I believe it should be mandatory to set a price if you are trying to sell something in the for sale section. It removes ambiguity and reduces the amount of time wated by both the seller and potential buyers. If you're worried about the prices moving, then have a time limit, or simply state 'valid for spot under $x'. To me, there is nothing more frustrating that clicking on a for sale thread and seeing 'PM me offers'. It removes all interest I had in the item. Agree or disagree?
agree... it still is a valid way of selling things, but from the outside or title it should state 'offers', so time is not wasted clicking into thread
Agreed.... I usually don't even take notice of what's for sale when I see the seller taking offers. Having said that, I don't really mind if it stays or go's as I just choose to sit them out.
I don't like PM me offers style threads, but have no problem with open offers. I'm not shy about putting up an offer in there. "PM only" threads make me suspicious that I may be being shilled. It's why I hate Real Estate agents.
I prefer if the price is set in the thread, but i wouldnt remove the option of seller asking for PM offers. Most of us have a general idea as to the costs of coins/bars/rounds. PM offers are an invitation to a 1 on 1 haggling session.
Agreed, or at least offerers above X amount. I mean it be a pain in the neck if myers didnt't put price tags on their goods and started asking us for offers rite?
That would be fine, if it was a 1 on 1 haggle. It's the occasional imaginary third or fourth person in the haggle that irks me!
If its offers above X amount, than all the offers will be X amount. If you want set prices, than buying outside of the forum will provide you with set prices. Sellers want to maximize the price and buyers want to minimize it.
I don't like it either - but I also don't think we should go around telling or mandating how people can sell/advertise their PMs. Don't like it - don't respond. People will eventually get the message if it is unliked by enough people. malachii
It all depends who is doing it, if it's one of the site sponsors then I'm fine with them doing it because most of them are trustworthy and we all know the approximate prices anyway! If it's a guy who always overprices things then.... (no I don't know anyone on here who does that, yet!) At the end of the day if the seller and the buyer are both happy with their prices it's fine, who gives a crap if they list or not list the prices. If they do go for the "PM me offers" path then surely the people who PM will have done some research on the price and if the offer is accepted both sides are happy. If you aren't happy with this then don't PM, don't make any offers, don't judge, don't participate, it's their sales thread they should be able to do what they want provided it falls under forum trading guidelines listed on there. That said, I have made some low ball offers due to completely misjudging the prices and I was corrected by them in a non-hostile manner, it's all good!
what about in an open auction format and someone PMs you an offer. Is it standard practice to tell the thread "received a bid of blah from anonymous bidder x?" * My feeling about this and the other issues is that if it isn't against the official rules then do whatever you like, try and be civil and considerate (eg a PM is private, don't share its content without permission *) and like you guys say, people vote with their feet. * in open auction format the thread needs to know the bid amount, it would be uncool to withdraw the lot and go ahead with a private sale.
Doesn't bother me too much, but asking for offers on generic stuff is probably more of a waste of the seller's time than anything else - many potential buyers will just not bother offering the going rate for, say, a 1kg bar because if the seller was interested in getting the going rate they'd just state a firm price. For example, Aurora et Luna buys 1kg Perth Mint and PAMPs at spot + $30 and Perth Mint sells 1kg at spot + $45. The "going rate" is somewhere within that range (or possibly a few dollar higher) so its not rocket science figuring out a fair price.
yeah i like to know what they want for it ...makes it easy for all invovled .Agree with most of the posts about shill bids etc I always bypass any offers type sales after 1 experience when there was some gold for trade & they wouldnt tell me what they wanted just wanted me to keep making offers & i said forget about it ...His reply was i thought you would make another offer. you know who you are & have been outed as stuffing a few people around. Asking for offers is inviting lowballers
Disagree with 'mandatory to set a price' but agree that all offers (and withdrawals of offers) should be on the open thread.
Yes, I find the PM offer can be abit off-putting. I find that especially with coins/numismatic value items - it can be hard to make a private offer for a newbie such as myself, as I have no idea how much it is worth. Could over bid/under bid - are some of the regular members able to provide some ballpark prices if asked?
Theres a few on here that agree about the PM thingy. In my auctions I dont allow PM offers but say if the bidder wants to remain anonymous to PM GP with their offer and GP can post it on their behalf, dont know whether GP is ok with this maybe I should ask him? THis way everything is transparent and there is no I have just receieved a PM from Mr X.
Join the club Once you start dealing in the numismatics grading is very important. Difficult to grade unless you are able to hold the coin and examine it thoroughly. Alternatively pay a healthy premium to your LCS for their time and expertise for doing so. I prefer the PM type of sale Nothing to stop the newbie asking in a different thread about value/pricing Also nothing preventing asking members to disclose the price realised and understanding the buyer/sellers right to remain confidential.
