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Lowballing stories thread

#81
Not so much a lowball story as a "jerk on eBay" story. Last week I put my super-sweet fireglo Rickenbacker 4003FL on eBay (cause I'm not really playing it and I needed to fund a new Kubicki). Two guys bid against each other, with the winning bidder being driven up to what looked like his max bid. Great price for me and covered the price of the Kubicki plus the inevitable import charges. Plus the final bid was about £500 less than Ricks are going for over here at the moment. Win-win for buyer and seller, I thought.

This was last Saturday. Today I get a really snotty message from the high bidder, moaning that the bids were "forced", that the other seller was shilling just to drive the price higher and how he has reported me to eBay. Needless to say, I'm both gutted and furious at the same time. ****er. So I'm going to give a second chance offer to the other guy (less than $20 lower than the highest bid, thankfully) but who knows, maybe he won't take it. And report the other guys for non-payment. Worst case, I'm back to square one. Well, no. Worst case is that eBay decide the bidding was dodgy (it wasn't). But either way it's a hassle I could have done without.

Hmm. Sorry for the rant. Needed to get that off my chest. Not a fun thing to come home today and discover. Plus the non-payer bought a blueburst 4003Fl last week for only £1000 and is now selling it on for almost £1700. Major arsehole.
 
#83
Kamelion said:
Not so much a lowball story as a "jerk on eBay" story. Last week I put my super-sweet fireglo Rickenbacker 4003FL on eBay (cause I'm not really playing it and I needed to fund a new Kubicki). Two guys bid against each other, with the winning bidder being driven up to what looked like his max bid. Great price for me and covered the price of the Kubicki plus the inevitable import charges. Plus the final bid was about £500 less than Ricks are going for over here at the moment. Win-win for buyer and seller, I thought.

This was last Saturday. Today I get a really snotty message from the high bidder, moaning that the bids were "forced", that the other seller was shilling just to drive the price higher and how he has reported me to eBay. Needless to say, I'm both gutted and furious at the same time. ****er. So I'm going to give a second chance offer to the other guy (less than $20 lower than the highest bid, thankfully) but who knows, maybe he won't take it. And report the other guys for non-payment. Worst case, I'm back to square one. Well, no. Worst case is that eBay decide the bidding was dodgy (it wasn't). But either way it's a hassle I could have done without.

Hmm. Sorry for the rant. Needed to get that off my chest. Not a fun thing to come home today and discover. Plus the non-payer bought a blueburst 4003Fl last week for only £1000 and is now selling it on for almost £1700. Major arsehole.
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I don't know about the UK, but in the US (where eBay is based), auction fraud is a felony. Bringing a buddy at auction day to raise the bids basically can send you to prison for a bit of time.

It is therefore a very serious allegation that, without any serious ground, eBay is not likely to support.

eBay employs literally an army of lawyers and clerks and they probably get a complaint every second.

With no proof, it's not likely to go anywhere.
 
#84
caeman said:
I always list the item for more than I expect to get for it. That way, the buyer thinks they've pulled out over on me, and I get what thought the item was really worth to me.

No one pays full price. Ever. That is the nature of the beast.
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I just bought a MIM Fender 5 string standard off CraigsList.

I e-mailed the guy, and told him I'd give him $10 EXTRA if he gave me first crack at it. He called me a few hours later (after he got off work).

Of course, he was asking $150 for the bass (which was in excellent condition and sounds great). I had to pull $160 out of the ATM anyway.

I think I got a pretty good deal. :hyper:
 
#85
NickInMesa said:
I don't know about the UK, but in the US (where eBay is based), auction fraud is a felony. Bringing a buddy at auction day to raise the bids basically can send you to prison for a bit of time.

It is therefore a very serious allegation that, without any serious ground, eBay is not likely to support.

eBay employs literally an army of lawyers and clerks and they probably get a complaint every second.

With no proof, it's not likely to go anywhere.
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Yeah, I said as much to the guy. Just got more snotty replies, including one that was basically "Well I was going to buy the bass, but nooooo...." :eyebrow: I mean, really.

