offering waaaaayyyyy under the asking price

Bustalot

Bustalot

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Anybody done this when they bought their horse? I am talking over £500 less than the asking price. :eek:

Was it successful? How did the seller take it. Did you give reasons for offering that much less?

thanks
 
Two horses I have bought I offered over 2K under the initial asking price. First horse - seller knew I didn't have the kind of cash she was asking, let me try anyway, accepted my offer which was 2.5K under what she wanted, on the basis I'd be a good home and wouldn't sell/beat the horse at the first sign of trouble. I still have that one.

The other one, it had been advertised all summer, it was coming into winter, I got the distinct impression the seller wanted rid so I made a cheeky offer. Turned out the horse was off to the sales the next day, so I could probably have been even more cheeky! I offered about 2K under asking for that one.
 
Yes I have, often much more than £500 ( of course it depends on the total asking price)
I always tell how I came to the price , why that's the value of the horse to me I have always managed to buy them on the other hand if I think the horse is well priced I just pay the asking price.
 
I offered under the asking price . . . I knew seller was motivated to sell (she was going abroad travelling). She accepted my offer and chucked in saddle, bridle, polypad, boots, bandages, rugs and headcollar/leadrope.

If you want specifics, PM me . . . don't really think I want to be discussing finances in such a public place.

P
 
I offered £1500 under the asking price as I just didn't think he was worth it. He was fat, unfit & no tack with him.

They agreed on a price £1000 less & tbh if I knew then what I know now about him, I wouldn't have even bartered! He was so worth the asking price!!! Got a bargain in the end!
 
Yep.

Horse was 2.3k and I offered 1.5k ( 5 year old VV green arab with excellent breeding but certain 'issues')...initial asking price was 3.75k I think but had come down over time he wasn't selling.

Offer was accepted because I was known to sellers, local to them- they knew horse would have a good home for life.

It was a 'nothing chanced, nothing gained' punt from me...liked the horse but didn't want to pay much in case I couldn't sort him out.

Luckily he's come good:D
 
I think it depends on the starting price £500 off of £1500 is pushing it but off a £4000 or upwards probably fair to try, I have dropped a similar amount to the right home and have bought in the past with low offers, it also depends on the reason for selling, the only thing that I will not do is run the horse down in order to lower the price and if that is tried when I am selling I get peed off and usually will not budge.
Your reason for offering less must be fair and based on fact, ie its greener than I really wanted and I need plenty of lessons, or I need to buy new tack and that is pushing me over budget, it may not be true but sounds better than I want to buy but its feet are crap and you have not schooled it properly. Most sellers dont like their horses being criticised and are better kept on your side.
 
Um no, but my sec D was offered to me for £1500 when he was for sale for £2500, sometimes people prefer for the horse to have a good, caring home rather then the money so it's worth negotiating with the seller
 
I'd have thought that only £500 off the asking price was good in this current market.

I bought a really nice horse for £1750 under the asking price just before Christmas.

Even on a £1500 pony i offered & bought at £1000.

At the end of the day every situation & seller is different, if you don't ask you'll never know.

Good luck
 
be positive said:
I think it depends on the starting price £500 off of £1500 is pushing it but off a £4000 or upwards probably fair to try, I have dropped a similar amount to the right home and have bought in the past with low offers, it also depends on the reason for selling, the only thing that I will not do is run the horse down in order to lower the price and if that is tried when I am selling I get peed off and usually will not budge.
Your reason for offering less must be fair and based on fact, ie its greener than I really wanted and I need plenty of lessons, or I need to buy new tack and that is pushing me over budget, it may not be true but sounds better than I want to buy but its feet are crap and you have not schooled it properly. Most sellers dont like their horses being criticised and are better kept on your side.
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I am always honest and very staight if I think the horse is not at the level it was advertised at I tell them in a nice way but very clearly your horse is not as described because xyz what I am prepared to pay is x ( I never barter) if you accept my offer I will get it vetted immediately and pick up up the day after the vetting no messing . I never what tack rugs other stuff throwing in it's never what I want anyway, perhaps I've always been lucky but people do seem to respond to straight talking but I am always very careful to be nice .
 
I called up about a horse that was advertised as POA. The lady said she wanted £9,000. I said, "sorry that is too expensive for me" and tried to end the call. Then the lady said "oh, well how about £7,000". I said, that is still too much - and before I could say anything else, she said "well, £5,000 then, but that is my absolute bottom price".

Bearing in mind I had not even seen the horse and we had been speaking for about 5 minutes, I thought it was incredible.

