Bike prices on classifieds. Asking price / Selling price / Negotiate?

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rival

Pack Dog
Joined
Sep 24, 2007
Messages
450
Reaction score
131
Location
NW
Bike
Honda CRF 300L
What is the general consensus on advertised price vs selling price and the negotiations on a price. A friend bought a bike a couple of months ago for about 70% of the asking price after a couple of emails. (Not on the forum) He wasn't pushing the seller, the seller actually kept on dropping the price because my friend was interested, and he was in a rush to sell. This could've been a warning sign, but it turned out good, and he got a good bike for quite a good price.

I watched a video earlier in the week where it was stated that any offer between 100% and 70% is fair game, and below that is a low-ball offer and insulting to the seller. When I advertise something I usually come to a price I think is fair and that's what I advertise it for. I don't add x% to the price with the idea of negotiating the price. I will also look at a bike on the classifieds and if the price is more than I want to pay, I move on. And of course we never see the price it sold for.

Am I theoretically missing out on a bike I'm interested in as the seller added 20% to his/her expected price expecting to negotiate? Is it expected that an offer of 70% will be made, and price negotiated from there? I look at a price and assume that it's the price the seller wants, and I would feel ridiculous offering R120000 (75%) for a bike advertised for R160000. (As an example)
 
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