a buyer rant.

[mozeppa]

when you go to flea market, antique store, pawn shop.

and nothing has a price on it.
and YOU don't know what its worth. (but if it HAD a price on it, it would be helpful in your decision.)

so you ask..............."how much is it?"

here's what you get.....

"what'll ya give me?

"so ...how much, really?"

"you'll find i'm easy to deal with."

"so.....how much?

"saw one of these sell the other day ...not in as good of shape as this one."

"so how much?"

"you'll not soon find another one."

"so how much?"

"well....if you check around..................

"stop i'm done i don't want it anymore."

that game playing irritates the livin' hell outta me!


this and people who stalk buy/sell forums to ask retail prices on "almost" new items...(except they are used.)

rant over

[Love Life]

I lowball whenever that game starts. No need to know the real value. offer them what seems ridiculously low and they'll start throwing out numbers real quick like.

[Bent Ramrod]

"Times are tough, but here's a sawski out of my own pocket" generally starts the dialogue. But I find most unpriced items are just the unwillingness of the seller to make up tags. In my experience, most of them know what they want. They dream big, for the most part, but sometimes you get a bargain.

[mold maker]

I wont even give a good look at merchandise without a price shown. The seller obviously changes his asking price determined by sizing up a customer. It is his and he can darn well take it back home with him.

[quack1]

If it is a mold, gun, press, etc. I say it's worth $5 to me. After the "I can't sell it for that" I say then give me a price, if they still don't, I just move on. Life is too short to put up with that. They either want to sell it or not.

[bubba.50]

I offer them a nickel. if this brings out a realistic price and it's somethin' I really want we may haggle a bit. if it brings out a ridiculous fantasy price I snort derisively & leave the establishment.

[tim338]

I always tell them "I can't buy AND sell it".

[bedbugbilly]

What really gets me is in an antique mall . . . where each booth is filled by a different dealer and there are price tags missing. On several occasions, and in different malls, I've asked whoever is on the counter "how much is such and such in booth #? - there isn't a tag on it. Usually they make a trip to the booth to verify what I've already told them and it's . . "I'll have to call them". So they do and they can't reach the dealer. Then it's "I can't get them on the phone, would you like to leave your name and number?" Several times I've replied . . "No . . . I'd like to leave them a message. Please tell them if they are too lazy to put prices on their items then I'm guessing they really don't want to sell them".

Flea markets are a real trip when you find a booth with nothing marked . . . as already mentioned, they size you up and go form there. If I run across something I'm interested in and they want to play the "what's it worth to you?" game, I lowball with a ridiculous offer and when they start "crying" about how much it's worth, then I ask what they want. If they come back with a much too high price . .. . I just say that "well, I've lived without it this long, I guess I can get along without it." I'm willing to pay a "fair price" but not be taken advantage of either.

[jcwit]

when you go to flea market, antique store, pawn shop.

and nothing has a price on it.
and YOU don't know what its worth. (but if it HAD a price on it, it would be helpful in your decision.)

so you ask..............."how much is it?"

here's what you get.....

"what'll ya give me?

"so ...how much, really?"

"you'll find i'm easy to deal with."

"so.....how much?

"saw one of these sell the other day ...not in as good of shape as this one."

"so how much?"

"you'll not soon find another one."

"so how much?"

"well....if you check around..................

"stop i'm done i don't want it anymore."

that game playing irritates the livin' hell outta me!


this and people who stalk buy/sell forums to ask retail prices on "almost" new items...(except they are used.)

rant over


Here's my answer to any of those!

You're the one selling it, quote me a price and we'll go from there, otherwise I'm otta here!

Simple right?

[troyboy]

It's all part of the game.

[shoot-n-lead]

I don't buy stuff that I don't know the value of...

If I am interested, I tell them what I will give them...usually a low ball price. If they accept, I buy...if they counter, I consider and buy it or move on. Not real difficult to handle these situations.

I have bought plenty of stuff that had no posted price.

[reddog81]

Buyers and sellers can both be a real pain in the....

i dont have have a problem making an offer on something tagged or untagged. If something is untagged I'll start at about half of what I'd pay. If it's something I actually want I might start at 75% of what I want to pay.

[historicfirearms]

Small items like molds and such don't terribly bother me if its not marked. I just make a low offer and go from there. The things that really bother me are high dollar items like cars alongside the road. If I stop to look at it and there's no price listed, or worse yet it says "best offer", I usually just move on without asking.

