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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
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wspohn's avatar
wspohn
603 posts
 
If you make an offer that is 25% of asking, a vendor might shake his head at you as a time waster, but their idea of worth may decline as time passes and the item remains unsold..

I have made offers many times where I told the seller what I was willing to pay, and said that the offer was good until I found something else instead. A portion of those offers were accepted later on when the item sat without selling.

I got one classic car that way three years after making the offer...
lloydc's avatar
lloydc
751 posts
 
More than 50% of retail for a used item, usually with no warranty, no realistic return option, from an unknown seller, seems absurd to me. Offer whatever you want, the seller may need cash right away.  The Golden Rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.


I don't mind paying a little more than strictly necessary for a "safe" sale - someone I know or am familiar with on 'Gon, or with a lot of great feedback, or local.  But that's not so much for the item, it's for a enhanced likelihood of peace of mind. 

    
inna
7,296 posts
 
Example. There is one particular set of used but not old cables on usaudiomart for $1300, retail about $4000. He has been trying to sell them since January. They are great cables - WyWires Diamond RCAs .75 M pair. What should I offer if I wanted them ? The price already seems more than reasonable, but he can't sell them for that. If I was willing to get into this I would offer $950 plus shipping. But I am a relatively poor man, this is all big money for me. If I was not I would buy them for the asking $1300. Let's pay our share.
hartf36's avatar
hartf36
206 posts
 
My father sold cars for 35 years (Pontiacs from mid-60s to mid-70s was his heyday). I referenced the Blue Book once upon a time while talking to him about cars (which, oddly enough, we seldom talked in any detail about). He said "you can take a Zippo to that Blue Book of yours. A car (or boat, or guitar, or pair of speakers, or SS amplifier....) is only worth what someone will give you for it." Which would certainly seem to be the case.
A corollary to that is "a car (or boat, or guitar, or pair of speakers, or SS amplifier....) is only worth to me what I will pay for it."
And you don’t always know what that is until you ask or offer.
If the seller gets insulted.............in my world, likely not the type of person I’d typically enjoy doing business with any way, so........"no offense intended. Thanks for your time, good luck with your sale."
And onward.

slaw's avatar
slaw
21,372 posts
 
Begin the process by expressing to the seller how much you appreciate the opportunity to buy said product. That while you don't want to offend the seller, you do want everyone to feel good in the end. The make a reasonable offer.
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