My trainer says if you want to spend £5k, you should look at horse being advertised at £7500.
 
I've always offered what I valued the horse at regardless of asking price.
Sometimes that just £50 off, other times its been as much as half the asking price.
If people dont like my offer then they just say no. Most say yes.
 
The flip side to this is that when I knew I had much less than the asking price (horse 1), I told the seller before I tried it. I was not terribly impressed with the girl who spent 3 hours trying a horse of mine only to offer half the asking price because that was all she had - if she'd said up front she only had that much I'd have saved us both a lot of time and trouble and told her not to bother coming!
 
SpottedCat said:
The flip side to this is that when I knew I had much less than the asking price (horse 1), I told the seller before I tried it. I was not terribly impressed with the girl who spent 3 hours trying a horse of mine only to offer half the asking price because that was all she had - if she'd said up front she only had that much I'd have saved us both a lot of time and trouble and told her not to bother coming!
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I agree with this wholeheartedly I would never view a horse I could not afford to buy if I loved it but won't ever pay more than I think a horse is worth to me.
 
I think it's fine to view a horse you can't afford the asking price of if you're either not a million miles off (talking £250-£500 - the girl who came to see mine was several thousand short!!), or you've discussed with the seller in advance and they don't mind!
 
Rio was up for £2,000 incl bridle and delivery (we lived 1hour 30mins away) as a backed 3 year old but we got him for £1,400 without bridle and we picked him up. He had done very little and owner wanted good home rather than money so she accepted. The money we saved went into a fund for lessons for us when he was older and in proper work :)
 
Well I sold a pony recently for £1200 with her fitted leather tack, she had been advertised at £1450 without her tack, I wanted £1300 which is what I paid for her, but I ended up selling for less and throwing the tack in. It was a really good home but it still sticks in my throat. But they were the only viewers, coming into winter, and it enabled me to buy the larger replacement.
 
I got my girl for 500 less than asking price. Was completely honest and said i didnt have full amount. was at dealers so tried her before was given price. Wouldnt have hesitated to pay full amount had I had it, shes amazing! (not biased at all) ;-)
 
It depends on why you are offering under the asking price.

If it's because you haven't got the funds to buy at the asking price, in my opinion you shouldn't waste the sellers time viewing unless you've discussed it beforehand.

If it's because the horse isn't worth the asking price, then yes it's acceptable.
 
I got my girl for £1500 less than the original asking price too (and this was before she had even been advertised!) as I rang the seller and said straight off that thats all the money that I had and she said to come a view anyway and the rest is history!
 
I think it depends how much you think said horse is worth, and how much you like him/her. Are you willing to risk insulting the seller when you're that keen on their horse?
 
i think as others said it depends on how much you want the horse, whether its worth whats being asked, and whether keeping the owner sweet benefits you.

For instance, the 2yo I bought recently I didnt haggle on because I thought she was worth the price and the stud helpfully said theyd stable her for the week before vet could come for vetting & turn out in paddocks by stabling (she usually lived out with the other 2yos and some nannys further away on a huge amount of acreage). So it was extra work for them to start with, and then being unused to a stable she managed to bang her leg. They thought she was okay and trotted up sound,but rang me anyway as there was slight swelling and said they wouldnt mind if I postponed the vetting. So on the vets advice I postponed another week. If Id haggled them down on an already fair price they may not have been so keen to ring me and create more work for themselves, the vetting could have gone ahead and the vet say another vetting required because of the swelling which would have cost me two vettings. So bear in mind keeping the seller sweet is sometimes in your best interests! :D.

I also think its better to think in percentage haggling rather than figures to determine 'fairness' and how realistic you are being. Working on the assumption the horse is pretty much worth the price, for example £500 off £1000 50%- not very realistic. £500 of £10000 is 5% which is much more achievable!:D
 
Mine was up for £2800 I offered £2100 and got him. The seller was really concerned to get a good home and knew he would be at a good livery yard.

I thought he genuinely wasn't worth the asking price in the current market - and he needs a fair bit of schooling, seems greener than he should be. I explained that I would be paying for help with schooling etc and would need to factor that into account.

So we agreed my offer was a fair price. And indeed, I'm paying my YO to ride him (she's a great rider) weekly, and I also get lessons on him every week so I'm keeping to my word.

I think if you have genuine reasons for making the offer or if you think horse is genuinely overpriced then it's got to be worth saying why.

ETA for my kids' pony I didn't haggle at all as I thought the asking price was perfectly fair.

Hope this helps.
 
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