5 ms·

It doesn't seem to happen on stuff like Craigslist either anymore. I've been surprised that people just pay what it's listed for. I also have a suspicion that

by tayo42 5y ago

It doesn't seem to happen on stuff like Craigslist either anymore. I've been surprised that people just pay what it's listed for. I also have a suspicion that people even find haggling rude. I also think others are confused by it, like the choosing beggar subbredit seems to often just be bad attempts at haggling

mikepurvis 5y ago
I bought a Fire Stick off FB Marketplace recently, and received an unprompted and pretty racist communication from the seller that I was the "first white guy to contact her and the only person who didn't try to low-ball." It really weirded me out and I ended up kind of calling her out on it so that she backed down and apologized— though even that was weird, I was like "Ma'am, I'm not the one who is hurt by you having these attitudes; don't apologize to me, please just try to do better in the future."
- clcaev 5y ago
  > I'm not the one who is hurt by you having these attitudes But you are tangibly hurt by systemic discrimination. Otherwise qualified people give up their career choice to avoid harassment or because of inequitable salary. Then we are left with less qualified and motivated people staffed in important positions. Your work, health, or other aspect of your life are affected, just not in ways you can easily see or measure.
- dotancohen 5y ago
  It seems plausible that white people associate with white people (whatever "white" is where you live) and not-white-people associate with not-white-people. These two groups may have developed different cultures. Of course in this era of ultra-sensitivity to racist issues, your seller's phrasing seems problematic. But the ability to recognize the difference in cultures is an asset, not a liability.
eropple 5y ago
YMMV, but most attempts at negotiation that I see when selling on Craigslist are just lame. A camera that goes new for $1000, up for $800, the ad says "firm", you get boring low-effort "will you take $500?" nonsense. Maybe it works on some people, but it just inclines me towards ignoring them.
- tayo42 5y ago
  what else do you want people to do though? Just not respond until you lower the price on the add your self?
  - bradlys 5y ago
    Tbh - I kinda prefer this sometimes. I will set an ambitious price and then slowly lower it over the course of 3-4 weeks. Eventually someone bites and I’ll usually get higher than any email I’ve been sent before. I get a lot of low effort people who want you to drive everything to them and pay bottom dollar (even though I’m very centrally located). Super annoying.
  - eropple 5y ago
    As I said in the sibling, the alternative isn't "lowering the price", it's "not selling". That's what "firm" means, yeah?
- qqqwerty 5y ago
  For what its worth, 20% off of the retail price for a used item on CL seems like such a huge risk to me. I have gotten enough stuff off of CL where I didn't discover some issue with the item until I got home that I now generally won't even consider a listing that isn't 50% or more below retail (I mostly go to CL for "bespoke" stuff though, so often there is no "retail" price to compare to). When you add in the time and effort to respond to listings and then drive out, etc... it makes even less sense. So you most likely are getting those responses because a large chunk of the CL buyers are in the market for prices at that level. A 20% discount feels like something you can get from the retailer if you just wait for a sale. But I guess, CL is popular enough where if you have the time to wait it out, you might eventually find a a buyer. But still seems insane to me that anyone would take that deal considering the risks. Also, FWIW, there is no reason you can't counter offer in those cases. Considering the amount of time and effort it takes to meet in person, it is probably better that the price be pre-negotiated via e-mail before meeting in person. I certainly would never show up in person and try to get a lower price on the spot. The few times I have lowballed via e-mail (I was/am looking for a really niche item, and the only suitable listing has been sitting on CL for weeks) I got counter offered. It was still too high for my tastes, but the listing is still there so I might try again in a few weeks!
leoqa 5y ago
I mean you can haggle before agreeing to meet but when you drive across town and then the guy says “I can only do X” it’s pretty rude.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  Get back in the car and drive away again.
  - leoqa 5y ago
    That’s the outcome, the discussion was about haggling being rude in various contexts.
silisili 5y ago
> I also have a suspicion that people even find haggling rude. I do. Or used to. Then I kinda learned how it all works. If I had an item that could sell for say, 100 on ebay, I'd list it for 80 to get a quick sale without shipping. Then people offering 50 seem rude or crazy to me. Then I learned to just price it high. So now, that item I'll list for 120, and 'fine, final offer' it to 80 and that works way, way better. I think people just want to feel like they won, more than about values of items. Another protip: Never list anything for free. You'll find the worst in society. List it for 5 or 10 dollars, then just tell the buyer it's free when they come.
- llamataboot 5y ago
  or you wont find anyone at all - listed some chairs for free, no response, changed it to $25, and 3 offers in an hour...
  - silisili 5y ago
    That's interesting, and I wonder why. From my perspective, I'd probably either assume if it's free you already got a million offers, or they are in terrible shape. Perhaps that's why people didn't bother.
    - qqqwerty 5y ago
      When you do a search on craigslist you pick the section of the site you want to search (i.e. "Furniture", "Computers", "Cars/Trucks", "Free", etc...). Based on my experience, the "Free" section is almost always not worth the effort. Either the items are low quality or they are impossible to get due to craigslist "flippers". So I could see a situation where most buyers with actual intent to purchase are only searching in the "Furniture" section. And the chairs in question might not have been nice enough to attract interest from the "flippers" in the free section.
    - warrenm 5y ago
      It's pricing theory (there's a better name for it ... but I cannot recall of the top of my head) Underpricing something is as bad (or worse) than overpricing it If I think that chair is worth $50, and you're giving it away ... I think there's something wrong If I think it's worth $50, and you ask $20 ... I think "he must not want it - this is a great deal!"
paxys 5y ago
The problem with Craigslist and the like is that if you list something you can expect that the overwhelming majority of buyers are going to negotiate in bad faith. It isn't worth your time to engage and sort through all of it, so it makes more sense to just list stuff at a low but firm price and decline or ignore all the lowball offers.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  Not my experience. The issue I have with CL tend to be time-wasters who don't actually want to buy. Everything I've actually sold has been for the asking price. Maybe we just set the initial price differently?
  - paxys 5y ago
    > time-wasters who don't actually want to buy Do you consider that to be good faith negotiating?
    - bradlys 5y ago
      I’d say it’s more like - people who are trying to convince themselves that they want something. They try to pitch you a lower price - you work with them on it. Maybe find a more reasonable ground… then they’re like, “well actually I live 100 miles away. Can we meet halfway?” And maybe you work with them on that and they’re like, “ok but I actually have a commitment tomorrow and can only meet at 3:30am and if there’s a waning crescent moon hovering above us…” The demands get longer. It’s clear they’re not actually interested. They’re just testing their own waters and are time wasters.

