What do you consider a "lowball" offer?

Yeah, I don't understand the "Buyer pays PP fees". PP says that the seller must pay the fee. Very clear.
 
A person is FREE to ask what they want for a knife (look at the $3K Busse TGLB on e-bay just now), I don't care or find myself offended how much someone asks, likewise people are free to make offers, how that is communicated is, as pointed out above, the key to how it is received. Most people making an offer know if they are truly in the game or trying to snag the unsuspecting, if you offer $50 for a knife listed at $300 you don't really expect a response now do you ??? However if you make a genuine offer of $200 you should expect a response, it may not be what you want to hear but simply "thanks for the offer mate but I wont, could not, will not, etc let it go for that. If the seller is motivated that is when the person making a genuine, but too low, offer may well get back "I can't let it go for $200 mate but I would take $250" ... etc
 
I've always thought it's polite to respond to all offers, lowball or not. Why take offense? This is the Internet, and I have no idea what anyone is really about in real life. So I choose to show some class to others and graciously decline, or accept should it come to that.
 
That's hardly a lowball.... a lowball would be listing something for $250 and the guy offers you $80. I've had my fair share of people lowballing and I'm telling you it does make your blood boil and wonder "what the heck were they thinking???"

I'm guessing it's people who have the mentality, "it's worth a shot." After a while I stopped putting on my lists that I take reasonable offers because after 15 years of selling things online/craigslist I have yet to receive a "reasonable offer".
 
I never put anything about reasonable offers because I think that basically guarantees you wouldn't get your asking price, and I don't like to play the whole ask for $260 to get $230 game. If i want $230, that's what I put.
 
I do very little selling and buying but from my limited buyers perspective but quite frankly if I can get it retail for $275 and assuming it is readily available at retail outlets I am not paying more than $225 second hand unless I know you really well and can examine the knife before purchase. So i think $200 is not an unreasonable offer for a $250 asking price.
The way I think it should go is.
A. seller has an asking price
B. buyer offers a lesser price, whatever that price is you should at least counter unless you said your price was firm
C. seller should accept or counter with price he would accept
D. buyer can accept or come back with another offer
E. Seller accepts or tells him sorry looks like we are to far apart.
 
What really gets me is when I have an item listed for, say, $75, and somebody tells me "Oh, but I saw it on Amazon for $55! Will you do $55 shipped?"

I'm not a dealer and can't afford to take that kind of loss. Anybody making me an offer like that goes right onto my ignore list. You know who you are.
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
You are awfully insecure if a low offer for anything offends you. People offer what they can afford or what they think a knife is worth. If you disagree, ignore them. If someone offered one penny for one of my knives, I'd laugh and move on.
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I wholeheartedly agree. If someone offers me a ridiculously low price for something I'm selling I would just ignore it or say "No thanks".
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
Yeah, I don't understand the "Buyer pays PP fees". PP says that the seller must pay the fee. Very clear.
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What truly does irk me about this is when sellers ask more than the percentage of the cost of the fees. Paypal fees are 3% of what you sell. Why do I see some people here asking for 4%?
 
I've sold a few items on CL recently, but I've been posting FIRM instead of OBO. I started doing this because when I would post OBO, I wouldn't get offers but, "what is the least you take" emails.

I listed a pistol on the "party line" radio program in my city (when I lived in AL) a couple of years ago. A guy called and asked me what my absolute bottom dollar was. I told him something like -$50 my asking price was the very least I would take. He asks me to meet him since he lives out of town, so I drive out to the agreed place and wait on him. He arrives, looks at the gun, gives some bull about what he REALLY was looking for and offers me like 100-150 less than what I told him was my FIRM price on the phone. I was nice to him, but that did irritate me that he wasted my time and gas.
 
Metal Made Fox said:
What truly does irk me about this is when sellers ask more than the percentage of the cost of the fees. Paypal fees are 3% of what you sell. Why do I see some people here asking for 4%?
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I my opinion, those a the sellers you need to steer clear of. I won't pay anyone else's Paypal fees for them, especially when they are unable to figure out simple percentages. If someone insists on "Gift Only" they get no business from me.
 
colubrid said:
I never mind when someone asks me for a lower price. It never hurts to ask.

