Do you haggle?

Sellers:
1. Do you state you take offers on your items? I do state when I take offers.
2. If so are you willing to haggle the price, or do you just say 'yes' or 'no' to offers?
I usually say yes or no, and give a fair reason for no.

Buyers:
3. Do you make offers on items in the MP? I make offers only when the seller has marked yes to it.
4. How do you determine what is a reasonable offer to make? It depends on what seller is selling, and how much they have priced it.



I myself, would always welcome a trade offer, but will not feel good for the price down offer to be made even though I did not mark it.

 

Buyers:
1. Do you make offers on items in the MP?
2. How do you determine what is a reasonable offer to make?

I haven't encountered an item I'd had to make an offer for. Most sales posts I've seen already have prices. I do try to haggle tho, especially if I know the item's price range on the secondhand market, if the prices aren't firm. But I was never best at haggling (unlike my parents), and depending on the condition of the item as well as the seller's reasons (i.e. they need cash asap) I don't have any qualms paying the asking price.

 

I don't take offers or haggle, but that is becasue I've already lowered the price from what I paid for it.

However that does not stop other from trying to haggle the price down or chop the s/h.

I go will post stuff in the MP & online auctions.. & sooner or later the items will be sold. I just don't like the people who wanted a lower price getting snarky because someone else bought what they already claimed as their own in their head.

 

I have no problem making offers if the listing indicates they're open to offers. I find that mentioning I can pay right away helps in getting things for what my offered price. Cash in hand is better than a layaway. I haggle for work (I buy/sell antiques) so this is fun for me.

When I'm selling here, I usually leave it at "firm" for a week or so, then bump that I'll take offers. Something that nudges lookers into buyers. On ebay fixed-price doll stuff is almost always open to offers though; it means I'll take what I can get for it, or that some *** didn't pay for their auction bid and so I have some idea what it should sell for.

 

Generally where I'm from, North Texas, haggling can be considered extremely disrespectful. There are only certain places and times where haggling over the price of an item is considered acceptable. That's usually at a flea market or outdoor sale where you meet the seller face to face...or a pawn shop. It's always a situation where you are right there with the seller. Places where the shopping experience is less personal are not acceptable places for haggling, like retail and so on.

Since shopping online is so much like retail shopping, people who were raised in a similar culture to mine probably don't even think about haggling or might be less inclined to do it due to the view that it could be offensive.

 

I don't really haggle (in the sense of offering a very low offer expecting a counteroffer and meeting somewhere in the middle with the seller), but I will make offers. I generally just jump straight to 'what is the absolute most I'd be happy to pay for this item'. I'm not upset if the seller makes a counteroffer, but my response will usually be 'thanks, but $X is really as high as I'd be comfortable paying'.

I wish more buyers were willing to do something similar. If the seller is inviting offers (by labelling their sale 'negotiable' or 'or best offer'), they aren't likely to be rude to anyone PMing them an offer. And even if they say no at first, they'll probably remember your interest at X price and send you a PM if they end up deciding to lower the price that far.

Making offers to sellers can only have a potential upside, as far as I can see. There's nothing bad that can really come of it. I've started expressly stating in my sales that I'm not offended by 'low' offers, because that's the only thing I can think of that might be making people hesitate.

 

I am a haggler I did once offer what I thought a doll was worth, on a listing where they had put no price just 'open to offers' - but it was turned down because the seller seemed to have a firm idea of how much she wanted for the doll - in which case why not put a price on the listing instead of saying 'open to offers'? That makes no sense to me as it's very offputting for majority of buyers, since people generally don't want to be embarrassed by offering too little and being turned down, so they just won't bother trying.

 

Sellers:
1. Do you state you take offers on your items?
Not so far. But I'd think about it if I had something that wasn't selling or getting any interest.

2. If so are you willing to haggle the price, or do you just say 'yes' or 'no' to offers?
I'm not a haggler, so I'd probably say yes or no, but if the other person wanted to counter-offer, I'd certainly consider it.

Buyers:
3. Do you make offers on items in the MP?
Not often, but I have.

4. How do you determine what is a reasonable offer to make?
I consider the price they are asking and watch to see if the item has been for sale for a while without anyone buying. I check to see other threads that are similar. I think about what I would be comfortable paying. I usually want to give the seller a good price and not cheap them out, since I will sometimes feel guilty about that (crazy, but yeah). I usually don't mind paying the stated price, but will offer a slightly lower price if they are asking for offers (which I take to it mean that they are willing to consider a lesser price). If the price is super-high (for the doll considering the retail price and other sales threads), then I won't bother even making an offer since the person obviously wants more than I think is reasonable and I don't want to haggle.

Both:
5. What are your experiences with haggling and making/taking offers?
I usually don't like haggling. I know some people see it as making happy compromises, but I always end up feeling kind of crappy about it... like the seller is trying too hard to keep the price high and "win" more...

I SO much prefer paying what the seller wants, if the seller has a price that I'm willing to pay.

When making or accepting an offer, I prefer just a straight yes/no, with the option of making or accepting further offers.

I've only had to make a few offers and they have all worked out OK. One offer was countered a bit higher by the seller and I accepted it.

 

If I'm selling something I would definitely entertain reasonable offers. I don't know if I would do the whole haggling back and forth but I can budge on my prices a bit. I might make a counter offer if I thought the other person was looking for something like that. Or if the price wasn't too far off from my bottom line.
I've made offers on items before on forums as well as on eBay. I normally only offer on forums if someone lists that they will accept them. However, on eBay I've messaged the seller and asked if they would take less even if there wasn't a make offer option on the listing. Sometimes the seller says no but more often than not we can meet somewhere reasonable and finish a sale.
As for determining a reasonable offer if the item is worth near what the seller is asking I might ask them to include the paypal fees in the total or to round the total off to an even $5 increment. If the item is way out of my range though I normally just forget about it. I don't want to come across as rude and offer too low a price. I'm also more prone to asking for a deal if the item has been for sale for a while and wasn't just listed recently.