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Why people here low ball offers?

J

jaysteino

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Every add I have placed people low ball me. It's insulting. I work hard at giving quality animals but soooo many of you low ball anything. It's tiresome. Almost to the point of not offering on this sight. I thought people here would understand the value of these animals. Do you think it's ok to low ball pricing on here? I don't mean negotiating ex. Selling an animal for $200 and get an offer of $75 shipped. Are you kidding me. How insulting. I get market value and an animal is only worth what someone is willing to pay but low balling here is ridiculous
 
I don't think it is necessarily designated to this site, have you ever listed on any other site?
 
I have used other sites with the same low balling. I expect it from non hero sites but not so much here. Boy was that assumption wrong.
 
I had one user here offer me $150 shipped for an animal and then when I responded he stated I can only offer you $75 because I took too long to respond (48 hours). That is less than a hatchling and this is a 2 year old adult. So I am expected to sell an animal for less than I bought it for? Get the f@#k out of here. Insulting
 
Unfortunately, no matter what you are selling, there will always be someone out to make a quick buck. Sometimes they get lucky and make a score. I don't think that it is right to say low balling here is any worse than anywhere else. I will be honest with you, I think "low ballers" target those who have low post counts, non paid subscriptions and low user ratings. I try to make it a point to rate everyone I deal with, whether it's a sell, trade or purchase.

I assume you are talking about the Tegu.?
 
I looked at both ads and I have some suggestions, which we can discuss through Pm if you prefer.
 
Try advertising on FB. Tons of lowballing cheap MF's on there.
 
SPJ said:
Try advertising on FB. Tons of lowballing cheap MF's on there.
Click to expand...
It's everywhere, I think presentation has a lot to do with discouraging or encouraging the right clientele. People make assumptions about the person who placed the ad, simply by looking how the ad is presented. I do it all the time.
 
jaysteino said:
It's tiresome. Almost to the point of not offering on this sight.
Click to expand...

Jason, this is a great site; please don't write it off yet. Lowballing happens EVERYWHERE, from car dealerships to garage sales.

Just tell those people "thanks for the inquiry, but I'll have to decline". You are under no obligation to explain that response to anyone, or to engage further with someone you have no intention of selling to.

Kathy
 
I have used FBI. My opinion is that fauna is worse with low balling. I deleted my FBI because there rules on animal sales and poor results. I also didn't like the mob mentality of fb groups etc.
 
People in general are cheap, doesn't matter where you advertise. If an offer is insultingly low simply ignore it and do something more useful with your time, like clean out your snake enclosures.

If you think it's bad with reptile sales, don't try to get into the gun biz; brick and mortar retailers are taking it in the shorts right now.
 
Thanks katchy. I am not giving up just yet. Just wanted to see how others react. Thanks again for the advice
 
I have advertised a few non herp items locally and had extreme lowballs. A low offer is not an extreme lowball, if they offer 60-70% I'll write back with a counter offer.
But each time a genuine extreme lowball happens, I will write back and tell them that sure, I will accept $10 over my asking price (If the item is priced by me at $100 and they offer $25, I will tell them I'd be happy to accept $110). If they are so foolish as to write back and repeat their offer, I add another $10 each time they write back.
It gets them all flustered and aggravated, and the more flustered they get, the more I feel like karma indeed works in the universe. :reddevil:

I try to be nice to potential buyers, if they are new, or have questions, or any of that I'm happy to help. But the lowballers and the foreign-country-scammers-paying-by -cashiers-check-and-will-send-their-agent types, they deserve to be flocked with.
 
As others have said, don't get discouraged.

I find some people on here (everywhere really) just don't know true market value. They'll see one morph, and assume that's the "going rate".
And it's often hard to educate on why a het or morph is more expensive than a normal. Especially to those people just looking for a pet.

My peeve is when I get the "yeah I understand that it's got a really interesting genetic background, and you've bred generations of it, but I just want a pet!" ...and then they offer a pet price of what a normal goes for. I usually then tell them to drive and wait for the last minute of an expo and hope they get a miracle.


My best advice:
Keep the animal you're trying to sell around. Clear cage/rack space for it. Actually get it into your head you're keeping it and get a breeding plan. Never fails, soon as you do that, you'll get a great offer on it. Happens every time. ;)
 
Interesting discussion. I tend to see the opposite as far as reasonable sales prices and offers here vs other venues like fb. I can't tell you how many normal bps I've seen on fb being offered for the "super low price of only $300 with its enclosure!" Bah...

For me, Fauna is one of the only places I can go and expect to see real, reasonable market values instead of hyper-inflated ignorance-driven sales.
 
Chance said:
I can't tell you how many normal bps I've seen on fb being offered for the "super low price of only $300 with its enclosure!" Bah...
Click to expand...
Bear in mind those people got everything from a big box pet store and paid $400 retail for it, so they think $300 is a good deal. If they did some research they'd have known better.
 
Maybe a separate thread should be started. Maybe a list of low ballers, somewhere the names and offers can be posted as screen shots. That might slow them down a little. I'll ponder on it a little longer.

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