My rant for the day.

[Slpeod]

OOOH. This begs for a new thread, entitled "Price My Crap !"

Theme - Post pictures, and we get to say how worthless it is !

Only the first response can be in $, the rest have to be in redneck trade value (one rusty horse-shoe, 3 Pez dispensers and a Skoal can, Beanie Babies, etc. You get the idea).

Oh man +1 million on that.... can't wait to value something in old Copenhagen tins and argue over it

[Guest bluecanary25]

Lowball is anything less than an asked for price.

Let free market determine worth. If i axe too much then don't buy. If i wanna sell i will come off of it

Butcha donno if'n youze to hi until ya herez all da lowball offerz n-stuf. Den youze kan axe a different amount.

[TrickyNicky]

Idk, I have been known to make offers lower than what a seller has asked. Having said that at times I don't even bother and just pay up the asking amount, just depends on the value as I see it.

What has worked in the past to help keep the peace is to phrase my counter offer correctly.

I don't just say " hey I'll give you $50 less than you wanted". It's all about tact.

A guy last year had a beat to snot 1969 Gibson sg special on craigslist with some fuzzy pics and a $800 price. I politely asked if he would consider a lower offer if no one else jumped on it in a month and to keep me in mind if so.

Turns out he was told the aftermarket bridge(the part the strings rest on on the body) was super rare and valuable but if he could keep it he would take $600.

I went and checked it out and it was worse than I thought, non original finish multiple extra routes, a previously broken neck he claimed to have never noticed etc.

I politely said I was not interested and apologized for taking up his time. He asked if there was a price point that would interest me, I said $400 as restoring it to it's former glory will be quite the challenge both time consuming and expensive.

Long story not quite so long, he was very happy to have $400 and I was happy with my project geetar.

So that's my story on buying something for half the original asking price and keeping both people happy with the deal.

It is IMO all about phrasing the QUESTION correctly.

[Guest A10thunderbolt]

Some people like to haggle others don't. To be fair I don't see anything wrong with asking if they will come down in price, however if I see something I want at a price I feel is fair I will just buy it. I'm happy and they are happy we both walk away with something.

[TN Outlaw]

Some people like to haggle others don't. To be fair I don't see anything wrong with asking if they will come down in price, however if I see something I want at a price I feel is fair I will just buy it. I'm happy and they are happy we both walk away with something.

this... as long as the asking price is fair and i have the money i will buy it for the asked price

[Timestepper]

The definition of a "good trade" is when both parties think they got the best part of the deal. Had a guy bragging to his buddies a few years back that I'd bought an "old flag holder" at his garage sale for 3 bucks! In the mean time, I got to brag to my buddies that I'd picked up an original Civil War Bayonet that some dipstick had turned up side down, stuck in the ground and put a flag in the base and only paid 3 bucks for it!

[hkgonra]

For every person that lowballs there is at least one person that prices and item for $500 which can be bought online for $329.

Edited May 9, 2012 by hkgonra

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Nothing wrong with haggling. It should be done politely, though, and if someone is trying to get something for

nothing, I wouldn't respond. If the price is good, I will snap it up, but sometimes negotiation is called for. It's

always best to walk away, than to be rude. Some people just don't know how to negotiate and they think they

can be obnoxious and still expect to win the deal. Those people are dumb.

[gjohnsoniv]

See the thing is the scope I am trying to sell and it's priced low even though it includes rings and covers. Yet for some reason some people think that it's only worth 200 bucks because they found a similar one on ebay for $250. The people who are the most annoying though are the ones who shoot the daylights out of a pistol, put new grips on it, and then try to sell at retail. Also those 500 dollar SKS's with Tapco stocks.

Edited May 9, 2012 by gjohnsoniv

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Oh, I understand. There will always be someone around who thinks that way. They are the ones

who spend too much money on something and try to make it up by getting someone else to pay for their

mistakes, or vice versa. Best to just walk away sometimes.

[gjohnsoniv]

Oh well. Kinda like the $750 Kel-Tec Sub 2000. I don't mind when people ask for a couple dollars off the item it's just I hate when they want 200 off a $400 Leupold scope that's new.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Some folks the haggling is the fun part of the deal. A dedicated haggler will be disappointed and depressed if you just pay him the asking price because he was hoping to get a chance to practice his bargaining skills. Am guessing it is an enjoyable form of social interaction for some folks and cultures. Have read that in some cultures if you don't make at least a few token back-and-forth offers, even if you are buying an apple at a fruit stand, the seller might think you are an odd duck. When I'd visit shops in mexican border towns it seemed thataway. If you just pay what is on the price sticker they don't have any respect and think you are an ignerant goober or a pushover.

