QTH.COM Swap Chat

This has happened many times to me and i am sure to many of you out there
when you place an ad for an item and ask a price say for example $100.00 plus shipping or even includes shipping and you get an email saying i will offer you $25.00 shipped or will you take $35. shipped or will you take my old HT and $15.00 shipped to my qth................ NOW come this has to be a real slap in the face. If the seller want $25.00 or $35.00 or $15.00 plus the HT he would specified that as his price.
Or If the price is negotiable he would state so...SO what part of the ad is difficult to understand? Yes there are time the ad is hard to understand i too am guilty of this and i have to re-do the ad several times.
Yes it would not hurt to ask for a lower price but not 75% discount from the asking price.
Well enough said.
Have great day see you on the bands

Or , a recent "experience here.
A fellow recently posted two "WTB" ads. He wanted a Johnson 500 and a Johnson Valiant. At the time I was considering letting some of the heavier gear go so I sent him a very friendly reply. I told him that I had both of the items, they were hooked up and used regularly and that we are within easy radio range .I could let him hear the rigs if he was interested. I haven't really priced Johnson Five Hundreds lately, they they have been here for nearly 20 years now (And I have two of them) so I asked him what he would be willing to pay. Not looking for top dollar just looking for a ball park figure.

He shot back one of the nastiest replies I have ever received. Obviously a control freak of some kind he laid out a series of "rules" and just plain venom.

I have often considered many, not all of the WTB listings to be from people fishing for the give away price from someone who has no idea of the going rate for the sought items, It seems this guy was one of those.

I can understand theperson looking for a hard to find radio or part that is seldom listed but when you see someone posting "WTB" for a common item something that has multiple listings weekly ........???

this one is easy. if you are offered a price a little low, you know that the ham wants it for personal use and you can negotiate in a friendly manner. everyone wins if the sale occurs. if you get a rude slug ("youre asking $1000, thats to high , i will give you $250 shipped"). you simply do not reply. that is more annoying to a bottom dwelling scum sucker than a nasty reply.
happy hoss trading paul w8jn

Easier yet.... just keep them they are a joy to operate. He is stilll looking and being a bottom feeder will wind up buying one from an 11 meter good buddy. No doubt with all the good mods.....IF he ever finds one at HIS unknown price.

I recently had a very rare SABA 400 German radio. THere was a website where one of the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) guys said he was really looking hard to find one. This one was VERY clean and still had the store's hang tag on it. Not a scratch to be seen. I was told by a fellow who had been featured in QST that it was a very valuable radio, in his opinion the finest table console ever built. I didn't really have a lot into it so I figured I would see if the AWA guy had interest. I was willing to let it go well below "market" value to the right person. I gave him a very good description and asked if he was interested. He came back with a request for a rather large portfolio of photos as well as a total operational asessment. At the time I was barely able to walk let alone lift and move about this rather large radio, I also wanted to avoid operating it for any extended period as that is a part of the restoration process. So before undertaking all this work I asked him what price range we were talking about. He got a little testy and said it was way too early to discuss prices but he would start at twenty five bucks up to $230 TOPS. At that point I simply sent him a couple of overall photos and left it at that. He came right back and was ready to drive here from New York to get the radio.... "consider it sold!" I tild him at that point I was just going to list it on Ebay and he was free to bid with everyone else. The radio wound up selling for over $1500 to a fellow in Chile who then paid another $900 for shipping, $300 duty and was absolutely ecstatic to find one . .

Bottom feeders are their own worst enemies.

This works fine for me. I can be nice even if they can't. Most important to me is how I see myself in a mirror. I would like to be a good, good example. Not a good, bad example. It is important to me to be the head on the horse and not the other end.
Play nice and most of the time others will too.

N8ERM wrote:This works fine for me. I can be nice even if they can't. Most important to me is how I see myself in a mirror. I would like to be a good, good example. Not a good, bad example. It is important to me to be the head on the horse and not the other end.
Play nice and most of the time others will too.

Exactly,

But when a person behaves in a rude or aggressive manor better to politely refuse to go any further with the deal. Let their behaviour serve as warning. If they start out rude, they rarely get better regardless of your response.

Like taking off in a plane when the engine is knocking and figuring if you treat it well the thing will run better once you are in the air !

I sent a radio with a friend to a recent hamfest. I told him I wanted "$5" for it. A fellow came and offered $4.50. He called me and I said that would work. The fellow then offered $4.25 and my friend put it in his truck and told him it wasn't for sale any longer. I told him that he was exactly right! BRAVO! I would rather keep it than sell it to a (WORD ELIMINATED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT).

k4kk wrote:I sent a radio with a friend to a recent hamfest. I told him I wanted "$5" for it. A fellow came and offered $4.50. He called me and I said that would work. The fellow then offered $4.25 and my friend put it in his truck and told him it wasn't for sale any longer. I told him that he was exactly right! BRAVO! I would rather keep it than sell it to a (WORD ELIMINATED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT).

Yep, THat's the fun stuff fer sure.
Here at a local trunk sale I had a full, fresh 500 foot spool of RG-58 coax. A fellow walked up, kicked it with his toe and grunted "How much ?" In spite of his gruff start and wanting to be a nice guy I said five bucks. He snorted back "I'll give ya three" I already figured a penny per foot was a real good price and the three buck offer was a real turn off so I responded No , I will stick with twenty bucks. His eyes popped wide open and he snapped back "You said FIVE DOLLARS ! I responded ..".And you should have said YES ."

