the classifieds: best offer?

the classifieds: best offer?

  • Yes

    Votes: 76 65.0%
  • No

    Votes: 20 17.1%
  • I don't care

    Votes: 21 17.9%

  • Total voters
    117
JohnM said:
It's the seller's right to sell whatever he has for whatever he wants. It's the buyer's right to decide not to play along if he thinks the price or the procedure is not worth it. If interested, I make what I think is a realistic offer - if it's accepted, great. If not, I move on. Works well.

A far bigger issue would be having dealers or pro sellers move into the member section of the classifieds.

I agree. Of course, they tend to have nice inventories...
 
I don't respond to ads without a price. Two reasons, I don't want to become involved in an auction/bargaining round and I don't want to insult a vendor. Its easier to take a pass on the unpriced item or go to Ebay and bid.
 
If I see an item HERE, I want a price, either in the Title, or if there are many items for sale, I want to see a price in the Description.

I wish there was an option for saying 'Multiple Items" in the "Selling Price" field. instead of "Best Offer". That way, placing a "0" would bring up a more logical message.

I have seem many ads with "best offer" have multiple Items for sale. So the "Best Offer" tag was wrong most of the time.

If it is a real Best Offer, I pass over the ad most of the time. I would rather go to the "Bay and find it.
 
shutterflower said:
Should users be forced to set a price when listing items in the classifieds?

Currently, it is legitimate to ask for a "best offer".
Having bought and sold a fair amount of gear I'd say listing "best offer" is a turnoff for most buyers. It also invites a lot of conflict since if the item is desirable low-ball offers will start pouring in to the seller and they then often get "offended", even though they invited this on themselves.

If I don't know how to price an item (rare, but it happens) I auction it on eBay.
 
FrankS said:
A good compromise might be: best offer, I'm looking for around $xxx

I chose "must set" but this is a good base line to me.

William
 
Nick R. said:
I don't mind a listing like: "$XXXX or best offer" as long as it means that once someone offers $XXXX they get it.
Personally, I think the default "best offer" price listing (which just started with the new classifieds format) has been more confusing than anything else.

From my experience these past few weeks:

1. "XXX or best offer." I offered to buy the item at XXX. I got a reply that another poster (after me) had offered XXX + $10, and if I wanted to beat the offer.

2. I sold multiple items, taking care to set the price and remove "best offer" from my listing. Despite this, I received offers (from members I had never seen before) below my asking price for every single one, before the asking prices were finally met by other members.

3. I am not even going to mention the buyers offering to buy, then backing out, the nitpickers looking for every little dust speck, etc.

Like Frank said, the classifieds had a sense of community before, and members typically offered items at prices below what they would get elsewhere. Somehow, this is rarely the case anymore. I did do an old fashioned trade with ferider, and that felt like old times. 🙂

Since then, I have gone back to ebay to sell a few items. You know what, it was LESS of a hassle for more money. And I don't even have to pay the $2 per listing on RFF yet.

In the future, if I do sell here, I think I will do as Kyle did in his listing for the MP, and reserve the right to sell to whomever I choose.

I think, with the volume in the classifieds, the number of members, and the more professional approach to the classifieds now, it would help if some rules or faq's were created to guide users and avoid misunderstandings like these.
 
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I have had just the opposite experience - I have gotten so tired of the tirekickers and nitpickers on ebay that I'll not sell there again unless I have to.

I've found that I get good, serious offers here and I really like the people who I have bought and sold cameras to at RFF.

Love the classifieds here. Now, can someone make a nice Rollei 2.8D appear there?
 
I also prefer the suggested price with an OBO. Makes a good starting point and allows for some price negotiation if it does not move fast.

If no price is suggested, I have no idea what to offer.

/Håkan
 
I think that sellers should at least indicate the price they're expecting & if the "RFF Market" decides this is too high that will soon become evident & the seller can take appropriate action, including going off to ebay.

Overall selling & buying here has been a pleasant experience & it would be nice to think of these transactions as part of a unique RFF community spirit, but I guess that might have become a casualty of enlarging membership.

I'd like to thank the individuals who responded with help to my ad for some LIFA filters for a Summitar- the filters didn't appear to fit - when I found out how the filters they did I deleted the ad before acknowledging & thanking folks for their help.
David
 
>>Americans have a profound distaste for negotiating price; ... Yet we do it every few years when we go buy a new car.<<

I buy my cars at CarMax. So do several million other Americans.

Back on topic -- I can see a place of "best offer" -- some people may have no idea of the value of something. If they set way too low a target price, an expert can sweep it up at that price. To me, this also violates the spirit of RFF, where we're very honest with one another about helping each other figure out the value and heritage of our gear.
 
My vote was for not requiring a price only because I though it better to leave options open. But I've bought a lot of stuff through the classifieds (too much, perhaps) and I've never responded to a "Best Offer" listing. I don't think I've ever answered an "OBO," in fact. It's not a matter of principle; I just don't have the confidence in my pricing skills to make an offer. It seems a basic psychological principle: people want to avoid both ridicule and giving offence, and they don't want to overpay -- they're risk-averse. At least I am. So I'd think if people want an item to move they'd do best to avoid open-ended listings entirely.

It's a little different on the 'Bay, where the current high bid is displayed. You're not making a fool of yourself if you bid way under value; you just drop out when the price gets too high. They've got the setup for a good auction, anyway... open bidding, proxy bidding up to a limit, an active feedback mechanism, and so forth. But that would be unwieldy and unneeded here.

-- Michael
 
I think in a community like RFF where people actually know what they are talking about and understand the value of the items they list, there should always be a price associated with it. Otherwise you might as well sell it on eBay. I think it will leave a bad taste in the bidder's mouths if the seller gets to chose who he wants to sell the item to - and clearly there is no way to control who actually made the best offer.

We all know what our stuff is worth, or at least we think we do.
 
FrankS said:
A good compromise might be: best offer, I'm looking for around $xxx

I agree with Frank. If the asking price is not stated it would be helpful if the seller stated a price range.

Bob
 
I like the clarity of the situation as it is. We mess with the format at our peril; one of the strengths of selling and buying here is that it's straightforward, and you're dealing with fellow enthusiasts: it's quick and clean.

At pnet that there was a time when there was a lot of bad blood re classifieds - people badmouthing others, because 'their offer was first' and so and so hadn't sold to them. It crops up now and then here, understandably - i know I've posted first on threads and still missed items because a PM went in before mine, but that momentary irritation subsided. Any system where we have one buyer bidding against another will REALLY risk bad blood. It won't be quick, and it most definitely won't be clean!

And, honestly, as a seller, I don't want the grief. WHen I sold my black M4 here, the priciest thing yet, I did so essentially because I'd bought it, with minimal hassle, on pnet, and wanted to do the same here. IT was the amount I'd have been reasonably happy to get on evilbay, and franklly I didn't want my camera to sit alongside the overpriced junk you see there these days.
 
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