Hello! There was a recent thread about lowball offers...got me wondering...how and when is an offer a lowball offer? Here's why I ask: Whenever I buy something used, I assume that there's some padding built into the price, and, like most people, I want to get the best deal that I can, so I always make an offer lower than the asking price. I generally don't offer less than 20% below the asking price ($4000 on a $5000 item), more often 10% below ($4500 on a $5000 item) if it seems (to me, at least), that the item was at an ok price to begin with. Would either of those scenarions be considered a lowball price? At what point does an offer become "lowball". I've also seen situations where something is obviously priced WAY, WAY above what it's worth, in which case I'll try to mention to the seller what similar items went for locally and say that I'll be prepared to make an offer around that price. When I'm buying, I always try to be polite, and graciously accept a refusal. When I'm selling, I always expect to receive a lower offer, but I've had some offers that were half of what I was asking, and I generally try to price whatever I'm selling in line with the market, give or take a little. When I get offers for half my asking price, I regard that as a stupid-ass lowball offer and shut the person down immediately, politely. What does everyone think about offers, counter offers, and lowball offers? Thanks... Chris
Instead of getting bent over a low starting offer, COUNTER back with your best price. Why the need to be insulted? I find haggling to be a dead art.
I agree with you 100% I think a fair price with "firm" next to it is a better approach. Some guys just love to sit on their overpriced crap and wait for a sucker to come along. A Craigslist hot rod dealer out of Santa Rosa CA comes to mind... Your converse are not shop shoes. Buy boots.
For me a low ball price would be like me asking $5000 for a car I know is worth that and some idiot offers me $2000. Watch Pawn Stars and you will get the idea.
Well I suppose if I had a carb for sale for 300 bucks, and you offered me 50 bucks i would consider that a low ball offer. I would not consider an offer a low ball offer unless it was way below the actual value of the object. Say there is something for sale that normally goes for X dollars, it is for sale for .75X and you offered .5X that woould be a low ball offer. Now for arguements sake the product is for sale for 1.5X and you offer X for it I would not consider that a low ball offer but the seller still may consider it a lowball offer because he wants 1.5X. I think that lowball is in the eye of the beholder most of the time. Now I did have something for sale for X a couple of years back and a fella offered me .5X, I came back with .75 X figured I would meet him half way. He didn't even respond so I guess he thought that .5 X was all it was worth or was too ashamed to tell me that .5X was all he had. his mistake if .5X was all he had I would have probably taken it. But he would have had to have been honest with me and let me know that .5X was all he could actually afford. Or maybe I would have just said bad things abouth him because he was not financially successful. A few years back right here onthe HAMB a fella has some pieces that I really needed to finsh something up. They were a little out of my price range so I told him that I couldn't swing that much but I really neeed the parts. He came back with how do ya got so I told him. He came back with what's your address. So I told him and ask for his, he said, "Take your wife to dinner." The parts came next day air. I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with the question, but it has everything to do with the HAMB some damned good people out there.
Good question. I always shoot a guy a price I am willing to pay,plus a little wiggle room. I personally never get affended over someone so called low balling. I just decline and say thanks. I usually have a price in mind and get pretty close to it when I offer.
I have sold many parts from cars..... if I have something advertised at $150 and am offered $50, I don't get upset. I can refuse it or counteroffer. Or I can accept it !! Your part, at any instant in time, is worth what someone offers. You can wait for a later time if you wish. Or perhaps ask your wife to bury it with you.
I am a total misfit when it comes to selling and buying. When I see something I need I pay the price and move on but I won't pay more than I'm comfortable with. When selling I know what my stuff is worth, that's what I ask and that's what it takes for you to own it. I don't have time or find Hummor in Bull Shit haggeling. When a counter offer of any number is thrown my way I have one standing remark. Looks like your still shopping. I've never understood the push it up and come down to what you really want. Have you ever tried that at your Dr's office or the Grocery store? The Wizzard
x2 to that Rip haggling I think its weird that the price of gold is so high only cause our dollar is worth literally a fraction of what to use to be even 20 years ago. (thanks to inflation and modern money mechanics) so you would think our old cars are worth more yet everyones offering half.. How about offer double instead cause our dollar is so weak, the way I see it our hobby depends on big government and big government has been ruining it. Cars sell all over the world they're value should be alittle more stable cause they're just as precious to all.
