Ok guys....get your zippo's out and fire up the flame thrower. I don't sell on EE yet but i do buy. From a buyers perspective a lower offer usually speaks more to the buyers need vs. want on an item and no offence is intended. Case in point; a Lee Enfield full wood goes up on EE, seller is ASKING $350 cnd. The rifle has been posted for several months and no takers. I offered $250 and I'll pay shipping. {low ball a$$hole you're thinking right?} But hold on a minute, I already have an Enfield...do I need 2...No. What am I getting into with this Enfield if I buy it....God knows. If I have an issue, will the seller honour a warranty/guarantee....most likely not. Is this Enfield a collector's piece? No..it's a zombiefied mismatched frankenstein....hence $350 right. So in my mind purchasing for $250+ is worth it to me. $350+ B.S. and headaches thank you but no. Now If a counter offer comes back say down the middle {$300} the ball is back in my court and I have to decide how badly I want this item.
Just because a seller thinks a certain price is "fair" {plus a little} doesn't mean everyone is willing to pay that much. A "low-ball" offer is merely informing the seller that interest is there, however not for that price but rather closer to this price. Again, no offence intended.
I think that what you are describing is just negotiation. If you go into an offer with at least 2/3 the asking price, the seller SHOULD view it as the opening rounds of bargaining. If the price is firm, he can say so, and the potential buyer either walks away or not.
If a seller has an item that is far and away over-priced (like the $350 beat up cooey mentioned earlier), then I simply don't bother offering anything. It's not worth even the $215 that I'd have to offer to get up to the 2/3 mark. I nthis case, it's better just to let the gun sit in the EE forever until either the seller lowers the price on his own, or withdraws the sale ad.
As a buyer though, if you can't offer at least 2/3 the asking price, you should not offer anything at all in my view. All you are going to accomplish is to have someone think you are an @ss. A lot of people won't care and will do this anyhow - I will have zero remorse for telling them to pound sand. Maybe the recipient of my anger will learn a very useful 4 letter word: TACT.
It's even less acceptable to point the buyer to another similar gun offered elsewhere on the internet, like say in another country, in FAR, FAR worse condition and try to use that as an arguement for why your insultingly low offer is valid and should be considered. Especially when you aren't even offering the low price of the other gun, but even less.
If the buyer feels another gun on the internet is listed at the going rate, just go buy that gun and stop bothering sellers who aren't trying to make a fortune on a gun. Granted there are exceptions like all the buffons trying to sell well worn Danish M1 Garands on the EE for $1800+, but that is not the vast majority of cases.
Take the subject Gahendra at IMA for example. Even if the the gun I was selling and the IMA guns were in identical condition, IMA ships to Canada. Go buy their offering and don't bother me about it. Roll the dice, pray you get something nicer than what's in their ad. Take their $190 asking price, add the $40 shipping fee, than add the $50-60 you'll pay to get it out of CBSA. You're now almost $300 into a bagged out POS, but at least you'll have the wall hanger you were after and won't have insulted another gun nut.
