Anybody else no longer selling used items locally because of hagglers?

[Trudie]

I don't do garage sales anymore due to hagglers.  I'm not going to waste my valuable time/life energy haggling over $1 items; quite often the tax write off is worth more to me.  Nicer stuff I sell through my husband's newsletter at work.  There's also a consignment shop I regularly use.

In addition to "hagglers" I would say that I've dealt with a couple of weirdos on local for-sale sites (like Craigslist).  One weirdo wanted to look at a couch I had for sale, but she could only come to town at strange times.  One time she wanted to come when I wasn't available and said, "Oh, can I just look in your windows at it??" to which I replied, "My neighbors are nosy and will report you to the police for peeking in my windows."

[tomq04]

I have sold over a hundred items on CL in the past 2 years, the new rule is that if it isn't worth $20, it isn't going up.

The other thing I've learned is that patience is key, people will come buy it if you are asking a fair price...but you often times have to wait.

I don't mind haggling depending on what I am dumping, but I'm not going to accept a 50% hair cut on something I've researched and I am certain of what it's worth.

[mm1970]

I like a good deal as much as the next person, but I have grown weary of the Craigslist hagglers and extreme lowballers, so much so that I rarely, if ever, sell things anymore. I've basically started to donate things, in large part because I'd rather donate an item than give lowballers the satisfaction of getting the item for the 40% less than what I listed. I have seriously donated a $10 item out of spite instead of giving it to someone on Craigslist for $5. I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I do.

I am perfectly fine with haggling on larger items, but smaller items? Forget it! It's just not worth my time.

Have people had success with listing things "firm"? It just seems silly when the item is only $2 to begin with. Really? You want to haggle over $2? This is also why I don't do garage sales. I just can't deal with the cheapness. And I'm a Mustachian and also cheap.

So off to Goodwill I go.

I totally understand.

I'm not really into buying/selling on CL or the local FB site.  I probably should be, but it's a time factor.

My friends who have tried to sell things on both get flakes who say they are coming, but then don't.  It takes TIME.  So if three people say they want it, but the first guy lowballs you, you just wasted your time!  If you've got kids, you had to set up a time when you are home, let them see the item, and then contact the next person - so annoying!

I used to be on the local Freecycle group, and anyone who flaked on me got blacklisted, and I never gave them anything again. 

I am the opposite about garage sales.  I expect garage sale stuff to be CHEAP because you are getting rid of it!  So we have had a few and priced stuff to SELL.  Because you are saving me from doing the work.  Garage sale prices here are expensive!

Our FB group has a lot of rules about who gets something - it's supposed to go to the "first" person who says they want it (which is kind of stupid if you ask me).  What if person #5 can come in 5 minutes?  So if you want it gone fast, you have to say "first who can come, no holds".  Also "interested" means you want to know more about it, not necessarily that you want it. 

Saturday I happened to see a bunk bed with stairs pop up.  Our house is tiny and I have two boys and I'd planned on buying a bunk bed with stairs (not ladder) and drawers "eventually" (when I could trust the 3 year old not to jump off, like when he's 5).  Well, wouldn't you know it I showed my spouse and he said "let's do it".  The person who posted wasn't the seller, so we called.  They said "tomorrow afternoon".  Borrowed a truck, got it $10 off because that's what he had handy (spouse said "I've got $10 somewhere" and she said "nevermind").  I feel like I got lucky.

But a month ago, we got rid of our crib.  I searched the FB group, and NONE of the last 10 cribs even sold.  So I didn't bother, just found a friend with a friend who needed it.  Our twin bed (that we don't need anymore with the bunks) we got on CL.  I may try to sell it, but first up my babysitter mentioned she might want it.  If she wants it, and can haul it, she can have it for free (I get a ton of clothing and shoes hand me downs from her son).

I feel like I should want to sell things more, but I don't.  I prefer to give to friends, or donate to charity.

[MrsPete]

Yes, after our last garage sale -- perhaps ten years ago -- I said, NEVER AGAIN. 

It was really one family that made that decision for me.  They irritated me so much that I grabbed the item out of the woman's hand and told my daughter to return it to the house.  She clearly still wanted it, but I refused to sell it to her.  I just wanted that family to LEAVE, so every time they started offering a lower price, I raised the price.  They were also trying to get into my house:  Insisting that they needed to try on clothing (Really?  You can't take a risk when I'm selling them stuff-a-bag-for-$5?), and telling their kids that OF COURSE they could run right into my house to use the rest room.  Again, I turned to my daughter and told her to get her Daddy to come out and sit on the steps 'til that family left. 

