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Is Not Responding To An Offer Just Plain Rude?

Think about it in the context of a BUYER using the Audiogon system - 

1 - “Lowballers will be politely ignored.

What constitutes a lowball offer? Is there a percentage of the asking price below which the offer becomes a “lowball”? If so, what is it? 90%? 75%? ….Is it connected to or disconnected from the length of time the ad has been running?

2 - When the only option is “Make an Offer”.

What am I supposed to do here? Am I supposed to offer more than the asking price? Less than the asking price? If less is OK, then refer to point 1 above.

3 - When the only option is “Make an Offer” and the ad says “price is firm”

What the heck am I supposed to do with that one?

If you’re listing an item with the option of “Make an Offer”, wouldn’t it just be courteous to give the benefit of the doubt to the person submitting the offer, assume he or she is a serious buyer and not a tire-kicker, and just reply one way or the other, in a timely fashion? I mean, there’s nothing lost, right? Just say “NO”. Or make a counteroffer….what’s so difficult?

I just sold a nice preamp to a gentleman who made an offer on it, it arrived with the buyer safely and he’s thrilled with it. So now I have wires hanging loose in my system where a preamp used to be, and it’s almost the Holidays. I found a suitable replacement on Audiogon in the $7K range, made an offer within 10% +/- of the asking price, and…drum roll….….nothing. 

I sat around all weekend waiting for the seller to respond, but they didn’t have the decency to just message me and say no. So I was stuck with the “Seller has 48hrs to review your offer” BS, now I’m back to square one and without the means to play my favorite Kenny G Christmas albums. 

One bandaid fix would be for Audiogon to adopt the ebay system and allow sellers to automatically decline offers below a certain amount. Then they wouldn’t even have to interact with us lowballers and their delicate sensibilities wouldn’t get hurt…..heck, I’d even take a photo of me wearing a mask as I press the ’Submit Offer’ button, if this is a Covid thang…

Whinge over…

Merry Christmas :)



rooze
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,539 posts
 
@verdantaudio,

When I list something for $300.00 and get offers of $200.00 or less, thats lowballing and pretty rude.  If the offer came in at like$275.00, I would take it in a heartbeat.  Some people here are quite shameless in what they offer.   I had a pair of GE Triton 2+ for sale here back in 2017 which was a current model (I paid $3500.00 from my local dealer) and less than 3 months old.  I was asking $2800.00 and would have compromised at $2700.00.  Some buffoon offered me $2000.00 and wanted ME  to pay for shipping and insurance from Rhode Island to California!  At the time, it cost me about $200.00 to ship the speakers elsewhere.  Do you really think this person was warranted a reply from me?
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,523 posts
 
@stereo5 In scenario number one the offer is 33% below asking?  Yes, the initial offer is low, but I am not sure how rude it is.  They offered to buy.  Worst case, you can just straight up decline. 

In the latter scenario, that is an arrogant person making an offer that is 28% below asking and making demands on top of it.  I would click the decline button and maybe tell them it was absurd.  Maybe not bother saying anything.  In the end, we are talking about clicking a button and typing maybe 10 words.  

In both cases those scenarios are well outside of my 10% threshold. I would agree that in both cases, the offers were low-balls.  Believe me, I have received silly offers from folks on certain items.  Sometimes less than 50% of asking.  It takes me a few seconds to hit decline and say "not even close, needs to be X."  

Alternatively, your scenario above had someone offering $6000 on a $6500 item.  That is 7.7% below asking.  In that scenario, I would probably counter offer for $6250 or $6300.  I am not sure how an offer that is within 10% of asking price is "insulting to the seller."

In the end, makes not difference to me. Everyone is entitled to handle their business the way they see fit.  I was merely explaining my POV.  
unsound
7,344 posts
 
@stereo5, if you had read my previous post, you would have read that I posted as much. It’s not that big of a deal.  I’m not that offended.  I don’t need the rules changed. I just think it polite to reply to an inquiring response. If you don’t, don’t.
Happy holidays.
chorus
976 posts
 
When you make a low offer and it is ignored, that is a pretty loud response. Re being tied in for 48 hours- total nonsense. Go try again.
minorl
1,018 posts
 
Most items for sale have a blue book value.  Basically, a low, average and high sale price range for the item.  I believe that Audiogon had/has a blue book option here as well.  Same for cars, watches, etc.
So, first, in my opinion, people that are selling and buying should do their research first on the price range for the item. I typically do.
So, when I list an item for sale, I typically price it to sell.  I don't have much room for dancing on the price and don't tolerate lowballers.
They come in many forms.  There are many out there that are dealers or flippers.  They want to buy something as low as possible so they can flip it for as much as they can. 

So, I am assuming that the potential buyer did their research first.  If they come at me with a ridiculously low offer, I simply ignore them and could not care less if a person feels that it is rude.  to me their offer was not worthy of even a response.  As I mentioned, there is some room for negotiations, but lets be real here.  You have an item that is blue book priced at (average) at $10,000 and some yahoo offers $2000? , $7000 or $8000.  yeah, that's lowballing and won't get a response from me.  Offer $9,000?  I probably would respond.

enjoy
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