by tayo42 5y ago

mikepurvis 5y ago

I bought a Fire Stick off FB Marketplace recently, and received an unprompted and pretty racist communication from the seller that I was the "first white guy to contact her and the only person who didn't try to low-ball." It really weirded me out and I ended up kind of calling her out on it so that she backed down and apologized— though even that was weird, I was like "Ma'am, I'm not the one who is hurt by you having these attitudes; don't apologize to me, please just try to do better in the future."

clcaev 5y ago
> I'm not the one who is hurt by you having these attitudes But you are tangibly hurt by systemic discrimination. Otherwise qualified people give up their career choice to avoid harassment or because of inequitable salary. Then we are left with less qualified and motivated people staffed in important positions. Your work, health, or other aspect of your life are affected, just not in ways you can easily see or measure.
dotancohen 5y ago
It seems plausible that white people associate with white people (whatever "white" is where you live) and not-white-people associate with not-white-people. These two groups may have developed different cultures. Of course in this era of ultra-sensitivity to racist issues, your seller's phrasing seems problematic. But the ability to recognize the difference in cultures is an asset, not a liability.

eropple 5y ago

YMMV, but most attempts at negotiation that I see when selling on Craigslist are just lame. A camera that goes new for $1000, up for $800, the ad says "firm", you get boring low-effort "will you take $500?" nonsense. Maybe it works on some people, but it just inclines me towards ignoring them.

