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How NOT to make an offer

ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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How NOT to make an offer
on: February 06, 2019, 03:04:49 PM
I just got this offer from a guy on Facebook... bear in mind, the prices listed are in USD, and his offer is in Canadian dollars, each of which are only worth about $.70 US....

Initially I was rather proud of not being rude in my response, despite a very strong desire to ask what kind of nose picking yokel he thought I was, telling him to go smurf himself, or merely telling him to go climb back up his own smurfhole and either stay there or come back with a reasonable offer worth my time, but I did not.

Then he said that if I changed my mind I could just let him know, and I couldn't help it.... my smurfhole slipped out a little bit....

And this, dear forum members, is why I generally keep my business restricted as much as possible to the good people here.  When I say that our members are the best, please believe it, because I absolutely do mean it.

Def
Knife Offer.jpg
* Knife Offer.jpg (Filesize: 97.83 KB)
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us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #1 on: February 06, 2019, 03:10:27 PM
Good self control Chief.  :rofl:


us Offline Aloha

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #2 on: February 06, 2019, 03:13:25 PM
WTH is wrong with people  :twak:
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us Offline Nix

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #3 on: February 06, 2019, 03:18:29 PM
WTH is wrong with people  :twak:

Seriously.



gb Offline Wspeed

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #4 on: February 06, 2019, 03:19:33 PM
I like your reply Grant :rofl: :rofl: :like:
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gb Offline AimlessWanderer

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #5 on: February 06, 2019, 03:22:24 PM
 :like:You must be mellowing in your old age, mate :D

I've had a couple of lowball bids on stuff in the past, and been rather forthright in my rebuttal :P I've no issue with people approaching me if they feel my price is too high, but some ass hats seem to think offering you less than half of something's worth is a reasonable thing to do  :dunno:


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us Offline Nix

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #6 on: February 06, 2019, 03:25:28 PM
I suspect texting limits good negotiation.

I've always found that I get much further with face-to-face negotiations.

People were often surprised that in response to an email, I would show up to see them in their offices. Requires a bit of extra effort, but I always found it was worth it for me.

Obviously, in this global iWorld we live in, that is not possible. But, it does serve as a reminder to be careful when texting/messaging/emailing, since your ability to communicate clearly is often reduced, and your messages may be misinterpreted and/or taken in the wrong way.

I'm guilty as charged!
« Last Edit: February 06, 2019, 03:26:58 PM by Nix »


us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #7 on: February 06, 2019, 03:40:02 PM
Low offers don't insult me anymore, I always thank people for their generous offer, and they always fail to appreciate how sarcastic I am.  :D


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #8 on: February 06, 2019, 03:42:38 PM
He has apologized once I told him to Google me and see who I am.

Ego trips are not really my thing, but I can swing a respectable sized smurf in the knife industry when I need to.

Fortunately, I rarely need to.  I think this is maybe the third time since the mid 90's I've actually dusted it off and clobbered someone with it- and one time it didn't need to be done, but I did it anyway to put the president of a certain company in his place, and it was worth it.   >:D

Nix- I agree with seeing people face to face whenever possible.  I once had a mortgage adviser at a major bank try to take advantage of me.  I told him that he was slick as horse smurf, and he insisted that I wouldn't be man enough to say that to his face.... so I made an appointment.  He either didn't show up to work that day, or insisted that the woman at the front desk pretend he wasn't there.   >:D

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #9 on: February 06, 2019, 03:44:59 PM
I'm glad you're on our side Def.  :ahhh


us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #10 on: February 06, 2019, 03:50:20 PM
The only time I prefer NOT to do business face to face is with door to door salespeople. I am amazed at people who really think they are going to sell me something after they have rudely ignored my No Soliciting sign.  :dunno:


il Offline pomsbz

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #11 on: February 06, 2019, 03:51:40 PM
I'll give you $801 if that helps? Solomon Island Dollars ($0.12) of course.
"It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser." - Robert Louis Stevenson


il Offline pomsbz

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #12 on: February 06, 2019, 03:52:47 PM
The only time I prefer NOT to do business face to face is with door to door salespeople. I am amazed at people who really think they are going to sell me something after they have rudely ignored my No Soliciting sign.  :dunno:

