I wasn't going to say anything, but this is how I look at it:
If you are selling something and indicate that your price isn't firm, you are pretty much asking someone to lowball you. That is how negotiating works, seller lists high, buyer bids low, somewhere in the middle is where it is met. I think your mistake is he said he wont move "much", so your offer of 2/3 of the listing price was likely insulting to him. I get why you did it, I just would have felt him out a bit more. I have many times listed my ad as firm and then brought the price down because I over list on purpose, firm to me just means don't bid 50% of my asking price. If you do, you are lucky to get a msg back from me. Unfortunately what really grinds my gears is when I have say my 75 gallon setup for sale, I list price as best offer or please contact because TBH a) I'm not greedy and don't care too much what I get as long as its close, or b) I really want to make money on an appealing item I have and I don't know its exact value, so would rather see what others think its worth before setting a price, or c) to use as a bargaining chip for negotiation when dealing with a more expensive item when people are going to lowball you anyway cuz it's harder to sell more expensive luxury items. Consistantly every time I list something like this I have people asking me what is your lowest price or what do you want for it or how much will you let it go for. I would have listed a price if I knew, sometimes I want to get lucky and have someone pay a lot for something I could have sold for less, sometimes I want to let things go for less than they are worth for a quick sale. I do not reply to these people after the second or third time of telling them I'm just taking offers atm. If I want something, I have an idea of what it is worth and what I want to pay for it (everyone wants a deal), so I am going into the transaction with some knowledge of what a sweet deal would be and what the highest I would/can afford to pay. Straight up if something is nice and you really want it, you'll pay for it. If you just want the cheapest stuff you can get, throw out an offer at least and who knows, maybe you'll get lucky cuz the person really doesn't know what they have. CL and kijiji are a buyers market, selling on there is a big hassle.
Anyway, don't take it personally, I think you should have offered $250 but this guys obviously a bit stuck up so let it go or continue to negotiate. If someone indicates to you their price is pretty much firm, that is their right, try to negotiate, but don't be a doink about it. Can't tell you how many times that I've listed say a dart board online for $25 bucks, get a million ppl that say WILL YOU TAKE 10? and then someone comes to my house with 25 dollars in hand, and I just take the $20 because that's all I wanted in the first place. I find that the pleasure of a smoothe transaction and dealing with someone that isn't looking to save every penny is worth more than a couple dollars I could have made by getting full price for my overpriced item. Same goes with fish, I would give plenty away for free over the years but I refused to take anything less than $5-10 because if ppl don't pay for their stuff they don't take care of it. [/rant]
