Its nothing personal.... Have you not noticed people around here, and in general, can be weirdos...eXpecially when selling something.

You have to understand that everyone has a different idea of how a sale works.
You think it means offering 40% and then you guys hash it out. Now that's fine, but not everyone does business. Obviously someone says OBO means over asking price, I don't agree with that so as you can see there's plenty of ways to deal.

There's a guy named Victor. I've yet to put an ad up and he not offer half or less. I find this tactic remarkably off-putting.

Fair market is a fickle thing. The pricing mechs on pinside are now woefully inadequate compared to what dizzying heights pinballs can fetch these days. In fact, price guides of all types are now utterly useless. How much should a pin cost? The exact amount someone is willing to pay for it and not a penny more. How can we get to such a number? Ask some price and see what happens. Fiat currency markets have manipulated prices rapidly upward in all other arenas. Not the other way around. As such, we aren't speaking about the value of a pin, but the value of the worthless paper traded for it.

There was a time when the period between getting money from the bank and making your way to the store, the price of the loaf of bread doubled due to inflation and the loss of confidence. Many markets are now accounting for this effect, albeit, mostly subconsciously. You're damn right I want 3,000 for a 2500 dollar game. By the time I flip and make ready my next pin, that 3000 is less valuable than 2500.

Something to chew on.

Yes.

In my experience if you have genuine interest in an item for sale the best approach is not to talk price first. Ask questions about condition, functionality, potential to take a look in person if possible, etc. If I get a decent vibe from the seller and what he is selling I will sometimes ask if he has any flexibility in price without throwing numbers around. The time to make an offer (low or otherwise) is when you are looking at the item and truly know what it is worth to you. Sometimes even low(er) offers at that point can be accepted because the seller sees the cash in your hand.

If you show more interest than just making an offer the seller may show more interest in sending you a reply.

Poor grammar is another red flag. You're competing with other buyers. Every red flag makes it less likely the seller wants to deal with you.

The seller has created a target. A bull's-eye would be asking price, cash, can pick it up now, and clearly the buyer is intelligent and articulate, someone you want to have your address.
The farther you are from the target the less likely you'll be the buyer.

The seller offer his price and offered you the opportunity to present Your best offer Not best negotiable offer. A response would have been respectful none the less but don’t expect a negotiation if your not remotely within the sellers price point. Personally I see a FS I would sincerely be interested in owning I opt to simply Ask the seller what is the best they could do with the only counter being added value IE I can pick up tomorrow, cash sale, I am local, I give good back rubs whatever and let Them Sell you the machine and open a dialog. Never hurts to ask but to open with an insult offer rarely grants a second conversation.

Because a lowballer is just wasting my time and I'm not interested in communicating with anyone who isn't even close to the value I've placed on the game.
If you're going to be a lowballer you're going to get ignored often. Not much of a drawback. Expecting a response is silly. You've invested a few seconds composing your lowball offer and the seller owes you nothing.

Best offer. Man with the most cash wins!

If the ad says $1000 OBO that simply means, "Reserve set at $1000, what's your bid?"

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Some buyers are lowballers.

Some sellers are highballers.

Some sellers deserve lowball offers.

Some buyers deserve zero replies.

No matter where you go, there you are.

Every case is different. That $1500 asking price is could be $300 above what most games of similar condition go for. Factoring that in, a $900 offer might be a bit low but within range to meet at say $1000-1200. I recently offered $800 less than asking price on a MB and explained my rationale in the offer message. I might have been willing to go up a few hundred but not to the asking price on this OBO listing. Never even got a response from the seller. Some people just have unrealistic expectations of what their game is worth, willing to sit on it until they get their price or are honestly just a bit “awkward” - for lack of a better word - and not good at negotiating. As someone else said, it’s always better to talk in person or by phone if you can in making certain offers.

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Start with your best foot forward.. and maybe you'll get a different outcome

I wouldn't expect a response unless the sellers ad stated "willing to negotiate price". OBO is the haggle free way of selling.

Buying and selling can be tricky in this hobby. The seller wants to get the most $ they can and the buyer wants to spend the least $ they can. So, seller starts with a # higher than they are probably expecting to get for it. The buyer offers a # lower than what they're willing to pay. Somewhere in the middle is the actual offer. Haggling can sometimes work in the buyers or sellers favor, but it really depends on how they each treat a sale. I know when i was selling a game a couple years back, i had put 'OBO' on the price, which resulted in a deluge of low offers. Some laughably so. I had nearly locked in a sale, but buyer backed out at the last minute. Fast forward a year later, i decided to put it back up for sale at the price i would accept. Firm. Lo and behold i had an interested buyer, got a price i was happy with and the buyer was also happy with the deal.

