What's up with the ridiculous offers?!?

The ones who really aggravate me the most are those who ask: "what's your bottom line?" When you give them the bottom line, that's where they want to start negotiating. Now when they ask for the bottom line ... I just reply with "make me an offer I can't refuse" 

Manufacturers also contribute, with their relentless drive to 'obsolete' their offerings with endless revisions, upgrades, and new models. Its understandable, but it creates a large pile of perfectly good yet 'outdated' product. Companies like ARC  create a new SOTA preamp with distressing frequency.

I think someone making a low ball is chancing their arm and there's no need to be offended. Be polite, if you must reply, or just ignore, the offer has term limits here. I usually reply (must be my Catholic upbringing) in the hope that with polite conversations, both parties might come to a meaningful understanding.

Am more frustrated by people asking unreasonable prices for used gear -- those who think they can own something for years and then have it fetch 80% of its current MSRP. Right now, there's a few deals on discontinued model amps from a well known manufacturer, and those selling used versions still reference the original MSRP as the basis for their near equivalent prices. Sorry, an item gets discontinued and discounted, the old MSRP is no longer relevant. I don't even being to negotiate with those folks.   At the end of the day, it's best not to get emotionally invested in folks' asking prices or offers. The market does not really lie.

"What's your bottom line?" Is that a problem? I guess it's a different world. If I ask for a best price and I'm happy with it, I will buy it. If not, well, the seller's bottom line and my top dollar are out of synch.

And who is to say who's being fairer? The presumption of the OP is that the asking price was fair and reasonable. It's not always the case. I get the impression that sometimes sellers overestimate the value of what they are trying to sell. case in point- I recently saw an ad, not here on AG, where I thought the seller was in fantasyland with the asking price. In that instance, an offer of 25% asking would be ballpark. That is not a lowball. 

I also agree that discerning between a current product vs a discontinued product is critical. Even if you own the original, and you believe the SE or the MK2 isn't as good, you're most likely out of luck. And yeah, manufacturers, not all, do rework their product line with distressing frequency. I am convinced that some companies plan this deliberately- they have 3 things to improve on a preamp, for instance, and those 3 improvements may be dragged out over a course of 3 years. You don't want to show the same old stuff at every CES or Audio show- right?