"What's Your Best Price?"

its obvious that from the sellers point of view the best price is the highest price he can get., whereas from the buyer's vantage point the best price is the lowest price enabling him/her to purchase the component.

so, if a buyer asks the question "what's your best price", tell him that it is the listed price, because that is the price the seller would like to receive.

if the buyer wants to buy the component, he will probably offer a lower price.

some ads do not include "obo" . this doesn't mean, a seller won't accept less than his stated price.

a little humor sometimes helps.

i agree with tvad that asking for "the best price" is highly correlated with not buying an item.

tvad, even though you and i have had our differences in the past, i respect you as a reasonable man and one of great intellect. your wisdom is evident in many of your posts.

if you are interested in the item, you might ask some questions, but the stronger your interest, the higher the probability that you will "bid" on the item, even if your price is less than the seller is willing to accept.

i would use, as a rule of thumb, a principle, i learned in my first economic course in college:

the value in use= the value in exchange., if i were to buy a used item.

i admit to having sold on audiogon, but i have never been a buyer.

hi steveaudio:

the reason an item is sold , in mnay cases, is the owner doesn't like the component any more. obviously, it would be poor advretising to say that "i am selling the xyz amp because i don't like it". thus asking why an item is being sold is usually redundant, and the naswer receieved may or may not be truthful.

however, how many are curious as to the reason an item is being sold ?

as a seller, consider this hypothetical situation:

a buyer offers a bid on the item than is less than you are willing to accept at the time.

a) will you counter with a price lower than your asking price

b) will you say the buyer's price is unacceptable?

c) not respond to the buyer.

now add another "what if":

the item is not sold within the first 30 days.

would you contact a buyer whose offer to you wad initially unaccepyable.

the point here , is the distinction between commerce and personal considerations.

so long as the buyer doesn't insult you , it seems that if the buyers offers a price that is low, there should be no problem for the seller. he can choose to ignore the bid or response that is in his best marketing interest.

some people respond personally to alleged insults , when the insult occurs because the seller chooses to be insulted.

a seller can decide not be insulted and ignore what he/she considers not in his interest to respond to without personal considerations.