I have bought PLENTY parts at half the asking price. I've even had a seller agree to my half-price bid so fast that I wondered if I offered too high. You can always go up on your second offer, but never down. Low ball offers don't insult me if I'm selling, because I can always say "no".
i'm not much of a seller, but like people i do call around and try to get the best price on parts and services, and question them on their history and experience... but if i need something done and it's convenient and they have low overhead i just pay it..
$11,000 offer on an $18,000 asking price is a lowball offer to me. $10 offer on a $12 part is not. I don't mind low offers I just say "NO" or counter offer what I would sell the car for. Once I counter offer I am done. I try to price my stuff in the ballpark of what the market is bringing. I do have to raise my asking price a little on-line because of fees (Paypal) and because so many people want "free" shipping, but that gives me room to come down if they pay shipping or want to pick-up locally.
Alchemy the only time I think that it really becomes an issue is if you are desparate to sell. If you are not making your living selling it very seldom becomes an issue. If you are making your living at it then there is always a certain amount that you have to have just to stay afloat. That makes it an issue.
I operate much like the original poster. These type threads are continually popping up and I wonder how often the contributors have liitle experience in sales.. Most people do not have much experience in dealing with selling items to individuals. The internet has made it easy for anyone to advertise, but it takes experience (or understanding) to accept the B.S. that is associated with selling something is part of "the cost of doing business". I will entertain all offers and you will never see the words "lowball" or "lowballer" in my ads. It takes at least one offer to make a sale. If you do not like dealing with "lowballers", don't advertise an item or do your homework and price it fairly.
I'd think that if a guy was offering less than .75 of the fair market price for the item no matter what the asking price was he was lowballing. Guys that do their homework on the parts that they are looking for usually know what the fair going price for said piece is. There was a guy on the local craigslist advertising a set of stock stamped steel Chevy Vortec valve covers for 50.00 for a while. In his case I don't think offering 10 or 15 bucks out the extreme outside would have been lowballing the guy. I see he now has them listed for best offer.
I'm not a great haggler. If I feel something is overpriced I keep walking. I learned a lesson about lowballling many years ago. I was watching a show about the construction of a huge shopping mall/ apartment complex in Texas I think it was. All the property had bee bought up except for a small bungalow on 1/2 acre. The corporate guys offered 100k. The owner said stop wasting my time the property is worth 150k. And knowing he had them by the short and curlies said pay me now or when you come back the price will be 200k. To make a long story short by the time negotiations finished a year or so later the price ad risen to 1.5 million. I thought that was a great way to get rid of tire kickers. I had a bike for sale at $1000. A more than fair price. A guy stopped to have a look and offered $300. I countered with $1200 and the look on his face was priceless! He asked me was I serious and I said, very. He said why didn't I just price it at $1200. I replied because it isn't worth $1200 but my time is valuable and if you are going to waste it be prepared to pay for it.
Some sellers will dicker, some won't. I mean, I work for a group of car dealerships so I see it all the time, just had a guy call and offer us $30k for a car that we have online for $49,944 and that does $46-47 at the auction. That's a lowball. Meanwhile, my 54 Ford? Price was fair so I just flat out paid the man, he was a nice guy and described the car fairly and the price was, IMO, more than fair. Last summer I tried to buy a couple 56 Lincolns, one turned out to be a rotbox, the other needed some floor work, guy was asking $15500 obo and I offered $14k, he said no way he needed $15500... so why say obo then?
I suck at haggling. I've got a stack of stuff (O/T) I want to sell so I can get to work on my Cadillac. I just know I'm going to have to deal with the usual craigslist people and I don't look forward to it. None of it is worth alot but I don't want to give it away. I usually end up buying high and selling low.
I am not into haggling either...when I sell something I sell it for what it's worth to me. If I am buying something I pay what it is worth to me. I really hate it when people think that they HAVE to haggle...if the price is fair then pay it and go away happy. In my experience people respect you when you know the value of an item, ask a fair price, and stick to your price...
