Something is worth what you are willing to pay for it. Explain to me why someone else's opinion on that value is an insult to you. In point of fact you both could be right. A rotten duck egg is not worth a dime to me but in some parts of the world it is a delicacy and priced accordingly.
Sign behind Auto Sales Mgr's Desk........ "We appreciate someone WHO drives a HARD BARGIN.......... But, also knows a GOOD DEAL ! when he finds one. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Selling ford Conv., asking $15,000 , Guy sez, "Can you do any Better ? " "Yes, I can ........... How about $20,000 ? !!
I can tell from the posts here that some folks just don't get it. If haggling is done right, everyone will walk away happy. It's the art of the deal. There is no need to take it personally if it doesn't work out, but you should be honorable and gracious throughout the process. Now, just because you have decided on a selling price, doesn't mean it's worth that to me. I will offer what I'm willing to pay...maybe a little less. If we don't agree, don't be insulted. Would you rather I didn't make an offer at all? BTW, if it's obviously a really good deal, then I will just pay the asking price and as a previously poster mentioned, once there is a handshake, the deal is done and I expect everyone to live up to the terms, including myself.
Back in '85 I put my original one owner, 25K mile, garage kept 1980 MGB up for sale at $5000. A guy brought his daughter out to look at it and then offered me $2500 stating that they were selling for that in the paper. I was polite and told him to go buy one of them because mine was much too nice to give away. I showed him the expensive things to look for that often went unnoticed until you had to pay to have them repaired then wished him a good day and went back in the house. I paid cash when I bought the car new so I decided to just keep it since it wasn't costing much to insure it. I dropped the ad and went on with my life then about a month later I got a call from the guy asking if I had lowered my price. I just hung up on him. The guy had his daughter call about the car asking to see it again. I told her it was no longer for sale and he got on the phone telling me I couldn't do that. I assured him that I could decide to keep it but if he was really interested he could come look at it for $5500. He hung up this time. He did eventually decide that the car was worth my original asking price and I let it go. That was the last car I listed for sale until 2007. I just didn't want the headaches.
some folks love to buy and sell, while others are confused about the whole process. lately my Craigslist ads have had the following in them: "the price is firm at $XX.XX, no offers considered". the last few things I have sold I had to re -up the ad a few times, and the only caller I got was the buyer. this keeps the lowballers from calling and more important than that, it keeps them from coming all the way over to my place to be told "no" wasting both my time and thiers.
I agree with previous posters about not taking a lowball offer so personally. When you are in sales, you've got to expect dead ends on some sales calls. I've sold many things on craigslist because I like dealing locally. When I get an offer that I don't agree with, I just say no, or I counter the offer. When I buy anything, I will many times ask the seller, what is the best offer you can give me if I pay cash now? If the answer is no discount, I don't take it personally. Just wish the seller good luck and move on. I've also sold things lower that I wanted to because I liked the buyer and they were honest with me.
The term low ball nowadays seems to imply some form of insult. Who cares - it just someone trying out a price. Emotions have no place in haggling. The way to get the BEST deal is to not care if you close or not - take out the emotion and you can get a good deal. If it doesn't happen, won't matter to you. ALWAYS be the last guy to make the money offer. "Split the difference" makes no sense. You watch someone who is a really good at selling or buying and they are always making the other guy pay their last price - even if its only a small amount above the other guy's number. No matter how much time and energy you invest, be willing to stop. Some of the very best deals I ever made were the ones I walked away from. On the other hand, the way to make sure you CLOSE, like if it is the special missing part you have to have, or you have to sell to pay some bills, is be nice, be reasonable and if you can live with the number then go ahead close and not look back. Also, have you ever considered what happens at an auction? You really only know how much the second highest bidder will pay - never what the winning bidder would pay since no one is pushing them to make the close or not close decision.
