What qualifies a "low baller"

Speaking solely for myself, I always try to price items fairly -- to me, and to the prospective buyer. I deliberately do not inflate my asking price simply to leave a lot of "haggle room". Hence, I'd define a low-ball offer as one that is more than 15% below the price that I have asked. I usually succeed in selling most items for my asking price, or maybe 10% less.

I have had only one recent instance of a real "low-ball" offer. I was selling some Kimber 8TC cable at slightly less than half of the MSRP, and got an offer from a guy to buy the cable for 25% of MSRP (about half of what I was asking). I simply sent him a "thanks for inquiring" note, commenting that my ad stated the price as "firm".

LOW BALLERS BE DAMNED!!!!

There, now I feel much better :^)

I think that that most people who visit this site have a pretty good idea of the value of the gear that they are looking at. So if you make an offer of more than 15% percent less than the asking price of a "fairly priced" item, you are a low-baller and you just oughta reserve you purchases to eBay. That being said, if someone has had a piece of gear out there for a while and it is not moving, I think that you can start a discussion with them about pursuing a lower price, without out and out low-balling them. BTW the only thing as bad as a low-baller is a person who has a completely unreasonable price.

you guys are too polite.....

I fully agree with the above posts and follow SDcampbells method of pricing. I take the time to price my items fairly and at or below market and place my ads as FIRM. If I don't get any bites and someone offers $100 or so dollars less, then I may sell, or if I don't get offers, I will often slowly decrease my price. I have sold everything I put for sale here on Audiogon within 7 days, the expection being an amp I have currently for sale, which i felt was going fly outta here in a day.

There was a pretty popular thread here a few days ago, regarding annoying ads....in my opinion, and I kept from posting there, buyers by far can be more annoying than any ad ive read. I think, people have trouble reading ads, does it say FIRM or obo, if it is FIRM, it means unless you want it at the stated price, dont ask questions about price....is there a Big Red "SOLD" icon there?, if so, then no it is no longer for sale. How much does it weigh?, well there is a little window that has the weight of them item. How much is shipping? well, since you are in front of a computer, and the Audiogon peeps, took the time to create a link to UPS, Fedex, USPS, and you as a buyer hopefully know your own zip code, how about putting it in the field and discovering it for yourself?

I am currently receiving emails from someone interested in my amp,....he never returns my emails....he has given me his cell phone,..it is never on, it has no voice mail,,...i have given him my phone #s on several occasions, he has never called me.....i am beginning to think someone I know is playing a joke on me

Wheeeew....that feels better.....

It's a combination of things, as others have said. The most common form of low-baller is somebody who offers 60% of your asking price. I have no problem with somebody asking about getting it at 80% of a competitively priced piece if they explain their offer. Usually, when somebody is wanting to give you 85-90% of what you're asking, they explain their reasoning. Low-ballers tend to ask for 60-70% (and sometimes even much lower) and give no context. -Kirk