Ozbargain Unite and Lowball all the Stupid High Sellers

Sinnerator on 23/02/2023 - 08:29

Over the last 2-3 years we have seen just how insane most consumers are, they will pay any price no matter how insane.
So sellers jacked the prices up and up and up and up…

Now, it's up to us to all unite and lowball the hell out of every stupid high seller out there.

Everytime YOU see any 'unrealistic' price on any item, in any market, LOWBALL THE HELL out of the seller.

Send that email, send that sms, make that snarky phone call, or tell them in person "that price, you must be dreaming!"

Make the greedy bastards feel miserable.

You want cheaper, more realistic prices, you want inflation to slow down, stop, and reverse, YOU can make that happen!

Poll Options

  • 152
    Lowballing is wrong because sellers deserve all my money
  • 120
    Destroy the Dirty Greedy sellers
General Discussion

Comments

  • Motek Benzona on 23/02/2023 - 08:31
    +111

    You go first.. im busy living actual life ;-)

    • Gunnar on 23/02/2023 - 08:43
      +13

      I think I’d rather stare at my navel than do what the OP wants

        • brendanm on 23/02/2023 - 09:36

          Ironic

        • Motek Benzona on 23/02/2023 - 09:50
          +2

          If you see a price you do not like
          And you start to cry
          Walk on byyyy ba ba ba ba ba ba walk on byyy yyy yyyy

      • tessel on 24/02/2023 - 17:55
        +1

        Tell me more about your navel…

        • Gunnar on 24/02/2023 - 18:07
          +3

          From what I can tell it performs higher on cognitive testing than some Ozbargain members

      • iDroid on 25/02/2023 - 19:43

        How's it look'n?

      • Protractor on 24/02/2023 - 16:27
        -2

        I agree with your premise that we have been had, but you can't lead a horse to water, & apathy is the default position for most of your critics.Maybe a better option is to lead the charge on Nozbargain. A site where members call out the ripoffs. I wonder if Harvey would get a mention?
        If people were 'actually' feeling motivated they would demand from the govt they empower and require the ACCC to end price gouging by fuel cartels. If they can't do the one thing that would fix our economy instantly, they should fold them down. Ditto for other white elephant retirement villages, like TIO, Do Not Call Register,Fuelwatch.

        • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2023 - 06:07
          +1

          That dog Harvey needs to stumble upon a box of snailbait. The other day I got a quote to ship 2x music CDs to Australia from the USA… Over $20 USD when it used to be about $6 USD. The things I want to buy from the US aren't even sold here, yet that utter scumbag caught me up in his net by whispering in the ear of the Liberals he'd donate more money to them if they added fees and taxes to imports to keep the serfs poor.

        • Ditchie on 25/02/2023 - 12:37
          +1

          Actually, you can lead a horse to water, it's getting it to drink might be the challenge

          • iDroid on 25/02/2023 - 19:46

            @Ditchie:

            Actually, you can lead a horse to water,

            Oh you have too much faith in people..

    • HeWhoKnows on 24/02/2023 - 08:31
      +18

      Let the MARKET decide as it ALWAYS does

      OP is obviously a miserable low-balling cheap-skate

      • Protractor on 24/02/2023 - 16:35

        "Letting the market decide" is why potable water is owned by foreigners, or wasted washing rocks or growing crap we don't eat.
        It can't end well on the driest continent.

        Price 'cycling' is visible in retail stores more than it used to be as they push the rules to see where the line is, but if consumers keep stepping up, the rules are hardly like to change. We will get the same advice as per fuel. "Shop around."
        Pretty sure collusion is a growing business model.

        "OP is obviously a miserable low-balling cheap-skate"
        Wash your mouth out.
        You're in the church of low-balling cheap skates

        • tessel on 24/02/2023 - 17:57

          Hey, jumping on obvious price errors and getting upset when it's refunded is totally different…. Right…. Right?

      • iDroid on 25/02/2023 - 19:49

        Unfortunately it's not that simple since the government meddles with the market (money directed towards certain markets/players) and corporate bigs having too much influence.

      • markathome on 25/02/2023 - 20:13

        Amayzingone I'm willing to offer you 50 cents to delete/rewrite that comment.

