Lowball trade offers (and/or adding cash)

[Triton]

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.

Lol obviously the whole concept of a "reserve" price had not penetrated their pointy head. Or more likely they were entirely familiar with the concept and were just hoping to get over on you. Did you point out that they were merely the highest bidder and NOT the winner?

You could even have offered it to them at your reserve price.

 

[wolfmann601]

We are not talking about offering less than onre asks. We are talking about those that offer to buy it for far less than it is worth, far less.

If I have a knife for sale at $100 and you offer $80, that's a polite counter offer.
But if you offer to buy it for $30, that's an insult and a waste of my time to have communicated with you.

This is my opinion on the matter, sorry......................

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Lowball offers, even the rediculous ones just roll off my back like water off a duck. I politely decline and then go on with my life. It's not worth getting in a lather about. I suppose if I sold or traded a lot of knives and ran into it all the time, I might feel differently.

 

[wolfmann601]

I don't believe anyone here is having a stroke over lowballlers. They roll off all our backs as they waste our time and possibly impact a legitimate deal.

So anyone got a Microtech Socom D/A. I have $45.00???

 

[wolfmann601]

I don't believe anyone here is having a stroke over low-ballers. I am sure they rolll off our backs as we engage in the waste of time and the possible loss of a legitimate deal as we E-mail back and forth that the asking price of the knife is $200, will entertain a reasonable offer but $65 is not reasonable...

 

[beefangusbeef]

Hey, you can say no either way. What your knife is "worth" may not actually be what it's "worth". What pisses me off are people who ask astronomical price, claiming it is what something is "worth" and then get mad when you offer them a more down to earth price.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

If someone gives me a rediculous offer I don't get into a series of emails that waste my time. I just email back, thanks, but no thanks. I have yet to have the person email me back with another rediculous offer. The amount of time it takes me to do that is about half a minute.

 

[SIFU1A]

Hey, you can say no either way. What your knife is "worth" may not actually be what it's "worth". What pisses me off are people who ask astronomical price, claiming it is what something is "worth" and then get mad when you offer them a more down to earth price.

the value of a custom knife is pretty hard to pin down imho, just the way it is, i suppose productions are easier to place a value on unless they arent new then who knows what a fair offer would be it just depends on the shape of the thing, some customs (ie mayo, some striders, especially anything made by ernest emerson) values are literally "what the buyer will pay".

low ball offers dont bother me i just decline, too many things in life piss me off to let that flip me out lol.

 

[cwdotson]

I've had oodles of experience on ebay-I "cold turkeyed" a year or so ago but then succumbed to temptation and went back on. You get all kinds of experiences. I've been ripped off by sellers and by buyers. Recently, I sent payment on two items and the vendor slammed me as a deadbeat, "same as always," (his quotes), despite positive feedback earlier on a different deal with him, AND has yet to return my cash he rejected in a huffy.email..

BUT, this is not so much about that venue, although it may be a somewhat useful analogy. Ebay is geared to BUSINESS now, pure and simple, and the rules and practices have changed to not only protect businesses but to give them leverage. For example, the forum remedies can ban a buyer but, to my knowledge, vendors can keep ripping off with the only defense being caveat emptor.

Here, although some folks may turn a dollar or so, it seems to be more about a love for the subject matter, more equivalent to "old ebay" and collectors of whatever memorabilia (remember those old Panasonic donut radios from the 70s?). I've had one deal here, as a buyer, and the seller had what I felt to be a fair price, with shipping and insurance covered, for a discontinued item exactly as described. One went on ebay for a bit less last week, without insurance and shipping, so did I feel I had done a bit poorly? No.

I didn't counteroffer-I wanted that blade and I went for it, at a slight markup since being discontinued, maybe, but a fair markup. And why? I submit blades are different items from most other things, even firearms, in part by virtue of simplicity, and simplicity begets trust and affinity. A fine blade, even ahigh-end production one, merges art, craft, metallurgy, and whatever else. They, as a rule, don't need new parts, just care and sharpening. One of our kind's first tools, so elemental that they transcend the genre of tool.

So, we may feel insulted a bit quicker at a ridiculous offer (and I have seen them). I, for one, would and will probably not be locked into traditional rules of contract law (offer and counteroffer, etc.) and consider that such offers stem from either greed or ignorance. The first, in this venue, merit neither response nor consideration. If the latter, maybe discussion and education. Otherwise, laissez les bon temps rollez. Just a thought.cwd

 

[Planterz]

I hate getting mutiple goofy trade offers from the same person (this has happend a few times). Something like:

Would to trade for this and this?

No thanks.

How about this that and this?

Nah.

What about that this this and that?

Uh uh.

Perhaps this this that this and that?

FFS dammit! Just give me a list of everything you have to trade in the first place and I'll tell you if there's anything I like!

Then there's the people who completely ignore your possible trades. I'll post something like "Only trades I'm interested in are balis and autos", and I'll get offers like "would you trade for a CS SRK or Emerson CQB7?".

