What's your bottom dollar?

[two_bit_score]

All good advice IMHO. Haggling over price doesn't need to be adversarial.



I'm not the one that posted that, but it could be that something that's been on CL, FB, your local want ad paper, whatever, for a long time may be seen by potential buyers as "it's been for sale for quite a long time, there must be something wrong with it".

Agreed that the true value of anything is what someone's willing to pay.

It's the lemming mentality. People are not interested in something when their perception is that no one else is interested either. I have found myself in a store very annoyed when inventory is gone on a stock item, only to find they have more in the back and suddenly I am not interested anymore. Best would be to snap up the LAST one on the shelf.

You learn a lot when selling stuff. If you are selling something old and have a new one. Hide the new one when people come.

If a prospective buyer starts picking the thing apart to get the price down, don't get mad like some people do. Politely apologise for it not being what they wanted and pretend to end the interaction and send them home. Or suggest, maybe they should be looking at a new one.

Perceived scarcity does generate demand. I've put off buying something because I felt it would always be available then when it's all of a sudden gone I regret not having bought it. I console myself with the fact that 'there will always be another somewhere'. And there usually is.


I once had a VW for sale. The only thing good about the car was that it would start and drive down the road. Cracked windshield, no A/C and heater didn't work right, oil leak, torn seats and a dent somewhere. I had a reasonable price on it that I didn't consider negotiable. Guy came and looked at it and Pointed out all the negatives. My reply was, " yep but it's not eating anything." So he left, drove around the block and came back and bought it.

Anything will sell if the price is 'right;.




TBS

 

[drssg]

You may be trying to say the best things go quickly even at a higher price. Things are worth whatever someone will give for them. How wold they become 'worth more' or 'less' during the posted time?

When we were selling our previous house, the realtor described a process that made sense to me. She said that at any given time, there is a pool of buyers that are currently in the market for a house like mine. When I initially put the house on the market, I’ll see a flurry of activity. If I don’t sell to one of those initial buyers, then I’ll have to wait for new buyers to come dribbling into the market.

For a smaller item, I could see where the serious buyers would be more apt to call quickly. The ones that are just looking to low ball might take longer and be even more apt to call about something that’s been advertised for a while. They might think you’re more apt to be desperate.

Just a thought.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't like to lie, but a guy would almost do well to say that he has or had a bunch of whatever, and this is the LAST one.

If I was buying something that I considered hard to find used, and it was still posted after months, I too would be suspicious that it's not worth the asking price and not worth my time. It makes sense.

 

[two_bit_score]

When we were selling our previous house, the realtor described a process that made sense to me. She said that at any given time, there is a pool of buyers that are currently in the market for a house like mine. When I initially put the house on the market, I’ll see a flurry of activity. If I don’t sell to one of those initial buyers, then I’ll have to wait for new buyers to come dribbling into the market.

For a smaller item, I could see where the serious buyers would be more apt to call quickly. The ones that are just looking to low ball might take longer and be even more apt to call about something that’s been advertised for a while. They might think you’re more apt to be desperate.

Just a thought.

I agree completely.


The market sets the value. Markets change. If it goes 'on the market' and the buyers are serious at 75% of asking price and you don't sell it because you are holding out for asking price you probably over priced it for sale at that time.

I bought a lot once for about 66% of asking price within a week of it going on the market. It was over priced. I was the third potential buyer who looked at it. None of the others had made an offer. I had a specific use for this lot. They balked at my offer and asked for all kinds of concessions and additional consideration. I almost always include in any offer to pay for something that is traditionally the usual responsibility of the seller at closing. Normally a survey. Sometimes it could be a title policy or something like that. That way I can say that I'm already paying for part of their closing costs. The price of that additional item is always built into the total offer. My offer was the best they were getting and they took it.

I learned that from losing a property to someone who had pulled that on a seller I was working with years ago. My offer was really the best offer for that property but the other buyer who had come in at the same time was offering to pay some closing costs up front so the seller could walk away with only slightly more at closing but less in the long run.

They offered simplicity and immediate gratification to the seller. I lost. I learned.



TBS

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's a matter that takes nerves of steel. Price your house below market value, have tremendous interest and a bidding war that get's you more than you would have gotten, even if it had been listed slightly over market value, and it just would have sat there for months, a stale listing. Particularly for entry level stuff.

 

[caver]

A day in my life selling stuff I don't need on FB: And yes he was a kid who looked young enough to be in high school
The Low Ball Kid: Is this still available?
What’s the lowest you would go
Me: What's the highest you'll pay?
350 right now
I've turned down much higher offers.
Well what would you take
You make a counter offer. Aim high.
I needing something small like that for my boat to fish at night and don’t have a whole lot you spend would you take 400
I repeat, I've turned down higher offers.

I think he got the message the second time and never heard any more.

 

[two_bit_score]

A day in my life selling stuff I don't need on FB: And yes he was a kid who looked young enough to be in high school
The Low Ball Kid: Is this still available?
What’s the lowest you would go
Me: What's the highest you'll pay?
350 right now
I've turned down much higher offers.
Well what would you take
You make a counter offer. Aim high.
I needing something small like that for my boat to fish at night and don’t have a whole lot you spend would you take 400
I repeat, I've turned down higher offers.

I think he got the message the second time and never heard any more.

Do you wish you would have taken one of those higher offers? Did you really want to sell it?

 

[caver]

No/Yes but not desperate.

 

[two_bit_score]

No/Yes but not desperate.

Sounds like you overpriced it and then expected him to bid against himself. Can you blame him for thinking you really didn’t want to sell it and moving on to better pickings?

 

[Dftodd]

I dealt with a few of those clowns last week. Wife and I sold our camper and posted it on two sites. Craigslist and the local face book market place.

I won't post anything on Craigslist now. All the traffic for our camper was through face book. Craigslist was nothing but clowns, low ballers, and scammers. Had two guys ask about our bottom dollar. I had to reply back full asking price. It's been advertised for less then 24 hours. :banghead::banghead:

Got home the day after we posted the camper. Had one couple with my wife already looking at it and more cars showing up. Had two solid offers within an hour of me getting home. The first was $500 below asking price, the second was full asking price. Camper was sold within 26 hours, and out of our yard in 48 hours.