    • IgorPrev on 25/02/2023 - 21:04

      Sellers could say the same thing - let's all unite to keep our prices high so buyers won't have a choice.

      At the end of the day - there is more than enough competition both ways for the market to balance itself out and create pricing that is relatively fair both as a seller and a buyer - this occurs naturally anyway.

      You would be silly to think you can create a bias in buyers' favour when buyers won't exist if sellers aren't there to counteract.

      This site is kind of designed to create such a bias but even then sellers catch on quickly and even use this site as a way of advertising their products and services so the whole notion is kind of null and void.

      • ssfps on 26/02/2023 - 23:09

        At the end of the day - there is more than enough competition both ways for the market to balance itself out and create pricing that is relatively fair both as a seller and a buyer

        This is a fantasy.

        • import tariffs
        • exports
        • internal regulations
        • purchase power imbalance/ wealth distribution
        • volatility
        • etc
        • IgorPrev on 27/02/2023 - 00:15

          What about them ?

          What is this list supposed to demonstrate ?

          • ssfps on 27/02/2023 - 02:58

            @IgorPrev: Just that ideas like market balance / competition are manipulated and unstable for external or "unnatural" reasons, so i don't take it as given that the invisible hand of the market will bring a natural balance to consumption.

            • IgorPrev on 02/07/2023 - 13:20

              @ssfps: Invisible hand ?

              There are gazillions of consumers and a gazillion sellers.

              They are the "invisible" hand that dictates the market.

              If something is too expensive - people won't buy it and the price will adjust.

              If the price stays there forever and you're unhappy about it - chances are it's selling just fine at a price you kay think is "overpriced" when in reality ' everyone else can afford it and you can't.

              Prices / taxes / tarrifs are set based on what people are willing to pay and get adjusted based on sales accordingly.

              There are more than enough transactions to create enough data to set the market naturally. People don't just "stop consuming" - and when they do the market adjusts. Same with manufacturers producing and sellers advertising.

              • rumblytangara on 03/07/2023 - 19:46

                @IgorPrev: The invisible hand being the be all and end all of pricing is naive. I've spent most my adult life in other countries, and it's always amazed me how much more expensive many things are here. Had a chat about it with a local business school prof once, and his 10 second breakdown was that Oz is basically a tiny market so many classes of goods are controlled by a limited number of distributors- consumers are in a relatively weak position here. Prices are high, selection is low.

                How true that is, no idea. The rise of internet shopping internationally has helped, but compared to, well, most other places I have lived, products are expensive here and choice is generally very poor.

    • utsc on 26/02/2023 - 08:38

      Typical response but until it hits home

  • CodeXD on 23/02/2023 - 08:41
    +13

    Why would they feel miserable? This is just basic economy 101. If there's a demand for something in short supply, the price will go up.

    Everyone on ozb lives by the motto Buy low sell high.

    Even if we send a lowball offer, they probably already have someone else offering the amount they asked or higher…

    they (consumers) will pay any price no matter how insane

    • Sinnerator on 23/02/2023 - 08:56
      -7

      The problem is the consumers just bend over and keep paying the higher prices when there is no real reason for it other than 'profit'. So we can either keep bending over or at least try to do something about it.
      And when you see the amount of upvotes on lousy deals, RRPdeals, and higher than RRP deals then no, many people on ozbargain do not live by buy low sell high, though some savvy ones do.

      • Some Human on 23/02/2023 - 11:59
        +11

        I can see you've never owned a business or sold anything online and are completely oblivious to overheads like selling fees, postage, shop rent, staff salaries etc…
        A lot of platforms charge selling fees. Ebay for example charge 13 -15%.

        Say you pay $20 for something delivered to your door. The seller will be paying around $9 for postage, $3.50 odd in fees, the initial cost of the item and they also have to store the item somewhere while they wait for you and your $20 to come along and buy it.
        So yeah, you paid $20 for it, but the seller might have only made $5.

      • morse on 25/02/2023 - 16:35
        +1

        when there is no real reason for it other than 'profit'.

        Why would a business operate in our current economy if not for ‘profit’ - it doesn’t have to be price gouging, but profit is literally the point of running a business.

  • dogboy on 23/02/2023 - 08:58
    -4

    After travelling around asian countries and returning home I find it hard not to try and negotiate all prices. Should be more of a common practice imo.

