Offers,counter Offers,lowball

The only time i have a huge problem with a low ball offer is when the jerk puts it in my for sale post!!!!!!!!!!!! Or worse yet when people find the need to go & post on a for sale thread so & so has that knife for 5.00 less on this internet site. If you send me a e-mail that is one thing , but posting this crap on someones thread is like coming up to someones table at a gun show & saying hey this guy has that for 5.00 bucks cheaper three tables down. At a show that guy would at the very least get yelled at & more likely have his teeth shoved down his face, but with the bravado most get with the internet, people are more rude.


Don't get me wrong I have had a lot of good dealings on the forums, but lately a few children keyboard wanna be warriors have been getting on my nerves.

just my 2 cents
 
Cash is the last thing I have in abundance so if someone has something I want I will try to offer a trade or partial trade offer. I think Most times people are receptive to it and somehow there is less chance of sounding impolite. Usually the seller and the buyer end up happy.

Another thing I like to do is dig up some dirt on the seller and blackmail his a#%.
 
I have only got a couple offensive offers in the past.I just respond and politely decline instead of ignoring or sending a nasty response to a person.
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Well, God bless you for that! One of the most irritating parts of online trading & buying is having to deal with people that are too rude to respond to a trade offer. If you list an item as "FT," and then receive a trade offer, for gosh sakes, send the person a response! On another board, a guy has a "FS/FT" post for some items, so I made an offer on one of his items. He has yet to respond to my offer, but has still made other posts in the same thread. :mad:

A little courtesy goes a long way.
 
Here's a situation that I see often enough that makes me wonder if it contributes to low ball offers (I'm making this up but you get the idea):

NIB Benchamde cariied 5 years, has lost blade coating, sharpened multiple time, a little rust, but otherwise it's NIB condition. New it's $95 but I'll sacrifice for $92 + $5 shipping. Then of course it's BTT'd a hundred times. So someone offers $70, and the seller gets pissy.

IMO a used production knife ssould be discounted at least 20% if it's NIB, and more like 50%+ if it's used.
 
Dave,

I agree in principle that even a NIB, never opened production knife should be discounted some for a second hand sale. Afterall if it is the same price, why not just get a brand new one direct from a dealer?

But how do you decide on that percentage? I mean that percantage of what, what you paid when you bought it? What it is going for on average now? MSRP? I tend to look at what other similiar knives are selling for and work from there. If the knife has been carried at all I will list it as such, and discount the price too. But really with any type of used knife I think that the price should reflect the condition, and so while a formula like that might work most of the time, it could be off in some cases too.

I think that responding to all emails in a timely manner is very important. Even if the offer is $1 shipped for a knife I am asking $100 for I will respond as politely as possible. No reason to leave people sitting around wondering.
 
Those are good points. I tend to see buying used knives at $100 or less as a binary descision, either I want them very close to NIB with some discount, or I categorize as beaters and expect a significant (approx 50%) discount.

That is a personal view certainly. I also tend to view that if I spend an hour getting a money order and sending it, my time is gonna cost maybe $20 over and above the cost of the knife.

Which means I expect the price to be lower still, because if I'm only gonna save $20 for example in buying used, I might as well buy new as it would cost the same including labor.

So, for me, I expect rapid depreciation and good to great discounts.

Certainly that's not a perfect rule, but often what I use in determining whether to pursue a seller of a used knife.
 
This is good stuff,

The whole purpose of this thread is to allow us the opportunity to see things from a different point of view and to express our own, realizing that they are just that, OUR own.

When both parties are willing and motivated, there is almost always going to be a meeting place where evryone walks away happy.

If you have a knife that is overpriced, you know it as well as anyone, but in this country YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK WHAT YOU WANT,

But do you have the right to criticize others for not paying premium prices for your wares? Hang on to them, stand your ground, that`ll teach us buyers a lesson we won`t soon forget,

Better yet, threaten to sell on epray, ooooohhhhhhh ROTFLAO

Hopefully by expressing our thoughts we can be more considerate, receptive to new ideas, and if done properly this thread could be a point of reference for understanding a buyer/ seller that you have not traded with in the past.

By the way there have been some excellent points made regarding ettiquet(sp) while making offers/trades and such. These folks are telling us how to approach them, take notes and be more successful, whether buying,selling or trading.

Keep`em comin :)
 
DaveH said:
IMO a used production knife ssould be discounted at least 20% if it's NIB, and more like 50%+ if it's used.
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Maybe I missed something with this one, but a knife can't be both used and NIB.

As for the original topic, I will only say that you don't get what you don't ask for. As long as a person doesn't get insulted, I see no wrong doing in offering less. All the seller has to do is say no, or ignore your offer.
 
DaveH said:
Here's a situation that I see often enough that makes me wonder if it contributes to low ball offers (I'm making this up but you get the idea):

NIB Benchamde cariied 5 years, has lost blade coating, sharpened multiple time, a little rust, but otherwise it's NIB condition. New it's $95 but I'll sacrifice for $92 + $5 shipping. Then of course it's BTT'd a hundred times...
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I usually won't make an offer if I think the seller is nuts to begin with. I fear that if I DID talk him down and the knife arrived with problems I'd then have a real problem on my hands.
 
