What's with ""call and make an offer?""

If there is reason to believe the individual is OPEN to reasonable offers and is not sure about the selling price (I start on this assumption set), I contact them and ask for detailed information about the piece needed to estimate value. From the condition information, I suggest a value range then close with, "I will offer you $X based on the condition. This is about 80% of the common sales price of your item and I might offer more if it were in front of me. If you receive another offer, consider contacting me because there is a strong likelihood I can beat that offer. If there is any other information that you have to encourage me to make a higher offer, let me know and if you have a counter offer I want to hear that, too. Thanks for describing your gun to me."


That is how I handle nebulous requests for offers. In the two situations I recall, the seller offered a price when I contacted by phone in one instance. In the other case, the person had little valuation information to go on so I suggested references then described what I thought the value range was. Before the end of the conversation, he had offered the gun at a fair price for the condition.


A few years ago, I called and tried to get a figure from the seller and he wouldn't so I started with a low offer (around 70% of typical retail) as there is no way to know just what else the guy might have been trying to hide. The guy rudely scoffed at the price so I knew he had a price in mind, just wanted to see if he could get an offer more than that or some such weirdness. He may still have that gun, I don't know. I am not into playing games.