Found a way to get rid of the Regular Low Ball Armslist People

They are the same self-centered people who would only consider selling a visibly used gun (...only 50 rds. thru it ! ) at new retail prices.

Luckily I've always listed used guns about 10-20% less than normal prices for identical >>Used guns<< in similar condition. They sell pretty quickly and only one guy requested to pay $50 less than what I asked. My general method saves Lots of time, quickly provides cash for changing gun interests. And you know what? Most of them had No photos included (didn't want to bug my wife).

CoThG said:

I love to find adds on Armslist for guns that are overpriced. I'll contact them via a burner email account and offer them their asking price right off the bat. The catch is they have to drive to meet me some distance away. Of course, I don't show up. Love to make morons like that waste their time and money.

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Yeah, people like this really deserve a dislike button. I hate liars of any sort.

There are two different types of buyers and sellers. Ones who want to haggle and ones who are firm if they are the seller and those who will pay an asking price if they deem it fair.

I am a seller who likes to negotiate so I will have no problem selling to anyone. As a buyer I like to dicker.

A seller who says a price is firm in their ad has automatically alienated those who like to dicker. If a price says firm, it better be a great deal. I dont mean fair. I mean it better be 25% under value. That is the only way I consider buying from a “firm” seller. Sometimes I show up for a meet and try to bargain in person and the seller sometimes says they are not going to budge. They never said firm in the ad. I’ll usually still buy the item in this instance. I figured we both showed up so we are both serious about selling/buying so why not. I don’t arrange a meet in this instance without being prepared to pay the asking price.

That said, I have often bargained with a firm seller after their item has been languishing for a while.

After reading through this topic I’ve decided I hate the entire GD thread. The whole thing is crappy, including my comments from months ago.

Someone trying to sell an item for the most they can is called capitalism, and trying to pay low is smart. If you don’t like the prices, don’t respond. Intentionally messing with them just because you find the price too high is a rotten thing to do. Get a new hobby.

If someone is trying to scam you, whatever. Do what you like. But low offers and high prices are part of buy anything. Just move on.

Their low-ball offers wouldn't be so prevalent if they weren't occasionally successful. Unfortunately some people DO bite on these.

I ignore low-ballers even when trading a vehicle and just walk and tell them not to waste my time. I know what it's worth retail and wholesale and try and leave some meat on the bone, they have to turn a profit, just not all of it on me. And it never hurts to make a reasonable offer or ask for a better price. When buying my wife's last vehicle the local dealer had a used version of the model she wanted. I did the research, we test drove it and I made a reasonable offer. The salesman hee-hawed, wouldn't even take it to the sales manager, they were firm on their internet price so we bought a vehicle at another dealer on terms we both agreed too. Two weeks later I noted on the local dealers internet page the exact same vehicle I had made a reasonable offer on was priced within $50 of what I offered, they were calling wanting our business, too late, I guess they were not so firm on their price after all. I have bought most of my firearms from a pawn/gun establishment and I paid asking price twice, once on a pristine Browning Hi-Power and the other on a really nice M1 Carbine, the rest we negotiated and if the price wasn't right I politely passed, it was nothing personal, just business.

CoThG said:

I love to find adds on Armslist for guns that are overpriced. I'll contact them via a burner email account and offer them their asking price right off the bat. The catch is they have to drive to meet me some distance away. Of course, I don't show up. Love to make morons like that waste their time and money.

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Wow, you are a complete and total a..hole.

rskent said:

Life’s too short. I just tell them “no thanks”.

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Wow, this has been quite a thread. ^^ This was post #3, and after reading all of this nonsense I felt summed it up right off the bat...

glove said:

If only we could find a way to get rid of the armslist people selling guns for new or more then new price for a used gun.

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Why would you want to do that?

I can remember going through several brick-and-mortar stores and seeing exactly this.

It's bad enough that many of the used firearms I've seen in such stores were literally only dollars away from a new-gun price.

Now, the ones which are WAY overpriced on AL? I view them as entertainment listings!

If I were to sell any of my firearms, I'd likely first look for a new home within my circle of family and friends.

That is, any firearms I am not going to simply gift/hand down to my children.

For that circle of people, this is my consideration: I've already owned my firearms many years...in some cases, decades. I've long since "gotten my money's worth" out of them, per se. I'm far more interested in finding them a good, and respectful, home and would be willing to sell my firearms to such people at what I would consider "fair market price" and "good deal for them" levels.

But then, I'm not in a situation where I need to "cash out" my firearms. If I were, then I'd put them up on Gun Broker and my goal then would be simply "fair market price, plus whatever I can get during an auction bidding war".

