Anyone else receive low offers right away ?

I'm pretty new to Audiogon and fairly new to high end audio, so I don't have a lot of experience here. I have bought a pair of Sennheiser HD650s here and I'm very happy with them. I think I got a good deal and I hope the seller was happy as well. (I must give him positive feedback soon!)

I am looking for an amp right now in the sub-$2000 ballpark. That means I will try to pay a little less for some amps that are/have become available if possible. I may/will offer $1900 to $2000 for amps that are being offered for $2200 to $2400. I'm not doing it because I'm a cheapskate; I'm doing it because I'm at my upper limit. I may really want that amp, but I just cannot pay more. That is not disrespect to the seller. Rather it is my reality.

If I someday make you an offer, I will try to be respectful, but I will quite likely try to get a lower price. If I can save a couple hundred today, I will have a couple hundred more when I am able to upgrade to a nice CD player.

BTW....this site is awesome! I'm so happy I found it.

Michael

Regardless of what the offer is the seller always has the right to say NO. This is business, it's not personal.

I've made some lowish offers. I do this to get the ball rolling. And to my surprise, my first offer is sometimes accepted.

If you don't think the item is worth it. Why offer anything at all for it then? Lowballers should stick to garage sales.

I think there are competing forces here.

1) There really are folks who seem to offer 30% or so below going rate as soon as the ad comes out.

2) On the other hand, things go fast, particularly good things that are less than $2000.00. This means that if you don't offer quickly, you lose. Plus, the seller doesn't always offer at a going rate price, or doesn't consider condition or age. So I've offered as much as 10% off asking right as a sale goes online. I wouldn't say it was low-balling, but for a product I'm buying based only on reviews, I need to buy for a price that lets me resell for the same price or so.

Separately, when I first started this hobby, I wasn't in a financial position keep pouring as much money as I'd like to into it - this means that I've needed to buy and sell in order to fund my hobby. I would buy things that a) I would like to hear in my system and b) I know I can sell for a few hundred more than I paid. Sometimes, I would see a consignment piece at a local dealer that I knew would go for much more on Audiogon and made a little money that way, too. Nonetheless, I don't consider myself a "flipper" as half of my motivation was to hear the component I would buy in my system, and often I'd find that I'd keep it for years before reselling.

So in short, if you get an offer that's too low in your mind, just "cheerfully ignore" it. Some folks get offended if you ask them to absorb PayPal, some folks price their goods knowing that they'll come down by several hundred dollars....

There is a Rouge Audio 88 Magnum that is on a 2nd flip since 9-15 when I sold it.