I have my 51 ford shoebox for sale on here and on craigslist...the ad says....$12,900 take it or leave it. I had a call from an idiot from Aiken SC yesterday....his first question....whats your bottom dollar ( this is without seeing it or driving it)....I gave him a lower price...a price I had given a neighbor and friend. Then he said how straight is the body....is there any waves in it at all? I then said without answering this guy.....I need you to contact Chip Foose and tell him to find you a 62 year old ford shoebox that has never had any rust, any hits, any modifications, any......then tell Chip you need it to have a rebuilt 84 monte carlo front suspension clip, air condition, power window, new paint, new glass, peaked hood, tilt column, pb, new brake pads, new wheel cylinders, new window rubbers, a late model ford rear end that has been gone thru,new BFG Goodrich radials, a well newly built 305 with 606 z-28 heads, turbo 350 trans with extra clutches, gets 24 mpg highway and 18mpg in town and had never given an ounce of trouble in 8 years on the road....AND THE BIGGIE.... TELL HIM YOU WILL SEND HIM $12,000.00 and see what he says to you....!!!
When a person is asking 20k for a POS that is only worth 5k (thanks barrett-jackson!) ... I just say "Keep dreaming." and walk away. More times than not they come back with "Well what did you have in mind" .... Then I say "a fair price" they ask for a number and I come back with 5-grand (see how I make them work at drawing a number out of me?) .... sometimes they come unglued sometime they sell ... all I am gonna pay is a "fair" price ... its not low-balling and its not tire kicking .... its just a statement of fact.
A lowball offer is when you offer what it is worth to you and the seller gets pissed. It is really the sellers reaction that makes it a lowball offer. Nothing else. A low offer is what starts the negotiating process. Too high of an offer is the one that gets accepted right away without any haggling. Sometimes lowball offers are accidental due to an uninformed buyer and/or seller. It's happened to me when looking at something cool but not really knowing what it is. ask the seller how much he wants, he says "make an offer", I say 20 bucks and he gets all pissy telling me how rare it is and it's worth $1k. Well, just tell me what you are looking to get for it before I waste both of our time.
You make a good point, but I would likely have hung up on you about a third of the way through that. Probably right after you mentioned calling Foose
Selling a motorcycle recently, I got many more calls after I raised the original asking price by $500. One guy even said I had the price wrong in my ad (he had seen the earlier listing). I told him he should have jumped at the old price, but I'd certainly consider selling it to him for the original asking price. He grunted and hung up.
I like to haggle and love to get a bargain ,everything has a price. Negotiations are almost as much fun as the search. 50% off= gang rape, 25% off=insulted and somewhat sore, 15%-10%= reach around with a happy ending
I like to haggle too. I love swap meets. And the price back-and-forth is part of the fun. I don't NEED any of these car parts, so if I get it or not isn't gonna make a big difference at the end of the day. I can't eat it and my wife and kid can't wear it or live in it. I always look over a part and ask the guy "how much"? Next I probably say "is that your bottom dollar" and he'll say "I'll take XX". Even then I'll say "Oh. I was thinking more like X". And you would be surprised how many times I buy it for that. If I don't get it I'm still having fun and not home mowing the lawn.
"Haggling over price is an art, and should be expected by both parties on anything not new and being sold in a retail store." That is the short version of what I learned over the years from my Mother. She was an artist at it on antique furniture, etc. What pisses me off is a guy who says "Make me an offer", and then gets insulted when he doesn't like your offer! My real problem with haggling is when the seller is a friend. I'm really hesitant about haggling then, and I guess I'm just wary of offending a friend. Dave
If the price is fair, I will pay asking price. If the price is too high, I just move on. I almost never offer less, unless asked. When selling, price is contingent on whether I like you or not, then again, I would not sell anything to someone who insults me by lowballing. I have actually had people upset because I either gave something away or sold it cheap. When they ask why, I tell them "I don't like you!". One of the best things I heard was from Groucho, who was selling his '38 Chevy gasser. He took the buyer for a ride and warned him, he wasn't going to drive the car. He either bought it or didn't! The buyer asked why he was being treated so bad. Groucho said, "Because you're an asshole and I don't like you!". The buyer grumbled but paid the price. Now they're good friends. PS - I know the too buyer. He is a pain in the ass!
You're not trying hard enough if you don't piss at least one person off with an offer. For some guys it doesn't take much. On the selling side, if I don't want to haggle with people, I'll use the Bay or most recently Pre73Auto. That way I just set a reserve for the least I'll take and let it ride. Sometimes I can get more than I thought it was worth in the first place.
