I don't want to give this guy any cash...

[Simon R-migration]

Look at the Q & A. I was considering a bid, but don't really want to give money to someone like this...

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180401269354&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

 

 

[lscomics]

He should've been more tactful about it but he's not wrong.

[CollectingFool]

Are you upset he turned you down or that he publicly chastized you? I'm sure you pissed him off a lot more than he pissed you off.

 

Ruben

[Spider-Variant]

Yes, his tact is missing, but he is correct. Plus the "R" word is not PC.

[lscomics]

Ive been listing on ebay myself for about 10 years and I know I find it insulting to a degree when someone sends me a low ball offer on something I've listed. Mostly because when I list items I set the minimum bid at a price I feel is lower than it will sell for anyway. I've had people offer $100 on a piece of art that I knew would sell for $300+ then get upset with me because I won't end the auction and sell it to them for less. Granted I've always politely declined their offer but it's not always easy to be nice about it. Sometimes you want to point out how inconsiderate they're being however blatantly insulting it is. I'm not saying that's the case here but I certainly understand the sellers point of view.

[DNAgent]

I don't see why anyone would be pissed, but we all take different things personally I guess...

 

I definitely side with the seller...it's difficult to be nice sometimes when people are insufficiently_thoughtful_persons, so I can understand the response...tact/political correctness from sellers is low on my list (when replying to a low ball and against ebay policy offer), whereas honesty is way up there...most times you simply make a purchase, never to be seen/heard from again, so I don't care if a seller is a bit rude to someone who asks for a low ball offer and wants shipping included and wants to deal off ebay in an ebay posting...

 

Certainly I'd have a bit more respect for the seller if they were cool as a cucumber,

but that response just isn't much more than a blip (to me).

 

If the seller had the same response to a reasonable offer and it was a 'make offer' item, I'd feel differently with the response...In that case I'd avoid...

 

[artcollector9]

Guy has no tact, but I would have thought that no way he would sell for almost 1/2 before the auction ends. You should have waited, and if it failed to sell, make a low ball offer based on that.

 

In any case, move on. Lots of art out there.

[AKA Rick]

It's probably best to always take the high road and not get involved with emotion or passion as a seller with a simple "Your offer is declined" statement answer or even simply not acknowledging the question and not answering what's deemed offensive or absurd rather than garner the perception of being unprofessional, rude, offensive or immature. If the communication is continued relentlessly with any off-color language, simply block the communication and end it there.

 

As for the original statement of not wanting to support the seller due to their comments, as the buyer or a buyer whether it was your question or not, it's your money and your choice to be a patron or not. There's a lot of sellers and dealers out there who do lack the social skills necessary for customer service, and an economic boycott is often times the best way to allow them to reflect upon their practices.

 

There's a lot of OA dealers out there who are like that, some who feel they hold art hostage to collectors and can treat them as they will with little respect because they think no matter what the art will sell to them or someone else. But those reputations follow them and I've heard so many times, collectors stop buying from certain dealers out of principle. I won't mention who they are, since I believe it's better to spread positive energy than negative vibes...

 

With that... there's some really nice friendly dealers out there who treat their customers with the utmost respect, appreciation and friendliness like Tom Flemming @ Fanfare-Se and Anthony Snyder, who are my top two to deal with... really nice guys!

[vacantpassenger]

If offering a "Best Offer" option, you should expect low ball offers. If you don't want to deal with them, set a minimum offer option, make a reserve on the auction or make your minimum acceptable price your first bid.

 

This guy was just being a blatant , especially making it public. There was no need to respond in that manner and a simple no or ignore would've sufficed. If I was someone looking to bid on that item, I would lose any interest once seeing that.

[Meeley Man]

The potential buyer was out of line to ask for an off eBay deal while the auction was still running.

 

The seller was out of line calling them retarded and certainly should loose business from such an unprovoked attack.

 

And I agree that Tom Fleming and Anthony Snyder are two of the best guys in this business. I'd also add in Scott Kress from Catskill Comics, too.

[lscomics]

If offering a "Best Offer" option, you should expect low ball offers. If you don't want to deal with them, set a minimum offer option, make a reserve on the auction or make your minimum acceptable price your first bid.

 

This guy was just being a blatant , especially making it public. There was no need to respond in that manner and a simple no or ignore would've sufficed. If I was someone looking to bid on that item, I would lose any interest once seeing that.

 

It was just set up as an auction though, there was no Best Offer option.

[Simon R-migration]

Just to clarify, it wasn't me who made the offer, and it was the rude and offensive manner in which said offer was refused that upset me enough to post here.

 

As mentioned above, I feel a simple, and perhaps private, no would have sufficed. There is absolutely no excuse for using language like that.

[supapimp]

dude,

 

people who offer low ball offers or best offer low ball bids, need to get a grip and stop being cheap. i had to set an automatic reject on my HULK 181 CGC SS 8.5 listing due to constant low ball offers in the $500 range.

[Simon R-migration]

I really don't understand why people are so put out by low ball offers.

 

I've sold a bunch of pages, including a Watchmen one in the past year, and received a heap of low offers. I just politely declined, waited for the real bids to come in, and sold it at a good price.

 

Just because a buyer values something at a certain level, that doesn't mean that's how much it's actually worth. Overpriced art is often discussed on this forum. It's only worth as much as someone's actually willing to pay for it at the end of the day.

 

Speaking of which, I see there are still no bids on the Sienkiewicz page.

[Meeley Man]

dude,

 

people who offer low ball offers or best offer low ball bids, need to get a grip and stop being cheap.