Do they ignore the 'hungry rabid and angry dog' sign also? Can you share videos of the results of their lack of reading comprehension?  :rofl:
"It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser." - Robert Louis Stevenson


us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #13 on: February 06, 2019, 04:18:21 PM
The only time I prefer NOT to do business face to face is with door to door salespeople. I am amazed at people who really think they are going to sell me something after they have rudely ignored my No Soliciting sign.  :dunno:

Do they ignore the 'hungry rabid and angry dog' sign also? Can you share videos of the results of their lack of reading comprehension?  :rofl:

The last time it happened, my 100 lb. angry barking dog greeted them at the door. They were unphased by that, along with my invitation to be gone, they just kept on talking. Did they make the sale?  >:D Sorry, no video, but I am tempted to put a surveillance camera at the front door, so maybe in the future...  :dunno:


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #14 on: February 06, 2019, 04:25:03 PM
USD$600 offer for a lot of items listed at a total price of USD$1600? :sa:
Even I wouldn't ask that.....  :facepalm: USD$1000 maybe.....  >:D
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ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #15 on: February 06, 2019, 04:25:36 PM
100lbs may not be enough....

I have a 70lb one and a 140lb one and that seems to do the trick quite effectively!

I have been known to answer the doors, dogs barking and struggling at the door to see who it is and tell the solicitor that unless they are giving free (uhh... let's just say "candy" since this is a family friendly forum) then whatever they have is not worth the trouble and noise they have already caused.

But then I have also been known to answer telemarketer calls with loud adult matter playing in the background.  If they ask "can we speak to __?" I will often tell them to hold and put the phone down on the speaker and leave it there.

I feel okay doing these kinds of things, as I am just paying it forward from the good old days when I did those types of jobs and people did that kind of thing to me.   >:D

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #16 on: February 06, 2019, 04:43:15 PM
Yes, maybe another dog, a pack of angry dogs.  :rofl:

Not to derail too much, but one time an Amazon delivery guy heard my dog barking and was so scared he literally threw my package about 25 feet from where he was in the driveway, across the front porch, and it landed near the door. Kind of funny actually, but I did call and complain.  :D


us Offline Nix

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #17 on: February 06, 2019, 04:45:47 PM
100lbs may not be enough....

I have a 70lb one and a 140lb one and that seems to do the trick quite effectively!

I have been known to answer the doors, dogs barking and struggling at the door to see who it is and tell the solicitor that unless they are giving free (uhh... let's just say "candy" since this is a family friendly forum) then whatever they have is not worth the trouble and noise they have already caused.

But then I have also been known to answer telemarketer calls with loud adult matter playing in the background.  If they ask "can we speak to __?" I will often tell them to hold and put the phone down on the speaker and leave it there.

I feel okay doing these kinds of things, as I am just paying it forward from the good old days when I did those types of jobs and people did that kind of thing to me.   >:D

Def

I don't like the whole telemarketing strategy. I'm a quiet person and I don't like being interrupted unsolicited. I get that the person on the end of the phone is just doing a job, but it's an intrusive practice.

Often with telemarketers, I'll make a game of trying to keep them on the phone as long as possible and waste their time. I figure if I can make them as inefficient as possible, the return on the practice will be less appealing. Recently, they seem to have become smarter about this and are quicker to sniff out my BS and hang up on me.

I had one of those calls the other day where the caller wanted to 'help' me with my credit card debts, since I had been 'identified' as being eligible for their advantageous program. So I asked which credit card he was calling about.

"Which credit cards do you have."
"No, I want to know which of my cards qualifies for the program?"

"Visa, MasterCard, all of them..." 
"Oh, nice. So which of my cards are you calling about?"

"What credit cards do you have?"
"Ah, see, you called me about my credit card. So I want to know which one you are calling about."

Raising his voice a bit: "You have to tell me which credit cards you have."
"Oh, I see. But I want to know which one you are calling about."

A bit louder, now: "YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION FIRST."
"I don't understand, I thought you said I qualified for this program. So can you tell me which card I have that qualifies?"

"NO, I DON'T KNOW THAT. YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION FIRST."
"I"m not comfortable giving that information out over the phone. You should know this already...."

* click *

Guess I have to up my game......  :dunno:


ch Offline Etherealicer

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #18 on: February 06, 2019, 05:00:57 PM
USD$600 offer for a lot of items listed at a total price of USD$1600? :sa:
Even I wouldn't ask that.....  :facepalm: USD$1000 maybe.....  >:D
Well, maybe he was expecting a negotiation.

