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What is a lowball offer? How low is low?

Recently I was looking at 2 -3 preamps. One was particularly interesting which was a Conrad Johnson 16LS2. The asking price was $3500. I have always wanted the 16LS2. But it was out of my price range. I couldn't make a serious offer. So I didn't and moved on. A few days later I see that it has sold for $2500! What? That was in my budget. But I would have considered that more an insult than a offer. And because I didn't want to insult the seller, I lost a good preamp to someone who was willing to take the chance. So what is the lesson learned here? Apparently I should insult more sellers . The seller wasn't insulted after all. he sold it for $2500. Or is the lesson that I take this stuff too seriously?Should sellers be insulted when offered 50% of their price?  I had thought that 10-15% below the asking price was a realistic offer. Now I'm not sure. So what do you consider a low ball offer? And please, I understand that a product is worth what someone is willing to pay. So no economic lessons please
128x128artemus_5
zavato's avatar
zavato
1,405 posts
 
The 16LS2 is an older preamp, long out of production. Offer what you like. It's your money, and it's up to the seller to say yes or no. You have no downside. Frankly, the idea of a low offer being an insult is a little silly in my opinion. It's not personal- it's business. I once had a buyer accept my offer and then complain I lowballed him. That I truly didn't understand. 
mickeyb
584 posts
 
Nobody pays retail for new gear. Maybe 15-20% lower than retail. Therefor if a piece has a retail of 10k, a reasonable selling price, if it’s a highly regarded piece and around 3-5 yrs old, would be around 4000-4500 depending on condition. 
It’s important that you keep this in mind when you make an offer. Nobody pays retail! 
lhasaguy's avatar
lhasaguy
339 posts
 
I watch the prices of my gear and while they are not new, I can get what I paid for my MC501 mono block amps and probably more than I paid for my C220 tube preamp, 9 years ago.

Well kept McIntosh gear out performs the used marketplace IMHO.

It is all brand dependent I believe.
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
artemus_5

Did you read the last sentence of my post???
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
Not all products these days have gone through dealers.

eg, we have a ’direct to end user’ tier of cables. (anything that says ’GC’ in the name)

Those cables are already discounted, when sold new.

To sell them for quite a bit below that price, is, well..a case of not doing your market research.

This is becoming more common, as the market advances to fewer and fewer brick and mortar dealers and more and more direct sales. Jut like the rest of the internet sales that are out there.

The trick is to figure out who is who and what is what in that arena.
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