[Bob W]

We have a nice consignment store up the road that takes care of all this.  Sweet.

[Basenji]

Every time I feel "less than" for not selling stuff, but just giving it to charity or to family and friends, someone starts another thread like this and I go back to my quiet tax-deductible life. Ugh, an introvert's nightmare.

ETA then Bob mentions consignment and I'm all, hmm...

[Bearded Man]

"What's the lowest you'll accept?"

That's my personal favorite. I don't do garage sales for this reason. Only larger/more expensive items get sold. Online when possible, but local when too bulky to ship cheap.

[Silverwood]

Definitely!  I'm glad I'm not the only one like this. I recently listed an old vintage chair on Kijiji.  Item was 10.  When she showed up she gave me  7 in change, stating that was all she had.  I took it but decided that this was no longer worth my time. My ads are clear and detailed, with good pictures. The chair in any other store would of been 40+ dollars.

I've also listed a crib that was never used at 50% off.  The offers I got were laughable. Also asking if a mattress came with even though the ad stated it was just the crib for sale.

The garage sale we had, we were selling lamps for $1.  Whole cup sets for $1.  It became more about hanging out with my mom and grandma than about selling things.


The only plus is it's made me very selective on what I buy.

[Silverwood]

One thing I do if I do list it is I ask for a little more then I want. So when I come down I am getting what I originally wanted.  Also if a young, poor couple shows up to buy something I will reduce the price myself or give it to them if they don't haggle. I have noticed that these type of people usually won't even try to haggle so I reward them. I think it is due to age because I was afraid to when I was young.

I find this funny because a friend felt the same way. Until the person who said she was a poor single parent showed up with her husband to and loaded the item into their truck. Soon after it was listed on the sunshine auctions on fb

[FIRE me]

I like a good deal as much as the next person, but I have grown weary of the Craigslist hagglers and extreme lowballers, so much so that I rarely, if ever, sell things anymore. I've basically started to donate things, in large part because I'd rather donate an item than give lowballers the satisfaction of getting the item for the 40% less than what I listed. I have seriously donated a $10 item out of spite instead of giving it to someone on Craigslist for $5. I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I do.

I am perfectly fine with haggling on larger items, but smaller items? Forget it! It's just not worth my time.

Have people had success with listing things "firm"? It just seems silly when the item is only $2 to begin with. Really? You want to haggle over $2? This is also why I don't do garage sales. I just can't deal with the cheapness. And I'm a Mustachian and also cheap.

So off to Goodwill I go.

I don't mind hagglers and low ballers, because I know how to say “no”. The things I dislike are strangers coming to my home, and the no shows.

[NumberJohnny5]

When I get a lowballer, or someone asking "What's the lowest you'd take for it?", here's some responses:

Offer to take off a penny.

Give a price that's higher than you were asking for.

Tell them they can have the $20 item for one...no...TWO Big Mac meals, supersized. Maybe throw in a kids meal or two.

Offer to exchange your $200 phone for a single Taco Bell burrito. Note, I'm currently in Australia.

When asked if I'd match a price seen on ebay (on a listing that still had a while to go), I told them that if they can buy that phone for that price, I'd immediately buy it from them for +$X. Or, tell them I've bid on it as well. If it only has a few hours left, I'll wait until it ends and sold for a decent bit more than my asking price and say "Sure, I'll sell it for (much higher amount)." If they offer to pay the original price, offer to take $10 off the much higher price as a thanks for letting me know the true value of the item.

Ask for pics to "examine the goods" (remember, this is a response FROM the seller, not TO)

Tell them that $X is how much the phone would cost with a shattered screen. Email the next day with a pic of a shattered screen and say "Is your offer still good?"

Offer to sell your item at their low price, but it'll be without certain "optional" accessories. $50 for a laptop without the screen, keyboard, motherboard, hard drive, battery, or ram; $500 for a boat without the hull, motor, decking, seats, or trailer; $10 for the sound system without the amplifier or speakers; $75 for an iPhone without the i.

