If you solicit offers, shouldn't you respond?


I recently made a very reasonable offer on an item that was being sold on a strictly "make an offer" basis (there was no option to buy the unit at the asking price, just "make an offer". So I offered the asking price less shipping).

The seller never responded, so I sent a PM. No response to that either. My offer has expired with no word from the seller.

Isn't there, simply as a matter of courtesy and responsible behavior, an obligation to respond to reasonable offers if you're soliciting them?
128x128etnier
Etnier, did ur seller have solid member feedback? I take my feedack extremely seriously, particularly when I am the seller. Like it or not folks, buying and selling on A'gon is based on a lot of trust, especially when one considers the money invovled.
Unless you're talking about an item that costs a fortune to ship, offering the asking price less shipping seems very reasonable. Sounds to me like the seller was away for a few days or maybe his computer is down or something like that. Give it a couple more days. Not everyone does this 365 days a year.
I don't think that not responding is an appropriate answer under any circumstance: I was just raised better. This isn't a biker bar.

But I don't know the Audiogon style, so maybe it's appropriate to be rude here.

The seller had solid feedback: 100% on 57 transactions.

I wish there were a way to leave feedback for not responding to an offer and two followup messages.
A followup: the item has apparently been sold. It seems that rather than using the auction option here the seller (who put no 'buy it now' option on the listing) was conducting an undeclared auction, using offers rather than bids.