    • KaTst3R on 23/02/2023 - 09:00
      -6

      "Takes out a calculator, hao muchie?"…

      • buckethat on 26/02/2023 - 17:11

        Well.. that got a bit racist

    • Sinnerator on 23/02/2023 - 09:02
      -1

      You are right, the prices won't go down if people just keep paying what ever is asked.
      I would never have lowballed in the past as there was no need to, but times have changed.

    • Nillionaire on 24/02/2023 - 02:14
      +15

      Should be more of a common practice imo.

      No it shouldn't imo

    • rumblytangara on 03/07/2023 - 19:52

      Constant haggling is pile of shite. It's something for third world countries where everyone has loads of time and no money.

      I've done it enough- in some places you haggle over everything, like the cost of a taxi fare or a cheap hotel room. But it's a total waste of time to live your life that way.

  • SF3 on 23/02/2023 - 09:02
    +1

    Ozbargain Unite and Lowball all the Stupid High Sellers

    That's a fragile equilibrium (only take 1 person to shatter it) , than everyone for themselves and may the best price win (free market).

    • Sinnerator on 23/02/2023 - 09:04
      -3

      The problem here is the psychology of participants in the market. Many Australians don't negotiate and certainly don't lowball as they never had to in the past.

      But times have changed, the free market here in Australia has changed. Many Australians need a gently push in the right direction on how to deal with the new market.

      Don't just take these BS prices, push back.

      • SF3 on 23/02/2023 - 09:07
        +4

        I hope you do realise you are pushing shit uphill.

        you may change the situation by changing/adding to the options available, otherwise most people will behave the way the system is designed, not against it.

      • Protractor on 24/02/2023 - 16:39

        "the psychology of participants in the market" = apathy.

        It was a free-r market, but the market decided (well Harvey did) to interfere with itself.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 23/02/2023 - 09:04
    +6

    Make the greedy bastards feel miserable.

    Hahahahahhahaha

    Dw gerry and friends will cry themselves to sleep on their mountains and mountains of cash every night I’m sure.

    • Sinnerator on 23/02/2023 - 09:12
      +1

      Unfortunately I think you are right. There is something broken about a society who will happily give all their money to the rich. And then argue they are doing the right thing.

      • Nillionaire on 24/02/2023 - 02:15

        The people resorting to scalping are not "the rich". Not condoning their grift and they do make good money from it but if they were rich they wouldn't have to bother with low level exploitation

  • Sinnerator on 23/02/2023 - 09:09
    -2

    The vote is 7 to 0, in favour of inflation winning. But that sample size is tiny.
    The psychology of the people here, so far, is amazing.
    They would acutally like to give all their money away to inflation, where inflation is pure profit for the sellers.

    • CrowReally on 23/02/2023 - 09:20
      +37

      I've just sent an email to your boss telling him he's paying you too much.

      Good news: every morning he's going to try to negotiate you down into accepting less money that day (using your previous day's output as an example).

      Now you can continuously live the experience of having lowball offers all the time, which is a great thing.

      Be sure to thank them for me for doing their part for the economy.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 23/02/2023 - 09:52
      +17

      you've created a bias poll that provides only two polarising options.

      You need to add a third " I don't give a toss " option, because your suggestion is laughable and won't actually achieve anything.

      • Protractor on 24/02/2023 - 19:52

        No, a bias poll is what we got dished up in the one chance we had to become a republic.

    • dogboy on 26/02/2023 - 16:26

      If there is one thing I have learnt about the people who frequent this site - there are a hell of a lot of morons.

  • Ocker on 23/02/2023 - 09:10
    +17

    Seems some people have nothing better to with their time but make such inane suggestions.

      • Some Human on 23/02/2023 - 12:06
        +3

        Not all sellers are rich. A lot of people sell to supplement their income in an increasingly expensive world. You should really start up you own retail business while you still know everything and show them all how it's done.
        I bet you're bankrupt within a week.

      • Ughhh on 23/02/2023 - 12:17
        +1

        At first I thought you were talking about marketplaces where you can negotiate (ebay, gumtree, fb), but now I'm not sure if you're also talking about Woolies etc too?

        I would love to know how it goes if you call Woolies and yell "that price, you must be dreaming!" on the phone.