I also don't mind trade offers. You never know what someone might offer.
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:thumbup: I agree. I've been selling and trading on here almost since I joined and I can't remember one question or offer that offended me. I've had people offer trades when my OP said "No Trades"... I've had offers for half of my asking price... OK, no harm done. If I didn't want their offer, I emailed them, thanked them, and said "can't do that right now." No hurt feelings anywhere and a couple of them have come back later to buy or trade for something else of mine.
 
RevDevil said:
I my opinion, those a the sellers you need to steer clear of. I won't pay anyone else's Paypal fees for them, especially when they are unable to figure out simple percentages. If someone insists on "Gift Only" they get no business from me.
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+1. If they screw you over, you have no recourse to get your money back other than getting law enforcement involved and reporting them to the forum staff.
 
I'm always a little worried when I put an offer in to someone. I always put it in with the intent to pay to have it refurbished by the maker and then offer it for sale. I usually wait until something has been for sale for a while before I make an offer.

People can (and do) say no. I never mean to insult anyone.
 
MRaymond said:
I agree with others. Offers are Offers. No need to get upset about them. However, speaking out of both sides of my mouth, I really dislike it when sellers put an unrealistic price (based on the market) on an item then refuse to negotiate. Example: Knife A retails for $450.00. NIB on the exchange it goes for $380-$400. The seller is asking $450.00 plus paypal fees and shipping and then ignores or scoffs at offers that the market has dictated. That to me is WAY more annoying than if someone offers me $200.00 for a $250.00 knife.


Since I am giving my opinion on an annoyance, the thing that REALLY annoys me is when people say $400.00 + 4% paypal fees. A. as far as I know, that is against the rules of Paypal. B. Paypal fees are 2.9% + $.50 per transaction. C. Just include the fees in the price of the item and call it a day.
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I either buy an item for the price listed or not, I don't think I have ever made a cheaper offer on anything I have purchased on a forum.
Unless you are looking at some particularly rare item there will be another one listed sooner or later.

When I list an item, the price is this ,the fees are that and shipping is included. I've had some people make what I would consider lowball offers on items (say 25% or more below market value) and I just ignore them and go to the next offer. I sold a knife recently and one guy offered me $75 (40% less than asking) I ignored the offer and 5 minutes later had another buyer willing to pay full asking price. I never got mad at the offer, it's just the way some people do things.

If the market on your item is $200 by the time the seller pays shipping and fees you could easily be down $20. If the seller asked $220 for the item it may not sell. By breaking it down the buyer sees what the seller is actually getting for the item.
 
I just had some frickin' guy reply to a thread I have listed for an EOTech 512 holographic weapon sight and a 2.5x magnifier to go with it. The MSRP on the sight is over $450 and I had the sight listed far below that. What does this guy do? He sends me an email saying "Will you take $150?"

My reply: "Nope." And if he emails me back, I'm going to tell him where the $50 scopes can be found in sporting goods at K-Mart.

We need to be able to maintain a list of known lowballers in the Feedback section, so usernames can be looked up to see if somebody is trying to pull a fast one on you.
 
unless a knife has actual scrap value, i.e. 1 oz gold = current melt valve, or 3 ct. diamonds, per say, value is buying/selling 101. what the seller WANTS, vs. what the buyer WILL pay. this is the case in every purchase, ever made.. a knife is nothing but material. period. Some where a "value" real or unreal was established. So as my dear, passed Grand dad would say, "we already know you're a hooker, we are just working on price".. remember do you really want to buy from a seller who gets upset over material things, or ever sell to a buyer who does not respect the material, either way too many people buying and selling to be offended. life is far to short to get upset... as a foot note I have purchased several thousand dollars worth of knives on this site, and always felt good about each transaction. This is the only knife site in 45 years of buying that I can say that about.. If you don't realize how good we got it. try some other site one month. The monitors here are super good.
 
I agree that a lot of it has to do with how they ask. It's also a percentage thing also. If you are coming out of left field with some ridiculous offer, it really doesn't matter how nice you are about it. It's insulting. Calling someone ugly, regardless of how nicely you say it is still an insult. Some take it more personal than others. I mean until it sells it's still your property and to you it holds a certain value. Just like anything else. A car a house etc. This is a difficult question because like so many other things in life it's very situational in how it can be handled on an individual basis.
Like all things use your best judgment.
 
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