Low ball offers

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KELAMA said:
Thank, Jens- of course I was just trying to have a little fun at you expense. FWIW- I just watched the movie, The Hateful Eight on Sunday. Hopefully this information helps explain why I chose this setting to enter you hypothetical, & for that you will cut me a little slack. ;)

This fun hobby that we enjoy, is something that most of the struggling world, will never have the ability, or resources to fathom. Having the luxury to spend $$$ on firearms/knives, is something that most people who are struggling to feed their families, can't understand.

And speaking of lowballing: I lived in the Philippines for just about a year and a half. Being an American, if I was in a market area & was shopping, as you can imagine the price would often be sextupled. You literally could spend an hour or two negotiating. You may start out at 2000 pesos (lets say for a balisong I bought in Batangas). When it's all said & done, & a couple of San Miguel beers later, maybe I get that bali for 500 pesos. Had I been Filipino, I probably could've purchased that same bali for 200 pesos.

We are blessed, to be able to come on this forum, & buy knives. First World problems, without a doubt! :angel:
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Goota see that movie now. Thank you. :-)

My wife is Indian and whenever we go there I make sure I stay out of the picture when something is bought or else there'll be some hefty ferengi (foreigner) "tax".

I didn't do bad in China though. For example some touristy stuff was priced $100. Don't go for back and forth and meeting in the middle. Just tell them you really don't need it but would take it for $1. They laugh like you made a joke and friendly decline. Then smile too say bye and leave the store. They'll come after you a few seconds later and tell you some story about how many kids they have to feed and their boss will beat them but because they like you they sell you 2 of these for $3. Of course that works best if you really don't need that stuff and if there are competing stores in the vicinity. Once in a government store there was no bargaining at all but then I simply didn't buy there.
Also makes you wonder about their margins. Maybe I should have said 10 cents instead of $1?
Some people feel bad to rip off poor foreign sellers but even at a "bargain" it's the other around or they wouldn't have sold it.
Also think of what kind of things you can get for $1 at the dollar store and they have to pay expensive store rental and get these things shipped across the planet.
 
All's fair in love and capitalism, right?

There's really no harm in asking that I can see, although I think common sense should play a role on both the buyer AND the sellers part. IOW, a seller would probably be well off not to ask 2 or 3 times the going price for something (although I've seen more than one success story on this kind of thing), and a potential buyer would probably be wasting everyone's time to offer 10% of the asking price for instance. That said, there really is not fixed number or percentage for a "lowball offer", and every buyer/seller is different.

Personally, if I see "make offer" or "OBO", I'll normally do just that. Heck, today I picked up a new tool for $250 that was listed originally for $400, after offering the guy $200 for it. The worst he could have said was "no thanks" or "price is firm" or "no, BUT...." and just for the minimal effort of asking, I saved $150 and he got rid of something that was taking up space. I suppose some might consider that a lowball, but then again, we both walked away happy, so all is well.

Conversely, if I see "no offers please" or "price is FIRM", I'll normally let common sense prevail and not waste time trying to haggle.
 
My favorite thus far:

I made a phone call, and I can buy that same knife at "x" retailer online, and they said they would give me a coupon for free shipping, so you should sell it to me for that much.

I replied that I am glad for them, and I hope they enjoy the coupon.
 
Scrim said:
Sure bud. You're the guy that squealed like a stuck pig when I DARED to offer you $160 on your $180 asking price for your used knife sharpener (that's 11% below asking, How dare I! lol). You even whined about it, in detail, in another thread. Some guys hypocrisy is astounding. And that's why you're on my ignore list, for that and then whining and attacking me about it in a later thread. (Well, I guess a little turnabout is Fair-Play) Hilarious.
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There is nothing wrong with this^^^^

I think people forget they are selling what is by all intents and purposes 100% not new (unless you are a dealer)

Nothing wrong with offers, it's a part of selling used gear, if you don't like it, you can always (IN CAPS) state in your add that you will ignore anything below your asking price...

