What does "OBO: or best offer" mean to you?

I expect negotiation unless firm is stated.

As a seller I usually say or best reasonable offer. I also try to find comparables on Craigslist first so I can gauge my market. I recently sold a pool ladder and the guy offered $75 sight unseen from $125. Not horrible but I came back stating I have other action and he offered $90. I said I'd do $100 and that I have seen others in that range so I think my price is fair..I also knew the comps were much further for him to drive.

I sold a ladder for $225 and a buyer asked if I'd do $20, then asked to meet 30 minutes from me. I thought "typo, ok" and said I'd do $200. He siad no, $20.. I can buy a new one for $100. Normally I'd have told him to go screw but I decided to have some fun and said:


The broken hinge you argued about..I stated in the ad I have a new one in box which cost $20 so why would I sell the whole ladder for that?

It cost $380 new and is a year old so I know I lose value but not that much.

since you don't have a fence on your pool, the cheaper ladders aren't in compliance with building code and you will be in real trouble if caught

Lastly, it will run me $20 in fuel to drive to the location you suggest.

Complete asshole..

 

I would have said ok and agreed to meet him and never showed up.
I had a wooden swing set for sale. This guy calls and asks if I could deliver it and set it up at his place. My asking price was a little high to allow for negotiation. I said I could do that. Then he says that he would pay me half of what I was asking. I told him that even if he was paying my asking price he would have to come to my house look at the swing set and pay me the asking price. Only then would I start to disassemble and deliver the swing set. Sold it to someone else for $50 less than asking price and they came and took it.

 

I thought about it but fortunately someone came the next day and paid me $200.

What I did really miss the boat on is I should have asked for his address, waited a few weeks, and called the building inspector on him. Believe me when I say pools are a big hot-button item for them and they will make you tear it down if not in code.

 

If I am trying to get rid of something and really don't care how much I get I will use OBO. Other than that I think it is a misleading way to sell something if you won't take best offer. You should state it as "make offer".

 

Yes best offer from several buyer's not the first cheap fuck that shows up.

 

I haven't experienced anything like that however over the past few months I've noticed this new trend with people sending me "what's the best price?" as their first and only message. Best price? The hell is that? Or "what's your lowest?" Dude, I'm not going to voluntarily gut my listing price just like that. I have my listing set at the price I see fair, if you want to negotiate a little I'm always open to offers but you have to give me a number first! Gah.

 

I always apply FIRM and capitalize it, sometimes even repeat it. It's apparently invisible to lowballers because I'll still get ridiculous offers.

I listed my lowest price and stated that I'm FIRM on it. If it's not a reasonable price to you, move along.

I hate selling items. Craigslist is the worst. I've had people show up to look at things and after wasting 20min of my time they explain to me that they don't have any money and just wanted to check it out.

 

I always reply with "make me an offer" which only sometimes gets a reply.

I guess I shouldn't be so critical because I have worked in sales and have a lot of experience making deals. I'm not some master negotiator though!

It boils down to a simple equation in my head. No one should walk away from the deal feeling bad. If both parties think "It's a little [more/less] than I had hoped but I'm still happy," that's fine too.
Never, ever, should either party feel explicitly unhappy though.

That's where some people make their ultimate mistake in negotiation, they think "I want to make this person feel BAD and BULLY them into the price I want, that makes me a good negotiator."
No, it makes you a terrible negotiator and probably a big dickhead.
A good negotiator makes the other person feel GOOD about [taking less/giving more] than they initially offered. "Wow, I still made a really good deal!" is how you should aim to make them walk away.

 

Amen, I sold a sportbike (Honda 600RR) on Craigslist which was a small nightmare of idiotic mouth-breathing squid orbiting your life.

I got a fair price though, in the end.

 

This. I will never forget the guy who came to look at my Datsun ZX when I was a teenager. Guy hemmed and hawed for an hour plus over coming up $100. I finally said "you know, it's getting late and I'm going to bed soon." He agreed and then pulled out his checkbook..bye Felisha!

 

I sold my last Tacoma on Craigslist and I always put OBO. To me it means that that if someone makes an acceptable offer I'll take it, but I as the seller get to decide what I will take.

Also CL is the worst but you have to go in prepared. I always start by making a decent add, what's with the people who take a horrible crooked picture of the back left side of their truck and the only description is "needs work, runs good."

I also know I'll be getting people offering me absolutely absurd offers...so I price whatever I'm selling about 20% above what I actually want to get out of it.

With my Tacoma i sold (97 xtra cab, 4wd, 167K southern truck selling in the rust belt with an oil leak) I wanted $4500 and listed at $5500 OBO. In one day I got four calls/texts/email.
1st email: Interested when can I come look?
2nd call: I want to buy this would you take $5000...My response "Since it's been on CL for less than 12 hours and I'm already fielding calls I'm taking the asking price today"
3rd text: $2000 cash you keep extra parts...My response "I have an offer for the asking price. Thanks for looking" What I should have said is "Would you be willing to pay more if I accepted arcade tokens?"

I sold to the second guy that day for the asking price. Kind of blew me away since I paid $7000 in 2007 for the truck and only put about $2500 into it over ten years.

I think OBO will draw people in even if you aren't going to negotiate that much. Also you have to just deal with all the fools on CL.

 

If I put OBO and you offer 50% of my asking price I just blow it off and don't respond. I've had this happen multiple times on here. Or they expect to get the item at $75% of my asking price with free shipping on a large item. Shits expensive to ship sometimes....can't just let you get off Scott free from shipping charges when the item is a few hundred bucks and it's going to cost another 100 to ship.

 

HA. Whenever someone asks me that I just tell em the price I listed it for.

 

Best offer. Then go from there if the buyer and seller are not two dbags.

 

Well, that may be true, because I was also thinking the well used doll might be @Daria ............. Ive seen pictures....................

 

Everything is a negotiation, unless stated otherwise. I don't think there are many buyers/sellers anymore that don't expect to haggle over a vehicles sales price, it's the nature of the beast

 

I bought an old Torker bike on Craigslist a year ago. Just had a price listed, not OBO.

I made the 2 hr trek in almost 3 hrs. Looked it over, asked a couple of questions, and handed him cash in full. They don't come up often and I felt the price was fair anyways...plus like I told him, you know I'm serious if I will make that drive