Why Offer A Bo Option If You Aren't Willing To Haggle At All

I think this is a "troll" type topic. 50 different people are going to have 50 different opinions.

You bid low, he counters high, you make another offer.
The point is, you offer what you are willing to pay for it. If you don't like the response, then don't complain to us about it.
There are many times when I bid a low offer, sometimes it's accepted, sometimes it is not. If it is not accepted, I move on.
There are lots of coins to choose from.

You misrepresent what I meant/wrote. I meant that giving a 99% counter offer is an indication that the SELLER didn't start high enough to haggle/negotiate reasonably. Or that they are just clueless.

I understand that many think the seller was making a "statement" about my 70% offer with that ridiculous of a counter. But I don't agree and think this seller - and many others - just doesn't know what they are doing and thinks that 99% is fine and dandy and don't intend to sell for under 98%. Which is idiotic and wastes time.

Not that I think it matters, but I am mostly a buyer of coins. But I have sold enough ( coins and other goods ) to know how both sides "work". And don't care for those that play games and waste time - on either side. This was an example.

Profiteer? What does that even indicate? I do try to buy low so that when/if I feel like selling later I can break even(after fees) or make a small profit. IMO, that is just common sense. Buying on whims and with no sense of the value is a way to throw away money. I tend not to lean that way. I do not buy coins with the sole intent of selling them as soon as possible at a profit - if that is what you were trying to indicate. Not that there is a single thing wrong with that - and I know some dealers that do only buy with selling in mind.

A seller whose first counter is 99% is NOT worth wasting more time on. I put them on my list to IGNORE as they are unreasonable and will most likely be that way on any deal/item/coin in the future. I plan on using all 3 bids, but when the seller is ridiculous I won't continue and waste more time. If they are more reasonable with their first counter, but it is apparent after 2 offers each way that we will never "agree on a price", then I state so and thank them for their time and move on. Maybe we will do business down the road - at least they dealt professionally and reasonably. So I don't always get to the 3rd offer. In this case it was moot - the seller is delusional or playing idiotic games and is therefor unprofessional.

"for all intense purposes"? I guess you meant "for all intents and purposes", some phrases people manipulate make them much more amusing than the real thing.

buff...
and how much time have you wasted railing on this subject here in the forum?

I don't see anyone "ignoring percentages" at all in any context. My posts do the exact opposite. And I do think %'s can be applicable across a large range of values. But, if anything, higher value coins typically come with a much bigger % of wholesale-to-retail.




I've never indicated it is a seller's obligation to take my offer. My point is they are wasting my time by offering a BO option - which implies the sale is negotiable - and then not REALLY being willing to haggle at all. 1% less is just a ridiculous counter! period! It is beyond ignorant. And if it was meant to be a counter to an insult - that is childish and unprofessional as well.




I included the auctions as examples of purchases made around the WHOLESALE area. As an example of why my offering around the wholesale value for this coin is far from insult-level. Many collector's/buyer's use auction prices, both at Heritage and ebay and other auction venues, to help determine our version of FMV for a coin. This notion that ebay is retail and thus wholesale has no baring? I 100% disagree! ebay provides sellers the ability to use auctions as well, so those realized prices are germane to discussions of "insult-level" offers etc.

I don't set my "acceptable price" level differently on auctions vs BIN vs BIN/BO vs B&M, whether buying or selling. The coin isn't made "different" in any of those contexts. I see a number of dealers who change their prices on coins after an auction for one of the same grade goes higher or lower than their pricepoint etc. They adjust to current market realizations. They don't say "oh we are retail so auction prices have no meaning". Just the opposite! Some don't "keep up" but then that gives them a disadvantage as well.




My issue is not that the seller didn't accept my first offer. 99% of the time I don't expect that to happen. The point is that they didn't enter into the BO dealing with professionalism or realism. Many should just NEVER USE THE BO option. They are not up for the task and just waste other's time.

Also, at least he did come down. If an offer really made me mad, I would have probably sent back 1 cent or so lower. That would be something to get mad about. Once again, we wouldn't have an issue with this if you sent a second offer. Besides you didn't believe that you could work out a deal, and were mad, then why didn't you?

You say he was being childish, idiotic and unprofessional for his counter... Did you ever think that maybe be thought the exact same about your initial offer? That you were wasting HIS time? And that was shown by his counter? You have to understand that your opinions on this matter and "acceptable" ways to haggle and proper percentages are yours and yours alone ... Most here have respectfully disagreed, as well as thought your offer was quite low.

Having a BO option doesn't mean they have to adhere to a specific set of guidelines or percentages.. Heck, even if $100 less than asking was as low as he'd go, that's fine... It's his right to do so and there's nothing wrong with that, technically. Do you have to accept that? Absolutely not. But there's nothing wrong with the seller not wanting to go lower than that and it's hardly a waste of anyone's time. He's still willing to take less than he was asking, and wether you find that acceptable or not is a moot point. I've made offers on plenty of coins where the seller didn't come down to what I was willing to pay... No big deal.. I've also gotten amazing deals I never thought would be accepted. Heck, once, after three offers on a $1000 coin I've had the seller only go down to $975... Which again is fine... We couldn't reach even close to a middle ground and I passed on the coin... But I don't hold any I'll will towards the seller.

Do great deals come around? Absolutely. Are they the norm? Probably not. With a coin worth that much, and a seller knowing he can get a pretty penny for it that offer still seems low to me. And I disagree that there's more wiggle room the higher the value. Coins arnt like cars (as an example) where there's a million dealerships selling exactly the same car so they fight to offer the best price. Coins, and especially more pricy coins are more often than not somewhat unique, or hold unique characteristics leaving less room for wiggle. Try offering 70% on a $200,000 Lamborghini... And see how that works out for you, lol. You really think since it costs so much they'll accept $140,000? Or even $160,000? I think not

He DID deal. You just weren't happy with the price.