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

There are sellers who are dealers, so they have to sell constantly to do $$$ . On the other hand there are sellers who are collectors and aren't in a hurry to sell.

You know, I think this was the hardest lesson to learn when I started selling coins. The worst thing I did was think of haggling as a battle and felt like I always had to win. I've learned that I'd rather make some money by selling at a discount, rather than make no money because I was too stern with the price and alienated the customers without realizing it. The key is to think of it as simply an organic dialogue between two parties. Sometimes, those two parties will just never see eye to eye. Harboring ill feelings about it -- from either end -- is just pointless and a waste of energy.

I take it back. The hardest lesson I had to learn was that nobody was ever going to pay trend price. Ever. Except that one guy who doesn't try to haggle. I wish he'd come back.

Reviving an old topic, but with negotiating, my first offer is always lower than what I am willing to pay (I wouldn't offer less than 35% of asking though, depending on the exact value). The rationale being that eventually, they will counter and you will work towards an ideal price. Sometimes it is unworkable and that's just the way it goes - a few days back I was selling myself and some of the offers I received were laughable (i.e. people trying to rip me off). Once it was clear that it was unworkable, I just moved on. I think the key with this sort of thing is to not take it personally and to remember that the aim isn't to win, but to get the item at the best possible price.

Going back through some of the older posts & ran across this one. Since this started I've done a LOT more selling on ebay & have more experience with best offer. I've found that the vast majority of people that make an initial offer of 75% or less of the asking price are low ball shoppers & have absolutely zero intention of entering into a serious negotiation. I still counter but I don't hold my breath waiting for them to up their offer. I've always thought the sellers counter was designed to let the buyer know his offer wasn't serious....& my experience with "buyers" that come in below 75% of asking backs that up.

Well... as a buyer, I usually go about 80% of the BIN price, assuming the BIN price is the high end of FMV. When I see a $220 BIN price on an item with $200 FMV and I offer 220 - 45 or 185 and get a 215 counter, I figure the seller isn't going to come down to the 195-200 I would pay and don't reply.

I occasionally offer less when the BIN price is out of line with FMV. And I've had a couple offers like that accepted.

I also had a long discussion with a seller about a very over-priced item. He was honest that he had paid to much and just wanted his money back. I told him he was never going to sell it at that price. He replied that given the way ebay structured the fees, he could setup automatic relist and run the auction for MONTHS waiting for somebody to bite. Eventually I found another seller and stopped tracking this one - for all I know it's still for sale at 150% of FMV.