If a knife is being sold through a third party that had previously purchased it from a dealer say, then it's used in my estimation. It's "condition" may be "NIB" but it's still used.
 
DaveH said:
If a knife is being sold through a third party that had previously purchased it from a dealer say, then it's used in my estimation. It's "condition" may be "NIB" but it's still used.
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So, if a dealer got his knives from another dealer, then those knives are used too? Sorry, but a knife has to actually have been USED or carried to be a used knife. I don't care how many people owned a knife before I did, I judge the knife on the condition.
 
What does one consider a low ball offer? I had a knife for sale for $350. I got an E-mail with an offer of $300. The knife had been for sale with no activity for well over a week so I took it. A Month later I had a hot knife for sale for $250. recieved a response via a post in the thread within minutes of posting with an offer of $200. Several people posted that the guy should stop low-balling.

My feeling is that it doesn't hurt to make any offer. The seller can say, yes, no, maybe or chose to ignore it.

And I agree with Danbo; If I sell a knife that is NIB, never carried, used or cut a thing, the knife is new!!!!!!:D
 
wolfmann601 said:
What does one consider a low ball offer? I had a knife for sale for $350. I got an E-mail with an offer of $300. The knife had been for sale with no activity for well over a week so I took it. A Month later I had a hot knife for sale for $250. recieved a response via a post in the thread within minutes of posting with an offer of $200. Several people posted that the guy should stop low-balling.
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that's not low-balling! i'd say it's a common offer... just like you said, you don't have to take it.

i don't like the idea of people ignoring offers though. i think when someone puts a knife up for 40 bucks, and someone offers 20 (or whatever), they should get a reply, even if it's just a short "no thanks." and that's all.

lastly, one trend i see lately is people selling items at exactly MSRP or even higher when the item is currently available on many popular knife websites. now yeah, we can all charge whatever we want, blah blah blah... but the fact of the matter is, when one of these sellers gets annoyed at the thought of lowering their price, or bumps it for a month without peeling off even a couple dollars, they deserve any frustration they get. (you know who you are!)

abe
 
gajinoz said:
Seems to me that:

1. You are entitled to ask whatever you want.
2. A potential purchasers is entitled to politely make a reasonable offer.
3. You are free to politely refuse/accept/negotiate.

I would see this as a reasonable part of trade.
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Under the guise of less is more ... I think we've got it here. Am I wrong? Kudos to gajinoz for putting it down in 3 short points!

I've paid list price and made offers and I've sold for list and accepted offers. Good stuff ... Afterall ..., this is supposed to be fun.

Razz
 
I entertain all offers and do not get upset by being lowballed. It is easy enough for me to politely turn down the offer.
 
I just sold 7 knives in the last two months. I started on the forums. I did get some offers and some were very lowball. The offers were done privately by email. Personally, I have no problem with this. I can simply say yes or no and the person on the other end figures "nothing lost - nothing gained" if the offer is rejected.

All that being said, I have to say that I gave up on forum sales for another reason. After hanging the knives for weeks on end, I seemed to get caught up in the same cycle I see repeated were everyone waits until the seller has posted several price dropping BTTs until that person shows some desperation and gives the piece away. I gave up, put all my stuff on Ebay and got 25-75% above the original prices I posted.

I actually have more patience with those who email a lowball offer than those waiting for the lowest price. I know this may sound a little selfish- wanting to get the best price, but I think that any venue for selling on the internet has to be somewhat in sync with the other competitive venues out there.

Just my opinion & apologies to anyone I may have offended.

Bob
 
One thing that does bother me (it has never happened to me personally) is when I see someone enter a thread with a post about how the knife being sold is available for X dollars (quite a bit below what the seller is trying to get) somewhere else. I think people that do that are jerks. In my opinion, this is something that should be brought to the sellers attention by email or PM.
 
Hey BOB,

I don`t know how I missed it, but I can tell you that, that MST would not

have been there 5minutes, much less days or weeks if I had seen it. :(

Maybe next time. ;)
 
Preferably offline. I can be PM'd just about any time.

I try to be respectful, especially when it comes to Cashish. I expect the same in return. I have bought some knives, I have sold some knives, I keep the business here, and here only. I don't like E-VIL Bay, and I don't do Paypal. I keep my business in the US.

These are all decisions each one of us has to make, how we do business, where and who with. I don't like giving up control over who I sell my knives to. Like has been said above, you can always say NO. And I do, but also, like was said above, I try to be respectful when I do it.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
I keep my business in the US.
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This is a slightly disappointing thing for me. Not really a big deal, perhaps somewhat frustrating might be a better way of putting it. Let me make it clear that anyone selling something has every right to stipulate price, conditions and so on and I have no beef with that at all, if people don't want to sell outside the US, (or anywhere else for that matter), that's their business but it would be nice if some method could be arranged so that overseas sales could be made in a way that both parties could be happy with. I'm not sure exactly how that could be done, (I have some vague ideas ...), but it would be nice.

Just tossing up ideas, not really complaining.
 
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