# "What's your best price?" -- how do you usually respond to these?



## Guest (Feb 16, 2012)

How do you usually deal with these emails when selling gear?

I'd much rather people make an offer. Even if it's in absurdly low.

My *best* price is obviously somewhere in the $1-2M range. That's the best price...for me.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

My response is "the one I posted"


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2012)

GuitarsCanada said:


> My response is "the one I posted"


That's what I went with.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

I rather someone ask me what my lowest price will be than make an insulting offer. It does not offend me that someone would ask this even if they are not serious.


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

I usually politely respond with whatever price I want for it. I'm not sure what I get asked more the best price thing or is it still available.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

For me, when I post something for sale on Ottawa Kijiji, I add some "buffer" to my price because people alsways seem to want "a deal". So, if I'm looking for say $800, I'll price it around $850, or $830. Then if I get the impression that the potential buyer is serious, and we start negotiating, my best price will be the $800 that I'm looking for. Also allows for the "will you take $800?" negotiation that keeps both buyer and seller happy.

Of course, even when you agree on a price you often never hear from the buyer again anyway. kqoct


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2012)

marcos said:


> I rather someone ask me what my lowest price will be than make an insulting offer. It does not offend me that someone would ask this even if they are not serious.


What price do you reply with? Lower than what you posted? What you posted? Or do you try to get them to make an offer?


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

this is a tough one. I dislike this question as much as "how low will you go on this?"

typically when I sell something, I want as much as I can possibly get for it so when someone asks, I usually respond with, "I'd really like to get the full [posted price] for this item."


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2012)

bagpipe said:


> For me, when I post something for sale on Ottawa Kijiji, I add some "buffer" to my price because people alsways seem to want "a deal". So, if I'm looking for say $800, I'll price it around $850, or $830. Then if I get the impression that the potential buyer is serious, and we start negotiating, my best price will be the $800 that I'm looking for. Also allows for the "will you take $800?" negotiation that keeps both buyer and seller happy.


Oh I don't mind haggling and, in just about every case, will be more than willing to negotiate. I just don't like this particular way of starting negotiations. I'm definitely going to be nicer to people I'm getting a good vibe from. This sort of opening gambit is a terrible way to endear me to your cause.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I take it this is an item you did post a price on? I personally hate it when people post an item with no price and only 'make an offer'. That is the only scenario I can see where I would ever ask someone 'what their best price is'.

If I have a price posted, and someone asks me that question I just say 'the price posted' as others in the thread have said. But, I have done the Kijiji/C: "price buffering' that bagpipe mentions. If I have done that, and I think I have a serious buyer, I will drop the price.


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2012)

torndownunit said:


> I take it this is an item you did post a price on?


Yup. I always post a price on things.



> If I have a price posted, and someone asks me that question I just say 'the price posted' as others in the thread have said. But, I have done the Kijiji/C: "price buffering' that bagpipe mentions. If I have done that, and I think I have a serious buyer, I will drop the price.


Totally agree. With these kinds of opening emails it makes it hard to judge how serious the person is.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Yup. I always post a price on things.
> 
> 
> Totally agree. With these kinds of opening emails it makes it hard to judge how serious the person is.


Ya, the one line emails are always a treat.


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## deadear (Nov 24, 2011)

I will not be beat down on price with a E mail or phone call by someone that has not viewed the item . I tell a buyer I will nagotiate. (I will drop slightly but not a whole lot.) I also tell viewers to come with cash in their wallet. This eliminates a lot of the BS. 
Another thing I do is make a appointment and tell the seller if he is local there is a half hour window before and after and if I don,t see him I will go about my day because he is not comming. If he is from out of town I give a one hour window before and after before I go about my day. I hate getting stood up so this is how I eliminate it.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

If I have built some dicker room into the advertised price I will give them 'my best price' in a reply. 

If I have not built in any dicker room then I state the price and the attributes of the item which I feel make it worth the price. No snottiness, just facts. References to other similar ones, what they sold for and the what/where/why of the differences if applicable.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

There are always the deal guys. Those that just refuse to pay the price listed. We have several of them that come into the shop. 4 years and everytime they come in they ask if they can get a deal. Does not matter to them if it's $.50. They go home smiling because they paid $.50 less than everyone else

I threw one of them out of there a month or so ago. Got tired of his nonsense


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

The proper response is "that depends. What's the most you're willing to pay?"


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

Okay devils advocate here, when I bought my last guitar instead of going back and forth I said to him that I was really interested in it but that I needed him to tell me what the very lowest he could go so we didn't do the 50 e-mail thing back and forth to get to the same place and i was comfortable with his final asking price and now it has been mine for a while.
But I think to you have to go with your gut and you need to determine is this guy just pulling my chain and wasting my time or is he really truely interseted go with your gut. 
I know when I advertised some of my guitars here there were a few responces and I was able to pick the ones that I knew were just asking for the sake of asking and had no intension of buying. Trust your radar it will serve you well if you feel that its going no where then believe it.ship
ps I did have to consign them to a shop and made more money then I was asking and the consignment shop also made some to boot, silly folks could have had it for less then they charged


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I've used that line dealing in here, more than once.
I'm not much into haggling and this, to me, get's the nonesense out of the way.

If the guy comes back with the same price, which is most of the time,
I then know that it's the bottom line for the seller.

Why that would upset you, I don't know.


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2012)

sulphur said:


> Why that would upset you, I don't know.


I'm not upset by it. Do I seem upset?

I just don't understand the strategy. And wasn't very certain of my reply.


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## Fader (Mar 10, 2009)

If you're firm on the price you should say so. If you don't, you should expect people to negotiate.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

iaresee said:


> I'm not upset by it. Do I seem upset?
> 
> I just don't understand the strategy. And wasn't very certain of my reply.


