro city.  I might pay up to $500 for it, but i am not going to send the offer, since i think it would be insulting to him/her.  I'll wait.  if the price lowers to my "safe range" I'll bite, if it doesn't then it was never meant to be.

Whats wrong with asking any way. You never know what will happen (tell my kids that all the time) and if they say no you can still wait till it goes down afterwards and resubmit the offer.

As far as lowball offer and never selling to that person again I think that is  burning your bridges behind you.
You might have something that person really wants and will still pay the price for it regardless of previous offers on other items.

I was also in retail at one point and  customers would try to negotiate a deal but in most case it was not possible.
They would come back a week or two later and buy said products for the listed price. So, if they lowballed me or not i will still sell it to them.
Happens all the time.

Point is, if they really want it they will come back for it either with a better offer or at your price. If not then it simply goes to someone else  or you keep it.

Quoted from wbradley

Anyway, a lady with a thick East Indian accent (not relevant)

Then why did you feel the need to mention it? and the fact that it is not relevant?

Quoted from axe

Theres a candy cab floating around Kijij right now, and i am all "candy crazy"  But the guy wants $750 for an astro city.  I might pay up to $500 for it, but i am not going to send the offer, since i think it would be insulting to him/her.  I'll wait.  if the price lowers to my "safe range" I'll bite, if it doesn't then it was never meant to be.

Would it be bad form to send an email to the guy saying "Hi, I see you have a nice Astro City for sale.  Although your asking price is probably fair, it is beyond my budget for this title.  If you aren't successful in selling it and are willing to accept $500, I would purchase it.  Let me know if this interests you and good luck with your sale".

Yeah, sounds kind of corny...

The thing is, maybe not all, but many, many people up the price expecting a bartering system. The seller may want $500, but because of bartering, if he posts $500, he/she thinks they'll have to let it for for $350-$400.  So he/she posts $700 thinking either they'll get lucky, or settle for the amount they want through the typical "dealing".

There's no doubt if EVERYONE sold/bought the same way, things would be more simple but that's not the case, so sometimes, I don't see it wrong if sending an email saying you're interested but the price is too high but wish him/her well on the sale and to consider you if the price goes down.  Its not something I make a habit of doing myself, I don't have the budget unfortunately ATM, but I guess my inexperienced ignorant self doesn't initially see this as a bad thing to do.

This is why I'm enjoying this thread; I have so much to learn and after I win the lotto, I can put your experience in practice .

Quoted from axe

But asking if someone will take half, (or 1/4 which prompted this whole thread) is WAY off base.

Is 1/2 price off base?  Because that's roughly what he eventually listed it for.  Don't get me wrong, I think the $100 was out of line, but you never know what someone really wants for something unless you ask.

Quoted from axe

Theres a candy cab floating around Kijij right now, and i am all "candy crazy"  But the guy wants $750 for an astro city.  I might pay up to $500 for it, but i am not going to send the offer, since i think it would be insulting to him/her.  I'll wait.  if the price lowers to my "safe range" I'll bite, if it doesn't then it was never meant to be.

Why would you think that that would insult them, and yet think that they would also drop the price to that amount?  

Warren, at the risk of sounding stereotypical, there are many cultures that work on the basis of haggling for items and it is customary. In fact if you don't haggle they consider you foolish.

Whole thing really comes down to catering to your audience. Don't get offended, just work with it and if you have to hold fast on price, so be it. I found in negotiations, never take anything personally.

When I buy a machine (or anything else) I HATE to barter/negotiate so I usually just ask the seller what price he wants/is happy with and I make my decision on that price which I tell him up front. Has always worked for me and I either get a game I want at a fair price (or a price I can live with) or walk away if the sellers price is more than I want to pay.

When I sell (rarely  ) , I try to put the game at a fair price for the quality of it and that's the price. I don't add on for negotiation room because I hate it (see above) and let the buyers know that. Anything I've sold has been for my asking price. I've never really been lowballed (except for Stargate - since everybody seems to think a Gottleib should be dirt cheap no matter what condition   ).

Bottom line for me is if buyer and/or seller take a minute to be polite and considerate, deals can happen quite easily with both parties happy in the end. The one line, abrupt offer by PM/email, lowball or not, usually just gets ignored by me.

I will say tho that a pet peeve of mine is the buyer who needs to see the machine TONIGHT!( ie within a few hours of original PM) and says they'll buy it, will be over this weekend to pick it up, etc,etc.... and then disappears with no courtesy to even respond to a PM. If you change your mind, can't afford it, partner says no or whatever, just be polite and let the seller know that. That's probably the one thing that I would "blacklist" somebody for, for me, for future sales.

My 0.02
ME

If I want something and someone is high I will try and work them down to a fair deal. Fair deal is what they have to offer i.e. machine and condition against the going rate. To me that's sufficient if I want it. The reason I set my threshold there is I can probably sell the machine if I don't like it for what I have in it.

Fair deal to me is also what the seller wants for something. If the seller wants less than the market value but is content to get that, IMHO that's a fair deal. He set a price and he got it. I am not about to pull more hundreds out my wallet to make him even more happy. The deals done, if he has sellers regret later so be it. He set the price and was happy to get that.