Sellers opinions: should a buyer have an idea of the price?

[Artboy99]

Is it wrong for me as a seller to have some expectation that a buyer knows/ has some idea of the value of a book they are interested in buying? Just curious what others think. For example, use a book of some value, not dollar books.

 

I can understand if the book is somewhat rare and pricing is difficult to determine, but for a commonly found key book it is my opinion that if you are buying the book you should do some research, and have an idea of the price.

[Ryan.]

No one should be buying anything unless they are familiar with its value.

[revat]

I'm not quite sure I get the question, but I think in general a seller should expect nothing out of any buyer, other than to pay money if they want to buy something, and ask questions if they want to know something.

 

After that, you're all adults. If some rich grandma hits the 'buy it now' on ebay for your 3x GPA price instead of making you an offer, fantastic. If her grandson makes you a lowball offer, politely decline.

[BarryAllen]

Is it wrong for me as a seller to have some expectation that a buyer knows/ has some idea of the value of a book they are interested in buying? Just curious what others think. For example, use a book of some value, not dollar books.

 

I can understand if the book is somewhat rare and pricing is difficult to determine, but for a commonly found key book it is my opinion that if you are buying the book you should do some research, and have an idea of the price.

 

:shrug:

 

Personally I always have an approximate value of an item before I go to purchase it. Its exact value is whatever I finally pay (up or down versus what I thought).

 

However, I find more often than not, that people are lazy.

[Jeffro.]

No one should be buying anything unless they are familiar with its value.

 

Agreed.

[CAHokie]

Is it wrong for me as a seller to have some expectation that a buyer knows/ has some idea of the value of a book they are interested in buying? Just curious what others think. For example, use a book of some value, not dollar books.

 

I can understand if the book is somewhat rare and pricing is difficult to determine, but for a commonly found key book it is my opinion that if you are buying the book you should do some research, and have an idea of the price.

 

If people are buying a key, I would hope they have a general idea of it's value. At the same time though (and this may not pertain to your question), as a buyer, I hate asking a seller the price of a book and they reply with what are you offering.

[Artboy99]

I'm not quite sure I get the question, but I think in general a seller should expect nothing out of any buyer, other than to pay money if they want to buy something, and ask questions if they want to know something.

 

After that, you're all adults. If some rich grandma hits the 'buy it now' on ebay for your 3x GPA price instead of making you an offer, fantastic. If her grandson makes you a lowball offer, politely decline.

 

For clarity, let's assume the book has a value of $250.00. I can go to GPA and show that this is the average value of the book as per data, I can go to Ebay completed sales and show that the book has sold for that value, finally even the comic book price guide is the same value. I have the book priced at $200.00.

My question comes from situations where I still get a lowball offer even though the book is very fairly priced and is a good deal.

[marmat]

No one should be buying anything unless they are familiar with its value.

 

+1

 

Also, I belive that buyers who submit lowball offer exactly know the value of the book in question. They are just trying to get a bargain

[blazingbob]

If I/We were mind readers the retail business from the dealer side would be much more lucrative than it really is.

 

What something is worth varies from person to person.

 

A dealer has his buy value.

 

A flipper has his number.

 

The Upgrader has his number.

 

The run collector may have his budget number to contend with.

 

The die hard OSPG guy may go with the "I pay 80% of OSPG" or I'm moving on. You know this buyer. Their OSPG is battered, folded and has so many spine splits from being open that you wonder if they can read the numbers. Sometimes has post it notes on the most referenced pages. Makes the face when they see an Over guide price on a book they want. Shaking head or stare is made your way.

 

A collector looking for his birthday book may have another.

 

The GPA 12 month moving average guy has his number.

 

The GPA last sale guy has his.

 

The 10% less than GPA last sale guy has his.

 

There is the guy with Champagne tastes and a beer wallet. He dreams that you will take $100 for a $200 book because that is all he has in his wallet. You can generally identify them when they say "If I win the lotto I'm going to buy that book".

 

The 50% off guy regardless of condition doesn't care what the value is.

 

The "I know you need the money buyer" knows exactly what it is worth but every dollar he chews you down is a $1 more he makes. They are looking for the "What makes you cry uncle" price.

 

Easy question to answer if you can figure out which person you are talking to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ryan.]

I'm not quite sure I get the question, but I think in general a seller should expect nothing out of any buyer, other than to pay money if they want to buy something, and ask questions if they want to know something.

 

After that, you're all adults. If some rich grandma hits the 'buy it now' on ebay for your 3x GPA price instead of making you an offer, fantastic. If her grandson makes you a lowball offer, politely decline.

 

For clarity, let's assume the book has a value of $250.00. I can go to GPA and show that this is the average value of the book as per data, I can go to Ebay completed sales and show that the book has sold for that value, finally even the comic book price guide is the same value. I have the book priced at $200.00.

My question comes from situations where I still get a lowball offer even though the book is very fairly priced and is a good deal.

 

Can't get it if you don't ask.

[wombat]

A low ball offer may have no relation to someone knowing the value of a book. In fact it may be knowing the value that determines what their low offer is.

[Ghost Rider]

It's worth what a person is willing pay for it. What the market will bear comes to mind. Everybody wants the best deal they can get. If your buying something do some research. Just because item A sells for X amount of dollars in your area doesn't mean it will sell for that in another area. Research, research, research.

[1Cool]

If I/We were mind readers the retail business from the dealer side would be much more lucrative than it really is.

 

What something is worth varies from person to person.

 

A dealer has his buy value.

 

A flipper has his number.

 

The Upgrader has his number.

 

The run collector may have his budget number to contend with.

