Buying/selling horse question.

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Cash

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Sellers: when you sold your horse/are selling a horse, how much are you prepared to negotiate on price (ie if you have put £4k on an ad, how flexible were you when it came to the sale)?
Buyers: do you attempt to negotiate or take the price the seller has asked? Let's hear about your bargains.
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Am asking as I have found a horse who is PERFECT; but out of my price range
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As a seller I have a general rule of 10% discount is acceptable, I would be expecting to get just over £3,5K for a horse I have advertised at £4k. I don't get offended by cheeky offers, as long as they are not supported by criticism of the horse, if they are, I tend to reply: 'if he/she is that bad, why would you bother buying him/her?' and stick to my price.
I'm more likely to accept a cash on the table offer with no vetting or a quickly arranged one than more money but longer process. That does not mean I mind the horses being vetted, in fact when people start asking if it's sound and healthy etc, I reply that as far as I know yes, but I'm not a vet and can't guarantee a passed vetting... It just means that cash then and there is less hassle and time spent on the deal.
 
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I don't get offended by cheeky offers, as long as they are not supported by criticism of the horse, if they are, I tend to reply: 'if he/she is that bad, why would you bother buying him/her?' and stick to my price.
I'm more likely to accept a cash on the table offer with no vetting or a quickly arranged one than more money but longer process. That does not mean I mind the horses being vetted, in fact when people start asking if it's sound and healthy etc, I reply that as far as I know yes, but I'm not a vet and can't guarantee a passed vetting... It just means that cash then and there is less hassle and time spent on the deal.


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Yes- although i have never officially sold (mine just seem to get passed on to friends etc, no one sane would buy em
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) i don't understand why listing the horse's faults in a very blunt way would make the seller want to reduce the price- i'd be offended!!
In my case is very unlikely we will be doing a 'cash on the table offer' with no vetting- mum says no vetting, no sale. Only coz of the vet's bills we paid for the last one.
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Thanks
 
i generally work on a £500 margin.. as a buyer or seller.

rules are made to be broken..

ive bought one horse 2k below asking price.

another 3.25k below advertised price.

ive paid 1k over actual worth.. (horse will be worth more in the future. )

my overal opinion is..
if its a genuine sale then the seller will drop. i own an pre stallion.. at some point i have to sell, id honestly rather sell him for a daft low amount knowing he really will have a home for life than make money on him.
ive currently got a mare for sale.. due to vets bills i just want the right home for her.

my last horse i sold, i wasnt worried about selling him and made over 2k on him.

the last horse i bought.. in a few years she will be worth 3 times what i paid.. i offered a daft price and worked up. i know i got a good deal, and even though shes a pain in the but i know that i can turn her into the best..

overal.. haggle.. but dont pay stupid money! or loose stupid money!
if it gets daft walk away!
 
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In my case is very unlikely we will be doing a 'cash on the table offer' with no vetting- mum says no vetting, no sale. Only coz of the vet's bills we paid for the last one.
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Thanks

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Sure, vetting is fine, what I'm saying is, if you like the horse and decide to make a cheeky offer, say:
How about I pay £X for him/her - no hassle, cash offer, will have him vetted in 2 days?
I would probably say fine to that, unless the offer was so low I could not justify accepting it.
I have a business to run and bills to pay, so all this cheap to a good home malarky is not for me I'm afraid.
I'm never in a hurry to sell though, I can afford to keep them and will not be shortchanged
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The first horse I bought myself was IMO worth far more than the asking price of £1000 so I did not have the cheek to haggle. I had him for three years and sold him for £3000. The buyers did not even try to haggle but there was a lot of interest.
The second horse I bought was local and had been for sale for a while and they wanted £2000. I was not desperate to have him so I offered £1300, no vetting. They turned it down, so I left them my number if they changed their mind and they did. This horse I advertised for £2750 with getting £2500 in mind and thats what I was offered.
My current horse was advertised for £2000, and I did feel cheeky offering £1800 for him (with no vetting) as I thought he was worth more than she was asking, in fact she told me that someone had phoned up asking what was wrong with him as he was too cheap! She said I could have him for that if I collected him the next day to save her the work. He is the perfect horse for me ATM, apart from his aversion to dressage and being a bit strong, and I will keep him for the rest of his life (he's 17). I took him out SJing a few weeks ago after having not been in the ring for two years and came home with 2 firsts!