Ok, upset might have been too strong of a word.
How's bothered, irked, peeved. Enough to start a thread over it.

As a buyer, you assume that there is some wiggle room.
Why not just get it out of the way, right away.
I don't enquire about a piece of gear unless I'm interested and serious about buying it.
You'd rather a lowball offer?

As stated above, if that's your bottom price, say so.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

bagpipe said:


> For me, when I post something for sale on Ottawa Kijiji, I add some "buffer" to my price


I think everyone in Ottawa adds major buffer to their price.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Depends. If it's the first e-mail, I'll tell them to make me an offer. If there's been a couple of e-mails and there's a big difference between their highest offer and my price I'll split the difference, I buffer my price, and tell them to bring cash when they come to see what I'm selling. No cash, no deal. Never had a problem with this.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

"For Sale - $1000"
"What's your best price"
"$900"
"Will you take 8"?

Heard that kinda exchange too many times. I do find it's best to always get a little when you give a little "I will take $900 if you're prepared to close by tomorrow night".


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2012)

sulphur said:


> Ok, upset might have been too strong of a word.
> How's bothered, irked, peeved. Enough to start a thread over it.


I just want to see how other people respond to these kinds of emails.



> As a buyer, you assume that there is some wiggle room.
> Why not just get it out of the way, right away.
> I don't enquire about a piece of gear unless I'm interested and serious about buying it.
> You'd rather a lowball offer?


I can definitely see your point of view on this. And I can envision an email that would make me respond positively to this kind of request. I don't think this was one of those emails.

Maybe it's time I gave you guys some context? Here's the email I got:










How do you ascertain seriousness here? This kind of email makes me feel like, no matter what my response, this is a tire kick. And since he never got back to me, I'm guessing it was very much a tire kick.

Edit: it did not come from a Hotmail account BTW. Came from an XplorNet account -- so an ISP hosted email account. Which means...he *wanted* those GIFs there.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Ha Ha - thats awesome. Maybe Jason Flash Gunz is used to being treated like a rawk star, and thus expects an awesome deal from a mere mortal! 
:banana:




iaresee said:


>


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

iaresee said:


> What price do you reply with? Lower than what you posted? What you posted? Or do you try to get them to make an offer?


I usually tell them the bottom price I am comfortable with at that time. If I need an item to sell quicker, i will cut them a good deal.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Ya, that sheds a different light on the subject. lol

The lack of punctuation, and just plain awesomeness of the guy,
could be a precursor to a bad transaction.

Slowly back away from that message. 8)


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sulphur said:


> I've used that line dealing in here, more than once.I'm not much into haggling and this, to me, get's the nonesense out of the way.If the guy comes back with the same price, which is most of the time,I then know that it's the bottom line for the seller.Why that would upset you, I don't know.


Same here. It's usually my standard question. I just want to find out what the " real price" of something is, in a non offensive way. I don't like to haggle, personally or tell someone their price is too high, and maybe there's a dozen or so similar items for sale and I want to even up the playing field. It's a quick way to find out if we're on the same page.I've also bought things before from ppl that replied saying that the stated price was the best price, if it was still in line with what I think it is worth to me.I'm far more insulted by offers, ESP when market value isn't considered, or the person hasn't justified why their offer is reasonable. I.e. the typical kijiji response "I'll give you $500 for that like new R8....CASH"...ya sorry bud, we're not all crack addicts looking for a few bucks for a fix tonight. At least have a justification ready I.e. "$500 seems to be the going rate for guitars in that condition on this site, so I think it's a fair offer".And why do ppl say " cash" in their offer, like its some big incentive...what else would you pay me in, potatoes or Canadian tire money? $500. is $500. It's always "cash". Morons.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Talking about buffering your price a little, this Ottawa dood seem to have about $700 of buffer in his price:

ihttp://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-s...-Telecaster-Rosewood-Pearl-W0QQAdIdZ341302829


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## Guest (Feb 19, 2012)

bagpipe said:


> Talking about buffering your price a little, this Ottawa dood seem to have about $700 of buffer in his price:
> 
> ihttp://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-guitars-Fender-American-Standard-Telecaster-Rosewood-Pearl-W0QQAdIdZ341302829


Is it a lefty or did he flip the picture by accident?


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## Guest (Feb 19, 2012)

Flipped.







on the case.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

I've never had an issue selling anything for the price i've asked, but I grew up somewhere sane and moved to ottawa, so i'm one step ahead of the game here. if someone were to ask me about my "best price" as an opening line I would probably ignore their email, although after seeing the local used market trends I can see how it would be a sort of "I have cash, lets cut the crap and make a deal" approach.

a couple weeks ago my friend gave me 7 guitars that he didn't use anymore, and asked me to sell them so he could buy a nice acoustic
i sold all 7 for exactly what I asked, and all within about a week. Now i will admit that these weren't expensive guitars, I think 300$ was the most I sold one of them for, but I still turned 7 crappy guitars into about 1500$ with no haggling negotiating or other shenanigans.

My experience here is that nobody knows how to be a good salesman, from the pricing all the way to the conditioning of the item. I just got a guitar that was worth 1600$ new. the guy gave it to me with a bowed neck and rusty strings, and action so high it was almost unplayable past the 5th fret. the one i gave to him on trade had been set up, restrung, polished and intonated before i even brought it to him. In this instance i'm not really complaining because his neglect was the only reason this could have been considered a fair trade, but if the guy would have spent 10$ and half an hour making the guitar presentable he would have been able to sell or trade for something a lot nicer than what I gave him.


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