[Late_Bloomer]

I just had a two month run selling some items on CL and wow, what a hassle. Not sure about small items, but once you put anything up for over 1,000.00 you start getting scam attempts. I wanted to use the items I sold as an experiment to see how easy I could make money as a side gig, but it became just a frustrating experience in dealing with scammers, lowballers, and emails back and forth 10 times just to have them back out and not buy.

[amandapdx]

I definitely think the quality of Craigslist varies from market to market. Here in the PNW, I have bought and sold countless things on CL. Yes, I see a lot of the "what's the lowest you'll take for this?" People, but generally, if they make the trip over to look at something, unless it doesn't work for them, they'll buy it. It is helpful that I'll say no to their lowball offers, especially when I've just posted an item. After a couple of weeks, then I might consider lower offers.

My favorite things to do are to buy something off of Craigslist for a really good deal, use it for a couple of years, then sell it for more than I paid for it. With two little kids, I've done this a lot with toys and kids furniture, but also normal household stuff.

I would agree to only bother with big items on CL. We have twice yearly kids consignment sales where I move all of my boys' old clothes. This spring I made $400 on outgrown clothes, all at between $2 and $5 each. It takes some prep time but totally worth it and easy to do when I wouldn't normally be accomplishing much else.

[gt7152b]

"You won't reduce the price we agreed on over the phone?"...

I had a guy drive 5 hours to buy a car from me that we had already negotiated a price on. I had about 20 detailed pictures and gave him a very thorough description of everything about the car including service history and any blemishes that might not be noticeable in the pictures. I even had other people lined up that wanted the car but I was giving him first chance at it since he was driving so far. He looked at it for about 5 minutes and then asked me how low I would go.

[justajane]

I think the rationale of lowballers is that the seller will relent because of all the sunk time costs involved with setting up the meeting, etc. And what some of us here are saying is fuck the sunk time costs. I'm not going to give it to them on principle. Sure, it's kinda irrational, at least if you don't have a list of other buyers interested in the item. It's definitely taking it personally. But that's the risk you take when you lowball. Your seller will dig in their heels or not respond to your e-mail at all. So, if you really want the item, either pay the price or suggest a more reasonable discount like 10%.

I was thinking about all this earlier, and perhaps different people have different perceptions of what Craigslist or online marketplaces are. Some people like me think of them as quasi-retail situations in which you have a price and mostly people pay that price. Some light bargaining is fine, but the hardball haggling is not what we want or imagine it to be. Others think of Craigslist as a Central American market in which haggling is expected and even welcomed. It's just a perception difference.

[Dicey]

I have a threshold for things I sell on Craigslist, if it something I could get $20 or more for, then yes I will post it.  Anything less that $20 is a waste of my time to sit around and wait for someone to show up.

There are a couple of exceptions.  We are replacing our fridge, so we will post our old one for free.  It would cost us $15 to take it to the dump, but it is still in working condition (the seals around the door need replacing & a shelf is broken), so we will be happy if someone saves us a $15 dump fee.

Check with your local utility. Where we are, if your fridge is reasonably clean and still runs, they will pick it up and pay you $50.00. The one we donated was left behind when we bought the house and leaked occasionally. The utility didn't care, as long as it was running. Score!

[Miss Prim]

My husband has been trying to sell our Mazda mini-van and the only people we are getting to look at it are people who resell cars.  They are really lowballing the price and he has it listed way less than blue-book.  We even had one guy who wanted to know if we were offering a warrantee!  Seriously!  Go to a dealer and buy!  We finally gave up and decided to sell our old beater and keep the van.

                                                                                                            Miss Prim

                                 

[RunHappy]

I have a threshold for things I sell on Craigslist, if it something I could get $20 or more for, then yes I will post it.  Anything less that $20 is a waste of my time to sit around and wait for someone to show up.

There are a couple of exceptions.  We are replacing our fridge, so we will post our old one for free.  It would cost us $15 to take it to the dump, but it is still in working condition (the seals around the door need replacing & a shelf is broken), so we will be happy if someone saves us a $15 dump fee.

Check with your local utility. Where we are, if your fridge is reasonably clean and still runs, they will pick it up and pay you $50.00. The one we donated was left behind when we bought the house and leaked occasionally. The utility didn't care, as long as it was running. Score!

Good idea!  I will do that!

