Bitcoin Forum

What is a lowball offer? Is "lowball" a relative term?

What if the person just has unrealistic expectations of what his product is worth?
"Lowball", to me, is where the prospective buyer lops off 1/2 the price for no reason, just to see if the seller is desperate and/or because he is greedy/cheap.

For example, if I were selling a 23" LCD monitor in like-new condition (which cost $150 new today) for $80, and someone e-mailed me with:
"I'll give you $40"

THAT would be a lowball offer. Offering $40 is uncalled for; $80 is a decent price for a monitor whose only fault is missing the original packaging (it works, looks like new, no scratches on the screen or dead pixels, etc.) Now offering $70 -- that's part of buying/selling used. The buyer wants to feel like he's getting a good deal. So moral of the story: DON'T price things at the lowest price you're willing to accept. Better to say "$450" than "$400 firm". I don't think I've ever bought anything where the price was "firm" -- it makes the seller sound -- well, stubborn!

But what if the seller is charging too much? Maybe he wants $160 for a Sapphire 5830, or he wants $250 for a 5870. A price that wouldn't be profitable for mining *in the present time*.

You run your calculations, come up with a price that you'd see payoff in FIFTY or more days, and make an offer. Is that a lowball?

What about this guy, who had a computer built 3 years ago (Altex is an expensive local PC store -- their stuff is overpriced to begin with):

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/sys/2468133543.html

If I offered him $250 (more than it's worth, probably!) would that be a "lowball offer"?

cool story bro

rage moar, learn how bargaining works.

Wow, he really wants $995 for that thing? I wouldn't pay that much if it was BRAND NEW.

alot of people buy overpriced hardware and have no idea about depreciation.

he doesn't even say what kind of cpu it has...2.4ghz i have to assume it's a q6600 which is old as hell at this point and maybe worth $100.

250 might be a little low but not crazy.  995 is insane. you can get a new i7, 12gb system for that.

only the seller can decide what a lowball offer is.

I think a lowball offer is something I would not accept. If price is firm on 100$ and someone offers 95$ and I do not accept, it was a lowball offer.

If someone loballs me, i will highball them...

max, how much you asking?
100$
ok ill give you 90$.
no way i said nothing klower than 110$.
wait a sec, you said 100$
ok do we have a deal then?

whenever i sell something with an add, i keep the add online a bit after the item was sold. if poeple lowball me i will accept and give them a wrong address, hopefully somewhere i can watch... ;)

alot of sellers have no clue about depreciation either.
like-new is a relative term to many many sellers.

I got a "like-new" ex girlfriend for sale. Barely used except to goto church on Sundays. 1 owner (I hope)

I think it's really quite silly that people actually get upset at someone sending them an offer to buy something at a price lower than they had advertised it for.

Grow up.  Seriously.

Just to clarify -- all the hypotheticals in my original post were just that -- hypotheticals. I don't have any monitors for sale, and I'd NEVER pay $250 for a 3 year old machine.

I agree with SgtSpike -- it's part of selling something used to have to deal with people making offers for your stuff. It should be expected. You can always say "no".

If you want to get 100% full price from every customer, start a store. Seriously.

If you're an individual, and you're selling something used, don't expect people to always offer your asking price. You're not NewEgg, and people know it.

What pisses me off more is unflexible buyers and sellers who have to stretch every penny as a matter of principle.

Ex. 1: You wait 2 weeks for somebody to offer $450 for your TV, nothing. 3 days later, a guy emails you and says he'll pick it up for $440.

Seller insists it's too low and doesn't sell; Losing what might be his only prospective buyer ever at the $400+ price point.
Just to "save" 10 bucks on a used item, & watch it depreciate even more as no more offers come in.

Ex. 2: You are looking for a GTX 580 graphics card for $380 bucks, a guy is selling it for $390.
You try to haggle and insist the price is too high, while it's the lowest offer on the market. Somebody else buys it in front of your eyes, and the next best sell offer is at $430.

It seems the average Joe never counts in opportunity cost. You are losing much more in wasted effort and time by refusing to spend 10 dollars more on a great deal.

You are not saving money.

Why does that piss you off though?  Let people waste their time and money on haggling if they want.  I agree, it's silly to haggle over < 5% of the cost of something under $1000, but I'm not going to get pissed off because other people do it.

