Horse ads. Why no prices?

[Muddywellies]

I think I'm not understanding the horse buying process. Why are prices not put on many (not all) ads? I have a well regarded dressage horse dealer on my FB who has just published a list of what they have available, but never mentions any prices. Is it a case of 'if you have to ask the price you can't afford it'?

 

[Shilasdair]

FB banned horse sales, so people don't put prices as it will notify FB. Hence 'PM me for price'.
And anything that says 'POA' means that the owner thinks their mediocre equine is worth stupid amounts of money so is to be avoided with the same diligence you avoid ads that say 'No timewasters'.

 

[milliepops]

aside from decisions people might make about publishing their asking prices FB has prohibited ads for animals so I'd guess it's so they don't get the posts pulled.

 

[WelshD]

I know some show horses that have been sold with no prices on ads because quite simply the type of buyers they target may not want everyone knowing their business

 

[Scotsbadboy]

Valid reasons already OP. Personally though it drives me a little bit nuts!

 

[cumbriamax]

I've seen a couple recently where it said price upon viewing, this was for a native pony. I don't want to say which breed as it may identify the breeder. But I would not want to travel potentially hundreds of miles just to find out a price so I didn't enquire.

 

[Littlebear]

I've seen a couple recently where it said price upon viewing, this was for a native pony. I don't want to say which breed as it may identify the breeder. But I would not want to travel potentially hundreds of miles just to find out a price so I didn't enquire.

Price on viewing wow

 

[milliepops]

I've seen a couple recently where it said price upon viewing, this was for a native pony. I don't want to say which breed as it may identify the breeder. But I would not want to travel potentially hundreds of miles just to find out a price so I didn't enquire.

well they can't complain about timewasters viewing and not buying!!

 

[Caol Ila]

I just scrolled through HHO's classifieds, and there are quite a few POA horses. If I was seriously looking, I would be unlikely to email the sellers about those horses because my assumption is what Shilasdair said... If you have to ask, you can't afford.

 

[Wishfilly]

On Facebook it is to avoid getting the ads pulled. Most will be reasonably/sensibly priced and most buyers are happy to tell you a price and answer a few questions via PM (or this was my experience when looking recently). Some will say something like "mid four figures" on the ad, again this is to avoid the ad getting pulled, not being vague.

On other sites, POA tends to mean "out of my price range" OR "however much we can persuade you it's worth", so I tend to avoid, but on FB it's annoyingly standard now.

 

[HashRouge]

I think with some horses it's because the asking price is a lot, but I sometimes wonder when I see it on an advert for a fairly normal horse whether it's because the owner hasn't actually settled on a price in their mind and is maybe willing to be flexible depending on the buyer or wants to see what buyers are willing to offer (rather than putting "open to offers" which might attract low offers from the get go). The problem is, of course, that a lot of buyers will just assume POA means the price will be too high and won't enquire.

 

[Caol Ila]

Yeah, I totally understand about Facebook. I'm referring to HHO and other classifieds.

My view is that it probably means the price will be too high, and then you risk an awkward conversation. "I really like the horse you're advertising. How much is he?"

"£20,000."

"Oh, uh. I'm sorry. That's out of my budget."

"We would sell him for £19,000 to the right home."

"Um, my budget is like £4000."

*crickets*

 

[HashRouge]

Yeah, I totally understand about Facebook. I'm referring to HHO and other classifieds.

My view is that it probably means the price will be too high, and then you risk an awkward conversation. "I really like the horse you're advertising. How much is he?"

"£20,000."

"Oh, uh. I'm sorry. That's out of my budget."

"We would sell him for £19,000 to the right home."

"Um, my budget is like £4000."

*crickets*

Yes this is why I find it odd when you see it on classified ads, as surely the first thing most people will ask when they ring up is "how much?" so why not just include it in the advert?

When the horses are professionally produced/ have fancy breeding and are likely to be much more expensive, I do sometimes wonder if it's because the seller will cheerfully bump up the price if they get the idea that the buyer is particularly wealthy and very keen. Plus you do hear stories where the person selling the horse (where it's not sold by the owner) will tell the owner it sold for a lower price and then pocket the difference. Now that's another reason not to put the price on the advert...

 

[Caol Ila]

Yeah, and from the point of view of a seller, it surely means you will be spending more time responding to emails/calls from people who definitely aren't going to buy your horse.