[MayDay]

I don't mind in person hagglers.  They actually showed up to look at the item, so odds are the actually want it, for somewhat close to what I listed it for, or they wouldn't have bothered coming.

I do not like email hagglers.  Maybe 33% of email responders show up to pick up.  I am not wasting my time sending 10 different emails back and forth when odds are the person won't even show up. 

We didn't have hagglers at our garage sale, and we made a couple hundred bucks.  But when you account for my time sitting out in the garage, I would make just as much donating the stuff. 

I find I do best listing a whole bunch of stuff on CL all at once.  I prefer to get the hassle over with all at once.  I do not like messing with one listing at a time. 

[ketchup]

I'll buy just about anything on Craigslist.  I generally will only sell on Craigslist if something is worth more than $100 or is tricky to fit into a box (such as a weight bench, or a Volvo station wagon).  If it's worth less than ~$20, it just goes to Goodwill or I give it away, value between $20 and $100 I will usually throw on eBay (or if something isn't getting any takers on Craigslist).

I ignore lowballers and other bullshittery completely on Craigslist.  No, I won't sell the car listed at $2400 for $1000.  No, I do not accept bits of string.  No, I won't accept a trumpet, four copies of Hey, You Pikachu! for Nintendo 64, sixty-four slices of American cheese, an iPhone 4, and a Three Musketeers bar for that camera lens.

The signal-to-noise ratio is still decent enough to be worth it.  The worst thing I've dealt with selling was when I helped a friend sell a cheap junky car for $500 (that I wouldn't have taken for free).  That was awful.  The kind of people that tends to attract are a pain in the butt, finicky, and just all around obnoxious.

[Zamboni]

^Next time you have a cheap junky car, just sell it to a junk yard or scrap metal place. They'll likely give you just as much money even if the car doesn't run, and they certainly don't care how clean it is.

[mm1970]

I think the rationale of lowballers is that the seller will relent because of all the sunk time costs involved with setting up the meeting, etc. And what some of us here are saying is fuck the sunk time costs. I'm not going to give it to them on principle. Sure, it's kinda irrational, at least if you don't have a list of other buyers interested in the item. It's definitely taking it personally. But that's the risk you take when you lowball. Your seller will dig in their heels or not respond to your e-mail at all. So, if you really want the item, either pay the price or suggest a more reasonable discount like 10%.

I was thinking about all this earlier, and perhaps different people have different perceptions of what Craigslist or online marketplaces are. Some people like me think of them as quasi-retail situations in which you have a price and mostly people pay that price. Some light bargaining is fine, but the hardball haggling is not what we want or imagine it to be. Others think of Craigslist as a Central American market in which haggling is expected and even welcomed. It's just a perception difference.

I think bargaining is fine, but...some things are in demand. On the bunk beds we bought?  There were at least 10 people who wanted it, and we were first.  In fact, my husband and our friend were loading it into the truck, and person #2 showed up, just in case he changed his mind.

So I think if I had time for selling this stuff, and I knew I had other possible takers, I wouldn't haggle.  You know, if it takes an extra 15 minutes to earn another $20, that's more than I make an hour.

I did once sell a carseat from my first kid, which was very nice and was given to me by a friend after his kid (the only one that survived any of his kids).  He was very happy when I handed him the $50.

[Emg03063]

"What's the lowest you'll accept?"

"Depends how much interest I have between now and when I need it sold by.  If you're interested, make an offer."

[Potterquilter]

We listed a canoe on CL.  We noted free local delivery. Someone asked us if we would take $100 off and deliver it for free 500 miles away.  Moron.

We ended up selling it to a nice woman who had just bought a lake house and wanted a small boat for her grown kids to paddle around. When we delivered it to her house about 15 miles away she insisted on giving us $20 for gas. So many nice people out there.

We donate everything now to goodwill connected to a halfway house. Gives people down and out a chance to get some work experience so they can move forward. It's not all about the money.

[mpg350]

Yeah like said I usually price my stuff higher just because of the hagglers and then get pretty much what I wanted that or I price as FIRM and I tell them NO price is FIRM.


CL is great to getting rid of crap for free…I had a old water heater that I needed to take to the dump so I put on CL for free and
like 20 mins later it was out of my yard and I didn't have to do anything. 

