When I’ve reduced the price to as low as I’m willing to go I remove the make offer option.
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Would this put you off as a buyer?
- Thread starter 9c1ny
- Start date
When I’ve reduced the price to as low as I’m willing to go I remove the make offer option.
I keep reading this, but I don't believe it. I had disposable income in 2008 when the bubbles burst. I was waiting to buy all of my dream basses for cheap. It didn't happen. The prices of used instruments actually went UP. Seems everybody else with disposable income had the same idea. And for some the pent up GAS made for bad buying decisions in the way of overpaying for certain commonly desirable instruments. A kind of commodities hoarding mentality might have been playing into it too since stocks were dubious investments and metals were out of sight. It could be different in this situation, but I wouldn't bet on it. Dare I say that NOW might be the time to buy for the smart buyer? I'll be on the sidelines but it will be interesting to see where it is all at 6 months from now once unemployment benefits and other assistance subsidies fall off.
I consider myself sensitive at times, but IMHO he was not rude at all. He gave you the answer, maybe he gets hundreds of emails a day or he's not a "small talker". Personally, I'm a little less curt than him when answering questions about gear I'm selling, but I don't do any kind of volume sales, I sell maybe 1 or 2 things a year.
@9c1ny
Absolutely this.
I HAVE done a case swap between listings and it is a big pain in the ass.
I was the one who offered a choice of cases to the potential buyer. The buyer was pleased and selected the case from my other listing.
No big deal right?
Wrong. I had to pull the listing, take new photos with the correct case, re list, and I had lost my watchers.
It took more than an hour, and I hadn’t even pre packed the bass.
If I had had 18 for sale and not been hard up for rent money. I wouldn’t have even considered it.
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No it wouldn't put me off buying the bass if I really wanted it. If I could afford a $2700.00 bass I could probably afford to buy a new case for it. You had every right to make the request and he had every right to reject it.
I haven't seen it, but had someone started a thread something like this: "I was selling a bass on Reverb without the make offer active and some joker wants me to switch out cases with another bass I'm selling. No offer of anything to offset the bother and loss I'd incur. I simply said I wasn't willing to do that and then I hear nothing back. Sometimes I don't think it's worth selling online when you have deal with this stuff."
Oh well, I guess he lost that sale! Move on. I was thinking maybe he views the Sale as a great deal!and adding anything to it would devalue his bottomline. maybe he's gotten burned by "sweetening" deals on Reverb.don't over think it, move along.just think if you recieve the bass & want to return it,this guy can quickly turn to a PIA!
It's not whether you're illogical or not. Seller does not want to change the way he sells for you. End of story. You can get mad if you like, but what for? It's his business. It sounds ridiculous or you, but it works for him. You two just have different wishes/priorities, it doesn't mean his wishes are less valid just because he disagrees with you.
See? This is it. You're assuming he is in need to sell. You are acting like you're offering him a great deal. How dare he turn down your money/offer?
You're being far too precious.
See what he would take for just the bass. Buy a case and ship it to him. Have him ship the desirable combo to you. I ordered a $3600 bass that was to be shipped in a gig bag. Nope. I sent him a new, waterproof Gator case for the transition. You can keep the gig bag.
Put off? ... No. However, it would indeed be an indicator of what kind of seller (firm price - non-negotiable) that I am considering giving $2700 of my business to. If the case is a deal-breaker to buyer and seller, then so be it. Politely and mutually both say thank you, but no thanks.
????
really?
is this all?
Sure, he could add a few more words and be nicer or something but, really? Is this what you're upset about?
It sounds like you want that bass quite badly, otherwise you wouldn't spend so much time going on about this exchange. If you want it... buy it. Buy a good case for it, a case you choose and like. If, instead, your pride is stronger than your wish for this bass, then let it go and move on. But you keep coming back to explain why the seller is wrong for not accepting your suggestion... to me it says you really want it and you're cutting your nose to spite your face. If I wanted it that much I'd buy it. Very soon I'd forget about the seller and I'd be enjoying that bass.
I take it you can't find that same bass easily, for that sort of price, or you would have moved on. Sleep on it, lock your pride in a box for a few hours, and ask yourself just how much you want the bass.
If thinking of owning it makes you smile more than your upset pride makes you frown... buy it, and enjoy it.
Well, if case B is totally original to bass B, then there's no way I'd switch that up, so I understand the seller.
I know that cases of various brands mostly (if not always) don't come with any serial numbers or markings or anything to identify that they should be matched with a particular instrument, so we gotta take the seller's word for it, but it does make a good selling point for a lot of people.
You, like the OP, are assuming that you know the specific circumstances about the seller and this bass.
The seller has his reasons. All this talk of smart... I don't think it is smart to assume we know what's best for the seller better than the seller himself.
