Posted: 7/7/2008 12:23:11 PM EDT
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I'm selling something for $X, and one person asks "will you take X - $10?" I say no. Then they say "will you take X - $5?" At the same time he asks that, someone else says "I'll take it for X". I'd tell the first guy no, either way, but should I give him a chance to offer X since he was in first, or should I give it to the other guy since he offered the full amount? I'm leaning toward the latter. |
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You can sell to whomever you choose - but the first person to offer your asking price would be the first person I'd select and I think most would agree. What I REALLY hate, is when you drive quite a distance to meet somebody after they agree to the price and then try to offer you less. Makes me want to slap the tar out of somebody. |
I say it goes to the guy who offered X. "In first" accepting your offer beats "in first" trying to talk you down. If you construe your ad as an offer to sell, then the guy who accepts your offer to sell by saying "I'll take it at your price" is the one who has validly accepted your offer, and the one with whom you have a contract. |
I had this happen on a trade. Drove to meet the guy, and was told "I decided you didn't need all those magazines with it" |
| after the first offer of $X there is no problem with giving the first guy (low-baller) a chance to match. But you are not obligated to do so, I personally would go with the guy that was more convienient to me, closer, paying cash, is not wearing a bowtie made of human ears qualities like that |
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I let them know. I don't mind guys making low offers or trades, but my instinct is that the bargaining closes when the first person steps up to the plate, so hagglers do so at their own risk, no matter how interested they are. The guy who steps up deserves that, I think. |
As to your last point, AMEN. I sold a dinette set on Craigslist recently. Agreed to a price number via e-mail after some back and forth. We're talking basic "offer and acceptance." Girl (very cute, but frothing at the mouth about the liberal cause of the moment), shows up at my place a few days later and says "well, now that I'm here and you pulled the ad, I can offer you (15% less than our agreed price)?" Me:  So I asked her to tell me what it was about seeing the dinette that made her decide it was worth less. "Nothing, I'm just negotiating." I sent her packing. Even after she "got it" and said, "no, here, I'll pay what we agreed," I told her to shove off. "But I drove all this way," she said. Too bad. |
I would have sold it to her, but I would have "Negotiated" a 15% price bump |
there is no such thing as "lowballing". An offer is an offer. If you get so emotional when someone doesn't think what your selling is worth what your asking that you call their offer a "lowball", then maybe you should clean out the sand. Sandy 
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If I offer $5 for a $500 item, that is lowballing. It tends to mean a offer that is far below the going rate and tends to be insulting to the seller. It is not looked at as a legitimate offer the vast majority of the time. |
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