My theory on Low Ballers

[RDrancher]

I have to laugh a bit at a seller that lowers the price or adds another item in on the deal on the phone before you even get there. Both happened to me in the last couple of weeks.

First, there was a AQHA papered gelding for sale or trade for $1000 on CL. My wife started discussing a trade deal over the phone for her grade mare (which I hated) that she's just listed for $1200 OBO. We figured to get about $800 for the horse. After the seller saw photos of the mare she called back and said she'd "throw in" the saddle that originally came with the gelding. The gelding was just off of 90 days training and severely underweight. When I saw the saddle it was a done deal. The saddle is easily worth $1500. After a week of feeding the gelding Thrive, he's looking like a pretty dang good horse too.

Last weekend I tried to contact the seller of a roping saddle on CL listed for $450. I got no response. So later in the day I see he also listed a brand new kids saddle at $175. My wife sends a text telling him that we're interested in buying both. The guy calls back right away and says "take them both for $500." Heck, I was going to start my offer at $550 for both! They're sitting in our tack room now.

 

[Soundguy]

i drove a long way to get a tractor once.. while there, the seller started laoding a sun shade and piece to a front end loader into my truck.. for free.. that don't happen often!

 

[Cat_Driver]

And from your very first post:

I'm sorry, I didn't understand from your first post that your price was firm. If I'm going to make an offer other than the asking price, I will usually ask the seller if they're willing to consider lower offers. The answer I get is usually an indication of how much the seller will come off his price.

Kevin

It doesn't matter if the price was firm or not. The price started at "X" - I lowered it myself to "Y" since I was getting resistance from other callers at the "X" price.

The "Y" price was, like I said, on the LOW side and very fair based on no other equipment like I had within 200 miles. So I had a rare, great price piece of equipment that a wise buyer would have purchased. ( remember I got a LOT more that what I was willing to sell it to the low baller by another buyer a week later). Had the first guy spotted the bargain and or not insulted me he could have made a pretty good profit himself. He could have bought the equipment used it for a year and STILL made money on it. His loss not mine.

The point, for the 50th time is HOW TO MAKE AN OFFER AND LEAVE WITH A DEAL. Don't be rude, don't insult a seller ( YES SOME SELLERS DO GET INSULTED, and refuse to sell...or maybe I'm the only one )

Now let's look at your statement of " I will usually ask the seller if they're willing to consider lower offers." ....see the difference between what you asked ( WHICH IS BRILLIANT ) because you are asking permission - showing respect to the seller. How does that differ from a buyer offering a dollar for something that is selling for million dollars - really do I need to explain?

Had the seller "asked me", as you did, I would have said " tell what you are thinking" - see the difference, he didn't insult me by offering a ridiculously low offer. He allowed ME to welcome the "insult". THAT RIGHT THERE is the difference between a good low baller and a rude jerk. Now, who knows how the sale would have ended up, BUT I would not have shut down the process as I did by the Jerk insulting me. Perhaps, by me allowing the offer, and the open door things would have turned out differently.

There are ways to make lower offers and get the deal, and there are ways to insult the seller and NOT leave with a deal.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I think the etiquette here is that it is always appropriate for the price to go down, and never appropriate for the price to go up, unless the conditions of the sale change somehow. I'm not sure exactly why that is, though. I'm not sure on a rational level why the seller trying to talk the buyer UP in price is somehow less acceptable than the buyer trying to talk the seller DOWN in price. I think maybe, like many forms of etiquette, it just depends on what people have come to expect. Maybe it is because the seller usually tends to over-estimate the price of the object, and the buyer then tries to talk some "realism" into the seller, so the assumption is that whatever the seller is asking is already higher than it ought to be, and to go higher would just be completely backwards.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I have to laugh a bit at a seller that lowers the price or adds another item in on the deal on the phone before you even get there. Both happened to me in the last couple of weeks.

Sometimes, if I get a phone call shortly after I have lowered the price of an item, I kind of try to get them to mention the price first, because I'm not sure which ad they are responding to.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have paid more than the asking price a time or two when it seemed to be the right think to do with non business sellers.

The heavy 9' disc from a small online dealer was listed for $425 but when I got there it was marked $525 and clearlywell before the hour I showed up. He honored the price and had a rough 14" three bottom Ford plow that I could have lived without but he offered them for $275 so since i was there with the 16' flat bed I bought both vs making a long drive to get a mint set for $350 because with gas I would have had $400+ in them and there was no hauling expense for the $275 set.

I will lowball if I have marginal interest or high costs transporting, setting up, etc. Too often my low ball gets accepted to my long term regret.

 

[Alan L.]

I always low ball since most sellers grossly overstate the value of their item, whether or not they call it "firm" or not. You can take it or leave it, or come back with a counter offer. Whether or not you had the item priced fairly is a matter of debate and negotiation. If my offer offends you then that is your problem - not mine. All that matters is whether or not you can negotiate a price that both can agree on. If not the sale won't happen and nobody should be offended.

 

[Soundguy]

I will lowball if I have marginal interest or high costs transporting, setting up, etc. Too often my low ball gets accepted to my long term regret.

same here...

 

[Scotty Dive]

I always low ball since most sellers grossly overstate the value of their item, whether or not they call it "firm" or not. You can take it or leave it, or come back with a counter offer. Whether or not you had the item priced fairly is a matter of debate and negotiation. If my offer offends you then that is your problem - not mine. All that matters is whether or not you can negotiate a price that both can agree on. If not the sale won't happen and nobody should be offended.

I agree....all this talk about hurt feelings is over the top. This is business folks

 

[sodamo]

Some interesting views for sure.

Interesting the ones that indicate a seller should value drive time/transportation. When was last time that worked at HD or TS? I know if I go to the HD 2 hours from me, they charge same as the the local folk.

I know I don't set a value on anything I sell by where the buyer comes from. When I'm buying, I read the ad and ask myself if it is worth the asking price to me plus my time/expense to get it. That said, a couple years ago, I did buy a tractor off CL about an hour from me and paid the asking price to include delivery. Saved me borrowing a trailer.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet