Lowball trade offers (and/or adding cash)

Walking Man

Walking Man

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I get a pretty strong feeling sometimes that there's a lot of people out there who try to take advantage of a trade offer on the off chance that I don't know what my knife is worth. Usually these come from the same people over and over again, or newbies. If you're serious about trading a lower value knife PLUS cash for my knife (or knives) please let me or others in your initial trade offer, that way we'll know you're serious! (added..... maybe another knife to round things up) You don't have to mention how much cash you're willing to add in the beginning, unless you want to (that can be worked out / negotiated later), BUT DON'T INSULT ME or try to take advantage of me or others!
Be fair, Be honest, and make the forums a good place to be.
Thank you!
 
The ones I like best are the "Hey, can you drop the price of the knife you just listed by about 25% AND mail it to Singapore for free?" Sometimes it's hard to be pleasant about it but I guess they've got to at least try.:( :)

oil
 
"I know you are selling it for $150 shipped but I am short a few bucks. Would you take $75?":rolleyes: :jerkit:

"I will trade you a SOG Flash II and cash for your Sebenza. I can throw in $75 bucks but you have to ship overnight!!":rolleyes: :jerkit:

I laughed at first but it's truly not that funny..............
 
But never forget the guy who started with a red paper clip and now has a house! He obviously traded up a time or two. And according to reports, at no time was money used to "even out" the trade.
 
Walking Man said:
I get a pretty strong feeling sometimes that there's a lot of people out there who try to take advantage of a trade offer on the off chance that I don't know what my knife is worth. Usually these come from the same people over and over again, or newbies. If you're serious about trading a lower value knife PLUS cash for my knife (or knives) please let me or others in your initial trade offer, that way we'll know you're serious! You don't have to mention how much cash you're willing to add in the beginning, unless you want to (that can be worked out / negotiated later), BUT DON'T INSULT ME or try to take advantage of me or others!
Be fair, Be honest, and make the forums a good place to be.
Thank you!
Click to expand...

Well said.....

Even though it shouldn't have to be.....
 
Wait until you get an offer of about 20 used medium to low quality factory knives for a high demand custom that was priced right to begin with. :D.
 
I like the guy that told me the price of my custom order knife was too high. What he didn't think about was that the knifemaker was no longer taking orders and if he was, there was a two year lead time! He wanted the knife now at the makers original selling price! It wasn't like I was charging double the price, go figure.

(Note, this is not in reference to any Busse knife I have had for sale)
 
Or "hey a knife just like that sold on ebay for only $x just a month ago, so how bout it?"
 
Lowball cash offers don't frustrate me toooo badly; it's almost fun responding with: "Let's see... that offer is forty percent of the asking price of the knife I posted for sale, oh... say... 3 MINUTES AGO. Uh... no." If the offer is only reasonably low, I'll tell 'em to email me in a month or so and, if no other takers, I'll consider it.

Trades are another matter. If you are asking for trades, you sort of open yourself up to any offer that is remotely reasonable, IMHO. I've lost and gained in value with trades to get a blade I wanted rather than the one I had.

Much of the flavor of these trade offers are in the way they are presented.


(my trade offers typically sound like this...)
1) "Rum-one - I saw your trade offer offering the ZDP Delica and looking for a Manix. I don't have a Manix but I do have a 630 Skirmish if you are interested. If not: no harm - no foul. Thanks for the consideration and good luck in the trade/sale."


(Trade offers that irritate me)
2) "Yo. Delica. Crap knife but I wouldn't mind one. I got a big benchmade. Much nicer than what you got. The Delica is on sale for $30 now anyway. Does anything else go with it? Sheaths? Backpacks? Sharpening stone? "

I don't know... try to not let people over the 'net cause you too much angst and irritation. Life's too short.
 
I had a person offer me 200 for a knife I was selling for 240. I offered to sell it to him for 225...he returns with an offer for 220. Then got pissed at me when someone else said the magic words "I'll take it". Can't please them all.
 
Or how about the guys who say I'll take it AND THEN try to haggle about the price?:mad: :o:thumbdn:
 
Gravelface said:
I had a person offer me 200 for a knife I was selling for 240. I offered to sell it to him for 225...he returns with an offer for 220. Then got pissed at me when someone else said the magic words "I'll take it". Can't please them all.
Click to expand...
Yeah, once the offer for $220 came in, you were off the hook in my book.

However, if I do make a counter-offer (your $225, in this case), I will wait for an answer before I sell to someone else. However, this guy turned down the counter-offer. Fair game...
 
A very useful thread to me -- because I'm a newbie and don't have a single trade yet. Thanks, Walking Man.

Now I'll know better, and not make an 'a$$' of myself. (But hopefully my dad raised me better than that...)
 
I really love the ones who say I'll take it and then you never hear from them, even after emails and PMs, especially when you can see they are looking around the forums.
 
My favorite adventure was with a knife I put up on EBAY. My BUY IT NOW price was $100, my reserve was $90, but the bidding on the auction only went up to $23. The high bidder ($23) emailed me and said he WON the auction and he wanted to know if I was going to honor his WINNING bid.
 
I guess I'm missing the point guys:confused:

Why get upset if someone offers you less money? Isn’t that the name of the game? We’re trying to “horse trade” for the best deal we can. If you don’t like the offer. Just decline. Tell them “thanks but no thanks the lowest I can go is $$$. End of discussion.

I admit that I’m not on the level of buying and selling that a lot of you guys are as my experience is limited to about 50 buys/sells but I don’t think I’ve ever had the comments made to me that you guys are saying. Lucky I guess.
I’ve had people offer $$ when I’m asking $$$ and I either accept or politely decline.
They usually say thanks but no thanks or OK, I’ll take it.

Here’s a scenario. . Say someone posts an item for sale at $200. A few days later he drops it to $180. A few days after that it’s $150. A week later it’s still sitting there at $150.
If Im interested in the item. I’ll PM him and say “Would you take $125 shipped?”
Why is that a problem? or even an insult? If he takes it as an insult and that I’m trying to screw him and come’s back with some smartass response. He doesn’t belong on the forums trying to sell an item. The forum's are suppose to be a place where like minded people can buy, sell or trade their items. Not get sensitive about any offers that are made.


This is just my opinion guys, nothing more nothing less.

Take care.

Mark T.
 
empty5853 said:
I guess I'm missing the point guys:confused:

Why get upset if someone offers you less money? Isn’t that the name of the game? We’re trying to “horse trade” for the best deal we can. If you don’t like the offer. Just decline. Tell them “thanks but no thanks the lowest I can go is $$$. End of discussion.

I admit that I’m not on the level of buying and selling that a lot of you guys are as my experience is limited to about 50 buys/sells but I don’t think I’ve ever had the comments made to me that you guys are saying. Lucky I guess.
I’ve had people offer $$ when I’m asking $$$ and I either accept or politely decline.
They usually say thanks but no thanks or OK, I’ll take it.

Here’s a scenario. . Say someone posts an item for sale at $200. A few days later he drops it to $180. A few days after that it’s $150. A week later it’s still sitting there at $150.
If Im interested in the item. I’ll PM him and say “Would you take $125 shipped?”
Why is that a problem? or even an insult? If he takes it as an insult and that I’m trying to screw him and come’s back with some smartass response. He doesn’t belong on the forums trying to sell an item. The forum's are suppose to be a place where like minded people can buy, sell or trade their items. Not get sensitive about any offers that are made.


This is just my opinion guys, nothing more nothing less.

Take care.

Mark T.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more!

If someone offers you something that you don't want, or a lesser amount of cash than you're willing to accept, just politely refuse...what's the big deal?

If you don't have the time to listen to an offer, even a stupid offer, then you probably don't have time to enjoy and participate in the forum at all.

And let's not forget that not everyone on the forums is a US citizen.
Different cultures have different trading customs.
 
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