I am selling 3 rods who MSRP equal $320 for $100 locally because I don't wanna deal with the shipping. But the "offers" I have received are down right offensive. My first offer was $50 for all three. My next offer was a guy saying he would pay the $100 but I needed to drive to his house 90 minutes from my house to deliver to his doorstep. Then the last offer was for my asking price but only if I added reels and sold them to him as a combo. 

 

A little background, these rods are new, I bought them but never bought reels for them so they are just sitting on a shelf in my garage. 

 

I just needed to vent a little to the fishing community about this. I swear when i sell off other stuff I never get the outlandish offers that I get when trying to sell fishing gear. 

Items worth is always determined by a buyer  - once it sells, that's what it's worth.

Access & availability can also affect selling price.

Unsold items can often indicate a misjudgment in perceived value.

Very often my biggest hurdle as a seller.

Once I get over it and become a motivated seller - my asking price will reflect it.

Make them an offer they can't refuse ~ Never fails.

(sometimes it feels like I'm giving it away - but it is what it is if you want to move gear.)

As for low balling & the rest of it - Drama.

Good luck with your sale.

A-Jay

 

I'd give them away before I accepted a silly lowball offer, just on principal.

 

But I do agree with Ajay, buyer determines price but seller can hold on until they find a buyer that values it higher. This will last until sellers time preference intersects highest offer no matter how low it is.

 

I have received lowball offers in past and shrug it off.

There are low ballers and people who scalp baits buying them all out and doubling the price.  There are good people to deal with and those that try and scam you.  Carma has to be worth something and just be a good seller and ignore the roaches.

Without demonstrating value the system falls apart. 

 

11 minutes ago, Angry John said:

There are low ballers and people who scalp baits buying them all out and doubling the price.  There are good people to deal with and those that try and scam you.  Carma has to be worth something and just be a good seller and ignore the roaches.

How are people buying baits for cheap and selling them for a profit a scam?  Nobody is forcing anyone to sell them the baits.  

In the used market, it is worth what people are willing to pay.  negotiation is also part of the equation.  I mean is $50 a lowball offer, sure but i am sure he is thinking it will be denied and a counteroffer of something lower than $100 will be given.  What the MSRP is of an item isn't that much of an issue or a concern to me when I am a buyer but that is where many sellers get into trouble.

Aahhh...the art of negotiating price on anything for sale.  I find that there's a fine line between a fair offer and an offensive one.  I always try to err on the side of caution.  Too offensive and you may not get the item at any price. 

1 hour ago, Turkey sandwich said:

Without demonstrating value the system falls apart. 

 

I love Sunny. That is one of the best (non-fishing) shows on tv. 

What I can't stand is posting something for sale and listing a price only to have people message you without asking any details they say "what's the least you will take for it?" - drives me nuts! I would rather get some ridiculous offer than have to answer this question. 

I just recently sold all my rods and reels locally because I wanted to change brands. My plan was to sell my rods and keep my reels. I had all kinds of ridculous offers and even had people trying to buy my rod holder as well. But the main one was everyone wanting me to include all the Lew’s Tournament Pros with them as well. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of shipping multiple rods and was about to just keep all my setups when a guy messaged me with an $800 offer for all the rods and reels. I kindly messaged him back and explained the reels were worth that alone and couldn’t do it. Probably took him about ten seconds to message me back with a $1200 offer. I countered with $1300 and he even offered to come pick them up but I decided to meet him half way. I think it is natural for most people to offer something ridiculous to gauge how motivated you are to sell. I see people all the time sell stuff way below it’s value. Any item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I took a little less than I wanted, but would have probably had to take even less to ship them all to different buyers and then hope the rods made it without getting damaged. I found out someone had stolen all his rods out of his boat.

At least you got offers.  When I was selling my Dad's equipment I kept getting asked if I had more pics of the rods and reels.  After I sent the pics I never heard from the people again. 

Chance, some of the individuals seeking to purchase your inventory at low prices are going to resell the items.

 

My wife and I found this out when we had a small rented space at Market Bazaar in Richmond. We gave in on a number of offers and took a much lower price than we were asking only to see the items in other rented spaces for sale at prices higher than what we were asking in the first place.

 

Then to add to the situation, you have people who buy and sell on eBay and they are always looking for a deal.

 

May I suggest you go to eBay and search the site for the items you wish to sell to note what they are commanding on eBay.  You will then have an idea of what to ask or if the pricing is too low, keep them and wait for the prices to increase in the future.

