Another consumer-related poll

[zzbottom]

Say you're in a shopping environment where negotiation is reasonable to anticipate (i.e. Used car dealership, flea market, antique shop, Craigslist, etc.) and you see something for sale that you might be interested in purchasing. You notice the price and it's significantly higher than you're willing to spend on the thing. What you're willing to

Comments

[awfief]

This! But I'd clarify to say "insulting" isn't the right word for *me*. I'd be chagrined to offer that, so I wouldn't. Or I'd say something like "Just on the off chance this will work, I really want THING, but my budget will only allow me to afford X. Would that be workable?"

That's if I was dealing with an entity I perceive to be a person. I'd never do that at a used car lot, where I'm dealing with a company. And I've bargained effectively at flea markets by offering less than half, and getting it.

People will try anything - maybe to make a quick buck, or maybe because they want something but don't have the budget. You could write back and say "I'm sorry, but I just cannot sell it for that small of an amount. If you love this piece I hope you can find it in your budget to offer more." that kind of thing.

If you tell someone who's scrimped and saved their "insulting" amount, and they offer it, and you come back with OMG HA HA NOT ON YOUR LIFE THAT'S SO INSULTING, you're hitting them with a double whammy.

I feel like I should end this with
Signed
Not Poor Now But Remember Those Days

[zzbottom]

I did receive a different email some days ago from a gentleman who very nicely explained his situation of just going through a divorce, needing to set up a household, but always having wanted such a thing all to preface him saying that he had a spare $75 and if I was interested in moving the globe, he had that to offer. It was a perfectly reasonable approach and told him that I wasn't able to sell at that price, but appreciated his offer. That was an entirely reasonable approach in my book.

This most recent case was an email, the entirety of which read "45 cash?". If someone can't manage an entire sentence, even if they're writing from their phone (which they were), then I don't feel a need to share the best side of myself with them.

[42itous]

Yeah, that "offer" doesn't merit a response.

[awfief]

Oh, sure! Manners are important. But I wouldn't be *insulted* by someone else's bad manners.

I'd be embarrassed for them. I'd say the offer is "ignorable", but not "insulting".

[zzbottom]

So, I hope this doesn't come off as argumentative, because it's not intended to be so. You work in the tech field. Say you went to a job interview for a job that you wanted and were entirely qualified for. At the end of the interview, the prospective employer says "Well this is great. We'd like to offer you the job. Our salary offer is 25% of the industry standard. When can you start?" Would you feel that was ignorable or insulting?

[awfief]

Hrm, I like this as a thought exercise - definitely not an argument.

In that specific case I'd feel frustrated that I wasted my time and effort interviewing the candidate. In this case it seemed like the initial offer was the lowball. If you invested time into it, like giving more description or something, and then they came with the lowball offer, then yes, it's a waste of time - which is frustrating, but *to me*, not an insult. I can see how others might feel like someone else wasting their time is an insult to them.

Another example - I've been hiring for a position using a particular type of software and have gotten resumes that don't mention the software at all and cover letters that, in their entirety, read "I need a JOB!" (no opening or closing, that was the entire text). Frustrating? yes. Insulting? Nah, mostly me feeling "why did you even bother to apply?"

I also get frustrated with recruiters who can't bother to learn the difference between MySQL (my area of expertise) and Microsoft SQL Server (the jobs they offer me), but I'm not *insulted* - I delete the e-mail and move on. Same with people who say "can you 'just' knit me X?" It takes hours and hours to knit stuff - 8-10 hours for *one* sock, or a baby sweater....it's not *insulting* to me, it's a mark of their own stupidity.

This is probably all way too much explanation, because I really feel like it's a nitpick on "insulting". That's just what *I* feel, others may feel insulted by things I do not, and that's OK. I've been working on deconstructing feelings, so that's probably why I'm deconstructing this.

Now I'm curious - I'm not asking for justification here, I'm looking for clarification - Do you feel insulted because if someone gives you a lowball offer it means they think you don't know what you have and thus they think you're dumb? Or maybe this is a colloquialism - using "insulting offer" to be a metaphor to mean "that offer is so low it's ridiculous" but it's not a matter of someone literally insulting you?

[zzbottom]

I guess for me the insult comes in not acknowledging that I've taken the time to understand the market for a particular item. Granted, this isn't so apparent in a craigslist ad, but I've seen it in a flea market/antique show setting, too (though I can't recall ever getting an offer of 25% of asking price on anything that was tagged for more than about $10). I have seen people roll their eyes and say something to the effect of 'all these people do is pay a dollar for this at a yard sale and now they want $50". There is zero consideration for the miles traveled to find the item, the investment in reference materials in time and money, the carrying cost of maintaining a full inventory, and the many other things that go into running a reasonably successful business.

Another way I look at something like this is this. I have a thing that to me is worth $175. I am willing to pay a premium to turn that thing into cash, which is easier to store and utilize than the thing I have. But you thinking (where "you" is the prospective buyer, not you personally) that that premium I'm willing to pay is 75% is like telling me I can't do math.

I don't know, maybe sometimes I'm wound a bit tight about some of these things. I do find, though, that people are willing to say things through the anonymity of the internet that they'd never say to a person across a table. This just fits into that category for me. Maybe it's the old adage "Better to remain quiet and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt". Offering 25% of asking price doesn't really insult me so much as it does suggest that I'm dealing with a fool.

[awfief]

I agree that people are ruder on the internet.

I think the closest I've come to that is when engaging in conversations about selling hand-crafted items. People say stuff like "my kid made a bracelet like that in the scouts" or "How about $5 for the bracelet?" when it sells for $25. That's a specific devaluing of the work, which sounds like the "you paid $1 and turned around and sold it for $50" scenario - there's effort and time and years of skill involved in that, and devaluing that *is* an insult.

On craigslist there are a ton of people selling crap for way too expensive because they think anything "old" is "antique" or "vintage". So I can see people trying that. But yeah, it does undervalue your effort.