How do you interpret 'reasonable/sensible offers' when buying a horse or pony?

[cumbriamax]

As title really, when you see a horse advertised with no price or even guide price, how do you value it and decide what to offer?
As someone who only buys a horse every now and then I find it difficult to value them and tend to steer clear of one's without a price or 'offers'.

 

[oldie48]

Ridiculous way to advertise, I'd just ask them how much they want without declaring my budget.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Ugh, it bugs me. The seller usually has a number in mind so just put the number in the ad! I don't want to play guessing games.

Perhaps they are flexible and just want to horse moved along so don't want to be tied to a certain price that may deter buyers. Or maybe they are hoping someone offers more than the number they're thinking. For some reason they don't want to be tied to a number, but they do probably have an idea of what they'll take.

If I really liked the horse, I'd offer fair market value, if they don't take it, then I move along.

 

[Bernster]

Annoying!

 

[cumbriamax]

Thanks, Im glad it's not just me who finds it annoying. Plus I always struggle to decide what a market value is. Just seen a nice four year old native, not suitable for showing because of its markings, the advert doesn't have a price but open to offers.

 

[stormox]

Ask for a price. Its traditional for the seller to say the price and the buyer to make an offer.... then you can agree somewhere in the middle....

 

[windand rain]

There are a number of advertising ploys that turn me off one is no price another is no location and several others are photography and silly nonsense like very kissable etc. I do admit no price is the worst especially if you ask them to start with then they think you are not the right person for their precious horse. I know Facebook wont allow sales so no price but anywhere else it is a nonsense POA I equate with extortion

 

[splashgirl45]

if it says POA i scroll past as i assume it will be mega money

 

[gallopingby]

I think there are many reasons for not putting a price on and l‘d rarely do so. Mainly because l‘d be looking for the best and most suitable home and would drop the price if everything added up. I’m not going to undervalue a nicely schooled animal until l know what the home might offer. Too many people about at the moment looking to buy cheap and sell on. I’d rather have a chat and find out the buyers plans, not that l sell many and usually nicely mannered and well brought on horses will find a new home through word of mouth especially if they’ve a good local following. A mismarked native can still do lots of things and may still be part of a breeding programme just can’t be shown as whatever breed it should be and rightly so.

 

[cumbriamax]

I think there are many reasons for not putting a price on and l‘d rarely do so. Mainly because l‘d be looking for the best and most suitable home and would drop the price if everything added up. I’m not going to undervalue a nicely schooled animal until l know what the home might offer. Too many people about at the moment looking to buy cheap and sell on. I’d rather have a chat and find out the buyers plans, not that l sell many and usually nicely mannered and well brought on horses will find a new home through word of mouth especially if they’ve a good local following. A mismarked native can still do lots of things and may still be part of a breeding programme just can’t be shown as whatever breed it should be and rightly so.

I appreciate that there are lots of reasons why people don't put prices on and I wouldn't expect anyone to undervalue their animal but I'm always reticent about responding to ads that seek offers as I am rubbish at valuing them as I'm not really a regular buyer and rarely sell anything.

I agree that ponies with markings that do not conform to that required of the breed standard can still be useful, It wouldn't bother me but its mentioned in the advert.
Maybe the seller is as unpracticed as I am in buying and selling horses and is struggling to put a value on it and it could be, as you say, left to see what type of home is offered.

 

[ycbm]

Apart from megabucks horses where the seller doesn't want nosy parkers to know what money they got for the horse, I don't understand POA because it puts so many people off calling. I'm another who won't call about a POA horse, I just assume that the price will be too high for me or too high for the horse concerned.
.

 

[gallopingby]

I appreciate that there are lots of reasons why people don't put prices on and I wouldn't expect anyone to undervalue their animal but I'm always reticent about responding to ads that seek offers as I am rubbish at valuing them as I'm not really a regular buyer and rarely sell anything.

I agree that ponies with markings that do not conform to that required of the breed standard can still be useful, It wouldn't bother me but its mentioned in the advert.
Maybe the seller is as unpracticed as I am in buying and selling horses and is struggling to put a value on it and it could be, as you say, left to see what type of home is offered.

