How much would you haggle by?

hnmisty

hnmisty

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Continuing on from the "should I phone up even though it's out of my budget" threads, how much would you haggle for?

I'm going to look at a horse on Saturday. He may yet turn out to be totally unsuitable, but he does sound like what I'm after. So for now, this is hypothetical. He's for sale for £2500. Say he is "worth" that. How much would you try to haggle off? What would you make an offer for? £2000? Or would you go closer to the mark? And what would you be happy to settle on?

I'd probably feel like I'd got a bargain if we settled for £2495, I'm an awful haggler. Last time I tried I said "would you accept less?" and they said "no" :rolleyes:
 
With regards for this one, she said he's been up for sale since Jan but no one has rung about him, now apparently 3 of us interested...
 
Maybe worth trying to haggle 10-15% off price (obviously more if horse is over priced).

It depends what the horse is worth in the current market, what it would be worth to you and what your budget is.

When I bought my mare I didn't manage to get a reduction in price, but I did get a jumping saddle thrown in extra!
 
For my girl they were asking £1000 inc. nothing.
We got her for £950 inc. everything but the saddle and delivery :eek::rolleyes:

I suspect owners would be more willing to accept an offer if they really wanted you to be the person to own their horse.
 
Wouldn't mind being asked if I'd accept an offer, but the answer would be no.

If the horse is worth the asking price, why not just pay it and be glad you got a good horse ?
 
I couldnt get a penny off my Mare but they did deliver her for free which was a 2 hour trip.

TBH if you feel horse is overpriced perhaps offer 20% less than asking price & negotiate from there.

However if it turns out to be your dream horse wouldn't hang about & just offer asking, would be awful to lose out for the sake of a couple of hundred euro.
The second time I tried my Mare there was another potential buyer trying her later that day for a second time - so I didn't hang about, I went with my gut & signed my life away before other potential rode her later:D
 
I'm afraid I'd only haggle if I thought the horse was overpriced or had something specific to point to that would be a reason for offering less. But I hate haggling! :p

If it's priced fairly to start with, £2000 sounds a bit low. Maybe make it an odd figure? I did that with my trailer (offered £2080 because it was a couple of years older than they'd said), so rather than "meet me in the middle", the vendor just rounded up my offer to the next hundred. If I liked the horse and really wanted to haggle but felt it was fairly priced in the first place at £2500 I'd probably go in at something like £2260, hoping for £2300 but more likely ending up around £2400...?

To be honest even thinking about hypothetical haggling is making me feel uncomfortable :o:p:p:p I take the view that a hundred quid here or there isn't much when you're taking on a horse that will costs thousands to buy and equip, never mind keep, if it's the right horse for you!

I wouldn't make an offer on the day, I'd phone after they've sweated a bit, and try to find out when the other two viewings are so you can gauge how open they'll be to an offer.
 
Thanks for the thoughts :) I never know if I'm the only person who never haggles over anything or not! Or whether people price to account for someone making a lower offer. When we bought my pony, they wanted £800, we offered £600 and settled on £750.

trickivicki said:
Are you coming to see Pj lol? V x
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Lol, nope, not me! :p

Theocat...you sound like me. Ill probably just go "yup, here's a cheque for the full amount, lovely to meet you" then phew! No bargaining :p
 
Wouldn't worry about others being interested some owners will tell you that to put you off haggling and make a quick discision, I would still offer 2000 if I feel he is worth it. could possibly go lower if you felt cheeky as he has been up for sale for a while but if possible I always take the cash and possibly a trailer if it's a long disance away.
 
hnmisty said:
Theocat...you sound like me. Ill probably just go "yup, here's a cheque for the full amount, lovely to meet you" then phew! No bargaining :p
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:p:p

Closest I'd probably get to haggling would be asking "Er... does he come with anything? No? No, that's fine"
 
Lol Theocat, my previous attempt at haggling was literally "is there any negotiation on the price? No. Ok". We should form the "hapless hagglers" club :p

Edit- yeah, I thought if I offered around the £2000 mark, then I'd probably end up paying around £2400.
 
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When I bought my mare she was on the market for £1200, the year before she was on the market for £2k. I got her for £800, nothing included.

