How much are you asking?

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Dry Rot

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Am I the only one who gets annoyed when the first question an enquirer asks about a horse I have for sale is, "How much are you asking?"

It sounds a perfectly reasonable question. After all, most of us have a budget. But am I unique in being a bit fussy where my animals go? Money is really not that important to me. It certainly isn't the decider.

I missed a call the other day, so got the number off caller display and called back. "Oh yes, you were advertising a horse for sale. Now, which one was that? Are you the TB? Oh, and how much are you asking?" No, I am not the TB -- and the price I quoted him was four times what I would settle for to the right home. I was so pleased when he said she was "outside my budget"! Meat man? Dealer?

Yes, I'm a lousy businessman, but if I'm interested in buying a horse I hope to live with for the next 20 years I don't think price would be my first question. I might even want to know where it is so I can go and look! "Being on a budget" indicates to me that money is tight and maybe things like livery, vet, farrier, etc. may be skimped and, if things get tough, the owner might be in severe trouble. Yes, I'll haggle and negotiate, but that's part of the procedure.

I got an email from someone looking for a family pony. The lady sounded delightful. We arranged for a viewing. Husband and wife turned up with kids 8 and 9. They spent two and a half hours here, mum and both children riding the pony, and price was not even mentioned. They finally decided that the pony was lovely but not suitable for what they wanted as she is still a bit green. I would almost have given the pony to them as, but for the inexperience, they were perfect for each other!

Am I just a grumpy old sod or do others feel like this when selling a horse?
 
Why is it rude of people to want to know how much you expect so that they are not wasting their time or yours if they can't afford it!
 
No, not a problem with it. Easier if people know where they stand on the price straight away rather than all parties spending ages on the phone asking questions and when the price is mentioned its over budget and everyones times been wasted.
 
Not many sellers have that attitude though, and there's no point having the conversation about how perfect the horse is for you if it's 3 times your budget. So if the price isn't specified, I'd ask for it fairly early on in the phone call as I don't want to waste anyone's time!
 
If no price is mentioned on the ad, then its fair enough. No point in having a long conversation about a horse that is out of the buyers price range.
 
No it does not annoy me at all, and I would never go and view a horse if I did not know the asking price even if I thought it was my perfect horse what would be the point if I could not afford it.

I find it very annoying that people do not put a price on a horse they are selling it is almost impossible to guess what somebody is going to expect for a horse as it varies so much even for horses of the same standard, and even worse when it just says offers, I never know why some sellers keep it such a secret I mean they are going to have to tell you in the end and if you know to begin with then you are not wasting their time if the horse is out of your price range.
 
Capriole said:
No, not a problem with it. Easier if people know where they stand on the price straight away rather than all parties spending ages on the phone asking questions and when the price is mentioned its over budget and everyones times been wasted.
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That is my question!:) Maybe it is the way some people ask it, as if it's the only thing that matters to them. I'd rather negotiate.

Perhaps I should ask, "How much can you afford?" Would that be acceptable? Why wouldn't I want to know a bit more about the purchaser?

If a few minutes on the phone is waste of time when discussing the purchase of a lifelong friend, I don't think I'd want to sell to that person. My animals are not objects to be traded like a washing machine or a refrigerator!

Does that better explain my attitude? I hate selling animals at the best of times.
 
I know what you mean. Sometimes people forget that its hard to sell a much loved horse and a bit of sensitivity is good manners.
Why don't you advertise the asking price though, it would save buyers asking the question straight away.
 
nobody is saying other questions shouldnt be asked and are not important, but price is a question that needs asking, and it is better to get it asked/answered early on in a conversation. Its fine saying its only a few minutes, but if you are ringing about horse after horse trying to find the right one added up its a lot of 'few minutes' and its pretty depressing. Same if youre selling, people mostly dont want to have endless conversations with timewasters and dreamers :)

I hate selling too.
 
Have to say I generally work with the old chestnut of if you have to ask the price you can't afford it in mind. I don't even phone adverts without a price on them. Doesn't mean I can't look after my horses just that I fail to see the point in going to see a pony and falling in love with it only to find it's double the amount I have to spend.

It also would definitely be one of my first questions too as it depends on the answer as to whether or not it's worth asking any other questions. After all, most people quoting a price aren't all that ambivalent about it either.

Why don't you put a price on the advert along with something like "negotiable to a good home", at least then you might get more interest and potentially more suitable homes to choose from.
 
Meandtheboys said:
TBH - if you put a price on your advert they would not ask!!

It pisses me off when people DON'T put the asking price.................
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Agree!! Also, I was recently horse hunting and looked at so many horses and left so many messages/emails that when the seller returned my calls, the first question I asked was "sorry, but which horse is yours" - no I am not a dealer and no I am not an idiot but how the hell am I supposed to know which horse is your's when you call me.

Personally, I think you are being a bit over-sensitive. Either you want to sell the horse or you don't - the price is a very important part of the deal .....
 