 

[gallopingby]

Be brave CMax!! you’ve nothing to loose by being interested/honest and enquiring about the price. If someone is genuinely interested as opposed to just wanting to know the price l‘m sure you could have a reasonable chat. I think the days of cheap horses are gone at least for now and rightly so, taking account of the costs of breeding/breaking etc but there will always be kind natured people more interested in placing their animal in a good long term home than making a huge profit.

 

[windand rain]

If you dont know the price how are you supposed to judge if it is in budget. Especially as sellers of unpriced horses dont like the first question to be price. I wouldn't go through the whole sales pitch like the sound and pictures only to find it is thousands above budget. I do know the rough acceptable price for my breed so would be concerned if it was either much lower or stupidly higher than the average. Lower would be worth a look silly money not. Average price for a ridden is between £3500 for an average green broken up to the sky's the limit for a HOYS qualified pony. So the price is the most important bit of information or you just waste the sellers and buyer time. Sellers then complain about timewasters and tyre kickers

 

[honetpot]

In the old days when people actually used to phone and not send endless pm's, and then ignore most of the information, I would phone. I would say your horse sounds lovely and seems to be what I am looking for, can you tell me what price you are looking for, so I don't waste your time. The few times I have done this, it's always been outside my budget. One I actually went to see before I asked, and after three months, they reduced the price by half and I bought it.
If people know the price you still can choose not to sell to them, I've done this twice, even though their offer was the full asking price. ATM nothing seems to be cheap, I have been looking for a store, but they are well over my budget.

 

[Tagoat]

Sellers who don't price in their advert, or won't give a price "range" upon phone enquiry are just time wasters or chancers.
They don't seem to realise they impede interest & a potential sale.

 

[PurBee]

Well they say the true value of anything is what a person is willing to pay. So if person A is willing to pay 5k for harry the horse, and person B willing to buy harry for 10k, harry is worth 5k and 10k.

So i think people put ‘open to offers’ as they truly are, and are interested in what people are willing to pay.
We all value horses subjectively....especially today’s volatile market.

I’d ring up the ‘offers’ ad and just state what im happy to pay for the horse.
The POA adverts give me the idea its very expensive!

I’d personally only put open to offers on a horse if the home/future owner was more important than getting any financial return for the horse. But i’d explain that, and probably also give a rough figure i think is fair, but also state ‘home more important, make me an offer, lets have a chat’.

In the past i’ve given for free to good home, and the chancers are lining up to line their pockets while neglecting the animal. I’ve since learnt people only look after and value what they’ve paid money for.

 

[Melody Grey]

The only place personally I think ‘offers’ is reasonable is for something that’s blatantly a project or a gamble....but that said, I’ve never been in a position to view anything expensive!

 

[dogatemysalad]

I usually scroll past POA adverts because they are usually going to be out of the price range that I wish to pay.
Once I did phone up and have a conversation with the owner of a horse that was local and looked very nice. Turned out that the price was double of what I would have offered, but the owner wanted me to view and was prepared to drop down to my budget.
Slightly cynical, I mentioned the advert to a friend who was a trainer. Needless to say, the horse was a fruitloop and the seller has omitted its issues in the ad.

 

[Birker2020]

As title really, when you see a horse advertised with no price or even guide price, how do you value it and decide what to offer?
As someone who only buys a horse every now and then I find it difficult to value them and tend to steer clear of one's without a price or 'offers'.

I wouldn't even be interested if there wasn't a price.

I hate these adverts with 'mid four figures' as well. Just tell us the bl**dy price and stop being silly! I think people are trying to sound clever and they just sound stupid. My life is too busy to try and interpret what someone means.

If they can't produce a figure then I won't be interested as I feel there is something shady about it or the vendor is being deliberately evasive or misleading for some reason.

 

[Amun]

As title really, when you see a horse advertised with no price or even guide price, how do you value it and decide what to offer?
As someone who only buys a horse every now and then I find it difficult to value them and tend to steer clear of one's without a price or 'offers'.