And if someone chooses to ignore that request, ignore their attempt at an offer.

No need to be so serious about someone trying to find a better deal, that's just human nature.
 
If it's grossly low: don't respond
If it's reasonable but too low: counter/thanks for the offer but I will wait it out.





The worst is:

Hi,

I would like to offer my (unrelated junk) + 287.89 (weird ammount) for you 2013 Speedmaster Pro. You can keep the box, papers and bracelet. I would offer more money but that is all I have in my paypal. My mom will get angry if I spend anymore money this year as I just bought (insert usless junky quality electronics).

Thanks!
 
FYI, nearly all of my past sales are face-to-face at knife shows. I consider anything under 75% of what I'm asking as a low-ball offer. They don't bother or offend me, I just politely decline them and move on. If someone wants to work with me on the price, they'll raise their offer until they see I'm interested in talking.

It's fun to have someone come over and offer me $50 for a knife I'm asking $100. I decline, they walk away with an attitude. 2 hours later they walk buy again to see if it's still there. 1 hour after that they come over and offer $80. We settle at $85, everyone is happy. :)
 
You are willing to negotiate or you are not. Goes for both sellers and buyers. If you won't negotiate just say so right of the bat.
 
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Usually,More than 25% off to me is a lowball,unless its a used knife and your asking retail
 
I try to price my knives at a fair price but am always willing to haggle to get a deal done that is part of what makes this fun for me. Usually I will not consider any offer more that 20% less than I am asking so that is what I would consider a "low ball" offer. The offer does not get me upset I just decline and usually provide a factual reason why their offer is too low.
 
87Burban said:
My favorite thus far:

I made a phone call, and I can buy that same knife at "x" retailer online, and they said they would give me a coupon for free shipping, so you should sell it to me for that much.

I replied that I am glad for them, and I hope they enjoy the coupon.
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+1 I will respond to any legitimate offer even if very low but spare me the stories. "I can buy it cheaper from a dealer. They sell for less on Ebay, It's my grail but I only have xx dollars, my dog died, my wife left me, lost one just like it in the sandbox, etc, etc, etc." It's not that I don't care, its just that I am skeptical and don't need the drama.
 
Once had a guy lowball offer and I declined..... i later lowered the price and he offered much lower than his initial offer. I wasn't happy lol
 
Can I see a picture of the sock?

best

mqqn
 
I love the know it all's who pm you, the maker of your folder is not doing reat on the secondary let me offer you less than half of your asking price, my answer is always the same GFY!.
 
sutherland said:
Just post "Low ball offers will be ignored." and focus your time and attention elsewhere.
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Funny thing, if I've done business with someone before and they aren't dickering over stupid stuff, I will happily give them a discount. And the request "hey I only have $200 in Paypal, is that ok?" is much more likely to succeed than "your knife can't be worth more than $198.62 so my offer of $200 is generous to say the least."

One time I thought I would never, ever get a knife to sell, I literally thought I would need to trade it in for scrap value to a local recycler. Someone offered me about 25% of my original asking price for it, and I happily obliged.

Context matters.
 
I was selling some custom silver beads one time, they are expensive now that I look back on it, and I had some guy spamming my email for a week or two with low ball offers up and to even quoting the price of silver per ounce. I told him to buy the silver, forge and hand finish them himself, still did not stop him. He only finally stopped after I told him I was going to let a mod know what he was doing.
 
Leftytwogunz said:
I was selling some custom silver beads one time, they are expensive now that I look back on it, and I had some guy spamming my email for a week or two with low ball offers up and to even quoting the price of silver per ounce. I told him to buy the silver, forge and hand finish them himself, still did not stop him. He only finally stopped after I told him I was going to let a mod know what he was doing.
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One of the reasons my email is not available, and I can only be reached via PM.....

There will always be "crazies" man, there's just no way around it.
 
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