[LiveLean]

We don't even have to post online to get rid of things for free. We live on a fairly busy road and Monday is trash day, so the scavengers and hoarders go driving around on Sunday afternoon. Anything we put out -- anything, even teal and rose-colored toilets we've replaced -- disappears within the hour. It's amazing. I'm convinced there's a hoarder nearby who has all of our discards from the last 15 years.

[Cpa Cat]

Yes, after our last garage sale -- perhaps ten years ago -- I said, NEVER AGAIN. 

It was really one family that made that decision for me.  They irritated me so much that I grabbed the item out of the woman's hand and told my daughter to return it to the house.  She clearly still wanted it, but I refused to sell it to her.  I just wanted that family to LEAVE, so every time they started offering a lower price, I raised the price.  They were also trying to get into my house:  Insisting that they needed to try on clothing (Really?  You can't take a risk when I'm selling them stuff-a-bag-for-$5?), and telling their kids that OF COURSE they could run right into my house to use the rest room.  Again, I turned to my daughter and told her to get her Daddy to come out and sit on the steps 'til that family left.

This sounds like one of those scams that happens in foreign countries where the lady throws her baby at you and when you catch it, her other kids rob you.

"Will you take $1 for this $100 vase? No? How about $1.50. What about in exchange for this baby?" *throws baby at you and then steals your vase while her kids rob your house*

[kewper]

Unless you can get a better offer, the lowball offer is the real value of the item. Stuff is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and your feelings about what it "should" be worth are irrelevant.

Giving something away because you're dissatisfied with the price you could get for it is irrational (modulo tax write-offs).

Yes! People tend to over-value their used junk. 

[I'm a red panda]

I think bargaining is fine, but...some things are in demand. On the bunk beds we bought?  There were at least 10 people who wanted it, and we were first.  In fact, my husband and our friend were loading it into the truck, and person #2 showed up, just in case he changed his mind.

Wow. 
I don't give my address out to more than one person per item.

[Kitsune]

The thing with Craigslist is that it really isn't a place to sell to make a huge profit (barring some exceptions, etc). What you're selling is something used that you want to get rid of. The price people are willing to pay IS the value (or, as I had to explain to my mother when she was cleaning out my grandma's house: no one is willing to pay for used towels off of Craigslist. No, I don't care if she paid 30$ for them a year ago. They are not worth cash money anymore.)

As a buyer, the quickest way to get me uninterested is to refuse to budge on anything. For example, there was one seller who was listing 3 items (separate listings) I was interested in at a total of 160$, and she was a 30-minute drive out of the city. I offered 130$ if I took all 3 (because compared to the prices other people were listing similar items at it seemed fair, and that way she'd sell everything and I'd only have to make one trip, win/win, basically...) and she got SUPER snippy about how 'this is the listed price and what it's worth'. Ok, then. Good luck.

3 months later, she's still listing those same items every few days. Meanwhile, I found them from other sellers for a total of 115, but had to make 3 trips.

TL:DR: A bit of flexibility and good faith on both sides is necessary for non-frustrating Craigslisting.

[pine]

This is the pettiest shit I ever heard. If you don't want to sell, then just don't sell.

[justajane]

As a buyer, the quickest way to get me uninterested is to refuse to budge on anything. For example, there was one seller who was listing 3 items (separate listings) I was interested in at a total of 160$, and she was a 30-minute drive out of the city. I offered 130$ if I took all 3 (because compared to the prices other people were listing similar items at it seemed fair, and that way she'd sell everything and I'd only have to make one trip, win/win, basically...) and she got SUPER snippy about how 'this is the listed price and what it's worth'. Ok, then. Good luck.

That's a pretty reasonable offer, though. I'm talking more about lowballing -- like you offering her $80 for all three.

Would you have accepted if she had countered at $145?

[justajane]

We don't even have to post online to get rid of things for free. We live on a fairly busy road and Monday is trash day, so the scavengers and hoarders go driving around on Sunday afternoon. Anything we put out -- anything, even teal and rose-colored toilets we've replaced -- disappears within the hour. It's amazing. I'm convinced there's a hoarder nearby who has all of our discards from the last 15 years.

I'm thinking of doing this in the future. There are dudes in trucks that drive around in our neighborhood and take anything and everything. But I like the write-off even though it takes a little more time than putting it on the curb. Plus if you don't time it right, it will go to the landfill.