Folks from those cultures, who think it is normal and expected to haggle, can make USA folks impatient. Have seen Indians or Pakistanis haggling with the manager at BiLo trying to knock a few pennies off a jug of bleach or whatever, which apparently would be entirely normal in their culture, but can annoy a mainstream north american. I know tradesmen who avoid doing work for Indians, Paks, Middle-Easterners and Greeks, because the workmen will estimate the bottom dollar they can do the work for, and get annoyed when the prospective customer wants to haggle over his (already) bottom-dollar price estimate. Maybe a tradesman in India would have quoted unrealistically high, looking forward to an enjoyable bargaining session to finally arrive at the "final price" with the customer?

Sis lived in Germany a few years and said it was the opposite there. Dunno if she was correct, but sis said that not only is it impolite to haggle or ask for a discount, but for instance if you take yer car to the mechanic, then the mechanic might get seriously insulted even if you ask how much the repair will cost.

USA natives seem a mix of horse-traders and folk who get insulted over horse-trading, so people can get rubbed the wrong way. I don't care for haggling and will usually either pay the asking price or not buy. If I do try bargaining, try to be real polite and non-pushy about it not to ruffle feathers, because there's no way to tell whether you are buying from a straight-retail kinda guy or a feller who loves horse-trading and thinks it is fun.

I over-deliberate before buying anything and therefore rarely need to sell because if I didn't want something, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place, so rarely need to sell anything off. And I usually work a gadget to death until it ain't worth much or anything by the time comes to sell it. Some toys seem to hold value or even appreciate in value. Lots of amateur astronomers take real good care of gadgets and figure a fair price for a 10 year old eyepiece is maybe a few percent below the brand-new price. But they have the same attitude when buying used, so it all works out in that trading community. But I hardly ever would buy anything used in that kind of market, because if there is only a ten percent diff between new and used, I'll just pay the extra 10 percent and buy new.

Perhaps some firearms items are the same kind of market, where things hold pretty good value over time assuming excellent condition? In music, recording, pro audio, seems the only things that can hold value or appreciate in value are certain models of old geetar, certain vintage models of old geetar amplifier, occasionally old rare stomp boxes, certain rare instances of old desirable speakers, vintage signal processors, or vintage "cult" microphones. Certain vintage drums and cymbals can also hold value. But generally most music gear loses value fast even if it is in perfect working order. I would never consider buying typical used music gear unless priced less than half original wholesale price.

So the typical old mixer, synthesizer keyboard, run-of-the-mill microphone (even really nice barely-used non-vintage studio mics), non-vintage speakers, non-vintage signal processors, if the price ain't pennies on the dollar I would never buy it. For one thing, a lot of that stuff might run perfect for another 10 years or it might go up in smoke tomorrow. If you can't fix it yourself you probably can't afford to pay somebody to fix it for you. Cheaper to buy another than get it repaired. Ain't gonna pay much for a non-warranty item that might burn up a day after I buy it.

I used to sell off music gear that got so old I didn't have any use for it anymore, but maybe should have built another shed and kept it for nostalgia sake. Sold a bunch of stuff I wouldn't mind still having, but after awhile it gets to be a storage problem. Just sayin, I'd price the old stuff maybe 10 or 20 percent of retail and hope somebody would come tote the gadget off good and quick and free up some space in the shop. Sometimes I'd give it away. Would section 179 most stuff on taxes, so if you buy the gadget for $2000, use the carp out of it for 5 years, then sell it off. The tax deduction was taken 5 years ago. If I give the gadget away or sell it cheap, just count the small receipts as additional income rather than messing with depreciation adjustment paperwork. If a person was selling section 179 equipment frequently or almost making a profit on it, might have to spent too much time figuring how to do the taxes more "exactly right" than simply claim the tiny sale receipts as gross revenue.

There's problems even giving stuff away. IRS wants to know who you gave it to, so they can chase that guy down and make sure he paid income tax on the value of the gadget he got fer free. I would never advise doing anything illegal, but a taxpayer fed-up with IRS rules might decide to give away old equipment but then tell IRS he scrapped the item and threw it in the dumpster.

[Guest pfries]

I'll trade you a lighted Strohs sign (light is busted) and a '77 El-Camino no motor/trans, no doors or wheels. Sitting on concrete blocks in waist high grass and blackberry thorns.

\

What do you want for the blackberry thorns? Wife made me brush hogmine down....

[hornett22]

I have tried to sell a rifle. Axing price is 650, its a fair price.

I inevitably get someone saying i will give you 600, i countered with how about 700.

Kinda figured it was fair. Why does a prospective buyer feel it is okay to lowball you?

I love the look on their faces when i counter with a higher price.

People are morons and i hate dealing with them.

I agree. this is my tactic with work as well as selling. I'm not much of a haggler. If it's a good price I'll gladly pay it. I might ask for a cash price on an item in a store but that's it.