No way I'm reading 10 pages but, "What's the lowest you'll take?" enrages me with the anger of 10,000 Rumple Stiltskins.
That said, when I do get that question, I respond with $10 above what I have listed the item for.
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This bloke won't haggle!
- Thread starter BigBluez
- Start date
No way I'm reading 10 pages but, "What's the lowest you'll take?" enrages me with the anger of 10,000 Rumple Stiltskins.
That said, when I do get that question, I respond with $10 above what I have listed the item for.
No one has to respond to a low offer.
That said, once I made a low offer, and the seller declined with a note that they weren’t accepting offers. Which was weird since the “make offer” button was activated. BTW their asking was rather high. Pffft.
Really a “bloke won’t haggle” situation!
That said, once I made a low offer, and the seller declined with a note that they weren’t accepting offers. Which was weird since the “make offer” button was activated. BTW their asking was rather high. Pffft.
Really a “bloke won’t haggle” situation!
I sympathize with you, I’m an old instrument horse trader and not a fan of getting stonewalled when negotiating. EVERYONE has their price, and it’s never what’s listed. Firm or not, I try to deal with a seller or buyer. Since I’m on both sides of the see-saw, I KNOW what negotiable, non-negotiable, firm, make an offer, best offer, and “this is my number” is. You’re always gonna encounter a thick headed person that’s not in the game on the same playing field as you. I just dealt with a seller, around 22 y/o that posted an Indonesian PBass for $33 or best offer. I contacted and said “consider it sold, I’ll take it”… 3 days later he said his best offer was $125, which was too high. I explained that Facebook Marketplace is not an auction site. Set a price and deal with it. He explained he’s young and needs as much $ as possible. It’s the reverse of best offer. In my eyes, best offer is LESS THAN asking. This young fella looked at it in reverse. Then he messaged me 3 days later to say that the prospective buyer didn’t show (normal for Facebook Marketplace) and asked if I would match the no-shows price. HAHA, aaaah no, now my offer was $20. He then told me I was an idiot, I said DITTO, and that was my dealing with that millennial. No worries, there’s another one coming along soon, like the city busses. Keep the faith, it’s all a matter of perspective.
$700 or higher. I hate people who try to knock down a price without seeing the item. Like I’m trying to steal from them. Hold it play it listen to it then tell me why it’s not in your price range.
Without reading all replays...
There are more people who will discuss business and go into it thinking that they will shave the asking price down, are not really a good negotiator to start with and will cave to the asking price because they were willing to go the full boat to start with, but like to get knocked around a bit by the seller before capitulation in the deal...!
There are more people who will discuss business and go into it thinking that they will shave the asking price down, are not really a good negotiator to start with and will cave to the asking price because they were willing to go the full boat to start with, but like to get knocked around a bit by the seller before capitulation in the deal...!
Without reading all replays...
There are more people who will discuss business and go into it thinking that they will shave the asking price down, are not really a good negotiator to start with and will cave to the asking price because they were willing to go the full boat to start with, but like to get knocked around a bit by the seller before capitulation in the deal...!
This is true, please wipe your memory of this post after reading it - I am that buyer
Not everything is negotiable. If I have something for sale at a good price I'll get that and not less. I prefer not to think of everything as a local market in Mexico where you can haggle your way into something you want for pennies on the dollar. Some of us don't feel the need to go through that process. I also never say OBO on any Ebay auction.
That's fine. But if you say OBO, then be willing to haggle. If not, say your price is firm. If you say OBO and expect no haggling, or an offer higher than your asking price, you're just delusional.
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My experience in the world of used musical instruments, and most other used stuff too when I come to think of it, is that in a straight used-item listing--as opposed to an eBay auction, which works differently--OBO pretty much always is understood to mean an offer that's LESS than the listed price but close enough to it to be acceptable to the seller. That's the whole point. If a price is stated as $700 OBO, the buyer is saying he/she/they will definitely take $700 for it and might take less. That being the case, why would somebody offer more?
It's not like Bay Area real estate, where the initial listing price is only a suggestion--and where BTW they never say OBO, either, as everyone knows what the deal is.
If you want to try to get bidders working the price up, do an eBay auction and set a reserve price.
It's not like Bay Area real estate, where the initial listing price is only a suggestion--and where BTW they never say OBO, either, as everyone knows what the deal is.
If you want to try to get bidders working the price up, do an eBay auction and set a reserve price.
