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The issue of lowballing... What does that mean?

I LOVE Audiogon. I have purchased and sold many items here and it is a wonderful resource for audio nuts of every variety. Big solid state, tubes, analog, vinyl? Sure it all goes.

So I see posts that are make offer but the seller says "lowballers" will be ignored, vilified, cursed and cussed. So why have a make offer sale? Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. It doesn't matter what you paid for it, or how much you love it. And why be upset? Declining requires one mouse click. Countering maybe five or six clicks or keystrokes. Just curious as this is a commerce site.

I have received offers that seemed really low to me, but I am still happy to have interest and I always counter offer. I recently sold a Clearaudio TT for a lot less than I thought it was worth. But all the offers were low and I had to rethink my view. It ultimately sold as a real bargin but I'm happy and so is the buyer.

Your thoughts?
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jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,502 posts
 
Sorry if this is a dupe posting to this thread. I'm trying to get this out there as I'm tired of getting hit with lowballers.

FYI

Audiogon has now defined lowball offers to be 55%.

I don’t know if you all saw this but I got an e-mail from A’gon stating they have a new feature in place to hinder insane lowball offers.

After you log in go to your Account and select Edit Account. Then scroll down in the Policies section there is a check box to automatically reject lowball offers.


Policies

Lowball offers

Automatically reject offers below 55% of your asking price.

I wish this could be user specific. I would have set this to 45% off of listing price for my tastes but it is a start for Audiogon. I hope this button works and deters the stupidity of the lowball offers some people send.

Thanks
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mechans
2,999 posts
 
@ Jedinite is it 55% off the listing price or  55% off the regular? or suggested  retail price??  The 2nd part makes some sense, but asking some of the people around here to tolerate 55% off what they think is the already discounted listing price does seem a bit much.  But all it takes for rejecting an offer is a few clicks it shouldn't be overly onerous. 
mapman's avatar
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mapman
15,679 posts
 
It's a disease unique to high end audio apparently.   Lowballers should not insult people who expect good money for their stuff and expect the same I suppose.  Not much tolerance for that.  Very insulting!

I think its reasonable to expect market value for an item fairly priced.   That's about it.

But is expecting only good offers a form of entitlement?   Just wondering.  What if the asking price is extreme?   It happens, no?   I know I may tend to overvalue the stuff I own and like from time to time.
ziff's avatar
ziff
18 posts
 
Let's face it. Most people don't know how to negotiate. Most people don't know what the item they are trying to buy or sell is really worth. We all just have an idea of what we will take or what we will give. Even that is subject to change. I suggest using "firm" or "offer" depending on what you as a seller are comfortable with. And above all, let's not take all of this so personally. 

At the end of the day....an item is worth what someone is willing to pay. The blue book is simply a guide.
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