"Whats your best price" Buyers

[Skylark]

Man it grates me when buyers play the "Whats your best price" game especially after needling you for information and even making shipping arrangements.

What kind of question is that - The asking price is MY best price - Duh!!
Its like asking how long is a piece of string 



Asking "Whats your best price" is just fishing for a bargain , man up and make an offer if you want.
Making an offer and giving your reasons if necessary is par for the course.
Or just make an offer , its a free world but don't try mind games with me!!
There's a satisfaction in negotiating a successful deal , both parties have agreed to a mutually beneficial arrangement.
A buyer asking "Whats your best price" just means the buyer is trying to shaft the seller.
It would appear the buyer is asking : How desperate are you? Then once I know that I can exploit it.
If the buyer is having a hard month financially - fairdeal , let me know that , it feels good to help out a fellow human if I can.

But I know lack of funds is more often than not , not the reason - I once had a guy aggressively try and get my price down on a R450 cooking pot that I had got as a gift - I held firm becuase it was a nice pot and a very good price , the guy rocks up to pick it up in a brand spanking new Audi TT - WTF!!

I have had idiots asking for my best price and then when I give them my best price in good faith they immediately make a lower counter offer.

I honestly shouldn't let this stuff make me cross , but it does push my angry buttons.
What you chaps think about this?
Am I over reacting , is this just one of the games we have to put up with when selling something?
You guys have any techniques for dealing with this bollocks!

[CAD]

My favourite is when you agree on the price say R 2000.
The guy comes to collect but says "I only have R 1500 cash"

I have a standard reply : "OK BYE "

[Francois]

I agree totallu k@k style! I usually pitch something at a good price anyway for Im not in it to make money. Im always a little neg. but flip sometimes people take it to the limit and YES they arrive in R500 000+ cars!

Ok maybe Im driving my Yaris because I do not skim off enough on bargains :-(

[Crafty]

@skylark , so what is your best price on that cd player?
Kidding ps, i think nashb wants it!

[Skylark]

@skylark , so what is your best price on that cd player?
Kidding ps, i think nashb wants it!

Nope its back on the market... he was "interested"
PM me if you keen 

[mahleu]

My favourite response to a silly offer is to go up on my side, so if it's R1000 and they offer R500, i'll go up to R1500. Then offer to meet them in the middle.

"No, sorry" also works quite well.

[mafioso]

A bloke from somewhere in Skandinavia has been needling me the entire weekend for lower and lower prices on a tonearm.

As a goodwill gesture I rounded off the price by 69 rands, leaving 2 zeros at the end.

The matter has already progressed with bank details supplied and EMS postage calculated.

Once I rounded off the price to two zeros at the end, he wrote back and asked if I could deduct our 14% VAT.

I wrote back that this sale is no longer viable.

mafioso

[Skylark]

But how do you guys respond to the 4 words : Whats your best price?
Its almost like a buyer is trying to initiate a game that is based on intimidation
Its not based on reasonable doubt - because that would be a discussion on a fair reflection of the items value.
That's what interests me - what is the buyer plotting with this line of thought , I have noticed if you get immediately to the point as you guys have mentioned "no thanks bye" then they normally run away but if you play along a little bit despite not letting the price drop much they will normally still buy whatever it is you flogging.
Playing along does piss me off no end though - its like come on cut the sh1te and get to the point.
Its either worth it or its not!!

An offer is a different thing - I have R2000 cash do you accept yes/no , although ridiculous offers do get very tedious. Or I can offer R2000 becuase the newer model is R4500 and its got Quad Dac bit stream mayhem that your older model doesn't. That I don't mind.

A good example is I just got a pm with very low offer on an item about 30mins ago - but the guy substantiated his offer , which I was happy to hear . I didn't drop my price to the level the chap offered but he was being up front with his reasons and I can work with that.

[LAV]

I agree, just make an offer and be done with it.

[Homer]

A bloke from somewhere in Skandinavia has been needling me the entire weekend for lower and lower prices on a tonearm.

As a goodwill gesture I rounded off the price by 69 rands, leaving 2 zeros at the end.