[justajane]

People have wildly inflated ideas of what their used stuff is worth. High end strollers hold their value, to a degree. Someone posted theirs, bought this year and gently used. She wanted 5/6 of it's original retail value. I countered with 5/9 worth, which seemed more reasonable. She was not interested. I've watched people try to unload heavily used $1700 strollers for $900 for MONTHS with no bites, because they just don't get that a three year old stroller that's been walked all over hell's half acre is not worth that much.

Yeah, items should generally be priced 70-80% off the new price. Or more. My beef is when it's already priced that low and people still lowball you.

But clearly people think sellers should take whatever and not be annoyed about it. That's what I don't get about some of the responses to this thread, as if a buyer can offer whatever and sellers aren't allowed to get annoyed. And that they are petty if they do. I guess you could go to a car dealership and offer to pay 50% off the sticker price, but you shouldn't be surprised when the salesman scoffs at you or thinks you're not worth doing business with.

[partgypsy]

Sometimes there are funny stories. We were selling our used couch for $100, and the person asked if we had a cat. We said yes, but primarily an outdoor cat, and cat doesn't ever get on that couch (yes we have a weird cat).
So she comes over, and tells us, well I really need to know whether I will have an allergic reaction to this couch. So she sits down, then picks up a pillow starts wiping on her face. Then starts rubbing her arms and her face on the couch. Then she sits there, waiting for a reaction. I guess she didn't get one, because she bought the couch, but when she started doing that, well, we just didn't even know what to say.

The 2nd one we were selling a matched set of Correlle dishware. This older lady called, and wanted them (she had the same set and always wanted a larger set of them), but didn't want to or was able to drive to pick them up (lived about 25 miles away). She asked if we could deliver them. (no). She called every week or so for a few weeks, asking if we would reconsider, or we happened to be going by her home town and could deliver the dishes. I'm not sure if she just really wanted the dishes, or was a little lonely. 

[Merrie]

Sometimes there are funny stories. We were selling our used couch for $100, and the person asked if we had a cat. We said yes, but primarily an outdoor cat, and cat doesn't ever get on that couch (yes we have a weird cat).
So she comes over, and tells us, well I really need to know whether I will have an allergic reaction to this couch. So she sits down, then picks up a pillow starts wiping on her face. Then starts rubbing her arms and her face on the couch. Then she sits there, waiting for a reaction. I guess she didn't get one, because she bought the couch, but when she started doing that, well, we just didn't even know what to say.

I get that, completely. My husband is allergic to cats and in that situation I can see him doing the same thing. I remember one time he was testing something for allergenicity and wiped one eye but not the other, to have one eye as a control group. We learned the hard way once that you can't de-cat a sofa... at least it was a sofa we'd gotten for free.

[pine]

People have wildly inflated ideas of what their used stuff is worth. High end strollers hold their value, to a degree. Someone posted theirs, bought this year and gently used. She wanted 5/6 of it's original retail value. I countered with 5/9 worth, which seemed more reasonable. She was not interested. I've watched people try to unload heavily used $1700 strollers for $900 for MONTHS with no bites, because they just don't get that a three year old stroller that's been walked all over hell's half acre is not worth that much.

I think your reply is the perfect response to OP's argument.
OP, do you ever think that maybe the stuffs you're trying to sell aren't really worth the price you're asking?

"Reasonable" price to one person, could be a lowball or ridiculous to others.

Essentially, it's a sale. If both sides don't agree on the terms or the price, maybe learn how to move on?

[zephyr911]

When I get a lowballer, or someone asking "What's the lowest you'd take for it?", here's some responses:

**responses**

IOW, "troll them".
I've always just given straightforward answers to that question, which might range from list price to 20% off. CL rarely results in a list-price sale unless the listing has FIRM in CAPITAL LETTERS on the listing, and since I've frequently taken advantage of that trend as a buyer, I have no issue giving a little as a seller.

[zephyr911]

I had a guy drive 5 hours to buy a car from me that we had already negotiated a price on.
****
He looked at it for about 5 minutes and then asked me how low I would go.

Seriously, fuck that guy.