Anyway, if the second-chancer doesn't go for it, I can always relist. It's in great condition and Ricks are in demand right now, what with the backlog and production hiatus at the company. Not really worried in that regard. I was just glad to have the sale over with (or so I thought). I always get antsy when trying to sell a high-dollar (or sterling) item, never mind Jerky McJerkwad and his jerktastic shenanigans.
 
#86
IME hi-balling is the other side of the same coin.

I knew my drummer buddy had an old Zoom H2 he hadn't used in years. I was looking for one, so I thought we might be able to help each other out. He said, for me, he'd do $200.

Uhhh... that's what a brand new one with a warranty goes for. :eyebrow:

Schmo price for a bro, huh? Oh, well - that's just how he is. Always trying to push worn-out stuff at MSRP (but buy at 1/4 eBay price :hmm:). And he's way stubborn and loves to lay in with the guilt trips. It does work for him - he'll often get his way with students and fans.

But in this case, he lost out. For a bro, I would have done up to $150, which is very generous. But it's such a PITA to haggle with him - totally not worth an hour-long back & fourth, then still getting that vibe like I'm the cheap one.

So to heck with it - I got an H4 here in the classifieds for $200. And he's still short on his property tax.
 
#89
Bassmickeyd said:
I consider Ebay a 'buyer beware' because they are always on the sellers side cause that's where they get the $$$.
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Judging by your view, you've never sold on ebay. Maybe 5 years ago it was that way but buyers can rob sellers blind with the way the policies are - not to mention the bi-monthly seller policy changes which impede any ability to consistently understand or feel good about the way ebay has monopolized both the exchange of money (outlawing all payment methods besides paypal) and the exchange of product (i.e. their marketplace monopoly equivalent to Wal-Mart in their respective niche).

Further proof is found by the losses ebay has sustained over the last few years, the various interviews with high-ups in ebay who are visibly very comfortable in their fat-cat positions above their nazi metropolis...and of course, it is also found in the fact that it doesn't matter what side they're on: they still collect the fees regardless in nearly every circumstance.
 
#90
Kamelion said:
Anyway, if the second-chancer doesn't go for it, I can always relist.
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Put it up as a Buy it Now. ESPECIALLY if you aren't in a deathly hurry to move it. You will be glad you did with the strong possibility of an extra $200 in your pocket. With the way the Ric market is, you got the GASing buyer by the *****. Then you don't have to worry about dismal auctions. Only downside is a slightly larger fee charge.
 
#91
michael_atw said:
Put it up as a Buy it Now. ESPECIALLY if you aren't in a deathly hurry to move it. You will be glad you did with the strong possibility of an extra $200 in your pocket. With the way the Ric market is, you got the GASing buyer by the *****. Then you don't have to worry about dismal auctions. Only downside is a slightly larger fee charge.
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Good idea - we'll see how it goes. If the second-chancer grabs it, I'm only £17 worse off. If not, it's an open field again.

Of course, someone in this thread really should offer me $75 for it, just to stay properly on topic... :D
 
#94
Nah, I couldn't take $80. I'll sell it to Lobey, I think. My gf needs the car, though, so I'm gonna have to walk. Via the Bering Straits, most likely. See you sometime around Thanksgiving! And don't try to lowball me when I get there - really not in the mood for it right now!

:)
 
#95
When I was a kid on a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) placement the boss's son mentioned that he had a Bass that he didn't play and offered it me for £10! I think it was a Satellite Bass or something similar but it played quite nicely. The day he brought it in he saw me playing it and, realising that I did actually play, he gave it to me for free.

Not instrument based but my wife was selling her van, a Mitsubishi L300, she was asking £1000 for it, the engine in it was only a couple of years old so it was worth it. A bloke came to look at it and the first thing he said was 'I'll give you £700 for it', no negotiation, nothing, he wouldn't budge , he even took the gas canister warning stickers off the back (we'd used it for hauling a Bouncy Castle as well as the mobile Disco we had), and he left saying he'd pick it up in a few days. When I heard what had happened I phoned him and told him it was no longer for sale. The next day I sold it to a mate for £800, I would have took a lot less, even less than that bloke was offering, but there was no way he was getting it.