tayo42 5y ago
what else do you want people to do though? Just not respond until you lower the price on the add your self?
- bradlys 5y ago
  Tbh - I kinda prefer this sometimes. I will set an ambitious price and then slowly lower it over the course of 3-4 weeks. Eventually someone bites and I’ll usually get higher than any email I’ve been sent before. I get a lot of low effort people who want you to drive everything to them and pay bottom dollar (even though I’m very centrally located). Super annoying.
- eropple 5y ago
  As I said in the sibling, the alternative isn't "lowering the price", it's "not selling". That's what "firm" means, yeah?
qqqwerty 5y ago
For what its worth, 20% off of the retail price for a used item on CL seems like such a huge risk to me. I have gotten enough stuff off of CL where I didn't discover some issue with the item until I got home that I now generally won't even consider a listing that isn't 50% or more below retail (I mostly go to CL for "bespoke" stuff though, so often there is no "retail" price to compare to). When you add in the time and effort to respond to listings and then drive out, etc... it makes even less sense. So you most likely are getting those responses because a large chunk of the CL buyers are in the market for prices at that level. A 20% discount feels like something you can get from the retailer if you just wait for a sale. But I guess, CL is popular enough where if you have the time to wait it out, you might eventually find a a buyer. But still seems insane to me that anyone would take that deal considering the risks. Also, FWIW, there is no reason you can't counter offer in those cases. Considering the amount of time and effort it takes to meet in person, it is probably better that the price be pre-negotiated via e-mail before meeting in person. I certainly would never show up in person and try to get a lower price on the spot. The few times I have lowballed via e-mail (I was/am looking for a really niche item, and the only suitable listing has been sitting on CL for weeks) I got counter offered. It was still too high for my tastes, but the listing is still there so I might try again in a few weeks!

leoqa 5y ago

I mean you can haggle before agreeing to meet but when you drive across town and then the guy says “I can only do X” it’s pretty rude.

Aeolun 5y ago
Get back in the car and drive away again.
- leoqa 5y ago
  That’s the outcome, the discussion was about haggling being rude in various contexts.

silisili 5y ago

> I also have a suspicion that people even find haggling rude. I do. Or used to. Then I kinda learned how it all works. If I had an item that could sell for say, 100 on ebay, I'd list it for 80 to get a quick sale without shipping. Then people offering 50 seem rude or crazy to me. Then I learned to just price it high. So now, that item I'll list for 120, and 'fine, final offer' it to 80 and that works way, way better. I think people just want to feel like they won, more than about values of items. Another protip: Never list anything for free. You'll find the worst in society. List it for 5 or 10 dollars, then just tell the buyer it's free when they come.

llamataboot 5y ago
or you wont find anyone at all - listed some chairs for free, no response, changed it to $25, and 3 offers in an hour...
- silisili 5y ago
  That's interesting, and I wonder why. From my perspective, I'd probably either assume if it's free you already got a million offers, or they are in terrible shape. Perhaps that's why people didn't bother.
  - qqqwerty 5y ago
    When you do a search on craigslist you pick the section of the site you want to search (i.e. "Furniture", "Computers", "Cars/Trucks", "Free", etc...). Based on my experience, the "Free" section is almost always not worth the effort. Either the items are low quality or they are impossible to get due to craigslist "flippers". So I could see a situation where most buyers with actual intent to purchase are only searching in the "Furniture" section. And the chairs in question might not have been nice enough to attract interest from the "flippers" in the free section.
  - warrenm 5y ago
    It's pricing theory (there's a better name for it ... but I cannot recall of the top of my head) Underpricing something is as bad (or worse) than overpricing it If I think that chair is worth $50, and you're giving it away ... I think there's something wrong If I think it's worth $50, and you ask $20 ... I think "he must not want it - this is a great deal!"

paxys 5y ago

The problem with Craigslist and the like is that if you list something you can expect that the overwhelming majority of buyers are going to negotiate in bad faith. It isn't worth your time to engage and sort through all of it, so it makes more sense to just list stuff at a low but firm price and decline or ignore all the lowball offers.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Not my experience. The issue I have with CL tend to be time-wasters who don't actually want to buy. Everything I've actually sold has been for the asking price. Maybe we just set the initial price differently?
- paxys 5y ago
  > time-wasters who don't actually want to buy Do you consider that to be good faith negotiating?
  - bradlys 5y ago
    I’d say it’s more like - people who are trying to convince themselves that they want something. They try to pitch you a lower price - you work with them on it. Maybe find a more reasonable ground… then they’re like, “well actually I live 100 miles away. Can we meet halfway?” And maybe you work with them on that and they’re like, “ok but I actually have a commitment tomorrow and can only meet at 3:30am and if there’s a waning crescent moon hovering above us…” The demands get longer. It’s clear they’re not actually interested. They’re just testing their own waters and are time wasters.