 

Dude,

 

People who put out high dollar items in a vastly public forum (like eBay, for example), need to get a grip and lower their high-falutin' expectations. Most buyers are working stiffs, who don't have huge disposable incomes for graded comic and original art that costs thousands of dollars (and this is BEFORE the recent economic woes that people are feeling today). If you've got a highly-expensive item to sell, go to a private auction house, or something like that, where you can get the oil barons and Hollywood phonies to bid on it, who have those kinds of dollars to burn. If you go to the general public, though, you better expect low ball offers. Because they aren't the problem. Your pretentious expectations they pay your premium price is!

[AKA Rick]

PLUS... there are some sellers out there, including on eBay whose marketing strategy is to offer artwork at seemingly high prices who do that knowingly that the "or best offer" option is there for them to maximize their profit potential in hopes someone will make the purchase at that price or closest to it, without revealing the fact that they would have probably taken a far less bottom line dollar for the piece. There's a lot of those pieces continually being listed and relisted like evergreens on eBay waiting for the right negotiation to occur.

 

Here's a good example of that, a John Byrne piece for $16,500 or best offer:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/AVENGERS-164-pg-1-Splash-Nefaria-Trilogy-JOHN-BYRNE_W0QQitemZ320412694182QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9a15b6a6&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

I've seen this piece everytime I do a serach for Byrne art. So, it appears that $16k isn't quite the market value for the piece since it's not sold yet, but at the same time neither would $500 be an offer that would probably not be accepted. I often wonder what it would truly take to acquire this piece.

 

For oriignal art, value is subjective with the disclaimer "To me it's worth $...", so making an offer of what it's worth to from a buyer to the seller is just part of running a business. That's what makes the pricing of collectibles so fluid, and why there are "price guides" as opposed to "price lists" and a supply/demand auction format seems to work best, letting the marketplace dictate the actualized value.

 

Just like at auto dealerships, not everyone who comes in makes a purchase that day or sometimes a deal can't come to agreement (but might come back later to make a purchase)... but I don't think you ever hear of an auto dealer cursing out a potential buyer for any unaccepted offer... same rules should apply here too, I think...

 

So, as a SELLER, I'd say expect to get all sorts of communication, offers, etc. - - regardless of the price offer, it's always nice to be courteous, as nobody feels at ease purchasing from someone they're uncomfortable with now, or in the future.

 

If a BUYER is rude (and from the seller's side, I'm sure many sellers field a lot of unsolicited comments and emails that don't even deal with a customer wanting to purchase, but just disturbors want to vent, complain or stir up trouble)... again, the best road to take is the high road and just ignore, delete, block them and move on.

 

Having manners and good social skills is important in customer relations... again, that's why I always tout the good names of people I like to deal with and give them referrals to other collectors along with my continued business support.

 

 

[Nexus]

dude,

 

people who offer low ball offers or best offer low ball bids, need to get a grip and stop being cheap.

 

Dude,

 

People who put out high dollar items in a vastly public forum (like eBay, for example), need to get a grip and lower their high-falutin' expectations. Most buyers are working stiffs, who don't have huge disposable incomes for graded comic and original art that costs thousands of dollars (and this is BEFORE the recent economic woes that people are feeling today). If you've got a highly-expensive item to sell, go to a private auction house, or something like that, where you can get the oil barons and Hollywood phonies to bid on it, who have those kinds of dollars to burn. If you go to the general public, though, you better expect low ball offers. Because they aren't the problem. Your pretentious expectations they pay your premium price is!

 

So would you say sellers like this are "wasting their time"?

 

[Elijya]

I listed some books once (a run of transmet) and sold them for my asking price. A week later, another guy messaged me offering HALF that, not realizing it had sold. Gotta be honest, that was pretty insulting. The books were already listed at half off retail value, what I had paid, I specifically said I didn't want to haggle, and he comes at me with half of THAT when someone already was clearly willing to pay what I had asked... which was already a bargain and a loss for me. But I bit my tongue and turned him down politely.

 

"I would like to buy the Transmetropolitan trades. How does $50 shipped sound to you?"

"Honestly? Absolutely horrible, I could get much more than that on ebay. And they've already been sold."

 

Anyway, I messaged the seller you're talking about. He thanked me for letting him know it was publicly viewable, and briefly explained why he responded like that, which I sympathize with. He mentioned he'd received complimentary email from people who also don't like low ballers trying to deal off ebay.

 

 

[vacantpassenger]

If offering a "Best Offer" option, you should expect low ball offers. If you don't want to deal with them, set a minimum offer option, make a reserve on the auction or make your minimum acceptable price your first bid.

 

This guy was just being a blatant , especially making it public. There was no need to respond in that manner and a simple no or ignore would've sufficed. If I was someone looking to bid on that item, I would lose any interest once seeing that.

 

It was just set up as an auction though, there was no Best Offer option.

 

I know that, I was just saying that in response to people talking about how they hating getting lowball offers.

[Meeley Man]

I listed some books once (a run of transmet) and sold them for my asking price. A week later, another guy messaged me offering HALF that, not realizing it had sold. Gotta be honest, that was pretty insulting. The books were already listed at half off retail value, what I had paid, I specifically said I didn't want to haggle, and he comes at me with half of THAT when someone already was clearly willing to pay what I had asked... which was already a bargain and a loss for me. But I bit my tongue and turned him down politely.

 

I don't see how it was insulting, especially given the fact you'd already sold it for what you were asking. Sure, the guy was obviously dumb for not noticing that the auction was already ended, but I don't see an insult here. Heck, you could sit back and laugh, because not only was he not getting it for the price he wanted, but you even got more for it than he offered. Certainly no need for "tougne biting" in this situation.