[Kitsune]

As a buyer, the quickest way to get me uninterested is to refuse to budge on anything. For example, there was one seller who was listing 3 items (separate listings) I was interested in at a total of 160$, and she was a 30-minute drive out of the city. I offered 130$ if I took all 3 (because compared to the prices other people were listing similar items at it seemed fair, and that way she'd sell everything and I'd only have to make one trip, win/win, basically...) and she got SUPER snippy about how 'this is the listed price and what it's worth'. Ok, then. Good luck.

That's a pretty reasonable offer, though. I'm talking more about lowballing -- like you offering her $80 for all three.

Would you have accepted if she had countered at $145?

Enh. Probably, in the interest of spending less time in the car and stuck in traffic. The absolute refusal to engage in a good-faith attempt to reach a mutually agreeable price just kinda killed it, though.

[justajane]

People have wildly inflated ideas of what their used stuff is worth. High end strollers hold their value, to a degree. Someone posted theirs, bought this year and gently used. She wanted 5/6 of it's original retail value. I countered with 5/9 worth, which seemed more reasonable. She was not interested. I've watched people try to unload heavily used $1700 strollers for $900 for MONTHS with no bites, because they just don't get that a three year old stroller that's been walked all over hell's half acre is not worth that much.

I think your reply is the perfect response to OP's argument.
OP, do you ever think that maybe the stuffs you're trying to sell aren't really worth the price you're asking?

"Reasonable" price to one person, could be a lowball or ridiculous to others.

Essentially, it's a sale. If both sides don't agree on the terms or the price, maybe learn how to move on?

I don't need to learn to do anything. The whole point of the thread was about how I have already moved on from Craigslist selling. The title of the thread says it all. The rest of my time has been spent discussing more in depth the reasons why and reading about the reasons why others have also moved on and, conversely, why other people view matters differently.

[pine]

So you already moved on, but you still want to talk about moving on?
Great, do you have a $2000 stroller you want to sell? I am interested.

[mm1970]

I think bargaining is fine, but...some things are in demand. On the bunk beds we bought?  There were at least 10 people who wanted it, and we were first.  In fact, my husband and our friend were loading it into the truck, and person #2 showed up, just in case he changed his mind.

Wow. 
I don't give my address out to more than one person per item.

Well, the seller *did* tell person #2 that "someone else is coming to get it, and if they don't want it you can have it".  So #2 person showed up anyway, just hoping.

[mm1970]

People have wildly inflated ideas of what their used stuff is worth. High end strollers hold their value, to a degree. Someone posted theirs, bought this year and gently used. She wanted 5/6 of it's original retail value. I countered with 5/9 worth, which seemed more reasonable. She was not interested. I've watched people try to unload heavily used $1700 strollers for $900 for MONTHS with no bites, because they just don't get that a three year old stroller that's been walked all over hell's half acre is not worth that much.

I think your reply is the perfect response to OP's argument.
OP, do you ever think that maybe the stuffs you're trying to sell aren't really worth the price you're asking?

"Reasonable" price to one person, could be a lowball or ridiculous to others.

Essentially, it's a sale. If both sides don't agree on the terms or the price, maybe learn how to move on?

I think her concern, to me, sounds more like "time wasted".

I can't speak to *specific* things, as I don't buy and sell much.  But I do see stuff sell on our local FB group.

Some things sell well (bunk beds, strollers, kids' toys like big items), some things don't (fancy shoes, maybe "gently used but expensive toddler/ baby clothing" - seriously the people I know who want to dress their kids nicely just buy new).

So. Some people are going to lowball you.  Presumably, before you list something, you do *some* research as to what it's worth. Or maybe not.

The problem is "time wasted".  I have found that *many* people who are first up to try to get an item listed, are "resellers" who do this as a business.  AKA, lowballers.
If you are only trying to clean out the house and get rid of something, go ahead sell it.  It's like trading in your old car to a dealer so you don't have the hassle of a private sale.

However, some people really are looking for a "direct" sale, which will bring in more money.

Maybe half of the responders are "resellers" and half are "direct consumers", but you end up with the resellers responding FIRST.  So I can see where the OP would be annoyed that they set up the time to sell the item and get lowballed.  We aren't talking 10% lowballed, way lower than that.

If the only offer you get is a lowball, then yes, maybe you need to reset your price.  I have a friend who is a SAHM, and she is more than happy to list something, and if it doesn't sell, relist it a month later for a little bit less, until it sells.  She has the time and space for that.  The problem is when you waste your time with a lowballer when a "real" buyer is there too.