I don't consider that to be a low-ball offer. I would consider a low-ball offer to be a car worth $20,000 to the seller and the market and some fool offers $12,000 sight unseen because he knows it is a steal even if the pictures can't show all the flaws. Worse than lowball offers is the guys that make an offer for 1/2 the asking price, don't ask any questions about the car, don't come and look at it first, just shoot super low to see how desperate you might be.
I wouldn't say I get insulted by lowballer's but I don't appreciate these craigslist A hole's interupting what I'm doing just to play their little games. If a deal is fair I'll pay, I recently bought my daughter a O/T car and the price was about $2K less then everything else I had seen, and it had really low miles, and had always been garaged. I drove it, checked it out, said I'll take it. The seller's looked kind of stunned, but hey it was worth the money, probably more, I like to get a good deal, but I'm not going to be a dick about it.
I would have told him to kiss my ass..... then hung up. Good lord what a shitty attitude. There is a guy who sets up at Charlotte every year and won't move a penny off his asking prices. He seems to always be pissed off. Pricing everything 20% higher and coming down would probably make life a lot easier. I usually shoot him a low offer on something just to monkey with him. Then I thank him & move on. JH
This past autofair, I had a really nice soingle 16" Ford Wheel that was supposed to be NOS. It was nice and it looked NOS. I had a $100 price tag on it. 50 people looked at it. Made offers and I had decided I wasn't moving on the price. This went on all day and no-one bought it. One kid and his dad picked up that wheel 3 different times and spent 20 minutes looking at it. It was really hilarious. Like it was a million dollars. So the next morning. I ripped off the tag and put $120 on it. The first guy that walked up 10 minutes later looked at it and said will you take 100? I said sure. And it was gone. Cracked me up.
I think everyone has their price, or value to what they will pay for something. I also think the same for what it takes to buy something. I think most people trying to rip a person off would feel morally uncomfortable realizing their lower then asking price is what they would pay. I was at a car show/swap meet, and I saw a rediculously high price on a car. Many time, the owner has no intention of selling, but he stands proud next to his item or vehicle, and he feels rich. Just like the car dealer, he gives you pennys for your car while you pay dollars for his... Whats a low ball offer??? I think its open to inturpitation....
I'll normally don't get lowballed as i'll always price things to sell a little cheaper. It's already a great deal so the price is firm. As i don't over sell anything the buyer is normally chuffed as its better than described. Maybe not so much profit but a quick sale and everyones a winner And to the answer the question, for me a lowball is when someone is just simply out of touch or taking the piss.
Wow, I like to deal and trade , I don't mind a respectfull low over enen if its less half what I'm asking. I will just counter the offer. Why get mad? I like to get a good deal to. The way people act makes a difference in my pice to. A good deal is one where both paties feel like they did good.
I have a friend who has a 40 ford conv with a 427 side oiler and 8 different house of color blues on it...it is one beautiful car..he is asking 68M for it and it is well priced....he owned a 48 bay body shop up north...he and I go to some shows together...he thought my car was way too cheap at 16.5M...much less 12.9M...especially when he rode in it. It seems and I get really tired of " is this car a 40,000 car for 12,900?..if it was...it would be $40,000.00....not $12,900 !! Anyway....I am not an A/H by any means....I had the car sold once for 14,000 last year at Pigeon Forge but could not complete the car due to OLD AIR messing me up getting the car ready for the buyer who wanted the air finished hooking up. I had one guy that wanted it so bad and when we met 100 miles from my house ( a mistake that will not happen again) to look at the car...he found a screw hole in the stainless and just keep talking about it and making sure I saw him rubbing it over and over....I told the guy from Charlotte that the 51 knew the way back to Asheville and it was heading back that way....have a nice day....I had told this guy EVERY FLAW that he might see or ask and he still was in love with it...but when he saw the small screw hole and keep on and on about that....that was too much. He looked under the car and found the emergency brake line hanging down about 2 inches...he got all tore up about that...I said well, anytime you have a 76 rear end tied to a 51 ford brake cable...it will have to attach differently and I left the wire as was so if I ever need to extend the cable for any reason...it is there...like I said...the car knows how to get back to Asheville. And this guy owns a 32 ford street rod. I guess my patience is not what it used to be....and stupidity is really hard to take for me. Here is the car... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQZbHtfiivI
Well that's the point, Porky... there is no actual or intrinsic value on used parts or old cars. The value is what someone will pay for it.
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