I don't know how it applies to lowballing but if you are selling cars or a car you have to expect a certain amount of tire kickers. Hell when I was young I used to go to the used car lots just for fun, it was cheap entertainment. I even bought a car or two while I was out tire kicking. I have been known to offer way less than advertised price on things because I knew that the price was way more than I was willing to pay. I have had some rude comebacks and had some others come back with "gee, is that all this is worth?" I do get some people that ask me what my bottom dollar is, I think that is an old school way to say I would like to have that but I don't want to insult you. It works for me, I always have some wiggle room built into a price. If I don't have any wiggle room my ad states that I don't have any. I don't like ads that say OBO, as a rule if they don't spell out that they are willing to bargain OBO doesn't mean a damned thing any more. I looked at a '53 f 100 a few years back that was advertised 700.00 OBO. I didn't haggle I had 700 in hand. The fella said that he couldn't take it because he wanted to give it a day or two and took my ohone number. I guess he thought that OBO ment that it was an auction with 700 being his reserv.
That's just wrong...I would have told him that my $700 full advertised price offer would be reduced by $100 for every day he waited to call me.
Buying and selling is a two way street to start with. Many cars and parts are way overpriced to start with. Just because you buy a car to fix up for $3000 and spend $5000 more on parts and labor to sell it, doesn't make it worth $8000. Plus there is always the old adage "Its only worth what someone is willing to pay for it".
Low balling is not intended as an insult. I contacted a seller and offered $3000 for a truck listed at $9000,The guy balked! 3 months later now the truck is listed at $4000. You offer what YOU are willing to pay, some sellers have lofty prices or are trying to recoup the money they have invested and in todays market it just is not too likely..No such thing as an insult when you got cash in hand,, just a good time to see if you have a motivated seller. My tip,,,if your vehicle is not selling RAISE the price! It works
Lowball offers remind me of one of my friends (RIP timmy) His philosophy worked for him and it went like this. If I walk into a bar and ask 100 girls if they want to fuck & say nothing else, I might get slapped 99 times. I never saw him get past 20 before he was out in the parking lot with some form of female, never did see him get slapped not even once, cant tell you how many times this had worked for him other than every time. No standards, but he had a good time. These are the type that shoot low offers before even looking at stuff. If I inquire about a price of an item for sale at a swap meet, if its priced fair ill buy it. If its high, I don't offer anything other than my polite opinion, "no thanks that is over priced". That gets one of two responses, " ok how about x " or nothing. If its nothing, then I know exactly who I'm dealing with and keep walking. If its the other, I know the guy also thinks its high but wants to sell it and willing to negotiate.
What gets me is people put a car or part up for sale and do not list a price and then say NO LOWBALLING..How ta hell are we supposed to have any idea of what he considers lowballing when he doesnt tell you the price that he has in mind..
This is great advice except when people either mistakenly believe their stuff is worth 5X, or they're just fishing. The real art is talking someone up to your price (as a seller) or talking the seller down to your level. I've never been great at the salesman part, but when I do sell I try my best to let the item sell itself and to make the experience positive for the buyer.
I like all offers I can always say no.Some people get hurt fealings I dont understand?Also I dont mind making a offer that I thank is fair and I am usually right.. RLS
This was taken from a post here. That may or may not fit, But does make sense. "If you are trying to sell something, put a price on it that's 10% more you want. Don't expect a potential buyer to put an offer on it because it will always be a low ball figure. Be willing to settle a price for 5% less than you want. People offering you 60% or less will be told no outright, while offers above 60% will be countered. If you are trying to buy something that someone doesn't have for sale be prepared to make an offer on the spot. Be fair and don't low ball if you seriously want the item. Sometimes you will get lucky and the seller will give you a price right off the bat but not always. On the same note if someone wants to buy something of yours and you don't particularly want to sell make them give you a figure. If you really don't want to sell its still fun to watch them sweat a second or two. If you are buying something that is for sale (with known asking price). Make your starting offer 10-20% less than you are willing to give. Be able to walk away but also if you know you have a good deal then jump on quick. Never gamble with more than you are willing to lose. And end all deals in a Handshake. A Handshake is your bond, your honor, your word, and your integrity. Make it mean something. I will not do business with someone that backs out or tries to change the deal after the handshake. I'm sure there's more and I'm sure I paraphrased a lot of his wisdom but I constantly see people and try to do business with people that don't seem to have the basic concepts of horsetrading. Obviously you can play with the numbers some to suit your personality. I hope this helps someone out. Feel Free to add your own stories and interpretations."
I love haggling…well I should say in person not on the net you would think the opposite. I find seeing what you are buying makes it easier you can see the faults and the seller’s reaction to your offer… I always start off asking what’s the best you can do…What I don’t like are the DICK’S that say I would rather crush it of burn it blablabla
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