I've had this happen to me several times this month, and it's always ground my gears a little bit.

The situation is I want to purchase something from someone. It might be a spare part, it might be something they made, etc. It's not something that has an MSRP or a barcode on it. And sometimes, there's no "usual selling price on ebay" for the item.

Me: How much is it?/How much will it take for you to part with it?/What's the price?

Seller: Give me an offer.


NO! I did not ask you "hi, may I argue back and forth with you on the price a bit? I'm really not set on how much I want to pay, so could you set the imaginary price about 20% more than it's worth so I can waste 15 minutes?"


It's not just in person, I've had it happen online and yes, on this site. Do you think it would be helpful to have some sort of tag or wording in the FS section which specifies what is "set price" and what is "I want to haggle"?

Honestly, I know when someone gives me a price whether I can afford it or not. I'd rather not waste my time and their's just letting them know I can't pay what they really want for it. And I hate lowballing people, but I'm consistently broke so it's a bit of a necessity at times.

Does anyone else feel this way?

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