"What's Your Best Price?"

It really tics me off when people do that. People who ask this question lose all credibility in my eyes. It's asking the seller to negotiate against themselves. If someone wants to negotiate the price they should make an offer to purchase. As a seller, I've already listed a price that I would sell it for. At the very least a buyer should have something on the table before asking me to lower my price again.

From reading some of the above responses I now know that asking WYBP is not an insult, but a strategy for negotiating. It's kinda' like walking into a club and approaching a woman with the line "Let's screw". You always could get lucky, but it shows you to be a pretty lame pickup artist and/or equally amateurish negotiator. Any negotiating strategy or ploy has to be judged by its effectiveness. If it works for you..., but I'm going to ignore you.

Thank you very much.

Trelja, as a way out of your confusing you could always offer to pay the asking price. That way you get the equipment the seller gets the money and everybody is happy. Right?

In my professional life I've negotiated commercial real estate transactions for more than 20 years and in that capacity I've come across any number of negotiating strategies and techniques. One thing I've learned is that real negotiation is theater, it's an act, and you should never take it personally. It's part of the business and you deal with appropriately. Unfortunately, there are any number of people who don't understand the game and get too wrapped up in the negotiating process and lose sight of the goal -- getting a deal done. Good negotiating is not about beating the other side, but about satisfying your own needs. When you have two parties who understand market conditions, are confident in their own abilities and grasp the benefits of the deal, then a deal usually evolves very quickly and painlessly.

My frustration with selling on line is that I've run across too many people who don't have market knowledge, don't grasp the benefits of completing the transaction and may not have confidence in their own judgment. From my perspective they come across as amateurish. If you're talking to someone about a preamp listed at $3,000 what is the real importance of getting $200 off the price or having the other guy pay for shipping? Isn't it more important that the person you're talking with is honest and has fairly portrayed and rated the product? I could be a minority opinion here, but so many people seem to be more interested in getting a "deal", than in getting a component that increases their listening pleasure.

There's a special circle in Hell for people who ask that question. I can't imagine the amount of self-loathing and insecurity a person must have in order to ask that question. They must be petty pathetic people not living, but only existing if they ask that question. That question is something a terrorist would ask when buying explosive to shove up his anus. And yes, I would support waterboarding people who ask that question. It's an affront to common sense and the social order that people who ask that question have the right to vote and own guns! There ought to be a law banning that question, a constitutional amendment even. It would pass with unanimous bi-partisan support.

Thank you very much. I feel better now.