[JSnover]

I don't let the missing price tag bother me too much. It doesn't cost me anything to walk away if they won't take a reasonable offer.

[BigMagShooter]

just tell them "I don't price another man's stuff." and walk.

[William Yanda]

"what'll ya give me?

My FIL used to say; "I don't want to put a price on your merchandise"

A Farmer I used to know would say; "I don't want to pay anything, tell me what you have to get and let's split the difference."

[WJP]

I don't bother with no price tags. Just keep walking.

[54bore]

I offer them a nickel. if this brings out a realistic price and it's somethin' I really want we may haggle a bit. if it brings out a ridiculous fantasy price I snort derisively & leave the establishment.

Pretty much!

[Handloader109]

If it might be worth a few dollars, I'll give you a dollar. Or nickel, Some stupid ridiculous price. But mainly I keep walking unless it is something I REALLY need, which is not much these days. Price your stuff!

OH, and this goes for gunshows too! they seem to be fleamarkets mainly anyways!

[Bent Ramrod]

Then there's the table full of unpriced stuff where you ask the genial guy (or nice lady) behind it "How much is this?" And you get the reply, "Oh, that belongs to my buddy/husband, and he's out cruising the show. He'll be back in a few seconds/minutes/hours. I have no idea what he wants for it."

I just remember the time I followed the sound of Chukars gobbling for a half hour through thorns and pickers, only to find a guy doodling away on his Chukar call. Sometimes the prize is elusive, even though it seems to be right there in front of you.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

A few years ago, I was selling a car, a moderately rusty 1998 Park Ave with 200Kmi. I was asking $1300. I had an experience similar to what the OP has mentioned with a couple that came over to look at the car, one of them couldn't speak English, the other one was interpreting.

They asked, "what's your bottom dollar?"
I said, "make an offer".
They asked again, "what's your bottom dollar?"
I repeated, "make an offer"

This went on and on and on, for some time, they never made an offer.

I only let it continue, because I was entertained by the fact they were interested, but not enough to make an offer...and I wondered how long they would keep asking for my bottom dollar...well, I got my answer...about half an hour...then they left.

[Thin Man]

One time I saw two older fellows at a gun show try to make a sale transaction. Their conversation went something like this...
Buyer: What's the least you'll take?
Seller: What's the most you'll give?
Buyer: (again) What's the least you'll take?
Seller: (again) What's the most you'll give?
This same language went on for 4 or 5 exchanges, then went silent. Both guys stood very still and looked at each other but didn't speak a word. Then, at the same time, both of them slowly turned to their right and slowly walked straight away from each other. There was no sale transaction. I guess they had the same father, but different mothers.

[smokeywolf]

Whether or not I'll dicker depends on how much I want the item and what kind of mood I'm in.

[NoAngel]

I don't haggle. Ever. If you can't tell me what you want for it, you can stick it where the sun don't shine. If it's priced, I want it and I am willing to pay said price, I pay it. If not I walk.
Bickering over price is a stupid waste of time and I adamantly refuse to play that game. Gun shows around here are the worst. It ain't a Turkish bazaar, price it for what you want for it or lose my business.

[jcwit]

Years ago a fellow, who BTW turned into a good friend, started up a used car lot. Hehas been very successful at it, has been there now for over 35 years.

Anyway, the first time I bought a car from him he had $XXX dollars on the price tag, I asked him for his bottom dollar, one time, one chance to sell the car, he said, "No dickering?", I replied "Nope.".

He shot me a price, I'm guessing it was as low as he would cause it was a he11 of a drop. I took it.

I've bought 3 or 4 cars from him over the years and it's always been the same, one price, one shot at selling, he's never missed with me yet and I've always left happy.

My daughter bought her first ever by herself purchase, I was present, I told him treat her like you treat me! He sold her the car in just a few minutes.

BTW he also has just told me to take a car for the week and come back and we'll finalise the transction.

He let my daughter have the car for 5 days till she took care of the payment and paper work.

Good man to "deal?" with.

They also have a auto repair business there, all ASA Certified, not sure about what kind of scanner they use but they are honest mechanics and have been known to treat poor folks well.