 

Remember, guys and gals will always make low ball offers and it is up to you to accept or reject the offer.

 

Good luck in selling your items.

 

 

10 hours ago, Redlinerobert said:

Aahhh...the art of negotiating price on anything for sale.  I find that there's a fine line between a fair offer and an offensive one.  I always try to err on the side of caution.  Too offensive and you may not get the item at any price. 

Agreed.  If a person honks me off, I won't sell them Shinola if I had it coming out of my ears.

Negotiation has always been part of the used game.  You can simply say, "No thanks."  Alternatively, don't sell it if you can't take it.

13 hours ago, 68camaro said:

I'd give them away before I accepted a silly lowball offer, just on principal.

Ditto.

 

I don't sell my old gear because I hate haggling. I give it away to co-workers that have young kids so they can introduce them to fishing.

12 hours ago, flyfisher said:

  I mean is $50 a lowball offer, sure but i am sure he is thinking it will be denied and a counteroffer of something lower than $100 will be given. 

I came back with a counter and he countered back with $50 take it or leave it

 

6 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

At least you got offers.  When I was selling my Dad's equipment I kept getting asked if I had more pics of the rods and reels.  After I sent the pics I never heard from the people again. 

I am getting a lot of these as well.

 

57 minutes ago, Ratherbfishing said:

Agreed.  If a person honks me off, I won't sell them Shinola if I had it coming out of my ears.

That's the way I felt when the person said he wanted me to drive the 90 minutes to his house to deliver them because he didn't want to make the drive. As well as the guy that basically demanded me add reels to make them all combos because "Its useless to buy just rods."

 

 

All in all this will be my first and last time putting something on Craigslist.

20 minutes ago, Chance_Taker4 said:

As well as the guy that basically demanded me add reels to make them all combos because "Its useless to buy just rods."

 

 

Your dealing with a walmart shopper that buys combo's.  This speaks to the type of person your trying to haggle with.  But did you add in a free spool of line because you cant fish without that either.

I'm thinking retail is not a career path for @Chance_Taker4. You're totally missing opportunity to have some fun.  Start with the spinning reel on a casting rod.  Counter offer that $50 with $105.  I mean, it's like fine wine and only gets better with age.

This is how it would play out if I had a garage sale:

 

Item:  Tennis Racket (bought new for 50 dollars) still in good shape.

 

Customer:  "How much do you want for this racket?"

 

Me:  "A dollar"

 

Customer:  "Will you take 50 cents?"

 

Me:  "Go away"

 

(It's why I don't have garage sales).

I've worked in sales most of my professional career.  I have stories.  Lots of them.  Many that are best left off of a public forum.  Generally, lots of people suck.  But beyond that, step 1 from above holds up.

I would donate my fishing gear to kids and not sell it online, but thats just me.

8 hours ago, Angry John said:

Your dealing with a walmart shopper that buys combo's.  This speaks to the type of person your trying to haggle with.  But did you add in a free spool of line because you cant fish without that either.

Or kids who don't have all sorts of cash

This is the primary reason I now only buy tackle I don't plan on selling.  Ever.

I to am all about toying with them:

 

$100 item.  $50 offer.  My reply:

"to be honest I just want this dang thing out of my house.  I even pay you $20 if you get it out of my house today."

 

only one problem, you can't believe how many people took it serious so I had to evolve and add:  "but you need to meet me in a dark alley for the trade."

 

that put the creep into them.

18 minutes ago, ClackerBuzz said:

I to am all about toying with them:

 

$100 item.  $50 offer.  My reply:

"to be honest I just want this dang thing out of my house.  I even pay you $20 if you get it out of my house today."

 

only one problem, you can't believe how many people took it serious so I had to evolve and add:  "but you need to meet me in a dark alley for the trade."

 

that put the creep into them.

 

Make it a specific dark alley, explain that you won't be wearing pants, and that if they want the price they need to refer to you as "The   Alley Cat" followed with a pronounced purring sound.  From that point on, speak of yourself only as the third person as "The Alley Cat".  Actual conversation about seriously selling stuff aside, you can run with this as far as you want to make things awkward.  Explain that you'll only accept exchange of obscure foreign currency like Icelandic Krona or Chik-fil-et sauce packets.  Require they wear bathing caps.  Refer to them as "The Rooster".  If you're going to make it weird, go hard.