Happens often, and do not get offended at all.
A lot of my best deals have started with “whats the cheapest you’ll sell it for”
I usually just give them, the price i’d be willing to sell it for + 20% on top - people like negotiating, let them.
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Always seem to get asked that question with in the first 24 hours of posting an item.
I just tell them I am not accepting offers currently ad the item was just posted.
Some of you get really upset when someone tries to buy your pokemon cards. Especially if they want a better price? lol
It’s more about ‘the way’ they want to buy your cards. The question “What’s the cheapest you’ll sell for?” is pretty rude imho. With buying/selling and haggling, both parties have a certain starting amount and max/min amount in mind (i.e. the seller who is willing to sell it for price X at the absolute minimum will advertise it as X+N; and the buyer who is willing to buy it for price Y at the absolute maximum will start with an offer of Y-M). Both parties will haggle back and forth, until they are both content with the buy/sell price, or they both agree to disagree if there is a gap between X and Y. That’s how haggling works on a secondhand market in a city/town for example.
Let’s say I was a seller on a secondhand market, and I had a product available with a price on a label of X+N. If a person who wants to buy it sees it and says: “That looks pretty interesting. Would you be willing to go a bit lower than the advertised X+N, since it’s a bit higher than I’m willing to pay to be honest. What would you say about Y-N?”. I would be much more willing to haggle back and forth a bit until we settle on a price (or not settle).
But if that same buyer instead stated: “What’s the lowest you take for that item?” I would think it’s rather rude. As a seller I’d probably response with something like: “Pretty close to X+N, as you can see on the label… What are you willing to offer?”
With the first buyer, I would be willing to sell it for a little cheaper to help that person out, whereas with the second, I almost prefer to not sell it at all to that buyer, even if I would potentially lose money selling it to someone who’s nicer. But maybe that’s just me.
As for eBay, there are a couple of available cases:
- Seller has listed it for a BIN price (X or X+N) without Best Offer available
- Seller has listed it for a BIN price (X+N) with Best Offer available
- Seller has listed it for bidding starting from 0 without reserve
- Seller has listed it for bidding starting from 0 with a reserve (X)
- Seller has listed it for X-A without reserve
- Seller has listed it for X-A with a reserve (X)
So let’s ignore the auctions (3 to and including 6) for a moment and only focus on the top two.
With option 1, the seller has listed it for a certain price. Although eBay is of course a second-hand market, I personally see BIN without BO auctions as a regular sale like any other webshop or store. You just have to accept the price as is, or not. You’re also not going to ask in a super market what the lowest they’ll accept for a certain product…
Some sellers simply list it for X, although some will list it for X+N depending on the market prices and what they expect it might sell for given time. They have the patience, so they just list it above the current market price perhaps. In either case, when the seller doesn’t have Best Offer enabled, you either just accept the price or not. Of course as a buyer you could still try to ask a seller if they’d accept Y instead (maybe the seller is new and forgot about the Best Offer option when the listed it, or the seller is in a good mood) - nothing ventured, nothing gained. But the seller has all right to decline or even ignore you if they choose to. Especially big seller don’t have to time to answer each and every message, especially if they send messages to make an offer on your BIN auctions without BO available. In that case the buyer either buys it for the BIN price, or moves on. Simple as that.
With option 2, the seller started with a BIN of X+N and has Best Offer available. In this case, it’s an actual haggle auction and similar to a secondhand market. A buyer can make an offer of Y-M, and after some back and forth (preferably not too much and with not too small numbers…), you have the same conclusion: either there is a gap between X and Y and there is no sale, or both parties are happy with the buy/sell price and there is a successful sale.
But, in both of these cases, asking “what is the absolute minimum you’ll take?” is rude. With option 2, the seller started with a price of X+N, and you can offer whatever you want as reaction, just like on a secondhand market. But asking “what’s the lowest you’ll go?” in my opinion has the opposite effect of your goal of getting the card as cheap as possible…
And now I’m going a bit off-topic here, but the main problem is the mentality on the internet in general. Because everyone is (mostly) anonymous, they will do or say certain things they might never (dare to) do/say irl. I personally act online the same way as irl (in terms of morals, norms and values): with respect and kindness to the other person. People should realize that words on the internet can hurt just as much as irl. Whether it’s with cyber bullying and calling names, getting angry at something or someone, or simply stuff like these kind of time-wasting eBay messages. Unfortunately, almost no one does, and online they’re a completely different person than online (in terms of morals, norms and values I mean - I’m also different online than irl, where I’m pretty shy, barely talk, and don’t mix myself into most discussions, which isn’t really the case online 
).
Back on topic again. As I already mentioned with the example of being a physical secondhand market seller, if someone asks me “what’s the lowest you’ll go?”, I would respond with “Feel free to make me an offer if you think X+N is too high.” (if I have BO available). If I would have an action for a BIN without BO, I’d probably say something like “Sorry, I currently don’t accept offers on this item. The price X/X+N I’ve listed it for is the lowest I’ll go. Feel free to purchase it if you want, but if it’s too high I unfortunately cannot help you.”
Greetz,
Quuador
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I would answer with whatever the lowest price id be happy taking for the card!