>> back. The rollers and paint were even in good condition. After chatting a
>> bit, the seller said we should make an offer. While I was pondering if he
>> would take $50 or $100 for it and if I could justify that (I was in grad
>> school at the time), my wife piped up and asked "How about $15?" My college
>> chum and I just stood dumbfounded while the seller thought for a second and
>> said "Ok." And that's how I ended up with my rack.
>
>I've found that making lowball offers sometimes is the *best* way to get
>things from certain surplus outfits. Two places that I frequent seem to have
>a tendency to accept offers for less than $25, but reject offers above that
>amount (on similar sorts of items). My guess is that if you offer over $25,
>they start to think that the item is valuable and that they should get a lot
>of money for it.
OTOH, I've learned that if you want to get rid of something, you shouldn't
necessarily just say "it's free, come and get it". After all, many potential
takers think that if it's free, it can't be all that desirable. But attach
a price tag and all of a sudden folks want to come up and wheel and deal!
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
Received on Sun Aug 29 1999 - 21:01:26 BST