Gee, I didn't know they made an automatic SRK or a CQB7 balisong.:jerkit:

 

[allenC]

Then there's the people who completely ignore your possible trades. I'll post something like "Only trades I'm interested in are balis and autos", and I'll get offers like "would you trade for a CS SRK or Emerson CQB7?".

Gee, I didn't know they made an automatic SRK or a CQB7 balisong.

I have to disagree with this one somewhat.
I am a firm believer in the policy "It never hurts to ask".
In fact, I have made some good trades here on the forums by offering knives that were not specifically of the type that the thread-starter was seeking.

It happens something like...
Joe: "I have a Case Sodbuster and am looking to trade for a Old Timer Middleman Jack".

Me: "I don't have a Middleman Jack but I do have a Camillus Trapper with mother-of-pearl scales. Interested?".

Joe: "Can you send me a picture?"

And so it goes and sometimes a deal is struck, other times not.


Now, if "Joe" had said "No thanks, I'm only interested in the Old Timer", then I would have thanked him for his time and consideration, and then moved on.
No harm, right?

 

[wolfmann601]

"The only trades I am interested in"

I suppose one could ignore what you wrote and ask away but why bother to answer if it's not what you specified?

 

[jeepdude1]

I wished they would let us put trade prices in the trade fourm...When I first started trading knives I did not know what some knives were worth, and some of the names like SHBM or Sebbi's...kinda confusing....And I am sure I made some people mad here:foot: I have a Friend that will make offers on some trades that I would never dare to and to my surprise he gets some great deals....If some one makes me a ridiculous offer I get mad and then I just say no thanks....I will PM or email them and ask what they think there knife is worth and then make them an offer.....

 

[allenC]

"The only trades I am interested in"

I suppose one could ignore what you wrote and ask away but why bother to answer if it's not what you specified?

That's an option too.
But it has been my experience that the vast majority of Bladeforum members are a cut above the average internet trader.

Most of the folks I've met here on the forums are really considerate and, for the most part, make very reasonable offers.

Maybe I've jsut been lucky.

 

[Cobalt]

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.

I've had many of those. But I have to say that I love it when someone low-balls me, because I can just pull a mick strider on them and say; "Lick my s@ck looser"

But I really don't think any of Randucci's Steel Hearts are worh more than 100 bucks plus a cold steel recon scout in trade, oh and of course I'll pay for shipping.:thumbup:

 

[kapt kopter]

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.

:grumpy:

I would think that is very dishonourable:jerkit: , I was raised that my words had to be backed by action..........when it gets right down to it all a man has is his word and actions backing them up!

Kap
Ben Franklin said that "it takes a man a lifetime to build his good reputation and 5 seconds to ruin it"

Say what you mean and mean what you say!

 

[ThreeWorlds]

I wished they would let us put trade prices in the trade fourm...When I first started trading knives I did not know what some knives were worth, and some of the names like SHBM or Sebbi's...kinda confusing....And I am sure I made some people mad here:foot: I have a Friend that will make offers on some trades that I would never dare to and to my surprise he gets some great deals....If some one makes me a ridiculous offer I get mad and then I just say no thanks....I will PM or email them and ask what they think there knife is worth and then make them an offer.....

I have to agree ... I'm just starting on trading and I am trying my best to be good to deal with. It is hard sometimes to know what a knife is worth sometimes (I have looked at knives that I thought were worth ~$100 and they turned out to be ~$200). I know it's probably there to discourage selling, but it does make things a little tougher for us baby knife knuts who don't know the models of every single production/custom knife that has ever been made

 

[Vivi]

I've had an extremely positive trading experience here. I came here with no one to back up my name whatsoever and completed a good 20 trades or so without being ripped off or vice-versa.

There were a couple times though when I'd be trading something a bit higher end, Like a Spyderco Manix, Para or D'allara. I got a small handful of lowball offers and when I declined they often would seem confused. I ended up just putting in my trade threads a request to not lowball, regardless of what knives are in your offer. I don't care if your offer doesn't come to the exact dollar of what I value the knife as, but at least make an effort to come close I say. Example:

Manix for trading. Looking for best offer in SAKs, Opinels and Moras.

Offer: Hi Vivi. I have two synthetic handled Mora's I could trade you. I know how much you want some Mora's so how about it?

Me: Yes, I'm interested in Mora's, no I'm not interested in trading a 100$ knife for two 10$ knives.

Of course in the actual emails we'd both be more polite about it, but you get the idea. People seemed to think that because I was asking for cheap knives, they could offer one or two of them and get me to trade something worth multiples of what they were offering. It's good to know that I can list something as petty as this as my worst experience when it comes to trades though, that says something. I used to play an online RPG called Diablo 2 and traded items in the game over a forum full of bratty teenagers. Got ripped off the first time I traded and multiple times afterwards. Those weren't even worth anything either.