What is " lowball"

Why get aggravated? If you get aggravated over whether or not an offer is a lowball, do you really want to do business together? Nasty email/no email/lousy offer--my answer is the same. Chill out, put on some tunes, and find a deal elsewhere.

No Don, I, for one, would not agree.

Viridian, I'm not sure I understand your viewpoint, and I want to. As an example, let's say twelve CD players of identical make and model have sold within three months for an average of X dollars. One sold for 20% less than X and another sold for 20% more than X, but the other ten sold for +/- 5% of X. Would you agree that the market has determined the value of the CD player to be X? And, if this is the market value, then wouldn't an offer of 50% of X be "lowball"? Or, are you suggesting that the market value is determined anew each time one of these CD players comes up for sale, and the offer of 50% of X is just a starting point to determine the new value?

Yes Tvad, I am suggesting that, with a limited pool of buyers for a specialist product, the market determines a "spot" price for the item, which is different for each like item sold depending on the supply and demand at the time of the sale.
Marty

OK, Marty, I see your point. However, I'll agree with Don that even given a limited market, and a limited sales history, a 50% offer is lowball if the item is priced close to previous sales.

Now, I'll also agree that a lowball offer is as valid as any other offer and worthy of response. But, I sure haven't come across any Audiogon sellers that have been willing to continue negotiating with an offer that was far more generous than 50% of the asking price.