Why do so many sellers take offense to offers on their listings?

i’m the GM of a large Honda Automobile Dealership. over 48 years in the car business i’ve managed the sale of around 150,000 cars......one at a time.

i don’t take low offers personally. OTOH many of my customers take everything personally. so when civilians can’t deal with a low offer when they are selling things, that is normal human nature to me.

buyers simply need to be the adult in the room, give sellers space, and time to react and calm down. games of chicken can develop stopping logical communications. buyers need to find common ground with the seller to somehow move things along. but there does need to be good faith on both sides for progress to happen. sometimes good faith is missing. and so failure to launch.

if a low offer is made that is just a trial balloon that is not in good faith, that is an insult. so the seller will see it as just a ruse to get a lower starting figure. in the car business we just tell that game player that we are close but we ’just can’t quite stretch to it’. the ball is back in the buyer’s court to see if they get ’real’ or go bother someone else.

good faith is good faith. if your offer is not realistic then you are the problem.

@mikelavigne You probably nailed it.  Most audio dealers couldn’t use their ‘sales’ technique in any other vocation. They certainly wouldn’t sell many cars.

I have made plenty of easy deals as well. I’m just surprised at how many put something for sale and nobody buys it yet they get bent out of shape at a lower offer.

If I see an ad and I feel the asking price is out of line, I disregard it.

I have "low balled" auctions on ebay, "not tested" "not working" "sold for parts". Even if they do not state "open to offers", I send them a message. I state the possible problems it may have and cost to repair. Hopefully justifying my low offered gamble. I low balled one Mark Levinson power amp. It was the Seller father’s amplifier, and he knew nothing about it. A gamble purchase for me. I suggested for he to take the unit to a reputable "highend" stereo shop to have it checked out. Limo connections. He might get more money and faster sale if the position or disposition is known. "Who knows. They may give you an offer for it right then and there for it."

I try to price an item low enough to my willing to sell for price so that I attract a buyer. I think 30% over that may keep people from bidding. So I guess a 30% lower than my willing to sell for price offer would be too low a starting point.

I guess it’s a balancing act of close enough to my price without turning away a serious potential buyer, but close enough to my price so an actual deal can be struck.

My 2¢