Anyone else receive low offers right away ?

I think there are competing forces here.

1) There really are folks who seem to offer 30% or so below going rate as soon as the ad comes out.

2) On the other hand, things go fast, particularly good things that are less than $2000.00. This means that if you don't offer quickly, you lose. Plus, the seller doesn't always offer at a going rate price, or doesn't consider condition or age. So I've offered as much as 10% off asking right as a sale goes online. I wouldn't say it was low-balling, but for a product I'm buying based only on reviews, I need to buy for a price that lets me resell for the same price or so.

Separately, when I first started this hobby, I wasn't in a financial position keep pouring as much money as I'd like to into it - this means that I've needed to buy and sell in order to fund my hobby. I would buy things that a) I would like to hear in my system and b) I know I can sell for a few hundred more than I paid. Sometimes, I would see a consignment piece at a local dealer that I knew would go for much more on Audiogon and made a little money that way, too. Nonetheless, I don't consider myself a "flipper" as half of my motivation was to hear the component I would buy in my system, and often I'd find that I'd keep it for years before reselling.

So in short, if you get an offer that's too low in your mind, just "cheerfully ignore" it. Some folks get offended if you ask them to absorb PayPal, some folks price their goods knowing that they'll come down by several hundred dollars....

There is a Rouge Audio 88 Magnum that is on a 2nd flip since 9-15 when I sold it.

There is also a cultural aspect to trading.
New Englanders tend to want to get their asking price.
As a New Yorker, the asking price is a starting point for negotiation. This is not disrespectful, but cultural.
I once was looking at a house in New England, and the owners would not budge on the price. A month later I got a call from the realtor saying that they had lowered their price. I made another offer, and the realtor said 'why are you doing that, they just lowered their price.'
I replied that they just gave me a new starting point.
We finally reached a deal.
If they had negotiated from their original price, I would have paid more.
Some people just won't pay retail even if that means the asking price on Audiogon.
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I'm not insulted by lowball offers, but I do wonder about outrageously low offers within minutes of a posting with a low price (eg, 40% off an item listed at the lowest price ever on the 'Gon). Kind of weird: does the buyer expect the seller to panic within minutes?

It is another matter, when an item has been up a month or two, since there is some indication that the market will not bear the asking price. At this point, I think it perfectly appropriate to offer a "would you consider" reduced price, and I sometimes do this myself.

Perhaps the trigger happy lowballers could exercise a bit of patience; that way, they wouldn't seem so ridiculous, and they might find a deal.

John

Getting low offers are more frequent than ever. Maybe that could explain the inflated prices you see on Audiogon lately.