But it also means that sellers can do what Hashrouge described. It happens more often than you'd think. There was a messy court case in Florida a couple years ago involving very high dollar dressage horses. I believe the simple version of the story is that the agent allegedly sold the horse for $900,000, but the contract stated that it was sold for $300,000. The owner was royally pissed that the agent pocketed $500,000 and sued her. Of course, it was a bit more complicated than that because you need to be doing a bit of laundering when dealing with that amount of money. For an afternoon of light reading, go to the Chronicle of the Horse forums and run a search Alice Tarjan and Caroline Roffman.

 

[teddypops]

Not

I just scrolled through HHO's classifieds, and there are quite a few POA horses. If I was seriously looking, I would be unlikely to email the sellers about those horses because my assumption is what Shilasdair said... If you have to ask, you can't afford.

always the case. My friend phoned up about a pony that was poa. I laughed and said I thought you had a small budget, turns out pony was £200. Old man was dying and selling his ponies but he didn’t want them to go to just anyone. She was a beautiful registered sec D, so an absolute bargain!

 

[mossycup]

If it's a quality horse and there's no price, you can safely assume it's at least 5 figures. If it's from a dressage producer (probably the same post I saw today), then unlikely to be much there under 20k

 

[Tiddlypom]

I've seen a couple recently where it said price upon viewing, this was for a native pony.

Would you rock up in your battered 4x4 (looks like a horsey type, probably will offer a good home but may be skint, so go easy on the price), or your top of the range sports car (loaded so add £££s to the price)?

Weird.

 

[cumbriamax]

This was our thought too (didn't enquire in the end). I remember when I was young there was a lady locally who ran B and B and she said she always looked out at their car before she decided what to charge them. This was back in the day before websites when people just dropped in at b&b on spec.

Personally I didn't want to waste time and fuel travelling to horses not knowing what price would be.

Edit: Forgot your insert quote

 

[Muddywellies]

In my original post I dId mention FB, but if you go to said dealer's website, there's no prices there either. I'm a fairly no nonsense person, as most people are, and I'd just like to know the price in the first place so that I know if I can afford it or not. It must cause so many (literally hundreds in the current horse buying climate) wasted emails or tel calls, from people asking the price. What a waste of everyone's time. Car dealers don't do that, they stick the price in the windscreen. Simple!

 

[Equi]

Because if your budget is a grand over the asking price, the asking price can come up lol

 

[COldNag]

Not

always the case. My friend phoned up about a pony that was poa. I laughed and said I thought you had a small budget, turns out pony was £200. Old man was dying and selling his ponies but he didn’t want them to go to just anyone. She was a beautiful registered sec D, so an absolute bargain!

Similarly, I went to see a pony with no price on ad. Both the friend who'd sent me the ad, and I misinterpreted it as a loan ad. Saw pony, daughter rode him, perfect. Needed bringing back into work but happy to do that.

Then on talking further to seller, I realised he was actually for sale. Turns out the seller hadn't put price on ad as she didn't want very much for him but didn't want to attract the wrong sort of people, he was much loved and she wanted the right home for him.

We ended up taking him on loan anyway, and subsequently bought him as fell in love.

 

[Quigleyandme]

I have contacted a well-known show horse producer who deals to ask if she has any suitable (spec given) horses for sale only to be asked what my budget is. Politely asked her again if she had any suitable horses for sale. Answer was she thought she did. Asked what the asking prices were. She again asked what was my budget. That was the end of the enquiry as far as I was concerned.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

I think there are some valid reasons a dealer may not put a price. If the horse has just come in for example it may need more assessment and the longer they work on it and prove it’s worth the price may go up. Again if they have an on the spot cash buyer that doesn’t want a vetting it’s worth selling at a lower price to reduce outgoings. Of course they want to get the best price as it’s how they make a living.

I don’t see the problem if you have a budget and the horse is worth it to you, you buy it, if not you don’t. If someone thinks it’s worth more to them then that means more money for the dealer.

I can why you’d want a figure before travelling hundreds of miles though, that seems bonkers.

 

[gallopingby]

There are a few different ways of looking at this.
Sometimes the price is set because the horse is for sale at X.
Alternatively l like to vet buyer / homes and so may not put a price on, if I’m selling I choose the home l think will be most suitable / compatible and as I have said to people in the past I might decide not to sell, obviously if people are travelling a long way we all need to be clear what’s what at the outset, but......just because I’ve a horse for sale and you can afford to buy doesn’t mean that you’re the best home IMO.
Equally a producer may rank horses for sale by price which should equal ability so for £10,000 l’d expect a different mileage to say £6000 or £20000