Doug Henning disappearing act

Why do sellers bother to put O.B.O. on an ad when their price is firm in the first place? It doesn't hurt to ask someone with a O.B.O tag on their price what their bottom line is and invariably when asked in my experience O.B.O. sellers either get offended or do not respond to questions. A simple FIRM on the price in the ad goes a long way to stave off low ballers.

I cant say I've ever backed out on a confirmed deal ... I've asked about availability and then declined to purchase for various reasons but in order to secure a good deal - you have to :

A. Watch like a hawk ... which I can’t at work (7:30-5)

B. Jump to a confirmation right off the bat - I hate that. “I’ll take it!”

Mostly because the Ebay hawks watch these sites and buy to resell - this is complete BS.

I like to introduce myself in a polite fashion and ask a few questions ... then agree or decline. I gave up on low balling because it's generally looked down on. I can say I have been burned TWICE by sellers who agreed to sell to me but took a Paypal transaction from someone else before I could confirm and send the money. That REALLY gets me going. I think if you are willing to take a money order … you should at least give a day or two to Paypal the money. Don’t email me and tell me I was too late – after we made a deal … I’m still mad about it. It’s that kind of behavior that spawns the Ebay kind of atmosphere that we all don’t want to deal with.

I would advise sellers to be picky about buyers if you get multiple people offering to buy. Don’t just take the first offer – it’s your deal … you can select WHO you want to sell to. Don’t go high and negotiate down - as a lot of buyers like me gave up low-balling due to the sharp criticism in forums and on ads. I have passed up quite a few deals that where “almost” there. The sellers might have budged BUT I read time and time again that low-ballers are not welcome so I let them slide. Creating a fun environment for people who love audio equipment and like to play with toys requires BOTH buyers and sellers to develop ethical standards. Lets weed out the Ebay reseller element.

Just my two cents …

Horseface, I'm with you on the resellers. What's even worse are sellers posting ads for items they do not yet possess.

Ericthered, the reason sellers get offended when you ask for the minimum price is because you are asking them to bid against themselves. The civil way to negotiate is to make a counteroffer that you are willing to stand behind and go from there. Asking "how much does it really cost so I can think it over" is no kind of offer at all.

I sold some interconnects with an OBO proviso, and stated that reasonble offers were welcome, but that something like 10 dollars would not be considered "reasonable". I sold pronto and both buyers were at or near the asking price.

Personally, it seems unrealistic to expect anything close to full dollar value on most items. Even when relatively new, I pretty much halved the price on my interconnects and didn't feel like haggling too much on the price. This may be less of an option for the seller financially on higher ticket items, however.

Just had another one today, only this guy said he was going to PayPal money for my amplifiers, and THEN demanded a discount because he wanted different tubes to come with them. What is going on here?