Bartertown.com

Actually, I've been lurking for a while but always worried about trying to make a deal on here out of fear of not having any feedback outside of Ebay. Despite that I finally made the plunge and had quite a good first experience (and it was an international exchange from Canada). I'm now waiting for trades/sales #2 and #3 to go through.

That said, I'm still relatively new to this aspect of trading. I've done plenty of dealings on Ebay and on Craigslist but was curious about something.

What would people generally consider low-balling? Is it a %? Is it based on the size of the order?

I've made a few offers and haven't gotten a response either way. If you are one of those people I've messaged and that has thought so I sincerely did not mean to offend. I think I've read a post about this on here but I guess my line of thinking in terms of pricing is...

1. I can normally go to a fair amount of retailers online and get anywhere from 20-25% off. So normally my offers would start somewhere thereabouts.
2. If the models are painted, then most likely I'm assuming I'm going to need to strip the model and/or repair the model. That normally drops it another 10-15%. So that puts me at around 35-40% off total.

Is that a fair assessment? None of this takes shipping into account either. I'm by no means a world class painter but I find that normally items I buy online need to be stripped or repainted. On occasion I come across a really amazing paint job I do not want to paint over (even if it doens't completely go with my theme). There I try to make modifications if possible.

In any case, I'm looking forward to participating more on here. Cheers!

I wouldn't worry too much about offending people with your offers, if it's too low they will say as much. A few people in the community have a habit of not responding if they don't like the offer for whatever reason. It's pretty irritating, but what are you going to do eh? You just seem to have been unlucky and got two of those people in a row.

Your assessments are what I do, and I've experienced the same throughout all my trades.

You're doing it right, some people are just bastards, can't change that. Welcome to Btown!

that's afair assessment, usually.
If the paint jobs fit into your plans, and you're trading, you have those 2 varibles also to factor in.

Lowballing, IMHO, is offering like 25%-30% or less of retail, unless a model/game/item is totally messed up.

or offering painted models and asking/demanding NIB/NOS.

those ads and offers usually get either a sinple 'no' or i just don't pm them at all. [if they state that in an ad]

While everyone differs, I'd say your estimates fit within the norm.
Don't stress those who don't respond... some just don't.

As far as what's fair... whatever you and the other party both agree to. So, if they're willing to ssell at 75% OFF, then that's fair.


Eric