The matter has already progressed with bank details supplied and EMS postage calculated.

Once I rounded off the price to two zeros at the end, he wrote back and asked if I could deduct our 14% VAT.

I wrote back that this sale is no longer viable.

mafioso

Well done. I would have inserted a couple of expletives as well.

[Shonver]

I get what you're saying about "best price". It sounds like a cool phrase that someone came up with one day but it's really nonsensical. So, you're asking R3000. Privately, you know you're prepared to go as low as R2500 if the item is taking too long to move, but you know that even R3200 is fair. What this guy is asking is for a short-cut, bypassing negotiation and goodwill, hoping that his super-phrase will clench it for him.

"So, er... what's your best price?"
"It's a good price, I reckon."
"Ja, but what's your best price?"
"You want to make me an offer? I'm open to reasonable offers."
"Tell me your best price. I'll pay cash."
"OK. How about R2850?"
"Is that your best price?"
"Look, I'm already selling it at a low price."
"I've got the money, you know."
"You've got the R3000? Then let's do the deal."
"Give me your best price and we'll call it a deal."
"Tell you what: I've got someone else coming to see it tonight. Leave your number; I'll call you if it doesn't sell."
"Give me your best price and I'll make you a good offer."
"OK" [frustrated] "R2500".
"Take R1500."
"That's too low, sorry."
"It's a good offer!"
"No, thanks. It's worth much more."
"I'll take it off your hands right now. No hassles."
"I can't sell it so low, sorry. But thanks for coming."
 

[cj]

what a waste of time. good lord, people who ask me about my best price get told my asking price is my best price, from past experience these people wont buy it at my asking price and often cancel the deal and stall for time and try stupid tricks like arriving without enough cash. just pass them by and wait for someone more serious

[Skylark]

I get what you're saying about "best price". It sounds like a cool phrase that someone came up with one day but it's really nonsensical. So, you're asking R3000. Privately, you know you're prepared to go as low as R2500 if the item is taking too long to move, but you know that even R3200 is fair. What this guy is asking is for a short-cut, bypassing negotiation and goodwill, hoping that his super-phrase will clench it for him.

"So, er... what's your best price?"
"It's a good price, I reckon."
"Ja, but what's your best price?"
"You want to make me an offer? I'm open to reasonable offers."
"Tell me your best price. I'll pay cash."
"OK. How about R2850?"
"Is that your best price?"
"Look, I'm already selling it at a low price."
"I've got the money, you know."
"You've got the R3000? Then let's do the deal."
"Give me your best price and we'll call it a deal."
"Tell you what: I've got someone else coming to see it tonight. Leave your number; I'll call you if it doesn't sell."
"Give me your best price and I'll make you a good offer."
"OK" [frustrated] "R2500".
"Take R1500."
"That's too low, sorry."
"It's a good offer!"
"No, thanks. It's worth much more."
"I'll take it off your hands right now. No hassles."
"I can't sell it so low, sorry. But thanks for coming."
 

Shonver you get a Double Oscar for that reply!!! 
That is exactly exactly the scenario and how it pans out
I got pissed off just reading it!!!

But there's a psychology behind the game - I want to ferret that out and then we can all get some ammo to either stop the errant chap in his tracks or catch him with his own trap 
I've played it thru a few times and won but damn you need patience...
I used to lose my temper with the buyer in the beginning because its actually quite a nasty game for someone to try and play you with
But if you prepared to go the distance you will often get a sale pretty near your asking price

Cj's point is very true though - they often are just total chance takers , so I suppose the key is to invest very little time or emotion into the deal , which will also give the buyer the idea that you don't need his money anyway so playing too hard will get them nowhere.

[alternativeroute]

Dont u guys think though that if something has been up for ages and bumped to pg2 then its time for offers?

[WaterHond]

I think people that are a bit clueless do tend to use it as an opener for negotiations. I also think the majority of potential buyers expect a bit of haggling unless there's a "not negotiable" tag maybe?

I wonder how many people list items at a higher price than what they actually want - about 80% or less?