Low Ball Offers

[PanzerAce]

Depends on the item, but as a seller I love the stories people give you right before they offer less than half of what your asking. Always gives me a good laugh.

[I Swan]

I've gotten stories about how they are a grandparent raising their grandchildren and can't afford it, stuff like that. I'm not a charity and if you're that poor maybe you shouldn't be buying obscure or premium guns or ammunition. Usually the stories I get are from flakes though.

Stuff like they can't pay for what the won in an auction or promised to buy here due to coma/brain surgery or a death in the family. Both are actual stories of what I was told and involved items costing less than $40.

[PanzerAce]

I've gotten stories about how they are a grandparent raising their grandchildren and can't afford it, stuff like that. I'm not a charity and if you're that poor maybe you shouldn't be buying obscure or premium guns or ammunition. Usually the stories I get are from flakes though.

Stuff like they can't pay for what the won in an auction or promised to buy here due to coma/brain surgery or a death in the family. Both are actual stories of what I was told and involved items costing less than $40.

Wow. I've never gotten those stories before. That's damn impressive.

[Gryff]

Hello all. Looking for your thoughts. I find myself looking a few times a day in the marketplace and often times come across ads where the seller writes "low ball offers will be ignored"

I'm curions what you all consider a low ball offer???? I mean sure... 1/2 off asking prices seems a little ridiculous. But what about 10 or 20% off?

I sometimes come across ads that interest me and want to make an offer at a lower than asking price, but don't necessarily want to offend anyone.

If someone actually puts that in their posting, it usually means that they are going to get butt hurt by any offer below their asking price.

[smak28]

Some sellers are bitter when they receive low offers but I understand buyers want the lowest price possible so if I receive an offer, I usually will let them know what my bottom line price is. Vice versa as a buyer, I'll let them know what is the most I would pay. If I don't get a response, oh well...move on but most folks I've dealt with are kind and respectful enough to respond and let me know their final price or say no. I've only had a couple that were ignorant.

[SoCal326]

Low Ball Offers

I ignore all ads that state "No Low ball offers" because I assume the seller is overly sensitive and easily offended.

Business is business and if people are worried about being offended then they should switch teams, vote for Hillary and move to rainbow land where they can buy a Unicorn for a fair price.

Everything in life is negotiable. If buyers and sellers can't deal with that then they shouldn't be buying or selling.

I can't believe the whiners here, grow a golly gee darn backbone and get on with life.




$_ =~ /job/g;

[I Swan]

Wow. I've never gotten those stories before. That's damn impressive.

I had someone blame floods in his area for lagging on payment and then set up a layaway plan and sent partial payment without even asking if I'd do that. I had someone ask for an 18 month layaway on a $1800 item, $100 a month. I had people blame mail theft rings in their area for lack of me receiving payment.

One of those guys I looked up the local news in his area it was true but the culprit had been caught like a month before my buyer supposedly sent payment. Other guy, his deal with me finally went through he was also blaming his schedule of being a truck driver. What was funny in his case was he did not know me from Adam and he was telling me in thinly veiled terms how him and some neighbors were going to murder the thief.

I have told people that asked for payment plans I'll take 1/3 down, 1/3 a month and if they miss a payment all is forfeited to me. They all slunk away. Self correcting problem. If not willing to do that they were not for real.

[1911whore]

it is all about perspective. If you offer what the gun is worth to you, then your offer is not "low ball" If someone asks 1000 over msrp on an on roster gun that is banged up and is 10 yrs old then an msrp offer is not low ball......if they are asking 500 for a glock and you offer 300 then it is low ball. They either take your offer, or they do not take your offer. It is really about what the thing is worth to you.

[I Swan]

it is all about perspective. If you offer what the gun is worth to you, then your offer is not "low ball" If someone asks 1000 over msrp on an on roster gun that is banged up and is 10 yrs old then an msrp offer is not low ball......if they are asking 500 for a glock and you offer 300 then it is low ball. They either take your offer, or they do not take your offer. It is really about what the thing is worth to you.

There are guns that are worth nothing or next to nothing to me should I send those offers? There is also realistic offers. If say maybe before sending rediculous offers that checking Gunbroker completed prices might make sense. If there is a track record of sales at a certain price range offering less probably will not usually make sense.

[jeffrice6]

There are guns that are worth nothing or next to nothing to me should I send those offers?.

Why not? It doesn't cost anyone anything?

[1911whore]

Jeffrice6 for the win.

[I Swan]

Why not? It doesn't cost anyone anything?

Because I think it would be rather silly and a waste of time for me to offer people 0 for some guns or say $300-375 for Glocks. For ME, that's what I am willing to pay for most Glocks and I have paid that and less after much searching but I do realize that Glocks can and do regularly sell for more.

Maybe it is the shotgun approach. Maybe some of these lowballers have nothing better to do so they send rediculous trade offers and lowball offers to many people hoping by the law of averages someone will bite. Or they just get off on screwing with people.

[TeddyBallgame]

you never know

on another site i came across a guy selling some panels i was interested in for about $5.49 each

it showed he had 20 in stock, so i put together a offer of $3.00 ea. and i would buy all of them...i figured 3 bucks each was a good starting point, maybe he would counter around 4 bucks which was still good buy for me

he accepted the $3 bucks offer, so you never can tell

[1911whore]

you offer what it is worth to you based on your research.....if you can get it new at an lgs for less then make the offer worth your time. if they take it, great, if they dont....buy it new.....easy

[acepilot55]

Something I have run into frequently (not just here but also on Ebay, Craigslist, etc) is that many sellers will slightly inflate the price because they anticipate people offering lower. If someone takes an $800 gun and lists it for $1000, some poor uninformed soul might offer $800 thinking they're getting a great deal.

It all comes down to doing your research before making the offer since there are so many factors to consider.

Just go find out what it sells for new in your local shop... then check any past listings that have sold either here or on other auction/classified sites (if the seller didn't delete the price). That should give you a good idea of what the gun is actually worth and then, if you really need to, you can deduct from that depending on a particular gun's condition, availability (ie - AR-15 market saturation), etc.