3 ms·

Definitely a lot of tyre kickers. Every time I've marked something I'm selling as e.g. '$500 negotiable' I get tons of messages saying "what's your best price"

by whtrbt 7y ago

Definitely a lot of tyre kickers. Every time I've marked something I'm selling as e.g. '$500 negotiable' I get tons of messages saying "what's your best price" or "what's your lowest offer?" That's not how haggling works. My lowest offer is $500 until I hear yours. Aside from that, I've had good experiences selling old video game consoles on Gumtree.

droidno9 7y ago
"Negotiable" is the magic word that invites bargaining. Just list the price alone and people will assume it's negotiable, unless the term "firm" is included somewhere near the price. Even then, some people don't read, so that crowd just comes with the territory of selling things online. I have a simple rule. If the offer is less than 80% of the asking price, then I assume it's a lowball and simply ignore it and the offeror.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  This is my experience in Switzerland with generally polite population - set an exact price (without that 'firm' wording though), and we got like 10 generic questions what is our lowest price, or people offering 50% or below. Suffice to say the one reasonable person got that product. This seems like inexperience on our side and naive expectation for more reasonable approach, but it really felt borderline rude.
  - dazc 7y ago
    The people asking what's the lowest price and such and most likely to be time-wasters. This applies to all transactions, I find. Of course, there are cultures where haggling is the norm so, in these cases, it's best to start with an artificially high price which enables you to keep making concessions until you reach the price you wanted anyways.
- grogenaut 7y ago
  And yet I've bought many items with patience at those prices. There was a bike I wanted originally listed at $1800. I offered 1000 as that's what it was worth. Every week it was relisted $50 lower, every week I dropped my offer by like $25. Ended selling buying for $700 (I emailed the seller so much they were chatting with me). Took 7 months but the demand was just not there. At the end guy was like sigh should have sold for $1k. Some people list at a fair price. If that's what it is I'll not even haggle. like bought a fully CNC taig mini Mill with computer software and 4th axis for $900. Hand cash walk out. Fair price. Other shit is obviously over priced and so you negotiate. Sold a lathe recently for $1400. I had firm on the price. Took a year to sell. Sold firm. It also depends on the product here. Consumer popular shit like games and cars have a lot of negotiation. Some tools. Other shit is less negotiated. Some shit is high demand and lots of haggling like motorcycles. I just enjoy the hell out of telling people no. "That offer is offensive and I've setup a block list for you"
  - whtrbt 7y ago
    > And yet I've bought many items with patience at those prices. There was a bike I wanted originally listed at $1800. I offered 1000 as that's what it was worth. Every week it was relisted $50 lower, every week I dropped my offer by like $25. Ended selling buying for $700 (I emailed the seller so much they were chatting with me). Took 7 months but the demand was just not there. At the end guy was like sigh should have sold for $1k. I like this strategy.
cerberusss 7y ago
Sometimes I do this when I don't want to haggle; I just want a price on which I can decide a simple go/no-go.
- Slartie 7y ago
  When I don't want to haggle (which is often, as I hate it) I simply take the posted price and pay that or ignore the offer. I will never ask for a cheaper price if not interested in haggling. People with deliberately overblown prices which never expect anyone to actually pay that will simply not get my business at all in that case.
- moftz 7y ago
  I would always mark up my prices for things on forums a little bit so I had room to haggle it down but I never entertained people asking what my lowest price was. If you can't afford sticker price, you can afford to haggle. It was a pretty niche marketplace so there was pretty much never going to be anything like those crazy thrift store finds where someone buys something worth $5000 for $5, all the sellers usually had a good idea what their stuff was worth and priced appropriately. There were always the morons who priced their junk 5x it's market value but those people were too stupid to haggle with, they would get insulted when you offered a good market price.
- whtrbt 7y ago
  If you don't want to haggle, then you get the listed price.
exclusiv 7y ago
What's your best price is a good tactic with a poor negotiator or someone who isn't attached to the item. Maybe they play the numbers and it works. Just like you though, I hate that tactic when tried on me and it will never work.
- wincy 7y ago
  I once sold an iPhone to a 16 year old. I said "I want $300 but I'm willing to negotiate" and he said "okay, how about $350?" That was a good day.
olyjohn 7y ago
I usually respond to that by asking "What's the most you will pay?" Then I get their lowball answer and tell them that it looks like we can't agree on a price.