[justajane]

So you already moved on, but you still want to talk about moving on?

Yes, I do. And clearly many other people do too, as evidence by the popularity of the thread. That's how threads work usually. You discuss things.

[sstants]

I get frustrated with buyers on Craigslist all the time, but in lieu of better options (I find ebay even more infuriating) I stick with it.

The WORST was a guy who agreed to buy my Fitbit, I provided the address and we agreed upon a pickup time. 15 phone calls later I ended up going 3 streets over to hand deliver the item because the dude was lost (I live on a grid!) He then tried to walk away from me when I handed him the fitbit...I had to remind him to pay me!

You get all types on the 'list but I also furnished my whole apartment via Craigslist for $1000 and it looks supa fancy, so I can't hate on it too much. Much better to be a buyer than a seller.

[justajane]

Oh man, the prices I have seen people trying to get for used baby clothes! Look, I don't care that you spent $700 on size 0-3 months clothing; I'm not paying you $200 for it used and neither will anybody else when all the new parents I know are drowning in free hand me down doll sized sleepers.

The only way I could see this as working is if you found someone that had to have certain high end brand name clothing for their image or their warped view of what's appropriate for their baby but couldn't actually afford said tiny clothing. In that case, if you found that needle in the haystack buyer, they might pay that. Isn't that how the used designer handbag market works? Those things retain their value because there's a market of women who want them but can't pay the new price.

I don't necessarily begrudge people who wait it out or list for months or years. That sometimes happens with houses, and eventually the "right" buyer comes along who will pay the price that is higher than the market can bear.

[neil]

I think the aggravation comes from the value MMM-types put on their time.  When you add in the fact that most of us live in a culture where shops sell things at a take-it-or-leave-it price, we just don't want to waste time engaging in an activity we aren't comfortable doing on a daily basis.

I don't have time to be aggravated either, so it would never bother me.  But I did observe this in the field as my SO likes to do the garage sale thing.  She saw some glasses and I guess she liked how sturdy they were and decided to haggle .50 each rather than 1.00.  I thought they were both nuts and my only aggravation was the lack of need for the item itself.  I got a bit of a lecture on how people don't understand their stuff is not worth it, and I agree.  But I also explained to her that people have a right to do business any way they want.

Ignoring the pure time-wasters, some people have a different view of how things should work.  My SO simply insists on paying what she is willing to pay and isn't afraid to ask and fight for that price.  I don't think she is lowballing for the sake of it, but I can definitely see how that would clash with people like us.  (Apologies for generalizing...)

[pine]

Oh man, the prices I have seen people trying to get for used baby clothes! Look, I don't care that you spent $700 on size 0-3 months clothing; I'm not paying you $200 for it used and neither will anybody else when all the new parents I know are drowning in free hand me down doll sized sleepers.

The only way I could see this as working is if you found someone that had to have certain high end brand name clothing for their image or their warped view of what's appropriate for their baby but couldn't actually afford said tiny clothing. In that case, if you found that needle in the haystack buyer, they might pay that. Isn't that how the used designer handbag market works? Those things retain their value because there's a market of women who want them but can't pay the new price.

I don't necessarily begrudge people who wait it out or list for months or years. That sometimes happens with houses, and eventually the "right" buyer comes along who will pay the price that is higher than the market can bear.

Aren't you also suffering from a similar "warped view"? The "warped view" that you think your stuffs are really worth the price you're asking. But in reality, people just want to pay less than what you ask. But your "warped view" makes you think it's a low ball.

[justajane]

Neil - I think you made a good point that personality really comes into play, and the extrovert/introvert distinction might be key as well. I've spent some time in Latin America where haggling is the norm. I did not enjoy it.

Pine - I think you have this perception of things that is not entirely accurate. No one is saying that if no one ever buys your item for what you are asking that the pricing is correct. It's likely not. But, like others have said, lowballers often show up early in the process. What they offer is not always representative of what an item is worth, as evidenced by the amount of times I have listed an item on Craigslist, been severely lowballed, only to have it sell at the asking price a week or more later.

The items that I have donated likely might have sold down the line for the asking price; I just didn't wait long enough to find out, since I was annoyed and felt like it was a waste of time.

And this goes back to Neil's point about personality - different people have different tolerances for these kinds of transactions.