Bulk sale saves a lot of effort/time and often you cannot sell everything when selling individually. So, question is why are you selling so much, if you sell it to make room for new things then bulk sales are great. If you like selling and or need/want as much money as possible then they are terrible.
It wouldn't be the internet without people complaining.


au Offline gregozedobe

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #19 on: February 06, 2019, 05:10:23 PM
100lbs may not be enough....

I have a 70lb one and a 140lb one and that seems to do the trick quite effectively!

I have been known to answer the doors, dogs barking and struggling at the door to see who it is and tell the solicitor that unless they are giving free (uhh... let's just say "candy" since this is a family friendly forum) then whatever they have is not worth the trouble and noise they have already caused.

But then I have also been known to answer telemarketer calls with loud adult matter playing in the background.  If they ask "can we speak to __?" I will often tell them to hold and put the phone down on the speaker and leave it there.

I feel okay doing these kinds of things, as I am just paying it forward from the good old days when I did those types of jobs and people did that kind of thing to me.   >:D

Def

I don't like the whole telemarketing strategy. I'm a quiet person and I don't like being interrupted unsolicited. I get that the person on the end of the phone is just doing a job, but it's an intrusive practice.

Often with telemarketers, I'll make a game of trying to keep them on the phone as long as possible and waste their time. I figure if I can make them as inefficient as possible, the return on the practice will be less appealing. Recently, they seem to have become smarter about this and are quicker to sniff out my BS and hang up on me.

We have a simple but effective solution to unwanted telephone calls:  We leave all calls to our answering machine, most telemarketers hang up as soon as they hear our std msg.  We do have to tell our friends that they need to start speaking after the msg and if we are home we will (usually) pick up.  I realise that this method isn't practical if you use your phone for business, but it suits us.
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us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #20 on: February 06, 2019, 05:20:02 PM
100lbs may not be enough....

I have a 70lb one and a 140lb one and that seems to do the trick quite effectively!

I have been known to answer the doors, dogs barking and struggling at the door to see who it is and tell the solicitor that unless they are giving free (uhh... let's just say "candy" since this is a family friendly forum) then whatever they have is not worth the trouble and noise they have already caused.

But then I have also been known to answer telemarketer calls with loud adult matter playing in the background.  If they ask "can we speak to __?" I will often tell them to hold and put the phone down on the speaker and leave it there.

I feel okay doing these kinds of things, as I am just paying it forward from the good old days when I did those types of jobs and people did that kind of thing to me.   >:D

Def

I don't like the whole telemarketing strategy. I'm a quiet person and I don't like being interrupted unsolicited. I get that the person on the end of the phone is just doing a job, but it's an intrusive practice.

Often with telemarketers, I'll make a game of trying to keep them on the phone as long as possible and waste their time. I figure if I can make them as inefficient as possible, the return on the practice will be less appealing. Recently, they seem to have become smarter about this and are quicker to sniff out my BS and hang up on me.

We have a simple but effective solution to unwanted telephone calls:  We leave all calls to our answering machine, most telemarketers hang up as soon as they hear our std msg.  We do have to tell our friends that they need to start speaking after the msg and if we are home we will (usually) pick up.  I realise that this method isn't practical if you use your phone for business, but it suits us.

I don't have a landline anymore, so my strategy is this, if it's not someone I know (caller ID), and they don't leave a message, I immediately block the number. It doesn't take long to get virtually no telemarketing calls if this is done every time. Also not giving your number out, being on the donotcall.gov list, and making sure you adjust your preferences on all the accounts you have helps.  :tu: I'm pretty neurotic about this stuff.  :facepalm:


us Offline Nix

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #21 on: February 06, 2019, 05:22:33 PM
For some reason, the donotcall.gov list didn't make much of a difference for me.   :dunno:


il Offline pomsbz

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #22 on: February 06, 2019, 05:23:42 PM
100lbs may not be enough....

I have a 70lb one and a 140lb one and that seems to do the trick quite effectively!

I have been known to answer the doors, dogs barking and struggling at the door to see who it is and tell the solicitor that unless they are giving free (uhh... let's just say "candy" since this is a family friendly forum) then whatever they have is not worth the trouble and noise they have already caused.

