Buying etiquette - budget & bartering?

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chaps89

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Sometime over the next year I am hoping to find another horse. Last time I bought, it was my first horse, 9 years ago and mum & dad were in charge of the purse strings but budget was 'cheap'.
Fast forward to now, it's my money this time round but budget is still going to be the same, cheap!
Been loosely scanning the ads, but how far above your budget do you look & is polite to enquire about? How much room for bartering do sellers allow?
Ie, budget is probably going to be around the £2k mark, possibly more depending if it comes with it's own or fits into my old boys tack & rugs! Therefore how far above your budget would you look & expect to be able to purchase a horse for? Ie, if I looked at something advertised at £2500 (not stating ono) would that be too cheeky? If I could push the budget to £2500, would looking at horses of £2750 be silly? I don't want to offend anyone, nor be classed as a timewaster for viewing horses that are more than I can afford but appreciate most horses will not be sold for their advertised price so don't want to miss out on a horse because I didn't enquire.
Also, at what point in the viewing/buying process do you discuss price? The price on my horse was non-negotiable as it was very cheap due to genuine circumstance anyway so we didn't negotiate. I would hate to start viewing & then for the seller to say price is non-negotiable as I will feel I have wasted mine & their time, but equally I feel asking price in the first call (once usual questions have been asked & I'm happy enough with the answers to want to view) would make it sound like I am being cheeky/rude!
I will be hoping to find something cheaper as am happy to put the work in but being realistic I would rather over-save and I know in terms of horse buying £2500 is still a very limited budget, but to me it's alot.
Just trying to guage how many pennies to put away and what price range of ads to look at Sure I've probably asked something really obvious so do apologise, just not really gone through this before!
 
Are you my long lost twin?!

Seriously. I last bought a pony 10 years ago, and my mum did all the talking on the phone.

My budget was £2750 for a nice alrounder, ability to set the world on fire not required.

My new lad arrived on Wed for a week's trial. His asking price was £2550 + £300 for tack. I offered £2600 for everything.

I don't think looking at £2750 with a £2500 budget is silly (thought: that budget isn't including a vetting is it? If it is, a 5* will knock about £300 off...£2200 for a £2750 is quite a drop IMO). Personally, as a rubbish barterer, I wouldn't go above £2800 with your budget. Had I phoned up after something for £3k, fell in love with it, and the seller wouldn't have budged on price, then I would have stretched to find the extra.

The ad for first horse I rang up after said open to negotiation, so I just asked her what was the lowest she'd accept. Horse was advertised for £2750 and she said lowest she'd accept was £2450.

The one I was going to buy (but who failed the vetting...and I'm still trying to get my £200 deposit back a month later...) was £2200 with apparently no budge.

ETS: I asked about Barry's price after I rode him the first time I looked at him. She accepted my first offer so I felt like I should've tried lower lol.
 
I would only look at around £500-750 over my budget. I always ask at the point of arranging to view the horse if they are open to offers.

The last horse I bought once I'd tried it and liked it I offered them what I wanted to pay. So the conversation went 'you are asking xxx, I really like the horse, would you accept yyy?'

They said yes.
 
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I would have thought 10% was a sensible negotiation starting point and asking if they'd take 10% off is unlikely to offend. So offering £2k on something advertised as £2250 would be absolutely fine.

Some people are much more ballsy and will offer well well below but to do that you have to be happy to have someone get cross that you've wasted their time, but also run the risk that they say yes. If the ad says good home wanted and you can say you can offer XYZ in terms of home/ experience - people will put a cash value on that so you can offer less.

You do see ads with 'no offers' clearly then I'd only view up to your budget.

I sold a wonderful horse about a year ago, never intended to sell him, but long story he was on loan to a lovely lady, my circumstances were changing etc. I could have had him back and advertised him probably got £3.5/4k - but the time/ hassle of doing that and the fact she is such a good forever home I sold him for £1k - money isn't the key thing for some people selling.
 
Generally I'd look at something 10-20% over my budget.

So if your budget is 2k, then I'd say anything up to 2.5k would be fine if price says ONO. I think most sellers price to sell for around 10% below asking price, and there might be other ways to negotiate too - for example asking them to throw in tack, rugs etc.

If price doesn't say ONO, or if you absolutely cannot go even a couple of hundred above 2k, then I'd enquire before going to view whether there was any room for negotiation on price, just so you're not wasting your or their time going to view if they won't budge and you can't pay the asking price.

Even if its a fair bit more expensive - say 3k+ - IMO there is no harm contacting the seller, being up front and saying you really like the look of the horse but only have a limited budget, would they potentially consider an offer of 'x'. The horse market is poor at the moment, and you never know, horse could well have been for sale for a while with owners getting desperate.