So I would make a cheeky offer, but I would not put the horse down to justify it, but would say cash on the table, no vetting if under a certain amount and I'll pick him up tomorrow! I would also say that I can offer a kind, experienced, long trem private farm home.

If I was selling, I would be unlikely to be in a hurry and I would try to sell to the home that suited the horse best.
 
depends on how much interest i have had in the horse! if i have been inundated with phone calls and interest then i doubt i would take an offer- maybe £100 off as a token gesture.

if i have had very little interest i will be much more open to offers.

with regards buying, it all depends on the feeling i get from the seller!

pilfer was advertised for £7k and i paid £4.5k

the rest i bought as foals and paid the full asking price as the breeders knew what they had and weren't budging an inch!
 
As a buyer, I know what a horse is worth to me. If the price is WAY over what I think, then I won't even look - or I might ring and see if the seller is prepared to be realistic. Once I've seen it, if I like it - but think it's over-priced - I'll make an offer and explain why I'm not prepared to pay the full whack (without slagging off the horse.)

As a seller, I know what I've got and while I might be prepared to negotiate a LITTLE, a very low offer just pi**es me off - especially if the horse has been tried thoroughly (sometimes more than once) and not put a foot wrong. In that case I'd be inclined to tell the buyer bye-bye!!

And offers after a horse passes a vetting with flying colours don't work with me at all! If a vetting revealed a slight problem I didn't know about, then I'd offer a discount if buyer was still interested.
 
I never look at horses that I can't afford TBH. I might try and haggle a bit, did with the last one,she refused,rightly I think actually.I offer a deposit of 10% refundable if the vetting fails.After the spooky one, who I didn't have vetted as I wanted him and the vendor implied others very interested.Big mistake actually.When I am selling I ask for a price but drop if the home is right, which is the important thing to me.I am in the fortunate position to be able to do this.
 
Last year I sold a pony for 3 times what we paid for her......but the price was right, the woman travelled along way to see her, didn't haggle....she was lovely and the pony was right for her children so she took her there and then with no vetting. TBH it was a very relucatnt sale, the pony was outgrown and she was a star so I would not have dropped the price by much at all.....in fact I probably short-changed myself but the home was very important.

I bought a pony following this for a good price, the woman had refused to sell him to what she believed was a dealer.....she liked me and the kids and knocked £100 quid off as a token because she knew the pony was going to a good/forever home.
 
I took 10% less than asking price for my boy, although to the woman he was priceless she was told welshs were 10 a penny and she didnt want to feel like she had been ripped off. I took offence at that as she had been to see horses 2 to 3k more expensive than mine none had done anymore and only Taf gave her the confidence she was looking for. So although she was the first person to look she is perfect for him and he her so i decided to swallow my offence and let her take him. What annoyed me was other people who hadnt even seen him or knew what he had achieved said he was expensive, to me she got him cheap!
 
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And offers after a horse passes a vetting with flying colours don't work with me at all! If a vetting revealed a slight problem I didn't know about, then I'd offer a discount if buyer was still interested.

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I think the price ought to be agreed before vetting, and if I was to have a horse vetted and and as Janet says, something minor was to show up, I would probably still be interested at a reduced price.
 
Horse is not advertised ATM- they said they've 'been waiting for the right person to come along' and that home is more important than price. However, i do actually think the price they've said (about £800-£1k over my budget
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) is actually very realistic..so i don't want to mess them about, or offend them, by making a much lower offer.
Am trying to think about this sooner rather than later- I haven't been to see him yet (so may not be 'all that' after all anway!) so I want to decide whether it's worth it before i go and see him, so i'm not getting their hopes up only to say he's too expensive. Make any sense
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Thanks very much everyone
 
When selling I normally advertise for a bit more than I would hope to get and allow for possibly including a bit of tack in the sale. I tend to be happy to drop the price a bit more for the right home. If they are happy to do cash and no vetting it makes my life easier so again money off for that.

When buying I will not go and look at a horse that is more than £500 than I would be willing to pay if it was as described. Having said that I am happy to offer much less if it is not as advertised. I rently bought a horse for 1/3 or its advertised price as it had a few issues that had not been mentioned and the seller realised that I was offering the same as anyone else would when they came to see the horse. Also I was able to collect the next day.
 
When horse hunting last year I found most people were offered to take an offer below the advertised price. It always worth making an offer I think, you never know! If I was selling I would assume people would not be paying the full price (unless they want to then that's great!)
 
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