I'd always ask price first, if I were calling up about a horse I didn't know the price of.

It's very presumptuous to think that means money is a problem ;)
 
Dry Rot said:
That is my question!:) Maybe it is the way some people ask it, as if it's the only thing that matters to them. I'd rather negotiate.

Perhaps I should ask, "How much can you afford?" Would that be acceptable? Why wouldn't I want to know a bit more about the purchaser?

If a few minutes on the phone is waste of time when discussing the purchase of a lifelong friend, I don't think I'd want to sell to that person. My animals are not objects to be traded like a washing machine or a refrigerator!

Does that better explain my attitude? I hate selling animals at the best of times.
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But the fact is, money does matter to people.

If someone has a budget of 4k, for example, there is no point having a discussion with someone, finding out all about the horse and then discovering they want 8k for it. It'd actually be pretty embarrassing to get to that point in the conversation and then have to go 'oh sorry, I can't afford it.' And many sellers would also not want to waste time discussing a horse with someone who can't afford it. And you might be prepared to be negotiable, but very few sellers will half the amount they want for a horse just because the home is a good one!

Not having unlimited funds doesn't mean someone is going to be a skinflint owner - it is realistic for most people.

To be honest, if you don't put the price on the ad then you're inviting that question and have no right to get irritated by it. Personally I hate ads that are POA and would never contact one as I assume it means the horse is very expensive.

Why not put the price on the ad and then say "negotiable as good home more important than price"?

Edited to add, it's also incredibly unreasonable to get annoyed by people not knowing exactly which horse you are selling when you ring them back. It is common to call about several horses and really how exactly is someone supposed to know exactly which horse you mean? Do you expect someone to only be enquiring about your horse?
 
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I'm currently looking and have been for the last 5 months. I do ring up quite a few adverts in a week and majority of the time there is no answer, so get rung back sometimes a few days after I originally rang them so need to ask, but I normally phrase it as "can you tell me a bit about your horse?" so I can work out which ad is theres!

If an advert doesn't have a price on it, I will ask as I do not want to go through the feeling it is perfect then the owner saying it is over my budget. Yes my budget isn't big but that is because it leaves me with money for tack, rugs, vets, farrier, livery, etc.. for the next couple of years as if it was larger, say £10,000, I would have no money for the next month! I think OP that you shouldn't think that a person has a small budget is because they can't afford the upkeep of the horse at all.

With regards to the price question I can understand as to why you get frustrated but from the buyers point of view it is rather important. I've had someone say on the phone "that the price depends on the buyer so if suits I'm happy to go within the buyers budget" (I already told them my own budget), which I think was a good answer!!
 
I've also had to ask someone picking my number off caller Id which horse they are selling. I had a four horse short list and none picked up. In that case it was a dealer and they couldn't arrange for me to see the horse outside working hours for the next week - truly strange, why spend money on the advert.

You really do need to put the price on though. Most people have a budget and I won't haggle so need to know if the price is reasonable. I did go to see my mare with no idea of the cost as I was told about her via a wanted ad - but with a friesian it's pretty clear what they are worth.

Paula
 
Dry Rot said:
I got an email from someone looking for a family pony. The lady sounded delightful. We arranged for a viewing. Husband and wife turned up with kids 8 and 9. They spent two and a half hours here, mum and both children riding the pony, and price was not even mentioned. They finally decided that the pony was lovely but not suitable for what they wanted as she is still a bit green. I would almost have given the pony to them as, but for the inexperience, they were perfect for each other!
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But what if after spending all these hours of your time looking at the pony they said they only had £50?! You wouldn't want to sell a pony to people who couldn't get more than that together, would you?! Surely that's a waste of everyone's time. :confused:
 
I have to agree with the others, price is important. When horsehunting the buyer spends a lot of time working out a budget, costs of insurance, vetting, transport, livery, tack, etc and have a very real idea of what they can pay.

Why shouldn't they have phoned and left messages about several horses? The good ones don't hang about and sell quickly. It is also positive as it shows that the potential purchasers are trying to find the right horse for them by viewing several and not just going for the first one they see.

I have never phoned a POA ad. I have sometimes thought sellers do this as they don't want people who know the horse to see what (over-inflated) price they have put it up for. Sorry if this is a tad negative but its the way some buyers may perceive these ads. I'm sure there are many genuine reasons too.
 
xspiralx said:
To be honest, if you don't put the price on the ad then you're inviting that question and have no right to get irritated by it. Personally I hate ads that are POA and would never contact one as I assume it means the horse is very expensive.
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I ring up and ask the price just for the sake of it now, even if I'm 99% sure I won't be viewing the horse. If enough people did it sellers would get so peeved off they'd just put the price in the advert like normal people. :D
 
Flame_ said:
I ring up and ask the price just for the sake of it now, even if I'm 99% sure I won't be viewing the horse. If enough people did it sellers would get so peeved off they'd just put the price in the advert like normal people. :D
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:D Love it!

