New way of dealing with Low Ballers?

I was hassled so much for a component on ebay (that I really would have given away) by a person so many times that I let them pay for it, had my friend cut it into 4 pieces on a band saw at a machine shop, then shipped it to them in 4 small boxes. At first (while the buyer was relishing in victory) he thought he was great for making me cave in. I was even kind enough to combine shipping! I made him file a claim to get a refund and he had to ship the unit back to me to boot. I still have 100% positive feedback, but I refuse to allow people to think that they have self entitlement for things they can't afford. At least when I'm selling something. The only thing I felt guilty about was not donating what I could have gotten for the unit to the poor or an animal shelter. Hopefully this will never happen again until at least 2035. Good luck to all.

It looks like the new system does allow sellers to leave feedback for anyone that makes an offer.

This doesn't sound like a great idea. Someone could in principle have lots of feedback while *never* having completed a transaction. Not very informative, to say nothing of the endless potential for disputes; in adjudicating disputes, will the moderators make determinations about what counts as "lowball"?

John

John,

I don't think the "new" feedback system is intended for "lowball" offers. I guess it could be a way for someone to get some feedback even if they have not purchased, or sold anything. I just had some dealing with a very pleasant gentleman that was interested in an item I had. I ended up selling it hours before he decided to purchase. Based on my emails, I have no doubt he would be a great trading partner. I could leave feedback that said that. Also, if someone is really nasty during the process, I could say that too. I personally won't do either, and, I tend to agree with you, it doesn't sound like a good idea.

Giving someone negative feedback for offering to pay a price below what you think is reasonable is not illegal, nor dishonest or anything other than irritating to some. The comments will be deleted by the offended party because they have done nothing wrong and will dispute the feedback.

Get serious folks, many suggestions have been given to just ignore it and move on if you disagree with an offer. Either way it only takes a few seconds to decline the offer. Some of you sound like real hard-asses and I would not be surprised if you suffer from frequent heartburn!

Try taking a chill pill:-)

on a certain level i agree that, this being america and all, sellers should be free to overprice and buyers free to lowball. however, this site is, or purports to be, a community of gentlemen/women, not a flea market, and silly offers are more irksome in the audiogon context that are, say, off craigslist. i feel better having thus vented.