To be sure, I reread your replay of the conversation. He never threatened you at all. Now you’re just lying.
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My New Zero Tolerance Craigslist Attitude.
- Thread starter FingerDub
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If you aren’t prepared to politely stick to your price when someone tries to haggle, you shouldn’t be selling stuff on the internet. Jeez, try going abroad sometime - in certain countries they’ll haggle the pants off you. Humor and politeness are your friends. Especially when someone has your address ;-)
Buying and selling instruments or anything on EB or CL is a game. Ultimately, everyone wants to get the best price in the end. If someone lowballs you, all you have to say is no. If you're selling something on these sites you should always expect this and not lose it when someone insists on a lower price. Don't sell it. And don't try and haggle with someone when it's your turn to buy something.
Some people seem to think that the determining factor of a successful purchase is how much of a "deal" they got. Such people tend to irk me.
Haggling is becoming a lost art.
I see the term "lowball" used to describe perfectly reasonable opening offers like 10-15% off. A true lowball offer is what Guitar Center will offer you. Like 30-50% of the street value. Mind you, in their business model that's perfectly reasonable as they HAVE to turn a substantial profit to stay afloat. But people these days are just taking things so personally and allowing their emotions to run the show.
I see the term "lowball" used to describe perfectly reasonable opening offers like 10-15% off. A true lowball offer is what Guitar Center will offer you. Like 30-50% of the street value. Mind you, in their business model that's perfectly reasonable as they HAVE to turn a substantial profit to stay afloat. But people these days are just taking things so personally and allowing their emotions to run the show.
I’d say both parties were def in the grey area.
The instant gratification of screwing someone who is f’ing with you doesn’t happen very often, so congrats. I’d say you probably drove the knife a bit deeper but who’s really measuring.
I enjoy the haggle game. And when I sell something it’s usually a steal. I saw some b&w speakers sell yesterday for $40, they were prob worth $400.
The instant gratification of screwing someone who is f’ing with you doesn’t happen very often, so congrats. I’d say you probably drove the knife a bit deeper but who’s really measuring.
I enjoy the haggle game. And when I sell something it’s usually a steal. I saw some b&w speakers sell yesterday for $40, they were prob worth $400.
So many confusing haggling with trying to renig on a deal that has been made. The buyer was a dick and it just escalated from there, IMO.
Not only that, but instead of understanding it as a business proposal we have elected to take it as a personal affront to our man-feelings.
If it's expected to haggle on CL why set a firm price? Just set it higher than your firm price and let a buyer talk you down to what you want. Sometimes they will agree to a price higher than you thought.
The next time I buy something in the classifieds for $900 I’m going to send $850 and see how that works out.
The fees you pay on Reverb or Ebay (annoying and money grubby, yes) should be seen as the cost of a (more) sane transaction. Every CL horror story I hear sounds like a bad strip club rip-off story.
I do it because I assume buyers are doing their own research and also know what a fair price is. If I set my price above market, who is going to contact me to buy that item? There are plenty of overpriced ads you see up for six months or more, and this is why.
Sometimes you determine later than you'd like that it is not worth meeting someone. My biggest problem with CL is dealing with people who have all the time in the world. I do not. Work takes up 65+ hours a week for me and I tend to get irate when people are wasting it. I'm probably not alone there.
I see no problem at all with responding to profanity with profanity. If you don't want to start a fight, don't throw the first punch. It's a pretty simple rule.
The only time I'd engage in renegotiation after a price was agreed to as a buyer or seller is if the item was misrepresented in some way. Anything else and someone is being an unreasonable expletive and should be told to go bugger off in whatever unfriendly terms one favors.
If fact, he was the first of 4 responses I contacted the first day and at his request, I would hold it for him.
Haggling *should* be a lost art, IMO. But I realize that's a personal preference.
Oook, in that case I’d say that guy was a bit more out of line. You’re holding it for him at a certain price, then he’s going to try and renegotiate, you were prob being too nice.
It's like an ice breaker. I won't contact you if you set it high and say price firm (actually I still would low-ball you cause you never know) but instead say "shoot me an offer" and see if you can meet a price you both like. You still only have to say no if you don't like it. After a bit of back and forth I bet you will get to something acceptable.
You can set a fair price all you want but people are still going to expect to get it for less than you ask.
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