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


If you have the 'offer' feature activated then what's the problem with any offer. Comments like 'lowball' offers will be ignored just gives me a bad vibe. If your item has been up for sale then there is no insulting offer. I've made deals with people starting far apart and coming together. If you haven't noticed the audio market seems to have come to a standstill. Any opinions?

bubba12

agree this is a nice thread, speaks to the psychology and mindset of various buyers and sellers in our hobby, where used gear is a lifeblood for many who seek to experience different equipment at an acceptable cost

i personally don’t attach ego to selling any gear... you are a seller looking for a buyer, and thus welcome all interest - different folks approaching with different methods and tone of communication get different responses, some more friendly, some more terse than others - i do try to remember buyers are also audiophiles and we come in all different ages, backgrounds, experience levels, some have more money than others, some have more fear than others in buying used

i have also lived in cultures where haggling is pretty much a ritual on any meaningful purchase... so while i personally don’t care for it, i accept it as a necessary evil, if you want to sell something, you gotta play the game, even if you don’t have ego wrapped up in the sale, maybe the buyer does in his purchase, so maybe you give a little try make him/her happy?

but in general, i do as @lalitk says, on any lower or 'lowball' offer, i state what i am willing to do, and then wait for a response

I agree with @lalitk ​​​​@jjss49 , In general you will get buyers that want to see how far they can push limits on an offer. I just did this buying a car for one of my children and got most of what I asked for, I also would have respected them declining the offer and countering. When I get a low ball offer I respectfully decline and make a counter offer. Why get mad on either side?

I am usually more interested in the quality of the buyer so as to avoid the risk of problems after the sale, which is a practice that has served me well here for over 20 years.

A very good point. I've always been a value shopper, not a price shopper. 

The difference is when you purchase directly from the manufacturer/factory shipping damage is taken care of by having them ship out another new speaker but when buying used both the buyer and the seller are often SOL in the case of shipping damage.  Better to be safe.