        • Some Human on 24/02/2023 - 11:24

          One time like 15 years ago, I saw an asian lady trying to haggle at the target register. I was dumbfounded.
          The checkout chick told her no, it doesn't work like that.

          I wonder if that lady was OP

          • ihfree on 24/02/2023 - 21:44
            +1

            @Some Human: OP gives off Karen vibes.

            • ssfps on 26/02/2023 - 23:14

              @ihfree:

              ihfree: i'm selling a used car. wrapped it around a power pole
              ihfree: yeah the entire front end is gone, but some of the rear is still good. it's a late model (2015) so still near new
              ihfree: $18k FIRM, NO LOWBALLERS i know what ive got
              ihfree: can you believe all these entitled karens lowballing me?

              • ihfree on 26/02/2023 - 23:47

                @ssfps: That's a cool story. Don't quit your day job.

            • SydStrand on 27/02/2023 - 03:59

              @ihfree: I get more a young person vibe, who doesn't know how the world works if they think we can just beat inflation by HODLing like Braveheart.

        • ihfree on 24/02/2023 - 21:45

          Good luck on eBay. Way to many sellers will offer a discount of $1 or $2.

      • burningrage on 23/02/2023 - 12:47
        +1

        Even if you are going your money to the rich (eg: Amazon's Jeff Bezos), it has got nothing to do with need and pure business.

        "Need" is the new euphemism for "I am jealous because I cannot have what you have so I just call you greedy rich fatso such and such".

  • coffeeinmyveins on 23/02/2023 - 09:51
    +1

    You want cheaper, more realistic prices, you want inflation to slow down, stop, and reverse, YOU can make that happen!

    A few people lowballing offers for selling things online is a drop in the ocean and won't do anything.

    Keep giving your money to the rich, they need it more than you.

    Right.

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 23/02/2023 - 09:59
    +3

    O.P. seems to ignore the fact that inflation is currently a global issue.
    With wars/disasters/Covid etc impacting supply chains, fuel costs and supply, and affecting financial markets, coming off extremely low interests rates for an extended period, production is lower and manufacturing costs have increased.
    Complaining you don't want to pay the asking price will have zero impact.
    Sure some very large companies are taking the opportunity to price gouge, but the best response is not to be their customer if you can avoid it

    • ssfps on 26/02/2023 - 23:16

      It's largely a global issue only because almost every country has grossly inflated their money supply. We did this to ourselves (as a country) with only a leg up from others.

  • pegaxs on 23/02/2023 - 10:04
    +5

    LOL… yeah, ok champ.

    Lowballers are easily defeated with the "end call" button or the "delete" button…

    And 99% of the time these things people want to buy that are over inflated are wants not needs… Boo hoo… someone has a PS5 for $300 more than RRP. Move on. You sending them lowball offers just makes them laugh as they delete your messages.

    • Succulent on 26/02/2023 - 10:57

      Sometimes they dont delete those messages. It went to social media for a laugh.

  • FireRunner on 23/02/2023 - 10:39
    +18

    As a seller on Gumtree, can confirm lowballs don't work and in fact are really annoying

    • zorodluffy on 25/02/2023 - 11:55
      -1

      low balls do work, i managed to get a herman miller aeron for $50, down from 650

      • FireRunner on 25/02/2023 - 13:42

        I guess they do have to work every once in a while otherwise nobody would bother

        • zorodluffy on 25/02/2023 - 22:10
          +1

          thats right, i met him and was gonna pay 600 in cash, then i took me pants off, told you, low balls do work

  • randomusername2017 on 23/02/2023 - 10:50

    Impossible to lowball this thread…

    One comment has already over valued it.. skip the poll I guess…

  • JIMB0 on 23/02/2023 - 10:51
    +7

    Why don't you go into business and undercut all these greedy sellers. This is how a lot of successful business started.

    • Some Human on 23/02/2023 - 11:50
      +5

      OP should do this while they still know everything.

  • KaTst3R on 23/02/2023 - 10:52
    +3

    It is a competitive market. Supply and demand will eventually reach equilibrium. So sellers with high prices will get no sale and move price downwards. You dont need to worry about market forces. If prices stay high, it means someone else is willing to buy at that price (the marginal buyer). When the price is high, new sellers come in the picture and supply increases. It will all adjust naturally.