That said, if I'm selling something as "$XXX, firm", then I mean EXACTLY what I said...ignore that and you'll get a flat "no" in response. Push it and then every time you open your mouth, I'll add to my price until you get the point.

ME: "$400, firm"

THEM: "Will you take $300?"

ME: "No, the price is $400, firm."

THEM: "How about $325?"

ME: "$450"

THEM: "What? I thought you said $400!"

ME: "$500"

THEM: "$500? Why are you raising your price when it was $400 before?"

ME: "Before I had it listed as '$400, firm', not '$400, OBO'. You asked and I explained what I wanted, minimum, but you kept trying to undercut my firm price. It's now $550."

^ Takes me back to my teenage years. You've just described negotiating the length of a grounding period with my dad.

SeanSw said:

Having cash in their pocket today is of absolutely no use when there's a 72 hour wait on firearm sales

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Some of us live in free states though....I can buy anything I want within a couple minutes.

Wisco said:

You do that to people just because you think they’re overpriced? That’s pretty ridiculous

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Agreed.. esp. in today's market where we have so many different buying options. Did that person pay full retail or buy from one of the huge online discounters? It definitely effects the used market for run of the mill stuff.

I just don’t sell guns, that solves it for me.

I find it amazing that people actually try to pull this. I think that they fall into two camps.
The really stupid ones without a clue and the fast buck artists who know full well that the price is fair but just want to buy to resell.
What both camps have in common is that they would lowball you no matter how low the price.
I think that the OP has the right approach.
If it is priced fairly it will sell at the asking price.
Not as fast maybe, but it will sell.

Mn Fats said:

People play these stupid little games. I'm guilty. There's a difference between a haggler and a lowballer though. Lowballer leaves a ridiculous amount of room between his price and your target price. Haggler just wants to see if he can knock a few bucks off. One is a complete waste of time, one may be worth dealing with.

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Agreed. I once sold a Ruger SR1911 to a haggler like this. My price was fair, and I never price anything at a higher level with the intention of coming down. You get my best price. In this case a new gun attractively priced below the asking price in the shops and on-line, but not giving it away.
So, along comes a guy who politely asks if I would accept $20.00 less.
This amount seemed so trivial based on what I was asking that I wondered why he even bothered.
But he was serious so I agreed. If it made him happy that he haggled and it got the gun sold faster, it was worth it to me.
But, anything greater, (like $50.00 or more) and I would have refused.

RetiredUSNChief said:

I can remember going through several brick-and-mortar stores and seeing exactly this.

It's bad enough that many of the used firearms I've seen in such stores were literally only dollars away from a new-gun price.

Now, the ones which are WAY overpriced on AL? I view them as entertainment listings!

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If you do your research, which is easy, and most people do, then these guns won't ever sell. That's their owners problem.

You see the same thing on overpriced E-bay fixed price items. They never sell and the owner never budges.
Absolutely pointless, but the seller thinks that he is going to make a big score if he waits and waits and waits....

Rockrivr1 said:

I take just about all used sales as the seller getting rid of a gun that he doesn't want and most likely has some kind of flaw that isn't being stated. Have to be prepared to ask a LOT of questions, which I find that most sellers will answer. If they "forget" to answer one I figure I've found the reason for it being sold and take negotiations from there. For me I love haggling. I'm not going to insult the seller with super low balls, but will start at a reasonable point below their offer and the haggling starts from there. Yes, I get this puts some sellers off, but I've saved thousands over the years haggling over price. Don't plan on stopping at this point.

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It won't work with me. I'll entertain your questions for a bit, but I won't entertain "negotiations". The price I set is already fair.
While you seem to believe that you can bedazzle the seller into haggling with you, it only works with some.
I've been there before and I just politely say "not interested" and end all communication there if they won't stop.
I don't need your business. There are plenty of other fish in the sea that know that the price is fair and will pay it.
I have always manged to get my guns (and anything else) sold without having to haggle.
I only reduced the price once because the person was very polite and the amount was ridiculously small. On reflection, I won't ever do it again.

Many potential buyers simply want a gun priced at wholesale, or less, in order to flip it for a profit. One Nashville guy's ad on Armslist TN said "Any trade deal must be to my benefit".
They feel that some stranger, or the world, owes Them a favor.
There is no "Golden Rule" among these people.

