when is an offer an insult?

fishface5

fishface5

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By and large this forum is populated by true gentlemen (and gentlewomen). But aside from the occasional flame war or bipolar incident, someone will betray the standards their momma raised them with : by making a lowball offer on a knife for sale.

Now I have no problem with some level of negotiation. But what is the threshold beyond which an offer becomes an insult? Any thoughts on this? For me, when someone makes an offer that is 70% or less than the asking price, well that's just rude and I simply ignore it. The person is saying "I don't really want the knife that much, but if I can take advantage of your misfortune by buying it super-cheap I might be able to make a profit on it later." Or am I just being oversensitive?
 
I once got an offer for $5 shipped on a knife I had listed for 10. Shipping is 4.95. I get lowball offers on just about everything I list. Sometimes it's reasonable, sometimes it's just stupid.
 
fishface5 said:
By and large this forum is populated by true gentlemen (and gentlewomen). But aside from the occasional flame war or bipolar incident, someone will betray the standards their momma raised them with : by making a lowball offer on a knife for sale.

Now I have no problem with some level of negotiation. But what is the threshold beyond which an offer becomes an insult? Any thoughts on this? For me, when someone makes an offer that is 70% or less than the asking price, well that's just rude and I simply ignore it. The person is saying "I don't really want the knife that much, but if I can take advantage of your misfortune by buying it super-cheap I might be able to make a profit on it later." Or am I just being oversensitive?
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I just chock it up as some people just being stupid. I usually counter with "the minimum I'll take is $xxx.xx"......that usually puts an end to the nonsense.

The ones that kill me are the people who think their Delicas, Enduaras, Grips and Leeks are worth their weight in gold, when it comes to trades...... get over it folks, everyone has them and no one wants them unless they ask for them specifically. :eek:
 
I guess it also depends on the asking price. Many members list their NIB knives above the prices at which they can be bought from online retailers. If the seller is reasonable I'll make a reasonable offer, if I have the feeling he is trying to rip me off I'll just pass or wait until he lowers the price.
 
I had a knife for sale or trade, asking 75$ shipped (wich is less than it's worth), a guy offered me a straight razor he paid 15$ for.

I politely told him to get lost.
 
normally if the offer is 20% or more off my listing price, i find it insulting.

i rarely make money on my sales and normally either look to recoup my costs or sell below my cost.

i think lowball offers are the result of lots of ebay activity by the member.
 
I had a Randall #1 7" pretty basic stacked leather handle carbon blade. I was visiting relatives in Houston and went to the Pasadena gun show to try to sell it. I had offers all day for $375, not offensive. Then this young kid working a huge section of tables covered with brand new handguns told me if I didn't sell it to come by and he would buy it. I was leaving and showed him it again, he pulled out $200 and said "is this good?". I grabbed the knife and didn't say anything, just walked out.
 
Some people really don't understand knife values, some are always trying to get over. As long as the offer is politely presented, it may as well be politely rejected. But lowball offers in the thread itself can draw an infraction for interfering with the sale, by making the knife seem like it's worth less than the seller is asking. Don't answer those at all, just hit Report Post and let mods deal with it.

I'm going to move this from General Knife to FEEDBACK.
 
I don't think I've ever been insulted by an offer, for a whole host of reasons:

1. The person just may be ignorant of the value of the specific knife you are selling
2. The person may be genuinely misinformed based on counterfeit or ebay ripoff sale values
3. I don't wish to be the kind of person who takes insult that easily.

Having grown up in Appalachia and having been a middle school teacher for a good part of my life, I've seen too many hotheads who just can't wait to be insulted so they can show their ass in public. There's too damn much drama in this life already without inventing it when you can just brush something off. Labeling an offer as an 'insult' implies that it was a personal attack of some sort. It's not personal, it's just business.
 
elkins45 said:
I don't think I've ever been insulted by an offer, for a whole host of reasons:

1. The person just may be ignorant of the value of the specific knife you are selling
2. The person may be genuinely misinformed based on counterfeit or ebay ripoff sale values
3. I don't wish to be the kind of person who takes insult that easily.

Having grown up in Appalachia and having been a middle school teacher for a good part of my life, I've seen too many hotheads who just can't wait to be insulted so they can show their ass in public. There's too damn much drama in this life already without inventing it when you can just brush something off. Labeling an offer as an 'insult' implies that it was a personal attack of some sort. It's not personal, it's just business.
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valid points, however the offers can be taken a little far.

there is one member in particular, who wanted to argue when i politely turned down his lowball offer.

i actually countered with an in between offer, and he suggested i was quibbling over just a few dollars. i reminded him that his original offer was about 30% off my listed price, which was already under retail for a fairly sought after model.

i have had similar experiences in other sales threads with the same member, who pretty much only posts in the exchange. dealer? i dont know, but he took the lowball to an extreme and i was insulted. im not a businessman, just a guy who sometimes sells off a few knives.
 