IMO as long as you are nice and reasonably upfront about it, then I don't think there is any problem seeing a horse a bit above your budget and making an offer.
 
My last two horses have had £2k wiped off them with the bartering done by my dad. However, it has probably cost just under what we saved to kit them all out as they ended up coming with nothing.

Most horses are over-priced so you may be pleasantly surprised. I would look upto £4k and make offers. It really is a buyers market at the moment so take full advantage of it :) Good luck in your search and I hope you get a lovely new horsey!
 
With a budget of 2k I would look up to 2750 if the add states ONO. If it doesn't I would ask on inquiring if they are open to offers - but don't let them know just what you can afford until after you have seen it. I agree a lot of owners will be happy to drop more if the potential purchaser rides well and the new home seem ideal.

Happy horse hunting
 
bgb said:
My last two horses have had £2k wiped off them with the bartering done by my dad. However, it has probably cost just under what we saved to kit them all out as they ended up coming with nothing.

Most horses are over-priced so you may be pleasantly surprised. I would look upto £4k and make offers. It really is a buyers market at the moment so take full advantage of it :) Good luck in your search and I hope you get a lovely new horsey!
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Id be thinking the same, my friend just paid £3k for a horse that was advertised at £5k, she had a budget of £4500, people had been trying to sell for a while and so where happy to take a drop in price.

Remember quite alot of people have no idea how much to sell their horse for and quite often pick figures out of the sky, some far too low whereas others are far too high. I know of more than one who advertised a horse for £2k ish had no interest so re advertised for almost double that and sold instantly. Buying and selling horses is a strange world!

Good luck when you start looking and remember what ever you offer they can always say no, but you may just be suprised! i'd rather barter a little rather than them accept my first offer as id always be thinking bet they'd have accepted less!
 
Thanks for the responses, they do seem to be a bit varied but it would appear looking a little over budget is ok and expected!
spiral- would hope I am a nice home, know I can be a bit neurotic with Phoenix at times but I'd like to think he's well looked after ;) Good point about using that as a bartering tool also. If you come across anything locally could you let me know?
With my sensible head on I shouldn't start looking until the end of the year/start of next year, but either way I need to start saving now, so I know the market may well have changed a bit by then anyway but it gives me an idea as to what to look at & how much to get saved.
 
chaps89 said:
spiral- would hope I am a nice home, know I can be a bit neurotic with Phoenix at times but I'd like to think he's well looked after ;) Good point about using that as a bartering tool also. If you come across anything locally could you let me know?
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;)

Will of course keep an eye out - what particularly are you looking for and I'll let you know if I come across anything?
 
I would only look £300 maybe £500 over budget and I would ask on the phone if they are open to offers before going to view. I find being honest up front is the best way. However I would try and stay positive about yourself and the home your offering. Some people would rather sell for less knowing the horse is going to a good home.
Don't be afraid to go in with a cheeky offer but don't be offended if they turn you down at first.
Most people advertise a horse for a couple of hundred more than they want as they know people want to barter.
You'll always get one person on here that viewed a horse advertised at "6k" and got it with tack, rugs etc for "3.5k" ;):rolleyes: but to be honest that doesn't happen very often!
At the end if the day the horse is only worth what your willing to pay and the owner can always say no but it's worth asking.
 
amymay said:
I would only look at around £500-750 over my budget. I always ask at the point of arranging to view the horse if they are open to offers.

The last horse I bought once I'd tried it and liked it I offered them what I wanted to pay. So the conversation went 'you are asking xxx, I really like the horse, would you accept yyy?'

They said yes.
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Exactly the same for me.

You can often get a horse at a better price if you can act quickly.
 
I bought a horse at the end of last summer (similar circumstances to you,*hadn't properly bought one for nearly 10 years and went through this whole purchase without my mum holding my hand! ). I had a budget of around £2500 but looked at horses up to about 3k. The one I finally bought was advertised at £3200 but I was lucky in the the sense that I could go a few hundred over my budget if I dipped into my saving so as I really liked her I decided to view her. After vetting we agreed on £2700 including delivery (from over 4 hours away) so I don't think I did to badly.
 
I will quite happily browse/search adverts above my budget - quite possibly 30-50% higher.

Those over budget that I though justified the price tag I'd probably bookmark and keep an eye on - if still on the market after a few weeks I may phone.

Those I feel overpriced initially I wouldn't hesitate to phone up for.

HOWEVER fairly early on in a phone conversation I'd establish if the vendor was open to offers and I'd clearly state my maximum budget - then its up to them to let you view (or not). I'd always ask they take my details and come back to me though if they change their mind.