OBO is an invitation to low-ball offers, in my experience. Everyone's mileage may vary, of course. Anytime I've been genuinely interested in a pin, i will offer my best price. If they take it, great. If they don't, I'll keep on looking. If i was in the buyers shoes, i would probably not have responded either unless you were the only one that seemed interested. But i really don't like playing around when it comes to buying/selling.

My experience with CL as a buyer and seller...

OBO means I'll take less, but not far less. If the seller and buyer are really way off, 99% of the time you don't reach an agreeable price and end up wasting a lot of time.

LOL.

You can't be serious.

CHILL OUT, PEOPLE! good grief

edit: not sure why this crediting you, Chuck, we know this aint the case!

it is OBO/ or best offer . Not best Haggle , or best dialogue starter / if your offer is accepted I am sure you will be messaged if not offer more, then they may respond .

When I list things for sale on CL (or kijiji here in Canada), I tend to add that I’m open to “reasonable” offers, meaning relatively close to asking price (I tend to price right in the middle of market range to give myself some wiggle room). I often get responders that throw out some ridiculous number and act like they’re doing you a favor. I do find it insulting, they’re basically insinuating that you don’t know any better.

In my experience (mostly in the context of camera gear), often these people are either known flippers (there are more than a few), or just fishing and not interested in paying a fair price in the first place. Wasting time negotiating with these buyers is pointless.

However, I’ve gotten lowball offers occasionally from people who are genuine and respectful, who will tell you for example that they only have so much to spend or acknowledge that their offer is low, but are willing to wait if it doesn’t sell and I decide to drop my price. These buyers I have always engaged with, in some cases taking less than I wanted for an item because I felt good about the buyer. It really all comes down to approach, and being respectful to the seller.

I don’t get emotional about this. If I offer low and it offends someone, that’s about them.

If someone doesn’t reply to me, I move on.

Then offer 1200 or 1300? Not everyone plays the haggle game.

I always try to give some response. I usually hear back, “thanks for letting me know...I usually don’t get any answer”. If it’s a low ball I just say no I can’t accept that. Then they say aren’t you going to counter and most time’s I say no of the first one was way low. Too many people watching American Pickers, etc and thinkntonstart real low and then the response will be in the middle and go from there. No thanks.

If you were to offer me that, I might not respond either. Some people have busy lives and don't have time for all the back and forth.

This thread shows OBO doesn't mean the same thing for everybody. To me, it means the seller is willing to negotiate.

I know I risk insulting a seller if I make a very low offer. Worse than no response, it could potentially cut off any future negotiation, even if I was willing to pay the full asking price.

As others have said, best to show interest without discussing money to get an idea of where the seller stands and show him you're serious about the game.

If somebody gives me a low ball offer with no discussion, the first thing I think is he's a flipper.

Some offers I won't dignify with a response. But those offers are usually crazy low. Some people think that if your offer is too low it tells them that you think there item isn't worth what they are asking. I don't about you guys, but that is the last thing I want to hear from any buyer. I don't care if I am over priced or not. If you think my item is over priced just pass. Don't insinuate that my item is not worth what I am asking. That's insulting...

So somebody doesn't respond to your offer?
Oh well...
Who cares?
Big deal!
Oh brother, I think we are running out of topics.
"Much ado about nothing"
NEXT!

Idk, at least this isn't another what should I buy, stern bashing or speculate what the next pin released will be topic

If only we put our energy in the I miss the 600 play baywatch thread

Dude, I don't know what the game was, but if it was on pinside for $1500 it probably worth close to that and $900 is about as low as you can go without kicking someone in the balls. That's almost half his asking price and you expect a response? I have really thick skin when it comes to low offers, I probably would have just laughed your offer off and wouldn't have responded either. And your one sentence message shows that your not putting any effort into the transaction/communication so why should the guy waste any time on you? You might as well have said "me want cheap"

I've come to learn that there are some people who give a low ball offer and throw in the "Ohhh it's my grail game" story and just end up flipping the game the following week. Seen it happen to a few people I know.

I use this tactic a lot. Rather than acknowledge a lowball offer and give the offeror's number some sort of validity I find that no response irritates him/her more than the low offer insulted me.

Insulted is probably too strong a word. Lowball offers come in so often anymore that its more like getting worked up over bugs hitting the truck windshield.

Not judging the circumstances of the OP's situation as I do not know all the factors involved, but no response bothered him enough to start the thread, right?

Honestly it would depend on how you replied with your $900 offer. Did you even leave it open for negotiation. At $900 I feel you are really stretching a decent offer and I probably wouldn't respond to you either. Again, depends on how you worded it. What exactly did you say?

My situations do not involve pinball machines, but an area of heavy equipment that I have worked in for several decades. I think I have a good idea of what something will sell for and what it will not.

Silly thing is most of my stuff is priced at the lower end of what similar pieces sell for.

What game was it?