There are a million reasons why we can be completely off base. Maybe it's a sale on commision and both instruments belong to different people, so the seller is reluctant to start negotiating with his two customers. Perhaps his margin on these basses is low, and he is busy with other things. Perhaps both basses are in different physical locations. Perhaps he's been negotiating with someone else about the other bass. Perhaps he's away from his business and he simply sends orders to somebody else "take item X and post it to destination Z". Perhaps... I don't know, ALIENS!!!
The bottom line is, for whatever reason that we cannot know, it doesn't sound like good business to the seller. To come here pretending we know better than him is a little... strange.
You must be a very wise man. Why didn't I think off it earlier 
I assumed nothing more than what was stated. A seller has two same model basses for sale, priced differently due to condition. A buyer offers seller the asking price ($2,700) for the more expensive bass, and asks seller to swap cases with the cheaper bass. The seller rejects the offer outright and the buyer asks if his or her request was unreasonable. Answer: no. It was a perfectly reasonable request.
Call me crazy, but if I was looking to sell two same-model basses and someone offers full price for the higher-priced one if I would switch the cases, I'd swap them quicker than a Joe Dart bass fill. In this regard without knowing any further information, the seller was not acting smart. Who gets wedded to a guitar case?
There may be many reasons why the seller rejected the offer. Since there was only the brief statement of rejection, we don't know what that might be (though speculation is rampant): He or she doesn't really want to sell the bass (don't waste my time, then), another buyer took the bass (just say so), aliens interfered with the transaction, the dog ate the homework, or the seller has some other issue(s), etc, etc. Who cares? I certainly don't. All that is irrelevant.
As I said earlier, you can't control other people's behavior. Clearly, the OP's feelings were a bit hurt. That's a natural reaction, but not the OP's fault. The best advice is to just let it go. Be patient and optimistic in your outlook, and another bass with an extra nice case is bound to be coming around again. And, in this economic environment which looks to be getting worse by the day, the buyer will likely find a similar bass in the not too distant future at a much better price.
I won't be surprized if the same OP puts up another post in a month or two saying how much he likes his new bass and superb case costing much less than the one they tried to buy in March.
Smart seller. Worn bass in nice case, nice bass in worn case. They'll both move quicker that way. If he put the nice bass in the nice case, he would have a hard time moving the "worn" set.
Cases, meh. I can only think of a couple of examples of instrument/case matches that concerned me this much. Sometimes if the instrument is unique, rare, vintage, etc. you want to maintain that match. Most times, that is not the case (no pun intended).
I just installed a tremolo on a Les Paul, and afterward it no longer fit in the factory case. It's a relatively rare instrument with the nicer "Gibson USA" stamped white fur case (damned expensive on the used market), so I was not going to alter that case to accommodate the tremolo. I instead bought a $50.00 Glarry hardshell case, surprisingly well-made and formed to fit Les Pauls, and proceeded to mutilate the interior and remove padding to my heart's content and the guitar and trem fit in there nice and tight, the lid closes easily with no pressure on the trem, perfect. I will store the original factory Gibson case for when/if I ever sell that guitar.
That is all meant to illustrate that sometimes I care about the case, sometimes not. In the scenario outlined by the OP, unless there is some symbiotic relationship between the two, I'd be much more interested in the nice bass and I'd track down a nicer case for it later. Even if I ended up paying the high end of street value for the set, I'd have the satisfaction of knowing my nice bass is appropriately housed.
And case value and quality-to-price ratio has really shrunk lately. So many great affordable cases coming from Asia and Canada.
Cases, meh. I can only think of a couple of examples of instrument/case matches that concerned me this much. Sometimes if the instrument is unique, rare, vintage, etc. you want to maintain that match. Most times, that is not the case (no pun intended).
I just installed a tremolo on a Les Paul, and afterward it no longer fit in the factory case. It's a relatively rare instrument with the nicer "Gibson USA" stamped white fur case (damned expensive on the used market), so I was not going to alter that case to accommodate the tremolo. I instead bought a $50.00 Glarry hardshell case, surprisingly well-made and formed to fit Les Pauls, and proceeded to mutilate the interior and remove padding to my heart's content and the guitar and trem fit in there nice and tight, the lid closes easily with no pressure on the trem, perfect. I will store the original factory Gibson case for when/if I ever sell that guitar.
That is all meant to illustrate that sometimes I care about the case, sometimes not. In the scenario outlined by the OP, unless there is some symbiotic relationship between the two, I'd be much more interested in the nice bass and I'd track down a nicer case for it later. Even if I ended up paying the high end of street value for the set, I'd have the satisfaction of knowing my nice bass is appropriately housed.
And case value and quality-to-price ratio has really shrunk lately. So many great affordable cases coming from Asia and Canada.
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Is the pandemic-card a thing? I got a lowball offer on a guitar I was selling on reverb and the guy sent this long note about understanding how much more difficult it must be to be selling instruments during this pandemic. Um... naw.