If I had a 2K budget I'd certainly be browsing 3K horses, and definitely be calling up 2.5-2.8K horses.
 
spiral- 14.2-15.2 and preferabley gelding, must hack alone, live out and be 101% healthy, beyond that open to suggestions, so not exactly a fussy list! Long term goal will be to do a bit of everything with a focus on low level endurance in an ideal world.
In fairness I really shouldn't look now and don't expect you to remember later on in the year but if something amazing came along I could be persauded to look earlier.

You'll always get one person on here that viewed a horse advertised at "6k" and got it with tack, rugs etc for "3.5k" but to be honest that doesn't happen very often!
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Whilst I would love to be one of those few who gets a story-like bargain I'm not one of those lucky types so I shall be realistic and maybe not push my luck calling up about £6k horses ;) lol

Those over budget that I though justified the price tag I'd probably bookmark and keep an eye on - if still on the market after a few weeks I may phone.

Those I feel overpriced initially I wouldn't hesitate to phone up for.

HOWEVER fairly early on in a phone conversation I'd establish if the vendor was open to offers and I'd clearly state my maximum budget - then its up to them to let you view (or not). I'd always ask they take my details and come back to me though if they change their mind
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This is such good common sense advice, thankyou.

I have noticed when looking at the £3k ad's there is such a wide range, some I felt quite underpriced, others massivley over-priced imo, plus you start to get the 'mother dream' tyes but also start to get the rc allrounders too so it covers quite a different type of horse in that bracket.

The replies are much more optimistic than I was hoping for and quite encouraging to a certain extent, now if the horse market can remain collapsed for a few months that would be perfect!
Glad to not also be the first person out buying without mums help! Sure mum will be coming along to viewings & as horse-taxi if/when I find the right one but I'll be doing the initial leg work this time round, slightly daunting but equally exciting!
 
My budget is always quite elastic normally I do it the other way I start looking at expensive horses and then a project just seems to drift in my direction .
I don't look at over budget horses.
 
chaps89 said:
spiral- 14.2-15.2 and preferabley gelding, must hack alone, live out and be 101% healthy, beyond that open to suggestions, so not exactly a fussy list! Long term goal will be to do a bit of everything with a focus on low level endurance in an ideal world.
In fairness I really shouldn't look now and don't expect you to remember later on in the year but if something amazing came along I could be persauded to look earlier.

Whilst I would love to be one of those few who gets a story-like bargain I'm not one of those lucky types so I shall be realistic and maybe not push my luck calling up about £6k horses ;) lol


Well when you do come to looking PM me.
I have a cracker sat in the field, was a very expensive horse - had an accident which makes him LOU for higher level competition.
Sometime in the next 6-12 months he will go out on loan/LWVTB (with the potential of cheap sale down the line). He may very well do the job you want. Not many around like him.
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I had my horse on loan for the first year before he was given to me when I bought a place where he could be kept at home, he is a real school master and the most amazing horse and he cost me nothing with all his tack and rugs, due to the home I could give him. :)
 
I think to some extent it depends on the difference between what you *want* to spend, and what you have available to spend. I was looking to spend 1500, would go up to 2k without too much trouble. I also knew that if I happened to stumble accross the absolutely perfect horse and could get transport and gear thrown in, the budget could be manipulated up to 3.5. So looking at things up to 3.5 I was comfortable with because whilst I was hoping to spend less, I didn't feel like I was timewasting.

The only ones at the uppper end of my price range that I actually looked at were ones that I thought had the potential to be sufficiently perfect to be well worth that kind of money. In the end my mare was advertised for 300 more than I paid for her, and I got transport included. I had gone to view thinking that the price was probably ok and I wouldnt haggle, but there were a couple of things about her in person that looked like they might be more of a risk/take more work than I had initially hoped, so despite her initial price being within my budget I didn't have any problem with asking them to move on price. Had I gone to see her knowing I had no intention of paying full price even if she ticked all the boxes, I would have felt like a timewaster unless the seller knew upfront what the budget was.

Before you start looking have a good think about how much money you really have available for the variables. Does your top end 2500 include remedial farriery if feet are overgrown, overdue dentist visit, worming, starting course of vacinations if not yet done? Tack, full set of rugs? Extra feed to get the horse up to weight? Transport?
There is a good £500 extra expense in there if you are paying out for all those things on top of the horse, so you need to figure out whether a horse coming with all those things means you have a max budget of 3k for a horse that comes with everything sorted, or if you have a max budget of 2k for a horse that comes with nothing. You can also spend a good few hundred on petrol driving around the country looking at ones that *almost* meat the criteria, rather than saving all that by flexing the budget a bit more upfront. Once you account for all that, you may well find that your top end budget for the perfect horse is more than you thought.
 