[Harter66]

I bought a gun last weekend . I picked it looked it over and noted that it was marked down on the tag $60 from it's starting price which was about $100 under private sales and $200-300 under dealer prices .
He says is that what you came for ?
Nope .
How's about i knock a little more off ?
Well what are you thinking ?
He says $*** and I'll cover the BG check , but I'm in it that much .
Being $250 under market and thinking I was shopping for a single shot at $100 more I bought the lever gun for $100 less than I'd hoped to spend after the seller haggled me down .
Weird right ?

[mozeppa]

I bought a gun last weekend . I picked it looked it over and noted that it was marked down on the tag $60 from it's starting price which was about $100 under private sales and $200-300 under dealer prices .
He says is that what you came for ?
Nope .
How's about i knock a little more off ?
Well what are you thinking ?
He says $*** and I'll cover the BG check , but I'm in it that much .
Being $250 under market and thinking I was shopping for a single shot at $100 more I bought the lever gun for $100 less than I'd hoped to spend after the seller haggled me down .
Weird right ?

i did have a deal once sorta like this.

found a early 75 to 80's fender precision bass guitar at a pawn shop.in pristine condition.
so i sighted the neck ....no warps.
check the neck mount ...no cracks.

found the tag................$100

so i naturally i thought the bass should sell $400 to $600 bucks!

i take it to the manager and said "is this tag right?"

he said "well ...i suppose i could knock off the sales tax if that helps"

i got 20 dollar bill burns on my fingers because i paid him so fast!

kept it for 6 years and sold it for $500:D

[15meter]

Went into a rat hole gun shop, on the counter was a Redding die box for a set of standard 220 Swift dies, marked $20.00. Opened the box, standard set of dies, shell holder AND a Redding competition micrometer bullet seater. Held it up to the woman behind the counter and asked if the price was right. Her response was what the **** that's on the box is what the **** the price is. Handed her the twenty plus the tax. They didn't last long, she looked like a biker babe with a bad attitude.

[fatelk]

I understand that haggling is a big thing for a lot of people, and necessary to the process in some cultures, but it's not really my thing. I tend to walk right by the tables without prices. It seems that a lot of times people that don't price their items are often waiting for a sucker.

A long time ago, late '80s or early '90s, I was young and stupid (older now). I had gotten my first SKS, and someone had told me that there was a "mag conversion" you could get so they would take AK magazines. I was at a gun show and saw a guy who had one of those junky 30rnd SKS mags, the ones with the tail that sticks out to hook in where the original does. There was no price on it and I was all excited to finally see what I thought I was looking for.

I excitedly asked "How much?!" He saw me coming, a born sucker. I paid $50 for that piece of junk. Fifty bucks then is probably closer to a hundred now. As I was walking away with it I was realizing that it wasn't really what I thought it was. Some people try to read how gullible you are before giving you a price.

Here's a pet peeve of mine, regarding buying and selling. I can't stand hard-sell guys who try their dangdest to tear you down in price when you have something for sale. Fortunately I've rarely in my life had to sell anything out of financial necessity. My worst personal example, though, was selling an old Colt 1903 38 acp. I had bought it from an old timer for $200 sometime in the early '90s. It had a broken spring and I thought I could fix it. I went to a gunsmith looking for a spring or something to make one out of. He didn't have anything but took my phone number.

A little later I get a phone call from a buddy of his asking if I wanted to sell it. I liked it and wanted to keep it, but said I'd sell it for $250. He came out to look at it and proceeded to use every sleazy salesman trick to beat me up on price. I was young and nieve and let it go way too cheap. He even insisted on getting the box of vintage ammo that came with it.

I saw him at a gun show a month or two later with my gun in a glass case, with a price of $600 on it. I have about as much respect for people like that as I do for a stinking thief. Yeah I'm still a little ticked off about it. That was a neat old gun.

[nvbirdman]

At a flea market one time I offered a guy ten bucks for something. He told me they cost twenty at K Mart. I told him "You're not K Mart", turned around and walked away.

[beechbum444]

The last LGS that I went into, I found something that was priced right and I was not even going to haggle. The plan was to pay the price and leave. While I was filling out paper work, I asked the guy if this price was out the door....He disappeared for a minute, came back and said that he'd knock off $50.00. Honestly, I just thought it was carma tipping its hat at me....As far as haggling, the not priced issue gets me, I start low or start with a good ice breaker. At one point I offered to bring a birthday cake to the item because if it sat there a few more months it would be celebrating its 2nd birthday in the store. It went home with me. The antique malls get me too.