posted on November 28, 2000 11:37:05 AM
How many of you have had would-be buyers try to get you to lower your price? I've had it happen a few times, and it still really bugs me.
One international buyer asked me to find a shipper, get an estimated shipping charge for him, and figure out an appropriate method of payment. After I'd done all this, he told me that my asking price was too high, and that he'd consider buying it if I would lower the price (to his desired amount) and end the auction early!
I like to be helpful to possible buyers but I don't want to waste a lot of my time either.
posted on November 28, 2000 12:02:39 PM
I've have had a potential customer ask me to end an auction early if they pay a specified price. I politely told them to please bid and hopefully they would win but that it wasn't fair to other bidders to end the auction early. It turned out that the item ended up selling for a lot more than the potential customer was willing to pay.
Good for me, not so good for them but...business is business. I wouldn't end an auction early unless you feel compelled to do so.
posted on November 28, 2000 12:26:51 PM
Had it happened very seldom. But when doing antiques shows????Wow! Really bad there!
And no, they do not get it just for the asking I will bend over backwards to help someone I can see is really struggling to make the purchase, and OFFER a discount. But I will not be TOLD what I should accept.
******************** Gosh Shosh!
posted on November 28, 2000 01:21:59 PM
Shosh, same with flea markets.....Hagglin's a way of life there. However, there's haggling, and then there's obnoxious. People who make an offer with politeness and and take a refusal in good humor (understanding that I may not have room to dicker on the price and still make a profit, for example) are great customers and I don't mind their inquiries at all---that's just good shopping sense. People who make some kind of snotty comment like 'I'll give you X.XX for this' (as if I didn't know what it was actually worth) or make charmless comments about the item in an effort to "shame" me into selling at a lower price....basically get a request from me to leave and not come back. In my experience these ultra-hagglers make horrible customers anyways and I have never regretted getting rid of them without a sale (plenty of polite people in the world I can sell to, I don't need jerks.) I haven't had the same experience in online auctions, thank goodness! Few hagglers compared to real-life selling.
I will bend over backwards to help someone I can see is really struggling to make the purchase, and OFFER a discount. But I will not be TOLD what I should accept.