making an offer. opinon

a case 430 was advertised with a couple pieces af old equ,,5 ft old bushhog type cutter , old grader blade, the tractor 430 gas ,no power steering, no live power ,63 model asking 4500. I offered to come and look if he would consider 3200 cash made the guy really mad ,didnt lik me devaluing his dad tractor, tractor was orgional and average old paint with old tires , was i out of line with that offer , i apoligize and told him that the offer was based on local auction prices, he said he would let it rot bofore taking that offer,

I think your offer is very reasonable. 4500 sounds mighty dear to me for a 430 gas, no PS, no live power, orig paint, old tires. the old equipment only adds about scrap iron price to the deal, which aint much these days, so that's not gonna bring it up much. Anyway I think he has his head stuck in the clouds or perhaps somewhere else.

Your price is right in the ballpark for my area for the tractor w/o the extras. Doesn't sound like they are worth much, if anything. Being Dad's tractor doesn't increase the market value.

Joe

Tom,

Based on the description, you were being generous. If he wants the fact that his father owned the tractor to influence the value....he needs to sell it to a family member. - Joe

1030tom -

The fact of the matter here is that the owner clearly does not know how to negotiate. He didn't have a right to get "mad" at your offer. He should also understand that he should not have posted his bottom dollar price in the ad, and that you (likely) didn't shoot him your top dollar price in a first offer. I feel that your offer was reasonable, as long as both parties were willing to negotiate a little. That (sadly) wasn't the case (no pun intended). Understand also from a seller's prospective, negotiating over the phone/email is generally what tire-kickers do. It is so much more powerful to be standing in front of someone, looking them in the eye, and showing them cash.

Not to worry though, if you are truly in the market, other deals will come along.

Regards,

Goldsburg

Tom as others said here, you were more then fair,and there are others (430) out there, my thoughts is he will not have many offers when he deals like he is. Dont be surprised if he calls you!

You did nothing wrong. A 430 w/o power steering and live power is not that desirable a tractor. The fact that it was his father's tractor makes no difference. If it did he wouldn't be selling it. After this incident would you really want to deal with him? Don

Tom not trying to make anyone mad here but when Im trying to sell something i post a price, if you want to talk about the price
You have to look at the tractor first in person. Face to face is much better then a phone call or email.but that's just me.

I would call him up and offer him $1800 and call it good.But then again I,m full of s@#t anywho.Just ask mel! Hoss,.!@still in Maine

It's a little unusual to negotiate a price before looking at the item. If I'm buying and a price is way too high I don't bother to call or to look at it.

If I'm selling and someone wants to negotiate the price without looking, I'll tell them I can take their number/email and if the item hasn't sold after a few weeks I'll call them back. That usually settles the issue.

I normally do not make offers over the phone site unseen, some things look much better in a picture.

But, I can understand a little of where the seller is coming from. After my dad pasted away, my mom and I decided to sell his older Chevy pickup, it was slick with on 30K miles.

I had an old guy and his wife come to look at it, they took it for a drive, got back and he started running it down. Now I consider my self a fair wheeler dealer on most old trucks, cars, tractors, etc.

But,I could not help it, when he started running down my dad's truck, it flew all over me,

I told him, right in front of his wife, don't run down my dad's truck: if you can't afford it, then go on down the road, they sell cheap, junk trucks everywhere, you apparently do not need to be looking at trucks of this quality.

At that point I guess his wife saw I was getting mad and told the old dude, you know you like the truck, if you want it, pay the man, the only other words he said was, I will take it. She started writing out a check.

All I am saying is when you are dealing on (dad's) stuff, no matter which side of the deal you are on, just be prepared, as some people may have sentimental attachments and may not be fully ready for someone to low ball them or make negative statements.

Just saying'
How you would feel if someone started running down you dad's stuff.

Makes sense to me.