  • zonra on 23/02/2023 - 11:01
    +3

    Sighs, it’s all about supply and..
    Nvm, aint got time for this. OP’s just looking for confirmation.

  • Some Human on 23/02/2023 - 11:06
    +6

    Fun fact: if you make an offer to a seller on ebay (doesn't matter how low), ebay's algorithm will kick in and boost that listings traffic, because it sees the item as desirable. A lot of the time another buyer will come along shortly and pay full price. So yeah if that's you, thanks mate.

  • Ghost47 on 23/02/2023 - 11:22
    +3

    You’re talking about houses, right?

  • FloatingPoint on 23/02/2023 - 11:25
    +3

    You will be the only loser of the game if you waste your time on that idea.

  • djsweet on 23/02/2023 - 11:56
    +1

    You are right, inflation won't go down until consumer spending reduces. But you can't achieve that by just telling people to stop spending. That is why they raise interest rates, to force people to stop spending.

  • Drakesy on 23/02/2023 - 12:12
    +4

    OP hasn't worked out what a free market is.

    People will spend what they think the item is worth.

    I mean we could all stop buying houses tomorrow and supply will swell, but in theory that'll never happen as there'll always be some sort of demand. Same with food etc.

    • AustriaBargain on 23/02/2023 - 12:46
      +1

      If there was an alternative to houses, like if each state started building underground vaults from Fallout and rented out apartments in these vaults cheap, then I think most people would go for it. Houses are cool and all but they aren't that cool that you'd pay a million dollars for one when there's a virtually free alternative with just as much square footage for you to live in. The problem is that why would politicians do this when they own more houses than the average person, and why would the property investing voter let their government provide cheap housing to renters when they are the ones collecting the rent money.

      The housing crisis isn't an unsolvable problem, on paper anyway. It's only politically impossible to solve. It'll be decades before enough young people who will never own a single property will have enough votes to give the Greens a majority government to fix housing forever. Like 40 years at least.

      • Drakesy on 23/02/2023 - 12:57

        I think we're actually not too far off.
        The liberals have lost their majority dominance as the number of people complaining about house prices now outweights those who don't complain - whilst they did nothing and made sure their own mates made buckets. I also don't know if the Green's housing policy is that effective either, although they would scrap negative gearing which would be great. It's a question of how they'd fund the developments.

        Personally i think the liberals are in for at least a decade of sitting as the opposition (if not more) as they've managed to disenfranchise multiple generations at the same time thanks to a certain couple of prime ministers.

        • AustriaBargain on 23/02/2023 - 13:01

          Greens are a long way off forming majority government or even having the balance of power across at least fate consecutive elections, so it doesn't matter what their policies are. Greens are growing in number and they will get there, they are already a massive party really if only we had proportional representation, but just not for a long time yet will they be in actual power. I think by the time they are in actual power most of us will be dead or retired and in no position to buy any kind of home.

      • Some Human on 24/02/2023 - 00:20

        I'd rent one just for the experience of living in the fallout universe, as long as the overseer wasn't running inhumane experiments on the residents of the vault. But let's get real, they will.

        • AustriaBargain on 24/02/2023 - 01:11

          I'd rent one just for cheap and reliable housing. The government really could build such community housing if they wanted to. Public housing for the working class. If the rent was cheap then they could cost it decades ahead and even if the housing market crashed, it would have been costed for cheap rent so it probably would weather the crash and still generate a modest profit, whilst saving renters thousands of dollars and offering them stable housing. Build skyscrapers with big apartments out in the suburbs. Build them underground and light them with a series of tunnels and mirrors. I don't care I just want to rent somewhere that I can afford and know that I can live there for decades if I want. I want the rooms to be big enough to be comparable to a normal sized house. I don't need a garden and am fine sharing a communal garden space and gym with 100 other households.

          Plus if there are 80 households in the tower/vault who were paying modest working class rent, then they could use some of the "profits" from the scheme to subsidise 20 low income households. Use some of the profits to provide those 20 households with a bit of extra support to stop them from turning their apartments into crack dens. Make it so people can't buy their apartments, but the longer they live in them they earn credits that can be spent on moving to a different complex after a while or whatever, I dunno.

