What's a lowball?

[shakalaka]

Thought this would be interesting to discuss. What's your definition of a lowball offer? Is there one/standardized definition or does it mean different things to different people? Is there a percentage value of an offer below the asking price that makes the offer a lowball?

I often sell this and that on Kijiji and often think to myself that some of the offers I get are lowballs. But I don't really know why and how I define that and mostly just a feeling. Is a $3K offer on a $4K item a lowball? Is a $1600 offer on a $1800 product a lowball? Is $70 on a $90 item a lowball?

Thoughts?

[black300]

I guess it depends on the item and the factors. For example a house that has been listed for more than 60 days lets say, I would say 10-15% less than asking is reasonable.

For smaller items anything more than 15% would be a low ball in my opinion.

[revelations]

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Thought this would be interesting to discuss. What's your definition of a lowball offer? Is there one/standardized definition or does it mean different things to different people? Is there a percentage value of an offer below the asking price that makes the offer a lowball?

I often sell this and that on Kijiji and often think to myself that some of the offers I get are lowballs. But I don't really know why and how I define that and mostly just a feeling. Is a $3K offer on a $4K item a lowball? Is a $1600 offer on a $1800 product a lowball? Is $70 on a $90 item a lowball?

Thoughts?

30$ on a 40$ item = not low ball

300$ on a 400$ item = border line

3k on a 4k item, = low ball

30k on a 40k item = low ball

[benyl]

^
25% lower (or less) than asking on anything over $100. Offering $50 for something where you ask $75 is borderline.

[msommers]

A single testicle drooping down to one's knee

[Buster]

I don't think lowballs exist.

[brucebanner]

In any of your examples, I don't think they're lowballs.

When buying items, especially used items off kijiji or the like. I assume everyone inflates their price and I also look at the listed price as a starting point for negotiating.

I'd have to say 30%+ maybe? Sliding scale for me for sure.

[ExtraSlow]

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I don't think lowballs exist.

Any offer that is given before the person has seen the item with thier own eyes.

[Buster]

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Any offer that is given before the person has seen the item with thier own eyes.

There are no lowballs. There is only market discovery.

[ZenOps]

Found an offer for $1.28 for 100 hacksaw blades on Amazon (all 100)

Ordered it knowing that it was a price error. They honored and shipped anyhow. Not really a lowball story, but a story about how sometimes stuff just gets sold for cheap anyhow.

Many times I've wondered if I could haggle down a price of a loaf of bread. Galen Weston don't need another 10 billys. The Westons making most their fortune on bread and coffee.

Anyone who is into international shipping knows that price is always haggleable, and sometimes shipments can be completely worthless, zero dollars paid or even lost money to dump cargo. If you can't get a good price for your 40,000 tons of soybeans, do you wait an extra three months before porting or do you dump your load and pickup corn? Oil hit this contango this year, although with the caveat that they cant simply dump their load without environmental consequences, and cannot pickup a different commodity.

I'm going to say that a particular *demographic* of people tend to have great difficulty comprehending negative value of tonnage of goods. Worthless crude, lol.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Auto-agree with Buster also engaged.

[firebane]

If you say "I don't want to low ball" or feel off about and offer.. its a lowball.

Asking way below an asking price is fine if justifiable in your offer.

The truck I just bought was listed at 6000 and I got it for 4000 because I could justify things that made the price cheaper.

[C4S]

It depends ...

For a $11,000 Rolex, if you offer $15K, that is low ball .. lol

[ThePenIsMightier]

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... For example a house that has been listed for more than 60 days lets say, I would say 10-15% less than asking is reasonable.
.

For example, you're about to never buy a house, ever.

[ercchry]

Any offer below ask sight unseen... lowball

...but I’m also awful at this. Ignore 90% of people when selling and just pay full price for the already deeply discounted used items on kijiji

[firebane]

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Any offer below ask sight unseen... lowball

...but I’m also awful at this. Ignore 90% of people when selling and just pay full price for the already deeply discounted used items on kijiji

I do that all the time to get a feel from the buyer with where they are before I am going to waste my time.

[finboy]

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There are no lowballs. There is only market discovery.

Ding ding ding

If someone has posted a price, that doesn’t mean the price reflects reality. “I don’t want to lowball but...” doesn’t mean you are lowballing if a case can be made that the asking price doesn’t reflect reality.

[sabad66]

40% or more off of asking price is a lowball imo.

[revelations]

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There are no lowballs. There is only market discovery.

If you get 5 people offering you a similar dollar amount, thats market discovery.

One outlier is not.

[Buster]

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If you get 5 people offering you a similar dollar amount, thats market discovery.

One outlier is not.

The market includes participants that would pay zero dollars for your item all the way up to the person who will pay the most.

The outlier is just one of those people that doesn't indicate their price by refusing to buy but rather by telling you. You don't blame all the people that are not willing to pay your price for being lowballers, do you? They are no different than the guy who indicates his price.