2 rules for non-virtual goods forum

Rule 1: Prices must be posted, no "please offer!"
First time is warning, second time is infraction

Rule 2: No lowballing (replying to sales with extremely low offers)
First time is warning, second time is infraction

http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=921715

There is a thread with no prices posted and tons of lowballing occurring

(Btw rsaccountrader, nothing toward you or your thread, it is just my opinion, I am not attempting to hate on your or something, Lol)


These rules should be put in place because it stops people posting for post count (lowballers) and also reduces people asking "How much for...."

 

Prices being posted defeats the purpose.

You come to forums to barter, nobody wants to make the opening offer, and I personally feel the seller has the right to request opening offers (due to the fact s/he doesn't have to sell it to you.)

Lowballing as you call it is fine. It's what gets the offers going and what buyers do when the seller doesn't put an opening offer, because they want to see how cheap they can get it.

 

theres a difference between putting a low reasonable price and a low price you know for sure hes going to deny or it will get outbid so its basically spam.

 

The seller doesn't have to put his asking price.

He can put a higher price and say "OBO", (or best offer), and everyone can bid lower than that, but not like 60% lower.

 

What exactly are the low prices that were going to be for sure denied on that thread?

I don't see him denying anybodies offers, he accepts them as they come. The value of an item is judged upon what you (yourself) consider it to be worth.

$20 for a PSP 1000 for example isn't way to far off the ebay prices.

If it's the laptop you're talking about, and the person who offered $150 for it, that's what got the ball rolling.

Also, when you're buying something if you get lucky you get it cheap (on very rare occasions) nothing assures you the person won't sell it for that price.

EDIT:

@ Jman
Some people don't know what they are looking for price wise for a certain item and post it to see what they can get, and if they don't like any of the offers, they keep it. In said case, they could of course post an over the top buy out on the item, but then it would make potential customers uninterested from (seeming) greed of the seller.

Maybe insanely low offers (Which I have seen no example given of as of yet) could be posted as against the rules but I believe if you reported it for spam (e.g. offering $3 for the PSP or something like that) the person would be dealt with.

 

$20 for a PSP is pretty ridiculous.. And that is probably first bid on Ebay, which will definently be bidded out.

He isn't going to accept a low offer as it is... There is no sense having people offer for a price that isn't going to be taken. If someone posts the price to begin with and sets it as OBO, the price could be $150 and someone could offer $120... That would be a good offer and isn't too low... Once it goes much lower then it isn't reasonable whatsoever.

If the person is going to get rid of it cheap they will set it up with a cheap price advertised, that way they get rid of it quicker rather than beating around the bush.

$20 is pretty low, and it easily allows newcomers (or anyone, at that) to rack up post count quickly by lowballing, knowing their offer is going to get turned down.

 

PM or report? Because you most likely would get sick of PMs, seeing as how you probably get a bunch daily


VIA PM

Yet someone offered $150
That is ridiculous

 

I think "lowballing" shouldn't be an infraction. If someone wants to buy something but can't afford the listed price, they shouldn't be discouraged from posting their offer

 

I was not talking about his thread I was talking in general.

 

I like bartering, and at the very least it gives free bumps. It also shows demand for the item and drives up what people will offer.
No support.

HOWEVER: If someone bids 0.01 or much less than a previous infracted bid, it should be infracted.

 

You don't know he won't accept that offer. If he requested nobody posted lower offers, then it would be understandable.

Some links I think you should view:
http://cgi.ebay.com/psp-1000-piano-...t=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item45f552145a

http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-Sony-PSP-1...0472140817?pt=Video_Games&hash=item43a17d2011

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-PSP-1000-Black-/230526416990?pt=Video_Games&hash=item35ac71f85e

As you can see, those are some low offers that items have been sold for on ebay.

If a person is going to get rid of something cheap, they may not know they are going to until the time comes.

Why does post count matter? It means very little. If you're going to trade with somebody you should look into them at least a little bit to make sure you don't get scammed.

 

Offers that are completely off of retail price or used price shouldn't be posted...

Good point that if someone bids lower than a previous bid they should be infracted.

I don't really know how to use ebay, but I saw that it said STARTING BID. And also, the buyer might of gotten lucky because nobody else offered, whereas on Sythe the seller doesnt HAVE to sell the item.

And if someone wants to sell it for cheap and hasn't posted it as so, there IS an edit button.

I was saying that people will be lowballing threads just to get up their post count and look cool or something. (Whatever reason people get off to high post count)

 

If somebody actually does post an idea of what they want, they have all rights to report somebody for spamming.

As I've already said, There is no point in somebody post $3 for something like a PSP. That could easily be reported as spam.

Nobody ever wants to say they're selling something cheap, that encourages the lower offers. If they can get a high offer they'll go after it.

If somebody is spamming random threads, I bet you could look into it with sellers to see if they've ever actually bought something or not and report it to mod and get them some infractions/non-virtual goods forum ban (possibly?)

 

What about giving a price range? Would this stop ridiculously low offers?

 

Don't agree. Some people may prefer to see how much people are willing to pay for there accounts. They may get more then they expected

If someone really doesn't want any lowball offers then all they need to do as add in a minimum bid in there original post.

 

This is stupid...

People asking for offers is fine. Doesn't need to change.
Low Balling is annoying yes. But simply report the post. And / or have a Minimum bid on the thread...

No support.

 

We have offers and stuff so the sellers can make more money, auctions are there for a reason.

 

I sometimes offer people lower offers if i feel the previous persons offer may seem fake or un legit so I don't see how we can really balance infracting people for that.