I disagree. I used to have a used car lot. What you absolutely want is the nickel and dimer. If he was N & D'n me that was a good signal that he wanted what I had pretty bad. I can work with a nickel and dimer. This is the back and forth as the two of us are trying to reach a price. If he is N & D'n me, that is a pretty good signal that he has access to money. He is just trying to get a better price.

He: The lot down the street has one for $200.00 cheaper.

Me: Well ,you better go buy it.

He: Yours has this scratch on the door.

Me: That's why I am selling it so cheap.

You get conversations like that. Some times you win. Some times you lose.

Here is a tire kicker:

He: How much do you want for that?

Me: I have it priced at $4,000.00.

He: Wow! That is a bargain. That will sell quick.

When I got something similar to the above I knew the idiot had no money.

He: Man, it is really nice shape. How do you get them so nice?

That's all fluff. And waste of time.

Unless you got the hot setup, when you are selling get ready to kiss some ass; It comes with the territory. Give me the nickel and dimer any day of the week. If I was wise, I had my price high enough that I can give some "money" up.

Me: Yeah, I know there is a scratch in the fender. If I knock a $100.00 off the price would that work for you.

He: hmmm.. I don't know. It is going to cost some buck to get that scratched fixed. I dunno.

Me: Tell you what, how about I knock $150.00 off. Will that help you out a little bit? Can we make a deal?

If we are anywhere close on price I can turn a nickel and dimer into a buyer.

Some of you all get all pissed off that some guy is lowballing you. Maybe you are too high on your price and you are looking for someone to pay gold for you shit. Get over it.

A lowball offer is an offer. Be nice to the lowballer. You never know who is going pull out a wad of cash.

What is not an offer is the one who asks you "would you take...?"

I'll take my asking price for it. If you want make an offer, I will sure consider it. But my price is on the windshield.

You want I.D. a tire kicker? The guy who asks "would you take?" is just farting around with you. Give him a price lower than you are asking and he will say, Thank you, I'll think about it. And now you are screwed; Now you have to hit him with "what is there to think about"? And you will get a litany of excuses. And he will still walk.
----------------------------------

That is not an offer. That is question. My best price is the price I asked for it.

Turn the tables.

What is your top dollar?
What will you give?
Make me an offer. I'll listen to any reasonable offer (reasonable being a subjective term).

Here is a situation: I had a pin I had traded for and was in a fairly good position. But then some board problems came up and I had to pay for have the CPU serviced. Anyway, I am buried in the pin, nit bad buy just a little bit.

I put a CL ad up and did the usual talk about the pin. I also said I had it priced over market price due to the work I had to pay for board repairs. I got the usual scam callers and some tire kickers. And then the ad generated no interest for awhile. No biggie. CL ads cost nothing. I am not broke. And the pin is not eating anything.

About 2 months I get a call. You can feel it when you have someone interested talking with you. The guy lives 60 miles away and he, along with his friend, want to come take a look. But he wanted to see a few more pics; Not a problem. Come on down, man! I'll be here.

They arrived in a pick up truck. Nice guys both of them. My interested prospect is 70 years old. He he used to play this pin (Laser Cue) in the bowling alley when he was a young man. So, he knew what he was coming to look at. He playing for a bit and liked it. But he was hesitant.

He lived in the country and was "scared" if he got it home and it quit working, what would he do? We do not have a lot of pin mechanics around here.

I want to sell it, of course. I told him this: I know you want this pin. You drove 60 miles to have a peek. Here is what I can do. I don't need the money if you don't buy the pin. But you can look around my house and see my problem is lack of space (I have pins everywhere in my small house). So,
if you buy this pin, I will give you 30 days to change your mind. IN 30 days or less, if you decide you don't want it, I will drive up to your house, give you ALL of your money back and bring the pin back with me. No questions asked; You get 30 days.

That was all he wanted to hear. He whipped those $100.00 bills out of his pocket so fat it took my breath away. They loaded up and were gone and I got my price.

It was all about being nice. And taking a change on someone. And it worked.

But I have had couple where it was. struggle to break even. Being nice helped make the sales.

Did you turn hem-and-haws into a buyer? No back and forth on the small imperfections? Those flaws are objections. Objections can be overcome and you can turn a prospect into a sale.

This is a completely different scenario. Like doing wholesale type selling. Relationship sales.

That makes sense. Good policy.

I had these types come on the car lot all of the time. I developed a theory. The wife would not listen to him. His kids were busy with their friends and old enough they did not give him the attention hw wanted.

Bored an lonely, he hits the car lots and harasses the sales rep with mindless talk about worthless car stuff and wastes the salesman's time and after 20-30 minutes he leaves for another car lot and another sales rep's time to waste. And all it cost him was the gas to drive around town for his cheap entertainment. And then you will him hear talk about the " shitty sales guy at that car lot over there who tried to screw me."

When you are selling it comes with the territory.

The best thing going now for an individual seller is that you put up all of the free ads you want on Craigs List. Some guys put up multiple ads hoping for any extra visibility.

In the old days, you called the news paper, bought a 5 day, 7 day, or 14 day ad, or a weekend ad. And they were not free. We did not have answering machines in those days, so unless you had family who could take the calls for you, you were pretty much stuck near the telephone while your ad was running. It sucked.

Now, we have Craigslist, cell phones and text. You can put up all of your pins for sale, go on about your schedule, and check the answering machine when you get home.

There are several types of pinball buyers. And sellers.

1) A $2500.00 pin is priced at $500.00. Here come the sharks.

2) A $500.00 pin is priced at $2500.00. Buy this and you are fresh fish.

3) A $500.00 pin is priced at $2500.00 and the seller is a greedy son of a bitch.

4) A $2500.00 pin is priced at $500.00. And the seller is an idiot. Unless a shark is the buyer, of course.

5) A "buyer" with no money is a dreamer. Or a broke dick.

Networking. Developing pin friends.

Perfect.

The one thing you don't do to try and get the price down is to tell the seller what he has is a POS. Even if it is a POS, you can't say that.

Hey, I have the price on the windshield or in the add. That's my lowest price---until YOU make an offer that I can either accept or reject. If you ask me what my lowest price is I will just reference the price I put on the glass. And you can walk.

I want $2500.00 for it. You don't want to pay the asking price? I'll flex. What will you give?