by whtrbt 7y ago

droidno9 7y ago

"Negotiable" is the magic word that invites bargaining. Just list the price alone and people will assume it's negotiable, unless the term "firm" is included somewhere near the price. Even then, some people don't read, so that crowd just comes with the territory of selling things online. I have a simple rule. If the offer is less than 80% of the asking price, then I assume it's a lowball and simply ignore it and the offeror.

saiya-jin 7y ago
This is my experience in Switzerland with generally polite population - set an exact price (without that 'firm' wording though), and we got like 10 generic questions what is our lowest price, or people offering 50% or below. Suffice to say the one reasonable person got that product. This seems like inexperience on our side and naive expectation for more reasonable approach, but it really felt borderline rude.
- dazc 7y ago
  The people asking what's the lowest price and such and most likely to be time-wasters. This applies to all transactions, I find. Of course, there are cultures where haggling is the norm so, in these cases, it's best to start with an artificially high price which enables you to keep making concessions until you reach the price you wanted anyways.
grogenaut 7y ago
And yet I've bought many items with patience at those prices. There was a bike I wanted originally listed at $1800. I offered 1000 as that's what it was worth. Every week it was relisted $50 lower, every week I dropped my offer by like $25. Ended selling buying for $700 (I emailed the seller so much they were chatting with me). Took 7 months but the demand was just not there. At the end guy was like sigh should have sold for $1k. Some people list at a fair price. If that's what it is I'll not even haggle. like bought a fully CNC taig mini Mill with computer software and 4th axis for $900. Hand cash walk out. Fair price. Other shit is obviously over priced and so you negotiate. Sold a lathe recently for $1400. I had firm on the price. Took a year to sell. Sold firm. It also depends on the product here. Consumer popular shit like games and cars have a lot of negotiation. Some tools. Other shit is less negotiated. Some shit is high demand and lots of haggling like motorcycles. I just enjoy the hell out of telling people no. "That offer is offensive and I've setup a block list for you"
- whtrbt 7y ago
  > And yet I've bought many items with patience at those prices. There was a bike I wanted originally listed at $1800. I offered 1000 as that's what it was worth. Every week it was relisted $50 lower, every week I dropped my offer by like $25. Ended selling buying for $700 (I emailed the seller so much they were chatting with me). Took 7 months but the demand was just not there. At the end guy was like sigh should have sold for $1k. I like this strategy.

cerberusss 7y ago

Sometimes I do this when I don't want to haggle; I just want a price on which I can decide a simple go/no-go.

Slartie 7y ago
When I don't want to haggle (which is often, as I hate it) I simply take the posted price and pay that or ignore the offer. I will never ask for a cheaper price if not interested in haggling. People with deliberately overblown prices which never expect anyone to actually pay that will simply not get my business at all in that case.
moftz 7y ago
I would always mark up my prices for things on forums a little bit so I had room to haggle it down but I never entertained people asking what my lowest price was. If you can't afford sticker price, you can afford to haggle. It was a pretty niche marketplace so there was pretty much never going to be anything like those crazy thrift store finds where someone buys something worth $5000 for $5, all the sellers usually had a good idea what their stuff was worth and priced appropriately. There were always the morons who priced their junk 5x it's market value but those people were too stupid to haggle with, they would get insulted when you offered a good market price.
whtrbt 7y ago
If you don't want to haggle, then you get the listed price.

exclusiv 7y ago

What's your best price is a good tactic with a poor negotiator or someone who isn't attached to the item. Maybe they play the numbers and it works. Just like you though, I hate that tactic when tried on me and it will never work.

wincy 7y ago
I once sold an iPhone to a 16 year old. I said "I want $300 but I'm willing to negotiate" and he said "okay, how about $350?" That was a good day.

olyjohn 7y ago

I usually respond to that by asking "What's the most you will pay?" Then I get their lowball answer and tell them that it looks like we can't agree on a price.