But then I have also been known to answer telemarketer calls with loud adult matter playing in the background.  If they ask "can we speak to __?" I will often tell them to hold and put the phone down on the speaker and leave it there.

I feel okay doing these kinds of things, as I am just paying it forward from the good old days when I did those types of jobs and people did that kind of thing to me.   >:D

Def

I don't like the whole telemarketing strategy. I'm a quiet person and I don't like being interrupted unsolicited. I get that the person on the end of the phone is just doing a job, but it's an intrusive practice.

Often with telemarketers, I'll make a game of trying to keep them on the phone as long as possible and waste their time. I figure if I can make them as inefficient as possible, the return on the practice will be less appealing. Recently, they seem to have become smarter about this and are quicker to sniff out my BS and hang up on me.

I had one of those calls the other day where the caller wanted to 'help' me with my credit card debts, since I had been 'identified' as being eligible for their advantageous program. So I asked which credit card he was calling about.

"Which credit cards do you have."
"No, I want to know which of my cards qualifies for the program?"

"Visa, MasterCard, all of them..." 
"Oh, nice. So which of my cards are you calling about?"

"What credit cards do you have?"
"Ah, see, you called me about my credit card. So I want to know which one you are calling about."

Raising his voice a bit: "You have to tell me which credit cards you have."
"Oh, I see. But I want to know which one you are calling about."

A bit louder, now: "YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION FIRST."
"I don't understand, I thought you said I qualified for this program. So can you tell me which card I have that qualifies?"

"NO, I DON'T KNOW THAT. YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION FIRST."
"I"m not comfortable giving that information out over the phone. You should know this already...."

* click *

Guess I have to up my game......  :dunno:

That was brilliant!
"It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser." - Robert Louis Stevenson


us Offline Butch

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #23 on: February 06, 2019, 05:24:10 PM
You people are much nicer than I am. I pickup and as soon as they start speaking I yell loudly into the phone telling them to go perform an adult act on themselves & hangup. :whistle:
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us Offline ezdog

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #24 on: February 06, 2019, 07:26:25 PM
You people are much nicer than I am. I pickup and as soon as they start speaking I yell loudly into the phone telling them to go perform an adult act on themselves & hangup. :whistle:

Same here and Proudly too!

On the original topic though it seems to me that if advertised with a Make Offer line of some kind then no right to get upset by any offer that you may get?
If not and the ad doesn't mention offers,same thing to me exactly.
If the ad says no offers then I am no interested anyway!

But no one can read your mind or be expected to regardless of which side of this you are on?


es Offline ThePeacent

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #25 on: February 06, 2019, 07:51:06 PM
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nz Offline Syncop8r

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #26 on: February 06, 2019, 08:00:41 PM
Mmmmm.... donutcall.gov list....  :drool:


us Offline twiliter

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #27 on: February 06, 2019, 08:10:30 PM


scotland Offline Sea Monster

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #28 on: February 06, 2019, 08:33:02 PM
For what it's worth, he might just be coming at the deal from a different place...


We have a site called "gumtree" (back in the good ol days we had the trading post, but that was a whole different time and different culture)

Anyway, what has happened with gumtree over the years is that people put optimistic prices on things, often 2x what they are willing to accept. So it's not uncommon to enter a negotiation with a solid low-ball.

Of course, part of it is attempting to read the seller (and the item) to pick a "fair" price.

You were asking $1400, he offered $800...perhaps he was expecting to agree on around $1200

(I don't know about the whole USD/CAD thing. How often are y'all doing business in both currencies?)


ch Offline Etherealicer

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Re: How NOT to make an offer
Reply #29 on: February 06, 2019, 08:45:04 PM
You people are much nicer than I am. I pickup and as soon as they start speaking I yell loudly into the phone telling them to go perform an adult act on themselves & hangup. :whistle:

Same here and Proudly too!

On the original topic though it seems to me that if advertised with a Make Offer line of some kind then no right to get upset by any offer that you may get?
If not and the ad doesn't mention offers,same thing to me exactly.
If the ad says no offers then I am no interested anyway!

But no one can read your mind or be expected to regardless of which side of this you are on?
I usually say something along the line "Wait a second", then put the phone down and continue with whatever I was doing... record is almost 5min.
It wouldn't be the internet without people complaining.


 

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