I meant figuratively speaking.
Probably nobody besides the two parties involved 'really' care about a few percent haggles that ruin good sales.

More power to them if they deem it worth their time.

One would think adults don't have the time to wait for 3-4 weeks just to save 10 bucks on a purchase though.
If I need something this week, I don't really care if it costs 150 or 160 bucks as long as the item is as described.

But each to their own.

Depends on the situation, I guess.  I literally have no room in my budget for spending money (going in the red every month, not including my mining profits, which are helping me pay down debt), so if I can save $5 or $10 on a purchase, it's huge for me.

Re: What is a lowball offer?

A lowball offer
You're the seller,
You saw a guy's offer,
You felt like you got punched low in the b...

So take it like a man.

I guess I'll rephrase my original question:

What's the difference between a lowball offer, and an "offer"?

Offers are always to be expected when you're selling things used as a private individual. It doesn't make sense to take offense when you receive them.

an offer is something the seller is willing to accept.

on craigslist, I generally price things I'm selling below market value to begin with.  I get tons of lowball offers.... my 120gb ssd for example... i paid 235 for it a few months ago and considered selling it for 160 on craigslist.  $90 is not an acceptable offer, so i tell the guy im not trying to sell for less than 160 or i'll just keep it... but i do have  a 300gb velociraptor that's new for $90.

He then counter offers $95 for the ssd as if he didn't read my email.  That's a lowball.  Kinda hard to find a 120gb ssd for $90.

Wow, from the sounds of it, its as if he was selling something and someone walked by and was like...


"FIVE DOLLARS!!!" And the poster looked at the odd man staring back at him with his dead eyes and sun torched skin. Obviously the man had severe mental problems as well as hygiene due to the elements. Our poster, realizing that the stability of the man was deeply in question, slowly begins to reply. Yet as the words leave his lips, he is cut short by another outburst if "FIVE DOLLARS!!!". This time saliva sprays from the mans mouth like crabs from a Bourbon street prostitute during Mardi Grais. Fear emanates from our poor poster as he wipes the diseased droll from his own face.
The option left here were running thin. The thoughts of fleeing from this deranged man entered his mind, but who knew if he could escape. It was then the aggressor chose to strike. "14 Zimbabwe dollars and a button!!! FRANK BURNS!" The man lounges out at the goods in front of him tossing his offer to the poster. and like that. He was gone. Left in the cold winter air under a city streetlamp stood our hero. Worthless money and a button at his feet, and no items left to sell. With the only will left in his body, he lift his foot and begins his sad journey home.
-Fin

No! That's ridiculous.

Have you ever been in the Real Estate market (buying or selling?) I've been both.

Let me teach you -- offers are made all the time. An offer is a price a little bit less than the asking price -- in fact, in real estate you're almost EXPECTED to offer a few thousand less, at least.

A lowball offer is when it's 15 or 20% less than your price, and you're usually insulted.

Being acceptable has nothing to do with. An acceptable offer is "an acceptable offer", then there are offers, then there are lowball offers.

What's controversial is whether or not $110 is a "lowball offer" for someone selling a Sapphire 5830 for $160.
The card is worth $110 new, so it's not like he's looking to take advantage of the seller, or get a "steal of a deal".
On the other hand, the card isn't available now. So maybe it's worth more like $120 or $130 on the market.

That one is open for debate, I suppose.

But usually lowball offers are like porn. You recognize it when you see it.

I still don't understand why people get insulted at low offers.  If you don't like the offer, just decline.  Simple as that.  No need to get riled up about it - that'll just make you die sooner.   :D

Regardless, I'll step out of this thread, since I'm not liable to convince anyone.

People get insulted because to them, a low-ball offer is like being told "Your shit ain't worth shit!".

But I agree there's not need to take it personally, just decline.

And by the way...
...some people 'recognize' porn when there is none, and visa versa.

But their shit ain't worth shit

I agree. I am willing to pay a little extra If using bitcoins just because well it saves me having to get the coins converted.

But with used cards It all depends because if your buying it off here so the chances are the cards have been overclocked and had more volts put though them than someone on death row. So I take that into consideration.

the buyer has the right to walk away and the seller has the right to say no.