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Is Not Responding To An Offer Just Plain Rude?

Think about it in the context of a BUYER using the Audiogon system - 

1 - “Lowballers will be politely ignored.

What constitutes a lowball offer? Is there a percentage of the asking price below which the offer becomes a “lowball”? If so, what is it? 90%? 75%? ….Is it connected to or disconnected from the length of time the ad has been running?

2 - When the only option is “Make an Offer”.

What am I supposed to do here? Am I supposed to offer more than the asking price? Less than the asking price? If less is OK, then refer to point 1 above.

3 - When the only option is “Make an Offer” and the ad says “price is firm”

What the heck am I supposed to do with that one?

If you’re listing an item with the option of “Make an Offer”, wouldn’t it just be courteous to give the benefit of the doubt to the person submitting the offer, assume he or she is a serious buyer and not a tire-kicker, and just reply one way or the other, in a timely fashion? I mean, there’s nothing lost, right? Just say “NO”. Or make a counteroffer….what’s so difficult?

I just sold a nice preamp to a gentleman who made an offer on it, it arrived with the buyer safely and he’s thrilled with it. So now I have wires hanging loose in my system where a preamp used to be, and it’s almost the Holidays. I found a suitable replacement on Audiogon in the $7K range, made an offer within 10% +/- of the asking price, and…drum roll….….nothing. 

I sat around all weekend waiting for the seller to respond, but they didn’t have the decency to just message me and say no. So I was stuck with the “Seller has 48hrs to review your offer” BS, now I’m back to square one and without the means to play my favorite Kenny G Christmas albums. 

One bandaid fix would be for Audiogon to adopt the ebay system and allow sellers to automatically decline offers below a certain amount. Then they wouldn’t even have to interact with us lowballers and their delicate sensibilities wouldn’t get hurt…..heck, I’d even take a photo of me wearing a mask as I press the ’Submit Offer’ button, if this is a Covid thang…

Whinge over…

Merry Christmas :)



128x128rooze
aewarren
644 posts
 
If the ad states, "Lowball offers will be politely ignored", and he doesn't respond to your offer, you've been politely ignored.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,385 posts
 
@yogiboy,   " If the seller will only take the asking price he/she should have listed as buy now only"

I never list it as buy it now because you can end up with  someone with zero feedback or bad feedback that you are obligated to sell to.  I like being able to sell to someone I am comfortable with and has positive feedback.
cousinbillyl
190 posts
 
Thank the higher powers for starting AudioMart.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,661 posts
 
@stereo5
I have always sold here with buy now only and I never had a problem. As long as I get paid using paypal. If a buyer wants to pay less than my asking price I will get an Email from the buyer.
If I want to sell it for less then I will change the listing price to what we both agree on. It has always worked out good for me!
 BTW, many buyers check HIFI shark looking for an item that they are interested in and join Audiogon the same day just to purchase a certain piece of gear and they have no feedback!
genesis777
112 posts
 
I wish there was an option to choose the amount of time the seller has to respond. 48 hours is too long in my opinion. Ebay changed their format from 48 hours to 12 hours and 24 hours. Sometimes the sellers don't respond at all which means you waste 48 hours waiting when you could have bought something else.
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