Another non music based one that went in my favour. I was after a fish tank and saw one in the paper for £140, 4' with a cabinet, heater, hood, pump and filter, bargain. I went along completely happy to give him the asking price but as we were emptying it (he'd left it full (with no fish) to prove it didn't leak) he mentioned that he'd re listed it at £75 and in a moment of immense cheek I offered £65 and he took it without a pause.

Just remembered another, the bloke we sold the van too once bought a 1x15" bass cab off me for £50, a few years later he gave it me back for free because he didn't use it.
 
#97
You know...one thing I realized is the reason why many sellers get low-balled. A few days ago I came across a nice amp on CL and decided to email the seller asking how much they wanted for it (the listing had no asking price). So I ask him a few questions and a 'how much do you want for it?' question and he replies, 'well how much do you offer?'

Now...seriously, I'm sure this happens far more than I know. What does a seller expect? You can bet your *** I'm gonna lowball every single time that happens if that's the way the seller wants to play the game. I won't give anyone an upper hand.

Of course, I gave him a slightly low offer...and of course, I got a response back: 'Well, I had someone offer me ____ yesterday.' How am I supposed to know if someone actually offered that? So I forgot about it and figured I'd go find something else.


What really pisses me off is the, 'Any reasonable offers welcome' type of line. That just asks for obscenely low offers - and complete justifies them.
 
#98
michael_atw said:
What really pisses me off is the, 'Any reasonable offers welcome' type of line. That just asks for obscenely low offers - and complete justifies them.
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Actually, the "reasonable" part ought to rule out obscenely low offers. IMO it neither asks for nor justifies them at all. It's basically a way of saying, I'm open to talking, but don't be an *******. It would be different if the seller just said "Any offers welcome."

I'd say that if an offer is obscenely low, it's not reasonable, more or less by definition.
 
#99
Here's a reverse lowball story.

I had an Eden WT800 for sale on a few different sites for 850$ and had a few nibbles but no commitments, so I brought down the price to 800$ but forgot one of my old ads.

So this guy contacts me and wants the amp, comes over and hands me the cash without negociating. After counting it, I realise he had given me 850$, I gave him back 50$ and told him I had brought down the price to 800$. He looked at me baffled not understanding why I didn't just keep the money.

I also had another buyer show up with 100$ less cash than we had agreed upon and proceeded to tell me it's all he had, he even opened his wallet for me to prove it!:rolleyes: I didn't budge since I was already selling it at a lower price. After an uncomfertable silence, he asked me where the nearest ATM was, came back 5 minutes later with the missing cash. We negociated and agreed on the price, and the bass was as described, so I was ready to send him home with his money. I'm not falling for the I don't have enough trick, it's not like he saw the bass and was unsatisfied with my description, and offered less. It was all cool though, there were no hard feelings, just two guys trying to buy/sell for a fair price. I even bought one of his albums cause his band had some kick a$$ music!!!:hyper:
 
#100
Richard Lindsey said:
Actually, the "reasonable" part ought to rule out obscenely low offers. IMO it neither asks for nor justifies them at all. It's basically a way of saying, I'm open to talking, but don't be an *******. It would be different if the seller just said "Any offers welcome."

I'd say that if an offer is obscenely low, it's not reasonable, more or less by definition.
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No, it cannot due to the mere fact that offers and value are so subjective that the buyer can never tell what the seller considers a "reasonable" offer. The same exact item for two different people may hold a far different value. That's why people low-ball. That's why sellers need to be explicit about their expectations to avoid that misunderstanding. Buyers may be hoping that the seller doesn't know enough about the item to ask for a price. And of course, if I think a seller knows nothing...why would I make a high offer? Pretty much what I'm saying is there are sellers who do this and they have no reason to complain about low-balling because they set themselves up to receive it.
 

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