What is "low ball"

Ah, one of the eternal questions; quite a few past threads on this.

As everyone is noting, this is pretty subjective, but I'm quite sure that 75% is too high for the lowball line; for example, pristine dealer demos, b-stock, or just sale items often come in with markdowns more than 25%, with warranty. I think it pretty reasonable to look for 60% of msrp for used electronics, and sometimes less for hard to ship speakers.

I've both bought and sold for 60% with no cries of lowballing, but this may be due the fact that I tend to ignore adds with things like "lowballers will be politely ignored," "no tirekickers," etc, because I prefer not to trade with people who initiate transactions by insulting potential buyers. If the seller has a firm limit, they should say so. If the seller doesn't want to list a firm price (thus leaving wiggle room in order to maximize their return), they should entertain offers.

Just my 2c. Takes all kinds.

John

I agree with Slikric, too many people today want something for nothing. They make excuses about the economy being bad. So do lots of companies that pay a lot less money to employees now. The company makes just as much money, but they take advantage of the employees. I may not be rich, but I'm glad I always bought and sold right to retire under 50. Good luck to all and remember, no lowballing.

I basically list everything at my lowest possible price. On very rare occasions I will take a little less. Unless I'm missing it somewhere when I list, there is no way to list it as "firm" anymore. Even when that feature was available on the old system, I still would get offers. Now, I usually have to list things as "buyer can only make offers" It doesn't mean I will take less. I do this because we sell retail, and at other sites. If I have one player, and it sells somewhere else, I don't want someone on Agon hitting buy it now, only to find out I don't have the piece any longer. With the way the wording is now, and they way I have to list, it's just a green light for people to make crazy offers. I get more "lowball" offers now than I care to think about. I sure miss the old system, but I won't even get started on that.

Timhru, with the new Audiogon format I have not seen "OBO" on any ads. Did you write that in yourself?

In many cases, it's subjective but overall, I think lowballing is when a buyer offers a price for a product that because it is so far below the current market value, it is actually kind of insulting to the seller. The flip side is that some sellers are so out of touch with their asking prices that maybe we should call them highballers. LOL