The next fellow who asked was tickled pink to get the coax for $5.

THAT'S LIFE!!!

How many of the posters complaining about low-ball offers, look for the store/merchant charging the HIGHEST PRICE??

What's sause for the goose is sauce for the ganger.

If you can't stand low ball offers, QUIT SELLING/TRADING!!!

N9LCD

N9LCD wrote:THAT'S LIFE!!!

How many of the posters complaining about low-ball offers, look for the store/merchant charging the HIGHEST PRICE??

What's sause for the goose is sauce for the ganger.

If you can't stand low ball offers, QUIT SELLING/TRADING!!!

N9LCD

Hyperbolic logic ? Who said anything about paying the HIGHEST price ? A fair price , sure. When offered a very fair price there will always be an occaisional bottom feeder or tire kicker who will compulsively have to make a low ball counter offer. If you offered them a brand new Alpha 77 for ten bucks they will offer $5 . No problem but certainly worthy of comment.

I look for an honest dealer who stands behind what he sells and am willing to pay a bit more . No need to quit selling , there are still plenty of people who are willing to pay the fair price. You could take a dose of your own advice, if you dislike the comments, quit reading them.

The real problem here is that there can be one of two (or more) types of hamfest pricing.

Ham "X" loves to dicker and bargain, so he prices his items to leave himself some negotiating room. Offer him a price somewhere within his acceptable range, and he may accept it on the spot, or he may banter back and forth to get a slightly better deal for himself... but ultimately you can work out a deal, you figure you got a good one because he took less than listed, he figures he got a good one because he got more than his rock-bottom price.

Ham "Y" just wants to sell the items. The price is the price. No bargaining room... or at best, a small discount, especially if you choose to buy multiple items.

You can also have a mix. I see this sometimes with dealers... the stock items from the shop may have a "hamfest discount" but otherwise, the price is the price; the close-out and discontinued items (or trade-ins that aren't moving) may have more wiggle room, depending on how badly they don't want to take them home.

So sometimes, that low-ball offer comes from someone who thinks you are willing to dicker. Maybe they offer too little. Sometimes they just figure you'll be so happy for them to take things off your hands that you won't argue.

What I hate are the guys who will try to wear you down to accept a very low price, and then put the item on their table at the next hamfest (or even that one) at the original price or near to it. That's the difference between someone who's shopping at a hamfest for their own needs, and someone who's running a de facto small business and trying to make a profit. At least they should be a little more honest about what they're doing -- when they buy a rig at someone's bottom price and then resell it at the original price, in effect they've absconded with the "profit" that someone else had hoped to earn. Illegal? No. Unethical? We can debate that another time.

Now with that background in mind... if someone lowballs me at a ridiculous amount (offering 50% or less, sometimes pennies on the dollar) I simply presume they're either not serious or just cheapskates. (Or, in some cases, I may be overpriced, but that's why I keep an eye on other tables as well). If I think someone is trying to mess with me, I have no qualms about telling them to take a hike & take a long walk off a short pier -- if it comes to that.

W3WN

Exactly ! I usually am pretty familiar with the current ocal selling prices and price at the low end of that.I I have no problem with the guy who says he is short on cash or has seen one elsewhere for less make an honest counter offer. Then again there are times when I offer something at a price waaaay below the going rate often just to make room on the truck for something I bought at the show or just to avoid having to take it home. When you give a price that you know is a give-away and the bottom feeder comes back with an offer half of that it is time to send him on his way. I tend to be quite genrous with people who are civil with their counter offer. In fact I have given away a lot of gear and parts over the years, especially to old timers and new hams. ( I guess pretty girls too )
At Findlay last Sunday I had a Electrovoice squeeze to talk stand set up with the two pin Amphenol connector that is used on Johnsons and Heathkits etc.
A fellow picks it up and asks how much . I said three bucks and commented that the plug would cost all of that. The guy said he didn't need the plug . I cut the plug off and gave him the stand. It seems that was exactly what he had expected !

w8jn wrote:this one is easy. if you are offered a price a little low, you know that the ham wants it for personal use and you can negotiate in a friendly manner. everyone wins if the sale occurs. if you get a rude slug ("youre asking $1000, thats to high , i will give you $250 shipped"). you simply do not reply. that is more annoying to a bottom dwelling scum sucker than a nasty reply.
happy hoss trading paul w8jn

And you learned what annoys a b.d.s.s. how??

First I price an item for what I think it is worth. Once I place it on the table, the price vaires on how snottie the person looking at it is. If they are snottie, the price is firm. If they are interested and nice to deal with, I will usually lower
the price to my so called bottom line. If it is a young ham just starting out, I may just give it to him for free which I have done many times.
When the item is priced at, let's say $10 and they offer me $1.00, it is not even worth a response and I start to talk to someone else about anything just to get away from the idiot.
Barry, KU3X

I guess I'm a little different when it comes to buying and selling. I would have absolutely no idea what a fair price would be on an item I have for sale, generally. Sure, it is nice to get a great price, maybe even over the original price, but then I would feel guilty thinking I should have probably sold it for less. You get the picture. Same on buying. I would love to get a semi-auto bug (Vibroplex), I don't have the guts to be aggressive in getting an agreement for a low price.hihi. I'll get one here pretty soon, though.