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Agreed. Also why did you make an initial offer? People have debated the merit of "he who says a number first loses" on HN before, but in general there is a lo

Agreed. Also why did you make an initial offer? People have debated the merit of "he who says a number first loses" on HN before, but in general there is a lot of truth to it. If they are interested in purchasing, show them whatever info they need and let them make YOU an offer. The final price can only go up from there.

electromagnetic 16y ago
Agreed, if you make the first offer you should only be going big. You think $10k is fair, offer $20k. I remember my father-in-law was at a garage sale and saw a tub full of barely used golf balls (better than the ones they sell in walmart at a stupid price like $12 for 15). He asked 'how much?'; she offered $10, he countered with $5 and she took it. We counted them, it ended up being 300+ golf balls. He would have been more than happy to pay $1 a dozen and consider it a steal ($25 for all the balls - like $240 for worse condition balls in walmart) without the rubbermaid container; he got that for free. You don't want to be the person selling your company for $50,000 when on the straight market it would be going for $500,000.
- vl 16y ago
  This example demonstrates value of asymmetry of information when making a deal, but not "don't make first offer" principle. Obviously the lady was ignorant to the true value of the balls, as any non-golfer would.
  - electromagnetic 16y ago
    It wasn't that she had a lack of access to the information (IE a non-golfer randomly acquiring the balls), he husband was an avid golfer and she said her son was semi-pro. She simply didn't care to get the information before selling a product, which is another lesson entirely.
ryanhuff 16y ago
Yep. By making the first offer, they set the ceiling, and it will only go down. They should have gone with the "make me your best offer" and started negotiating up from there.
kristiandupont 16y ago
There is a pretty good article that states that it is often to your advantage to actually make the first offer. I submitted it here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1643734 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1643734

electromagnetic 16y ago

Agreed, if you make the first offer you should only be going big. You think $10k is fair, offer $20k. I remember my father-in-law was at a garage sale and saw a tub full of barely used golf balls (better than the ones they sell in walmart at a stupid price like $12 for 15). He asked 'how much?'; she offered $10, he countered with $5 and she took it. We counted them, it ended up being 300+ golf balls. He would have been more than happy to pay $1 a dozen and consider it a steal ($25 for all the balls - like $240 for worse condition balls in walmart) without the rubbermaid container; he got that for free. You don't want to be the person selling your company for $50,000 when on the straight market it would be going for $500,000.

vl 16y ago
This example demonstrates value of asymmetry of information when making a deal, but not "don't make first offer" principle. Obviously the lady was ignorant to the true value of the balls, as any non-golfer would.
- electromagnetic 16y ago
  It wasn't that she had a lack of access to the information (IE a non-golfer randomly acquiring the balls), he husband was an avid golfer and she said her son was semi-pro. She simply didn't care to get the information before selling a product, which is another lesson entirely.

ryanhuff 16y ago

Yep. By making the first offer, they set the ceiling, and it will only go down. They should have gone with the "make me your best offer" and started negotiating up from there.

kristiandupont 16y ago

There is a pretty good article that states that it is often to your advantage to actually make the first offer. I submitted it here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1643734 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1643734