          I just know that we are the government, the government makes the rules, why can't we invent new rules to turn housing into something that suits us for those of us who want to opt into such a system. How on Earth are the majority of voters in one of the wealthiest countries on the planet beholden to landlords, it makes no sense.

    • Ghost47 on 23/02/2023 - 17:36

      People will spend what they think the item is worth.

      People think altcoins and NFTs are worth thousands… never underestimate human stupidity.

      Just because the market values something at a certain value doesn’t mean everyone in that market has a fully developed brain.

  • jakepods on 23/02/2023 - 12:22
    +2

    looks like someone has hit rock bottom

  • Donaldhump on 23/02/2023 - 12:23
    +10

    sold a toaster for $10 and some bum apparently drives 40km and says $5 is his best offer. i said no worries just leave it so he drove off.

    sold a water tank for $1300, bombarded with offers of 500-800. Some guy (person gronk) offers 1100 I say no, someone else buys one hour later for 1300. Gronk rings me and says he is 10 minutes from my house and changed his mind, went mental when i told him it was gone. Some low ballers are gronks

    • OMGJL on 23/02/2023 - 12:28
      +3

      maybe he really likes driving alone….. your toaster is just his excuse

    • bobbified on 23/02/2023 - 12:51

      If it was meant to be $100 and he said $50, then I'd probably tell him to piss off. The guy's a dick, but for $5 difference, I'd much rather someone just take my rubbish… It's not worth the $5 to have to waste more time trying to sell it.

      • djsweet on 23/02/2023 - 12:56

        I'm surprised the buyer didn't cave and pay $10 after driving 40kms… or even driving 5kms for that matter.

      • Donaldhump on 23/02/2023 - 12:59
        +7

        principal, ad says $10 you don't just change your mind while driving.

        it was funnier to me to see some one leave over $5, who had spent $10 on fuel and had the cocky attitude he dictated price.

        I still have that toaster i think

        • mhz on 24/02/2023 - 16:59

          I get these idiots all the time and the look on their faces when I turn them away due to them not having the amount we agreed upon is priceless.
          I would rather throw it in the bin and teach them a lesson.

    • Ughhh on 23/02/2023 - 13:05
      +1

      some bum apparently drives 40km and says $5 is his best offer.

      Pretty bold of him. He risked driving 80km for nothing. I haven't had this happen to me, but if some guy decided to offer anything less than what was agreed at pick up, I would send him home.

  • OMGJL on 23/02/2023 - 12:29

    ever heard of a term called "free market"?

    Just don't buy it when the price is higher than what you desire.

  • Donaldhump on 23/02/2023 - 12:30
    +5

    i listed a double bed mattress for $10 and had no bites.
    Changed add to exchange for zinger burger and within 1 hour some arrived with a hot zinger. Hopefully he didn't wipe his nuts on it

    • KaTst3R on 23/02/2023 - 14:46

      Should have asked for a full large meal.

    • Some Human on 23/02/2023 - 20:13

      I like story time.

  • resisting the urge on 23/02/2023 - 12:34

    Yea nah, not sure 'bout this one.

    Doesn't apathy always win while the hard-werk'n cynics sit on the couch watchin' teevee?

  • playerzer2 on 23/02/2023 - 13:07
    +3

    We're not your personal army

  • ihfree on 23/02/2023 - 18:12
    +1

    No relevant option.

    By all means, lowball. I certainly do it for some items generally with cash and a quick pickup as incentives for the seller.

    However, if you're offer is offensively low, take the response with grace or accept that you'll burn a bridge with a seller.

  • Keplaffintech on 23/02/2023 - 22:39
    +1

    Over the last 2-3 years we have seen just how insane most consumers are, they will pay any price no matter how insane.

    So if you lowball they'll just block you and wait for an 'insane' consumer willing to pay their asking price.

  • Sweet3st on 23/02/2023 - 23:12

    With all the talk of inflation and corporate greed, I'd like to know why Qantas lounge passes listed in the Classified now have an asking price of $40 when they used to be $20? Back in the day the lounges used to be OK, food was reasonable. Now they're just very disappointing.

    • miwahni on 23/02/2023 - 23:32
      +2

      You are not wrong about the food. Sydney two weeks back - minestrone soup, salad makings, bread rolls. At least there was wine.

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