I'm a collector and to be honest I totally ignore sellers asking for reasonable offers even if they have something I would potentially want. It's basically a way how they try to raise as much money as possible (hoping you will far exceed what they actually want) and sometimes they don't even know the value so trying this way. It's their item (or in your case their horse) so they should know the price, not me. So I would skip.

 

[oldie48]

It's a pity people can't be more straightforward. Easiest sale I've had was a Welsh farmer and his wife who tried a horse I was selling. Farmer said, my wife likes the horse but we think the price is a bit high, what will you take? I told him and he paid it. I'd spent a lot of time on the phone with the wife and was confident they were a good match and it was a great home so I was happy to drop the price.

 

[ihatework]

Doesn’t bother me.
If I like the look of a horse enough then I’d call and ask the price, I’d rather do that than miss out on a nice one. If it’s over budget then on more than one occasion I’ve said that and asked them to get in touch if it doesn’t sell and the price changes. I’ve bought one that way before.

Agree I much prefer to know price up front, but I won’t cut my nose off to spite my face!

 

[cumbriamax]

In the old days when people actually used to phone and not send endless pm's, and then ignore most of the information, I would phone. I would say your horse sounds lovely and seems to be what I am looking for, can you tell me what price you are looking for, so I don't waste your time. The few times I have done this, it's always been outside my budget. One I actually went to see before I asked, and after three months, they reduced the price by half and I bought it.
If people know the price you still can choose not to sell to them, I've done this twice, even though their offer was the full asking price. ATM nothing seems to be cheap, I have been looking for a store, but they are well over my budget.

My thoughts exactly, I like to ring and speak to the seller which is probably old fashioned. Advertising is so much better now with photos etc, I remember the days when the only info you had was a couple of lines in the local paper and/or an address!

 

[Birker2020]

When I wanted to buy another horse I made an advert with my exact requirements, i.e. gelding, 17hh - 17.2hh, black or bay, aged 7-10 and printed it off a couple of hundred times (on my lunch break at work) and cut them to size. When a SJ show was on at the local riding club I posted them on all the lorries and cars parked in the car park and did this the following day too. It wasn't long before I got a phone call and my new horse!

 

[Spirit2021]

To be honest I don’t really bother with them type of ads because they probably want more money then the horse is actually worth. I now someone who does that.

 

[tda]

Some people want to hedge their bets too, a friend enquired about a POA pony and first question was whats your budget? Suppose they're hoping to get lucky

What's all this about mid four figures, why don't they just say £5000

 

[gallopingby]

I wonder how many of you commenting on this post are actually looking for a new horse or just have a bit of a day dream? Surely if you were actively looking you'd be a little more proactive as well as having a budget place. Although annoying its fairly easy to screen out the initial time wasters and a texted reply of phone me if you're still interested on even texts won't be answered can save the seller a lot of time. Remember the seller if often in the privileged position of deciding who and if they want to sell!

 

[Tarragon]

I think if you are interested then decide what you are prepared to pay for it and ring up. You will have no chance of owning the horse if you do nothing!
A lovely antique grand father clock was being sold locally using sealed bids and we really wanted it as the clock was made by somebody in the village. I did my research and worked out it's rough market valued, added on £100 because we really wanted it, and put in our bid.
We got the clock, and it takes pride of place in our hall.
We later found out that we had out-bid the next highest offer by about £500!
BUT, we got the clock we wanted, and paid the price we were prepared to pay, and those who were just hoping to get a bargain lost out.

 

[Bernster]

Not sure that it makes any difference whether I’m actively looking or not. My view is my view - I scroll past poa adverts. I don’t tend to look at ads if I’m not looking to buy though.

As a seller, if you’re not in a hurry to sell, and don’t mind that you put off some potential buyers by not including a price, then that’s the sellers prerogative. I just don’t see what the advantage is in using a tactic that limits your market. Other than, as some folks have said, because you’re over inflating the price, in which case that’s def someone I don’t want to deal with. If you’d take less for a good home, there are ways of saying that without just putting poa, as that doesn’t tell you anything about the home you’re looking for anyway.