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Lowballers
- Thread starter GlennW
- Start date
I would much rather imagine that someone is lowballing me because they are hoping that I am stupid, rather than someone who thinks they are Machiavelli himself and that they are going to teach me an existential lesson on the amoral nature of the marketplace. Like, yeah... I get it, you are the Gordon Gekko of Craigslist. Nobody owes anybody anything. Now get your chiseling emails out of my inbox.
Also: I spend time on scrap metal message boards and let me tell you, those guys ALL take it personally when they discuss getting lowballed.
Also: I spend time on scrap metal message boards and let me tell you, those guys ALL take it personally when they discuss getting lowballed.
But how is some stranger supposed to know your out look on selling? Some people have to sell their item in a week and will go $50 lower.
Once I had an item on ebay for $20 + $5 for shipping. It was unused and cost $35 new.
Dude offered $12.50 and wanted free shipping.
I told him "no," that it was like new and would cost $35 + shipping if he bought a new one.
He came back with an attitude, "I know what it costs..."
I didn't reply, and blocked him.
Dude offered $12.50 and wanted free shipping.
I told him "no," that it was like new and would cost $35 + shipping if he bought a new one.
He came back with an attitude, "I know what it costs..."
I didn't reply, and blocked him.
As a buyer or a seller - I just negotiate price.
I'm not at all interested in your life situation, or why you can/cannot take what I'm offering/charging.
We can either agree on a price or not.
Depends.
1) How much do I want the item
2) How SOON do I want the item
3) How rare is the item
I try to make sure that
#1 = not that bad
#2 = someday
...and in that case, unless the "fair" asking price is well below what I'm willing to pay... yes.
If -
I'm willing to pony up $100 for a widget
Widgets are very common
I couldn't care less whether I got a widget today or next month
Average selling price for widgets is $150
If someone was asking $50 - I'd probably just buy it.
If someone was asking $100 or more - I'd probably offer them $50 and negotiate from there.
He didn't need the attitude, but I can see offering $12.50 to start if there he had more than one seller located. Generally, if you've got 6 people selling that $35 item one will take $12.50. Maybe he buys wholesale, who knows.
Maybe you see it that way from a buyer's perspective, but from a seller's perspective I'd be better off just throwing/giving it away and never listing it.
Sell for $12.50
Ebay/PayPal fees, about 12%, $1.50
Shipping, about $5
Gas for round trip to PO, $5
Time for trip to PO, plus time to pack item, plus time to take pics and list item...call it $0, you're doing it for "exposure" and we all know how profitable exposure is.
So, for all the stuff I go through to sell a $35 item, I get a whopping $1 for the item, and some exposure for my time and effort.
Nah, you're better off throwing it away.
That depends on whether you've bought 20 of them for $5.00 and you've other things that need shipped anyway. I've always had better luck buying from EBay "stores" than from individual item sellers. They are usually way high.
Wow I got some good lowballs all today.
First was a guitar it $300 new plus I did a minor mod that was $30 or so. I figured lets sell it at guitar center's used price which they had 3 $180-200 then I said lets discount it thanks to the lowballers, so $160 firm. A guy disregards it says firm and sends me a $120 offer. I delete and dont reply, he then sends me another one " whats you're best price", I replied "$159.99 you bring $160 I provide the penny" .
Second lowballer I have a nice mint SKB case that can fit a fender, MM, any bass not 80's shaped. $50 Firm is the price. I get a call from a guy that speaks terrible English. I said what Kind of bass is it he replied "its 5pm". He then asked if I can meet him and take less I said no. He then wanted to get in a debate why I should take less, I hung up on him.
Third lowballer emails me a offer of $500 for a 1976 Fender stratocaster, its beat up but yeah its a 76 strat.
The weekend will be interesting, I fathom lots of deleted emails. 90 percent of the time I delete lowballers and if you haggle over the phone I hang up but sometimes I mess with them.
First was a guitar it $300 new plus I did a minor mod that was $30 or so. I figured lets sell it at guitar center's used price which they had 3 $180-200 then I said lets discount it thanks to the lowballers, so $160 firm. A guy disregards it says firm and sends me a $120 offer. I delete and dont reply, he then sends me another one " whats you're best price", I replied "$159.99 you bring $160 I provide the penny" .
Second lowballer I have a nice mint SKB case that can fit a fender, MM, any bass not 80's shaped. $50 Firm is the price. I get a call from a guy that speaks terrible English. I said what Kind of bass is it he replied "its 5pm". He then asked if I can meet him and take less I said no. He then wanted to get in a debate why I should take less, I hung up on him.