Luckily almost all of my dealings on Armslist where "The price is firm", were accepted without question, and those 'firm prices' were based on selling for Less than what I paid. There was a common reason for this---

That really helped avoid unwanted quibbling and wasting texting (does no good with sellers' firm resolve), meaning.... those were pretty good deals for the buyers. We're talking about milsurps: CMP (S. Grade) Garands, pair of M59 SKS, Yugo Mauser, Spanish FR8, EG etc Makarovs, CZ-82, Polish P-83s and so on.

hdwhit said:

Yes, you rejected the "lowball" bidders, but what if the "lowball" bid had been nothing more than an entreaty to bid? You would have turned away a customer.

I spent my professional life negotiating settlements of tax debts. I am NEVER going to respond to your offer with my BEST AND FINAL offer.

We can go back and forth between what you want and what I'm offering to reach a sales price, but unless you mark your offer as NON-NEGOTIABLE, I assume you are willing to move on the price. If you are not, post your offer accordingly.

Otherwise my suggestion is to shut up about the fact that people might "low ball" you on your listing and start learning how to haggle - or just get the h*** off Armslist since you're not going to sell anything there anyway - except to the occasional rube.

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1) What I find common among the lowballers and hagglers is their self-entitled belief that they somehow have a God-given right to your acceptance of their stupidly low offers.
2) A persistant lowballer isn't a customer. He is only an annoying grifter. As such he is no loss.
3) I don't have to accept your offer. Get over it.
4) I have never posted any ad anywhere marked "non-negotiable". It implies that you are unreasonable. And my ad isn't for lowballer convenience. Get over it.
5) If the price is fair and reasonable it will sell on Armslist or anywhere else. Entertaining hagglers and lowballers isn't necessary. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and one of them will buy. That person will be someone that realizes that the price is good and if he waits then someone else will buy it first. Price it fairly and it WILL sell for your asking price.
6) Since these scam artists regard honest people as "rubes" that tells you everything that you need to know about them.

These are the facts no matter how much the lowballers, hagglers, sharks, grifters, and scammers want to BS you and convince you otherwise.
After all, they have a vested financial interest in conning you. To them you are just a rube. Right?

I cant believe people buy guns on armslist. Most people think their used guns are worth MSRP.
9 times out of 10 your better off going to Kentucky Gun Co or Sportsmans Outdoor Super Store. Buy a brand new gun for less money.

Caplock said:

I cant believe people buy guns on armslist. Most people think their used guns are worth MSRP.
9 times out of 10 your better off going to Kentucky Gun Co or Sportsmans Outdoor Super Store. Buy a brand new gun for less money.

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I’ve bought at least 10, and probably sold that many. I don’t buy from the people who list above retail prices, and I list my guns at a fair price. It’s actually a good way to get a decent deal on a gun, you just have to wade through the filler.

I have been called a lowballer but I just call it like I see it.

I'm sorry Sir but your gun bolted together UNFITTED pistol out of surplus parts with an Israeli Slide and 30% finish is not worth $3000 just because you saw a 98% Issued Pistol with all original parts and matching holster for that at the local Gun Boutique and both 1911's have a 1918 SN. For $500 I'll take my chances and hope some idior didn't try to fire it that way.

CoThG said:

I love to find adds on Armslist for guns that are overpriced. I'll contact them via a burner email account and offer them their asking price right off the bat. The catch is they have to drive to meet me some distance away. Of course, I don't show up. Love to make morons like that waste their time and money.

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There is no way to justify that ; it's just wrong. Anyone has the right to advertise at any price they want ; no one is required to pay it.
Not even related to the OP topic.

94045 said:

I have been called a lowballer but I just call it like I see it.

I'm sorry Sir but your gun bolted together UNFITTED pistol out of surplus parts with an Israeli Slide and 30% finish is not worth $3000 just because you saw a 98% Issued Pistol with all original parts and matching holster for that at the local Gun Boutique and both 1911's have a 1918 SN. For $500 I'll take my chances and hope some idior didn't try to fire it that way.

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This is a much-fabricated pseudo-ad which would be a rare cherry-picked example, assuming that it existed.
In creating it you are simply trying to make a champion of the lowballer by characterizing the seller as an unscrupulous villain.

However, with such a hypothetical example the price asked would clearly NOT be fair and reasonable, and so the price you offered might then be a fair and reasonable counter offer. In other words NOT a lowball offer at all.

The reality though is that lowballers are those that simply jump on any ad that interests them, even if they are fair and reasonably priced, and then offer half as much, hoping to get something for nothing. Sometimes with the intent to repost and resell the gun for a higher price than the seller originally asked. These guys range from just annoying idiots up to opportunistic predators.

The point is that there is no reason why such offers deserve any respect or consideration. Such people are not customers and are no loss if repelled like the pirates they are.