If by haggle you mean engage in back-and-forth with a possible buyer, then no, you're not obliged to do that. Possibly the buyer in the OP just hadn't heard the right offer yet, and in any case there's no obligation to make a counteroffer. But you're 100% correct that if the seller isn't willing to accept a penny less than the asking price, then it's absurd and misleading to put OBO in the listing.
The OP offered $650 for a $700 asking price.
By haggle, I mean haggle.
haggle
I've never linked to dictionaries so much in my 36 years of life.
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It's not a lowball offer and not offensive IMO, but "best" is in the mind of the seller, and if that offer wasn't good enough for the seller, there's no obligation to do anything but say, no thanks.
It's not about obligation, it's about common courtesy/sense. If someone offers you $650 on an item you're selling for $700 OBO, you either say "I can't let it go for any less than $X", or you don't put OBO in your ad.
No, you don't have to say that. If you do, you're essentially letting them ask the question, "What's the lowest amount you'll take?" and then answering it for them. That is, you're doing your own job as the seller and also doing the buyer's job by negotiating with yourself on his/her/their behalf. You can do that if you want, but courtesy and common sense don't require it. The buyer will know when an offer is acceptable when you accept it.
Now if this were a case where the seller misunderstood the process and would have rejected even a bid of $699.99, then agreed that saying OBO would have been stupid and wrong. But I don't think we know that.
My most recent acquisition was a pristine Baer ML112 V1 with logo cover listed in the local CL @ $300 OBO.
That's a screaming deal to start with. I took $300 cash out of the bank. I put $200 in an envelope, a $50 in the pocket next to the envelope and the other $50 in the other pocket. Went to check it out. Mint, perfect and sounded great. (He kept this one upstairs and I believe him!)
We hang and talk a bit. It's been in the CL for a couple of weeks. So I ask "what's it going to take to do it? You said OBO."
His reply, "I'm not going to start bidding against myself."
I offered $250 and it was accepted. Had I offered this dude $200, it would have likely ended at $300 asking price. You always need to asses the seller, the item and the market.
That's a screaming deal to start with. I took $300 cash out of the bank. I put $200 in an envelope, a $50 in the pocket next to the envelope and the other $50 in the other pocket. Went to check it out. Mint, perfect and sounded great. (He kept this one upstairs and I believe him!)
We hang and talk a bit. It's been in the CL for a couple of weeks. So I ask "what's it going to take to do it? You said OBO."
His reply, "I'm not going to start bidding against myself."
I offered $250 and it was accepted. Had I offered this dude $200, it would have likely ended at $300 asking price. You always need to asses the seller, the item and the market.
OBO does not mean haggle and I don't have to say anything of the sort about firm pricing. I sold a van 2 years ago and listed it for sale at $1k. It also said OBO. 2 weeks later it sold for what I was asking. I didn't haggle with anyone about it. I got 4 offers in that time that were almost insults to anyone's intelligence. I didn't respond and didn't feel obligated to haggle they sent what they were willing to pay and I didn't feel an undying need to respond to what I knew and felt was a low-ball offer. Not everyone in this world that sells something needs to communicate with anyone other than the person that they sell the item to. Such is life and you have a wonderful day. Next time you're in Walmart tell me how that negotiating went over your 24 pack of TP will ya
OBO does not mean haggle and I don't have to say anything of the sort about firm pricing. I sold a van 2 years ago and listed it for sale at $1k. It also said OBO. 2 weeks later it sold for what I was asking. I didn't haggle with anyone about it. I got 4 offers in that time that were almost insults to anyone's intelligence. I didn't respond and didn't feel obligated to haggle they sent what they were willing to pay and I didn't feel an undying need to respond to what I knew and felt was a low-ball offer. Not everyone in this world that sells something needs to communicate with anyone other than the person that they sell the item to. Such is life and you have a wonderful day. Next time you're in Walmart tell me how that negotiating went over your 24 pack of TP will ya
You're just proving my point, selling vans for $1000 lmao...
Waste of my time this thread.
OBO, Yes, generally less than asking, but it seems possible to find a way to get it bid up above asking by working with multiple buyers. Difficult though.
The thing is, it’s perfectly legit to ignore the first few low offers, waiting a while to see if someone is willing to pay the full asking price.
The thing is, it’s perfectly legit to ignore the first few low offers, waiting a while to see if someone is willing to pay the full asking price.
Well, after reading the first page and last, at least I learned how I should list something I might want to sell. As a buyer, I hate negotiating. As a former lodging owner I REALLY hate ‘yah, but give me your lowest best price’. So I guess I need to only list, and buy from, ‘firm’ prices. I will let my wife do the haggling, I learned that 35 years ago!
