Selling stuff online

I am selling some stuff on an online small adds here in Germany, which I price reasonably already IMO. It has become standard for people to contact me, without making an offer just to say something like “I am interested, can anything be done about the price”. I think that is quite a good opening line from a perspective buyer as it kind of puts me in a position of starting the bartering process to reduce my price right from the bat.

So is there any good reply that I can give to put the onus back on the perspective buyer to make an offer without indicating what I would find an acceptable bid, would get rid off timewasters just putting in silly low bids and without insulting genuine buyers?

“Hi. Sorry but I have priced this for a quick sale so don’t have much room for negotiation.”

It’s a pretty closed statement but set the expectation that stupid offers won’t be considered.

I’ve shifted quite a bit of stuff on Vinted and am constantly amazed by the offers made on already bargain prices.

I go with something like “I think I’ve set them at a good price but you are welcome to make an offer”. To be honest those people rarely end up buying. Someone usually comes along at the asking price if it is a fair price.

When I’m buying online, I look at my initial offer as an opportunity to anchor the negotiation at a low level, that is my initial offer will be twice as much below the asking price as the price I want to pay, allowing us to split the difference and hopefully end up a little lower towards my benefit.

If I was selling and someone offered me the chance to anchor higher then I would – “I could go £1/£10 lower etc”. However I believe that most of the people who send messages like this are just time wasters.

I was selling a pair of redundant but good condition 27.5 tyres after the switch to 29. I really wanted £40 for the pair as they’d hardly been used.

Every offer was 30, 30, 30, 25, 30.

So I put the price up to £50.

Next offer was £40 and I took it.

People feeling like they’ve got a bargain is more important than the actual price.

Is there a cultural difference in Germany?  Some places expect to negotiate.  Some like to ask but will be ok if you say no, some will find that very odd.  In the UK you’d probably get 50 “is this still available” messages, reply to them all within minutes and never hear another word!

“I am interested, can anything be done about the price”

Answer: Yes, I can raise it.

I’m selling some old alloy wheels at the moment, they’re quiet scuffed and knackered, but they’re half the price of scuffed/knackered ones on ebay, and obviously better than one you’ve smashed into a pothole (which is why I ended up with a spare set of wheels).  Sold 3 out of 4 and there’s still one guy who messages every so often with variations on “what’s your best price m8?”.  I’ve added £5 to the listing price both times and still sold them (I guess because each edit bumps the listing back up).

Nine times out of ten these people are just time wasters and not worth putting effort into engaging with.  1 time out of ten one of them obviously eventually conceded that mine was actually the cheapest on facebook marketplace by quite some margin, and drove from Sheffield to Reading during lockdown to collect it.

There’s a difference between haggling and negotiation. Haggling is just talking about prices, and if you’ve priced it fairly you can just ignore hagglers. There will be other potential buyers. Negotiation is if they come up with something that you consider of equal value to the money they’re asking off the price. Like knocking a few quid off if it’s collected ASAP, paid cash and no hassle. Haggling is a hassle, hence no point entertaining it if all they can offer is a both a hassle and a discount.

Depends if you need the cash / space.  I’ve found the cheaper I’ve put things on for in the uk the more chancers and general time wasters I get, that and the attempted scammers means I haven’t sold anything online since last summer…

I tend to price it slightly less than sold prices on ebay and then wait until I get a fair offer.

I wouldn’t spend too long responding to the first contact, as generally you never hear back.  I used to write a whole paragraph in reponse to ‘is it available’.  Now its just yes.

I always price to discount and am pleasantly surprised if someone just accepts the opening price.