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Tired of Bad Mannered New "Shoppers"

ooitzoo said:
I think this goes both ways.

For the seller, its annoying and adds random clutter to the thread.

For the buyer, its an ineffective way of getting what you want (the knife at a reduced price) and also ferments ill-will.

It'd be far more effective to message or email the seller and ask something along the lines of "is that the best you can do on your knife / tool / gadget?" If you're trying to haggle, its generally far better to do that privately.
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I agree with most of your post, but in my opinion, the bold is just about the worst way to start off the conversation of negotiating.

Best for who? As the seller, "best" for me would be if someone to offer more than my asking. If/when I get those responses I politely say "yes/my asking price", even though I am tempted to reply by saying 25% or so above my asking price.

If we're talking about numbers, start with a number and we can go from there.


Similar to this is when trading and the other party doesn't present their offer within the first message or two. I am all for answering questions or taking more pictures but it's a bit of a time waste for both parties to do so when there's no chance we're going to make a deal.
 
benchwarmer380 said:
I agree with most of your post, but in my opinion, the bold is just about the worst way to start off the conversation of negotiating.

Best for who? As the seller, "best" for me would be if someone to offer more than my asking. If/when I get those responses I politely say "yes/my asking price", even though I am tempted to reply by saying 25% or so above my asking price.

If we're talking about numbers, start with a number and we can go from there.


Similar to this is when trading and the other party doesn't present their offer within the first message or two. I am all for answering questions or taking more pictures but it's a bit of a time waste for both parties to do so when there's no chance we're going to make a deal.
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In point of fact, you're right. I was trying to give the general meaning behind the message not the message itself. There are infinite variations of this outreach but the overall point is: if you'd like to negotiate something other then what's in the thread, do it in private.
 
"We were all new here once", but when it comes to my property/money, I don't think I should have to take chances.
I only communicate through pms, so I have time to vet the member. If you have the money to buy a $150 knife, then you should have the money to pay a $10-$30 membership each year.
I try to start off with a fair price, so I tend to ignore low-ball offers.
 
kreole said:
I'd prefer to have as many buyers as possible personally, no additional limitations. You right now if you want can put on your own listings only paying members can buy. Just do that.

I don't see a problem with people asking for asking for a lower price in the thread. The seller can say no. It doesn't trash the listing. I'm not sure I understand the issue.
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It does trash the listing. Offers should be taken to PM.
 
The Amazing Virginian said:
It does trash the listing. Offers should be taken to PM.
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I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't see how a post or two like

If you'll take $x for the y, I'll buy it
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No thanks/Ok, sending a pm
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does anything bad to a thread, whether the offer is a low-ball or not. Back in the day those were actually helpful to bump the thread without breaking the bumping rule, and it still does help get eyes on anyone looking at the latest posts on the forum.

A bit of an aside, but if anything, I'd say the huge paragraph listing caveats preceding the sales post by sellers is more distracting and goes further to trash it. That takes longer to read and write, clutters everything up, and usually a lot of it goes without saying.


For what reason do you say it trashes it, just for having any posts in there at all past the original?
 
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kreole said:
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't see how a post or two like





does anything bad to a thread, whether the offer is a low-ball or not. Back in the day those were actually helpful to bump the thread without breaking the bumping rule, and it still does help get eyes on anyone looking at the latest posts on the forum.

A bit of an aside, but if anything, I'd say the huge paragraph listing caveats preceding the sales post by sellers is more distracting and goes further to trash it. That takes longer to read and write, clutters everything up, and usually a lot of it goes without saying.


For what reason do you say it trashes it, just for having any posts in there at all past the original?
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It's the seller's thread. Not yours, mine, or anyone else's. They can post as many caveats as they want. They are trying to offer their knife for sale the best way they see fit.

Meanwhile, it's arrogant for someone else to step in to someone else's thread and muck it up with their offers or commentary. "PM sent" and "I'll take it" are all that are necessary.

Like the title of this thread says . . . it's about manners.


But if you don't like any of that, there is this:

Rules For The Exchange & Discussion Forums - (All Rules Apply Site-Wide)
. . .

Buyers/Buying

. . .

5. . . . Save questions and offers for email rather than cluttering the thread.
 
kreole said:
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't see how a post or two like





does anything bad to a thread, whether the offer is a low-ball or not. Back in the day those were actually helpful to bump the thread without breaking the bumping rule, and it still does help get eyes on anyone looking at the latest posts on the forum.

A bit of an aside, but if anything, I'd say the huge paragraph listing caveats preceding the sales post by sellers is more distracting and goes further to trash it. That takes longer to read and write, clutters everything up, and usually a lot of it goes without saying.