 

The die hard OSPG guy may go with the "I pay 80% of OSPG" or I'm moving on. You know this buyer. There OSPG is battered, folded and has so many spine splits from being open that you wonder if they can read the numbers. Sometimes has post it notes on the most referenced pages. Makes the face when they see an Over guide price on a book they want. Shaking head or stare is made your way.

 

A collector looking for his birthday book may have another.

 

The GPA 12 month moving average guy has his number.

 

The GPA last sale guy has his.

 

The 10% less than GPA last sale guy has his.

 

There is the guy with Champagne tastes and a beer wallet. He dreams that you will take $100 for a $200 book because that is all he has in his wallet. You can generally identify them when they say "If I win the lotto I'm going to buy that book".

 

The 50% off guy regardless of condition doesn't care what the value is.

 

The "I know you need the money buyer" knows exactly what it is worth but every dollar he chews you down is a $1 more he makes. They are looking for the "What makes you cry uncle" price.

 

Easy question to answer if you can figure out which person you are talking to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well said sir!

[jaybuck43]

Karl:

My thought is as follows. If Seller has a book listed under GPA that means s/he is listing it under market. That is fairly priced. However you will have nefarious buyers (or NBs) who will say HEY I know, he wants to move that book, that's why it's under priced. So that means I can get it even cheaper. So take your $200 priced book. The NB will lowball you at say $150 hoping you are either a) desperate enough to take the first offer you get or b) and the more likely scenario you counteroffer at say $175 or even better $190. NB than accepts and gets an even better bargain. Now he waits a week and sells at market price, netting a 60+ profit.

 

Expect nothing from your buyer.

[RCheli]

When somebody low-balls me, I don't take offense. If they seem like a real jerk, I don't even make a counter-offer. I'll just say, "Sorry, I can't do it for that price." If they seem more reasonable, I will start negotiating.

 

But look... if somebody low-balls you, it's very likely they're not interested in even buying it in the first place.

[BarryAllen]

When somebody low-balls me, I don't take offense. If they seem like a real jerk, I don't even make a counter-offer. I'll just say, "Sorry, I can't do it for that price." If they seem more reasonable, I will start negotiating.

 

But look... if somebody low-balls you, it's very likely they're not interested in even buying it in the first place.

 

 

Probably depends on the person. I don't necessarily "low ball" but I always start lower than I am willing to pay (probably didn't need to state that). Although, any offer also comes with its own baggage of perception on the seller's side.

 

I think the issue is more of the awareness of what a "fair" price is and whether or not the buyer and the seller's definitions are the same.

 

Realistically, many sellers/dealers have books priced above market value (let's assume this means published data on recent sales available to everyone) because there are many people who will pay to get the book (impatient) or are ignorant of recent sales (either due to laziness or lack of available published data).

[thecopperagekids]

+1 on what blazingbob and jaybuck43 said.

 

 

[InvstmntComcSuply]

Is it wrong for me as a seller to have some expectation that a buyer knows/ has some idea of the value of a book they are interested in buying? Just curious what others think. For example, use a book of some value, not dollar books.

 

I can understand if the book is somewhat rare and pricing is difficult to determine, but for a commonly found key book it is my opinion that if you are buying the book you should do some research, and have an idea of the price.

 

The expectation is not the problem, as long as it does not negatively affect communication with the customer. Think of the best dealers and how that interaction plays out and then think of the worst. Unfortunately, our industry did not always cater to customer relation experts, so I probably envision the latter easier.

 

You can come to CG and get a pat on the back and "Geez customers are needy/crazy/a pain/etc.!" afterwards if it helps.

[jimbo_707]

Is it wrong for me as a seller to have some expectation that a buyer knows/ has some idea of the value of a book they are interested in buying? Just curious what others think. For example, use a book of some value, not dollar books.

 

I can understand if the book is somewhat rare and pricing is difficult to determine, but for a commonly found key book it is my opinion that if you are buying the book you should do some research, and have an idea of the price.

The true value of a book isn't so easy to determine.

 

We all know that Overstreet is ridiculously low on some books and ridiculously high on others.

 

Some people look at the GPA 30-day average (or however many days). In my opinion, that would (right now) greatly overestimate the value of the most books, because there's been an extremely strong seller's market that's persisted through 2013 and 2014. I don't expect those prices to hold up over the next couple of years, so if I'm trying to predict future value, I'd say that many books are "worth" much less than the current GPA average, which is past value, albeit recent past.

 

Many eBay speculators (and some full-time dealers) are too optimistic about the value of their books. (I overheard one dealer say, "The party can't last forever," so some of them know a downturn is coming.) Years ago, a dealer complained to me that he was sitting on a million dollars worth of inventory but couldn't move it. I thought to myself, "Well, if you can't move it the way it's priced, maybe it isn't really worth a million dollars in this market." Many people, dealers and collectors, don't like to admit just how volatile most collectibles really are.

 

To finally answer your question, the only one who actually gets to decide a book's current value is the person plunking down the money at that moment.

 

In a case where a buyer isn't willing to pay a seller's asking price, the book just doesn't sell at that time, which means the dealer isn't willing to part with it at its value to that particular buyer. So what?

 

If a buyer is completely ignorant of comic book values--for instance, if a non-collector is buying a gift for a friend--it gets a little tricky. If such a buyer asks a dealer for professional advice, the dealer has an ethical and a legal responsibility not to defraud the person, i.e. not to misrepresent an item's value, but there's a lot of wiggle room there.

 

[Rommin]

If I/We were mind readers the retail business from the dealer side would be much more lucrative than it really is.

 

What something is worth varies from person to person.

 

 

The run collector may have his budget number to contend with.

 

 

 

 

That one is me ... just in case you see me in a sales thread, heh.