The best one is a guy here who has offered me a cheap, made-in-China balisong in trade for $50-$100 knives a couple of times. When I say it's not an equal trade, he offers two or three of the balisongs.
 
elkins45 said:
I don't think I've ever been insulted by an offer, for a whole host of reasons:

1. The person just may be ignorant of the value of the specific knife you are selling
2. The person may be genuinely misinformed based on counterfeit or ebay ripoff sale values
3. I don't wish to be the kind of person who takes insult that easily.

Having grown up in Appalachia and having been a middle school teacher for a good part of my life, I've seen too many hotheads who just can't wait to be insulted so they can show their ass in public. There's too damn much drama in this life already without inventing it when you can just brush something off. Labeling an offer as an 'insult' implies that it was a personal attack of some sort. It's not personal, it's just business.
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You are wise man.

Regarding low-ball offers...

I'm new to this game, but I honestly assumed that any offer below the asking price is simply rude and distasteful. It never ocurrs to me to offer less than asking price. I mean, they're asking that price because that's what they determined the value to be, no? I guess I'm naive. But I hate haggling, negotiating, bartering, etc. It makes me very uncomfortable.
 
I once lowballed someone because I didn't know the value of the knife (those Busse's man. :D) I was politely told that it was worth about double my offer.

In these instances I assume ignorance.

I also try to always take offers to either PM or email. I don't like hashing stuff out in the thread itself.
 
elkins45 said:
I don't think I've ever been insulted by an offer, for a whole host of reasons:

1. The person just may be ignorant of the value of the specific knife you are selling
2. The person may be genuinely misinformed based on counterfeit or ebay ripoff sale values
3. I don't wish to be the kind of person who takes insult that easily.

Having grown up in Appalachia and having been a middle school teacher for a good part of my life, I've seen too many hotheads who just can't wait to be insulted so they can show their ass in public. There's too damn much drama in this life already without inventing it when you can just brush something off. Labeling an offer as an 'insult' implies that it was a personal attack of some sort. It's not personal, it's just business.
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I'll give you $2 for everything you own. You have 10 hours to accept.;):D

Seriously though, I think you have some very valid points.

Personally, if I think what I can offer is a bit on the low side, I'll ask first if their flexible on price. Usually, the sellers will give me an idea of what they'll consider.

What I don't get is some of the ridiculous asking prices on some of the knives. I've seen BM Griptilians being asked at $90.
 
KarlMaldensNose said:
You are wise man.

Regarding low-ball offers...

I'm new to this game, but I honestly assumed that any offer below the asking price is simply rude and distasteful. It never ocurrs to me to offer less than asking price. I mean, they're asking that price because that's what they determined the value to be, no? I guess I'm naive. But I hate haggling, negotiating, bartering, etc. It makes me very uncomfortable.
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The bursting housing bubble provides many painful lessons about "low ball" offers. There were dozens of published newspaper stories about sellers being "insulted" by offers 20%-30% below asking--for houses that now sell 50% below the prior asking price. I recall one story where the seller counter offered a 10% low ball with something like $500 off a $1,000,000 asking price. He would now kill for only 20% off.

At the end of the day supply and demand is all that matters. One is always free to walk away from a deal unless they truly need the money, and that means there is no current demand. It is NOT personal with me. I treat possessions as something to be used, enjoyed, depreciated, lost, stolen or broken. I buy and sell with the same expectations. You pay what it's worth to you and must sell for what you can get.

Frankly, Busse (and Case) owners are probably most vulnerable to unpredictable market values. The brand is more about collector models and controlled availability than true market demand. We can't know the true market demand because the models change constantly. Plus, the photos of massive collections shows that the supply is held by a limited number of collectors. If a few of them move to other hobbies or have financial problems then the whole market would suffer. A user or non collector isn't going to have memories of one time high values--they just want a certain look, size, and functionality.
 
I wouldn't consider any offer to be an insult, though I may consider one to be a joke. When I got lowball offers I just replied, "Sorry, but that's below what I would be willing to take for the knife."
 
I don't consider any offer an insult. It shows me that there is interest in the knife and the rest is just negotiation. The seller(trader) can always say no or counter or try to find out how serious the other party is. As far as I'm concerned no part of a negotiation is a waste of time. I try to keep in mind that it's just commerce, the knife is my property and I decide what I'm going to do with it.
 
It's easy to get upset when someone lowballs you, but a seller should maintain a friendly demeanor at all times.
 
5.56 said:
It's easy to get upset when someone lowballs you, but a seller should maintain a friendly demeanor at all times.
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We've had many good members who started off here a little shaky, young, brash, confrontational. Settled in, they are ordinary everyday good guys now.

Same with the Exchange forums. New guys may not know the way we do business. Helping them learn turns them into future good business deals in a hurry.

It's easy to get frustrated, especially with people who really do seem to be gaming the system. Tell them, "Thanks, not interested," and let it go. They will learn or they will leave.
 
I've had some offers that I've considered to be ridiculously low but I've never been offended by them. I generally just chalk it up to someone not really knowing the going rate for an item or trying to get a great deal. I don't fault them for that and I always try to be friendly in my response.

I do get offended is when someone PM's me that they have found the same knife at a significantly lower price when I suspect that they haven't. It becomes pretty apparent what is going on when the knife in question is a one-off or custom. ;)
 
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