Out of interest, have you found that horses advertised as POA tend to have quite inflated prices generally?
 
When ringing up about my horse, the first thing I did was to clarify the price. I didn't want the embarrassment of wasting anyone's time if she was out of my budget.
I didn't even bother ringing up on the adverts where people didn't put the price, I think expecting people to not have money at the front of their minds, especially in this recession, is extremely wishful thinking!
 
I always have a limit because i like to make sure that there are always enough funds to cover those unseen events that are par for the course with horses!! if i blow every penny on the initial purchase i am going to come unstuck if something crops up in the first few weeks!

I would be more concerned that someone who had no queries about price was in fact being unrealistic/naive about the price of horses and associated costs!
 
xspiralx said:
Out of interest, have you found that horses advertised as POA tend to have quite inflated prices generally?
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I've not phoned loads or anything and I've never been looking for an established competition horse, but probably about 50:50 whether they've been over budget or not. A lot don't put POA in the advert, they just don't put anything, IME these aren't particularly expensive horses.

There was one advertised on Arabian Lines that said something like "Don't phone if you can't afford her" complete with no price. :confused: :D
 
Just to repeat what everyone else has said, you need to put the price in the advert.

How can you ring and chat about a horse you don't know the price of? I once rang about a SJ pony for my daughter, advertised way beyond my budget but it said, "now much reduced price", so I rang and asked the new price, which was still ouside my budget and not much reduced at all infact. I would rarely ring up about a horse that said POA as I assume it is expensive.

Save yourself the hassle and put the price in the ad.
 
I emailed someone today as it was email only on ad & the first thing I asked was the price. I had to ask as the price wasn't on the ad either. It saved a lot of wasted time as I was looking for a friend who has a budget. The type was what she is looking for but their asking price was a lot higher than a) she wanted to pay & b) than what she thought it was worth. If the price had been on the ad to start with I wouldn't have had to ask!
 
cob&onion said:
TBH it puts me off seeing POA on an advert......I wouldn't bother ringing up about it!
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This. I either think it's going to be ridiculously expensive, or have so many issues the buyer can decide what its worth. I don't see why some people don't put a price on.
 
Dry Rot said:
Am I the only one who gets annoyed when the first question an enquirer asks about a horse I have for sale is, "How much are you asking?"

It sounds a perfectly reasonable question. After all, most of us have a budget. But am I unique in being a bit fussy where my animals go? Money is really not that important to me. It certainly isn't the decider.

I missed a call the other day, so got the number off caller display and called back. "Oh yes, you were advertising a horse for sale. Now, which one was that? Are you the TB? Oh, and how much are you asking?" No, I am not the TB -- and the price I quoted him was four times what I would settle for to the right home. I was so pleased when he said she was "outside my budget"! Meat man? Dealer?

Yes, I'm a lousy businessman, but if I'm interested in buying a horse I hope to live with for the next 20 years I don't think price would be my first question. I might even want to know where it is so I can go and look! "Being on a budget" indicates to me that money is tight and maybe things like livery, vet, farrier, etc. may be skimped and, if things get tough, the owner might be in severe trouble. Yes, I'll haggle and negotiate, but that's part of the procedure.

I got an email from someone looking for a family pony. The lady sounded delightful. We arranged for a viewing. Husband and wife turned up with kids 8 and 9. They spent two and a half hours here, mum and both children riding the pony, and price was not even mentioned. They finally decided that the pony was lovely but not suitable for what they wanted as she is still a bit green. I would almost have given the pony to them as, but for the inexperience, they were perfect for each other!

Am I just a grumpy old sod or do others feel like this when selling a horse?
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I don't think you can assume that because people may buy cheap, or have a budget, that they can't/won't look after the pony properly by not having funds for it- that's a massive leap and assumption...what about if somebody wants to buy cheap to get a bargain, because it's a buyers' market, because they want a bargain, etc, etc, etc....

Also, maybe not yourself, but say that family spent hours (of your time) with the pony, didn't think to ask price, only to find out later it was over-budget....then they'd be classed a timewaster and fool for not asking earlier!

I personally don't ever ring up about POA ads, as I think they just sound a bit stuck up (maybe not in your case)....also buyers often look at loads of horses and if they're at work/busy at home etc may well not have details to hand when you ring back....
 
xspiralx said:
:D Love it!

Out of interest, have you found that horses advertised as POA tend to have quite inflated prices generally?
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I think it depends on where you are in the country, to be honest. When we were in Surrey, POA tended to mean £10k or more. The pony I bought last month on the north coast of Scotland, who I nearly didn't go and see because he was advertised POA, they turned out to be asking £2,000 including tack and two good quality rugs - if they'd put that in the advert I think they'd have sold him an awful lot faster than they did.
 
Well if the OP isn't going to put a price on an advert then I'm not sure what they expect tbh. If I call up about an unpriced horse then after a very brief introduction pretty much my first question is how much!! I don't need to waste time chatting about a horse I can't afford!
 
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