With that budget I would tend to look at things priced £500/750 more if they say ono. Usually if the ad doesn't say that then they aren't open to negotiation xx
 
It depends!! At the moment it is a buyers market for one thing. When I last sold a horse, quite a few years ago now, I advertised him at a high price as I knew there were people locally who would have liked to buy him but I didn't want him to go there....I actually sold him for half the amount he was advertised at....because I knew that was the right home for him....so, if you don't ask you don't get!!! If the horse appeals to you ring and talk!!
 
For all 'ONO' ads, I would start at 25% off and negotiate from there. Remember sellers are asking slightly more as they know they have to 'negotiate' prices down due to buyers market. I agree that tack, especially if fitted tack, is a good negotiating tool as well.

I just bought a fab all rounder advertised for £5k. I told the seller that I would be offering a lower price before the first viewing. She said today's fine as long as not a silly offer. I fell in love with horse, offered £4k, agreed 4.25k. Everyone happy!
 
Well when you do come to looking PM me.
I have a cracker sat in the field, was a very expensive horse - had an accident which makes him LOU for higher level competition.
Sometime in the next 6-12 months he will go out on loan/LWVTB (with the potential of cheap sale down the line). He may very well do the job you want. Not many around like him.
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Potentially sounds perfect. I'm wary of 'broken' horses having had my horse 9 years and being very limited in what I can do with him due to his various ailments and the heart-break ensued as a result but if he will stand up to regular 'leisure' work and also adapt to this in character (know some high end competition horses that would struggle to adapt to a quieter lifestyle but from the sounds of it yours isn't one of them) then I would definitely be interested. Thankyou for letting me know. 6-12 months could well be ideal, time-wise for me it depends how I feel when my boy is pts (with vets agreement he is having a last summer), I am currently torn between wanting to find something before he goes at the end of the summer or having a few months off and starting afresh next spring, as it stands I don't feel I will want to start looking too soon after he goes if I don't already have one. By all means PM me as & when you start wanting to look for a new home if that's ok so I can see how I feel and what the circumstances are at the time and we can maybe go from there too?

Before you start looking have a good think about how much money you really have available for the variables. Does your top end 2500 include remedial farriery if feet are overgrown, overdue dentist visit, worming, starting course of vacinations if not yet done? Tack, full set of rugs? Extra feed to get the horse up to weight? Transport?
There is a good £500 extra expense in there if you are paying out for all those things on top of the horse, so you need to figure out whether a horse coming with all those things means you have a max budget of 3k for a horse that comes with everything sorted, or if you have a max budget of 2k for a horse that comes with nothing. You can also spend a good few hundred on petrol driving around the country looking at ones that *almost* meat the criteria, rather than saving all that by flexing the budget a bit more upfront. Once you account for all that, you may well find that your top end budget for the perfect horse is more than you thought.
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All very valid thoughts. Tack & rugs will be a consideration, as in original post how much I can spend will depend on whether horse comes with them or fits into what I already have or if I have to start afresh.
Dentist, worming etc I would probably do as a routine thing on getting any new horse and are what I would class as routine costs anyway, remedial farriery, tbh I would be inclined to walk away from any horse with bad feet. Having had a horse with arthritis & other changes in his feet I am a bit neurotic in that sense! But your point is valid :)
Traveling wise I would only look locally unless I had been able to get videos and decent photos up front and even then I wouldn't want to go more than 3 hours each way but yes, I do recall from last time round that travelling adds up. We also learnt the hard way to get photos & videos from both sides- didn't click until we got there that the reason we'd only seen one side of the horse was because one of his eyes was a mess and required an operation! Needless to say we turned up, saw that and pretty much left immediately.

I am hoping to over-save and look below budget and fully intend to not buy until I have other money saved in the bank to fall back on should I need it. The responses on this thread have been most helpful in helping me gauge quite how much £ this might need to be and how realistic I can be when shopping as & when the time comes.
 
A few years ago when I was horse shopping on a similar budget.

I went to view a few around the £2500 mark but nothing pulled at me, saw an advert for a horse that really took my fancy but was up for £3500 which I knew was more than I could afford. Arranged a viewing anyway and she had a few quirks which required a bit of reschooling but otherwise exactly what I wanted. Offered a very cheeky £2500 which seller accepted.

I wouldn't normally expect someone to reduce price by quite as much as that but sometimes its worth keeping an open mind. There are already plenty of bargains to be had in the current economic crisis but there's still a potential to haggle as many owners are keen to sell.

Other than haggling on the spot, don't be afraid to walk away and phone back in a week or two to see if the horse is still available and if they are more open to offers. If they haven't had any interest they may well accept your offer
 
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