For what reason do you say it trashes it, just for having any posts in there at all past the original?
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It trashes the thread because (1) other buyers don't want to have to read thru that crap in order to figure out if the knife is still available and, related, (2) a lot of people see a thread with repeat responses to it and assume its taken / traded / etc.

Something like "I'll take it for $5 and a coupon for free salad at TGI Fridays" may be there for a couple hours or days before the OP has a chance to reply. This creates confusion with other buyers.

The Amazing Virginian said:
It's the seller's thread. Not yours, mine, or anyone else's. They can post as many caveats as they want. They are trying to offer their knife for sale the best way they see fit.

Meanwhile, it's arrogant for someone else to step in to someone else's thread and muck it up with their offers or commentary. "PM sent" and "I'll take it" are all that are necessary.

Like the title of this thread says . . . it's about manners.


But if you don't like any of that, there is this:

Rules For The Exchange & Discussion Forums - (All Rules Apply Site-Wide)
. . .

Buyers/Buying

. . .

5. . . . Save questions and offers for email rather than cluttering the thread.
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Yeah, I'd say this is all that really needs to be said on the topic
 
Peter Hartwig said:
IMO, no need for the PMed post either. If you PMed me I will know. It is often used to try to get a position in the buying order with out actually committing to buy. Good try, but no.
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Even better if "I will take it", or "Sent PM", etc., is posted in the thread, but then the PM doesn't come, and the potential buyer is MIA. 💩
 
If this too much to read, someone must have a very short attention span.

*Buyer must be a paying member
*Buyer must have at least 10 positive feedbacks
*Interested parties must send me a PM.
*No posting in thread.
 
I do like when someone replies with "PM'd" as sometimes I don't get notifications of PMs but usually get thread reply PMs. Sort or random what notifications I get from time to time.
 
ooitzoo said:
Yeah, maybe not.

When I see a locked thread, I assume whatever was on offer is gone and just skip it.
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If you use the thread as your signature, it's obvious it's still for sale. Wait, who does that?
 
Heirphoto said:
I do like when someone replies with "PM'd" as sometimes I don't get notifications of PMs but usually get thread reply PMs. Sort or random what notifications I get from time to time.
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Ditto

Mossyhorn said:
If you use the thread as your signature, it's obvious it's still for sale. Wait, who does that?
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Sure but then you're relying on someone seeing your posts and then clicking on the link. As opposed to, you know, finding it in the trade / sale forums.
 
So as one of those newer, lower feedback members…

Sellers are of course able to set whatever terms they want. Like others, I’m in the habit of ignoring locked threads as it appeared this was mostly used to signal completed sales. That lesson can change with use though; buyers will learn new behavior if lots of sellers start locking threads on creation.

As a newer member, I don’t post often here as I have little of value to add to discussions. I know less than 99% of you. Requiring X posts before allowing participation in the sales they would encourage people in my position to post what would amount to spam.

I’ve been on camera forums where the marketplace wasn’t visible until you created an account. Another experimented with preventing assess to the marketplace until the users account was a few months old - and it highlighted this heavily both in the marketplace and in the account creation. That discouraged people from creating accounts at a whim to respond to an ad.

I do wonder if, despite the negative experience for some sellers, the marketplace serves an important role for BF bringing in new people? Surely some discover BF through the marketplace and become ‘productive’ member if not paying members?

(And yes, I have sent messages like ‘If you don’t find a buyer at your asking price, I can offer X’ to ads elsewhere that had been up for a while. Some sellers were happy, others annoyed.. but without terms in the listing I had no way to knowing)
 
ooitzoo said:
Ditto



Sure but then you're relying on someone seeing your posts and then clicking on the link. As opposed to, you know, finding it in the trade / sale forums.
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There have been sales threads that have been locked for a long time, but get bumped up when someone posts, "still available". It doesn't take long for a sales thread to end up many pages back . Plenty of knives have been sold by members using the search function. Locking the thread keeps people from posting in the thread. and that is a good thing.
If they can't send me a pm, I'm not interested in selling to them.
 
Mossyhorn said:
There have been sales threads that have been locked for a long time, but get bumped up when someone posts, "still available". It doesn't take long for a sales thread to end up many pages back . Plenty of knives have been sold by members using the search function. Locking the thread keeps people from posting in the thread. and that is a good thing.
If they can't send me a pm, I'm not interested in selling to them.
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Sure, to each their own I suppose. If that works for you then go for it. I don't it'll work for most but certainly they're welcome to give it a shot.
 
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