Third lowballer emails me a offer of $500 for a 1976 Fender stratocaster, its beat up but yeah its a 76 strat.
The weekend will be interesting, I fathom lots of deleted emails. 90 percent of the time I delete lowballers and if you haggle over the phone I hang up but sometimes I mess with them.
I'd put the Strat on ebay. Thousands will see it and someone will buy it. Sure, you'll have about 12% in fees and have to deal with packing/shipping, but you'd probably get a lot more for it.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
I have a $450 synth that's essentially brand new on Craigslist right now for $275. Got an email this morning with a phone number saying, "I'll give you $150."
That's why I prefer selling online. Ime it seems like lowballers come out of the woodwork for FTF sales, and I get the impression that they don't even want the thing, they just want to flip it for a quick $100+.
I had a pistol on Armslist for couple of weeks at a fair price. Not a "deal," but priced at what it was worth considering its condition a rarity. After a few lowball offers I decided to try GunBroker. I listed it for $600 and got one bid. That's all I needed.
Screw the flippers. I'm the one who paid the full price for it when it was new, and I'm not going to get lowballed so some clown can make a quick $100 at my expense.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
I actually do pretty well with craigslist. Sold a modern player tele bass 2 weeks ago for $400, and a ubass sub last week for $275. Pretty sure that's all I would have gotten here, or on eBay and I didn't have to pay (or charge) for shipping, nor paypal fees. Didn't have to pack anything up either and take it to ups which is a hassle and a half for me. People came to my apartment, picked the basses up, and handed me cash. That is sooooo worth the handful of annoying lowballers I get.
The kid (he sounds like a kid anyway) who offered me the $150 just upped it to $175
. Told him $200 is the lowest I'll go, so I'm holding out. If I don't sell it in a week for that I think I'll be willing to let it go. Amazon blew this synth out last year and scared the crap out me. Thankfully their ridiculous price only lasted a couple of days.
The kid (he sounds like a kid anyway) who offered me the $150 just upped it to $175
. Told him $200 is the lowest I'll go, so I'm holding out. If I don't sell it in a week for that I think I'll be willing to let it go. Amazon blew this synth out last year and scared the crap out me. Thankfully their ridiculous price only lasted a couple of days.
I actually just posted it there late last night. I keep getting CL vultures , likely as discussed its people trying to widen a margin of profit in a potential flip.
Just wanted to add the Music Go Round in Aurora to this list. Been there with two different things on different occasions. A voxad30vt with eminence ramrod installed and an aguilar gs112nt. For the vox they offered $50 (they were on their own site for $140 without speaker upgrade). That's about a 33% of the value. For the aguilar gs112nt they offered $100 (well $115 with the 15% more deal this weekend lol). Of course he lied to my face and said he would be selling it for $250 even though they have a well beat up one with a crappy cloth grill on their site for $350.
Only posting this because I thought it was generally accepted that the value of an used item is around 50-60% of the new price of said item (barring condition). I don't feel like the offers made to me were honest and I don't feel like the workers there (two sepereate ones) were honest in their dealings with me. One even had the "evil empire" guitar center schpiel as he's trying to rip me off. Also had the cliche "had to keep the lights on statement" repeated to me. I understand they got to make money but a 20% offer on a cab that is 95% brand new?
Only posting this because I thought it was generally accepted that the value of an used item is around 50-60% of the new price of said item (barring condition). I don't feel like the offers made to me were honest and I don't feel like the workers there (two sepereate ones) were honest in their dealings with me. One even had the "evil empire" guitar center schpiel as he's trying to rip me off. Also had the cliche "had to keep the lights on statement" repeated to me. I understand they got to make money but a 20% offer on a cab that is 95% brand new?
Any time you sell used gear to a reseller, whether it's a pawn shop or a music store, you're going to get about 33% of the street price. Music Go Round offered you about what GC would give you.
My sister was the same way until I proved to her it's better to build in a little wiggle room.
She had a broken TR7 she wanted to get rid of and wanted $800 for it so she put an ad in the paper for $800 firm. She had a few lookers but they all tried to beat her down and she refused. When the ad ran out I adked her to let me give it a try and ran an ad asking $1000 or best offer. The third guy that looked at it got it for $900 and was happy he beat me down a $100.
Yes it's a silly game and yes it's a bunch of BS, but cash is cash and if it helps the bottom line and turn over time to play that silly game, what's the harm?
I always offer less than the asking price under the assumption that the seller assumes I'm going to do that and has set the price at more than he will accept. I don't lowball as a general rule.