She's only 13.2hh (I'm 5ft 8!!!) and the owner was happy that she'd be with me for life, rather than outgrown by a child and passed on. Also although she is safe (she can be lazy) she can also be quite sharp, moving from a tb I don't mind this what so ever but if you were moving up off a small pony you'd probably end up in the floor a lot!

If you don't ask you don't get really (also, I didn't really have any more than £800 at the time so if they'd have said no I would have had to of moved on!)

I also got her delivered from Cambridge for about £80 :D BARGAIN pony!
 
The first thing I'd say to the seller is 'Will you take an offer?' If they say yes, then offer say £2k then go from there.
 
I will always put in an offer if I feel the horse is overpriced and mostly it is accepted. Some horses I've viewed I've offered less than half of the asking price and still ended up with the horse. The ONLY reason I will make an offer is when I know the horse is overpriced and the offer I will make will always be fair market value. I have also very happily paid the asking price without a seconds quibble if the horse is advertised at the correct price.

When selling, I am way more mindful of the person in front of me and the home they are offering for my horse/s. If I know the horse is marketed at the correct price but they don't have that amount of money then providing they will give the horse a great home and will sign a First Refusal contract, then they can have the horse for whatever they can afford. I've done this loads over the years and am about to do it with a horse that I must have bought back 3 or 4 times now lol. She sells, goes to fab owner, a couple of years down the line something changes in their lives and I buy her back. She will be sold on again once she comes home, and so the cycle of her life will continue as it always has.

In your case OP, if when you meet and ride the horse you feel it is priced correctly then full price would be the right offer to make. If it is overpriced then you should make an offer not based on their asking price but based on fair market value.
 
Depends on the horse, how badly you want it, and whether it's worth the asking price.

At £2500, I'd aim for £2200. When I went to view mine, I told the owner I needed to think about it and left without making an offer. I called him back a couple of days later, asked if he would take an offer, he replied with "actually, I've reduced the price today". Took out the need for haggling :)
 
I went to view a weanling once, the first thing the colt did was bite me, but I liked him and offered 20% less than the asking price, saying that I would not pay more. The seller reluctantly accepted. I was so pleased with the colt that, after a month, I rang the seller and said I was coming over to give him the 20%.
 
hayinamanger said:
I went to view a weanling once, the first thing the colt did was bite me, but I liked him and offered 20% less than the asking price, saying that I would not pay more. The seller reluctantly accepted. I was so pleased with the colt that, after a month, I rang the seller and said I was coming over to give him the 20%.
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LIKE. What a lovely attitude! :)
 
I've got my horse up for sale and I've built the haggling room into the asking price, he's up for 2.8K and I'm actually wanting 2.5. So I'd expect there to be some room for compromise in there
 
I never haggle for the sake of it. I bought my new boy in January & he was worth, (to me), exactly what the seller was asking.

She then threw in his saddle so got a bargain anyway, big I would have happy paid another £500 fit him if that's what she'd been asking.

I suppose it just depends if they've been priced fairly in the first place
 
I have always assumed that when someone is selling something, they will always overprice slightly with the hope they will eventually get what they want after buyer inevetiably haggles.
With the current market for horses being so dire and the horse having been up for sale for 3 months I would say you definately have room to negotiate.
 
My first pony was up for 3.5k (looking back probably way overpriced but he was a perfect, safe first pony who I had the best fun with so more than worth it in my opinion) couldn't get them to shift on price but they delivered him for free, and paid for the farrier to put 4 new shoes on before he came.

Current one was up for 2,800. Managed 2,500 including a heavyweight turnout and saddle
 
I'd offer 2k but expect to meet in the middle at 2250.

My mare was up for £3100 (which was more than I had) but we finally settled on £2700 including delivery (they were miles away, took them 4 hours!).

I sold 2 horses last year, both low budget, but got the asking price for both. I would have gone down in price a bit as had priced them expexting some haggling but neither buyer asked!
 
I'll quite happily reduce a price by half, done it twice now and both times a price has been agreed in one case offers at around £1000, dropped price to £500 and other was £850 and bought for £350, but then both were for under £1000, one unbroken and the other had serious behavioural problems which we never quite got to the bottom of. I'm as tight as they come mind and never pay the asking price for anything be it cars, houses, horses or carpets! It's a buyers market, I personally wouldn't be offended by any offer when selling a horse but I may well chuckle to myself at the cheek! :) good luck.
 
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