Putting offers in on horses

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Cruiseonamiro

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Post below really made me think! The last two horses i've sold people have come, fallen in love, and then offered a couple of grand under the asking price! Now frankly, I think thta's just rude, the price is the price at the end of the day, and though i'm willing to knock say, 500 quid off to the right home, why do people put in these cheeky offers, especially when the advert says, "No offers" I know it's buying etiquette to put offers in, and I don't have a problem with people asking, but it's when they try and claim that there's something wrong with the horse, and offer half the money! You're like, fine, i'll sell him to someone else then! The last couple of horses we've bought we just paid the money they were up at. The seller probably got more money than they had intended but is it not worth it to get the horse you want? Or am I mental?
 
Personally, if I was likely to put in a cheeky offer on a horse I would discuss this on the phone before I even went to view, if the owner then said yes come and look then all well and good.
If someone came to see a horse at X price and offered Y, well below asking price, then yes I would consider them rude and a timewaster.
 
Thank god it's not just me Ben_and_Jerrys! Frankly to come and see a horse two or three times, bring an instructor, say how pleased they are they've found the eprfect horse for them etc and then offer 2k less than the asking price is just rude, if they'd said that in the first place I wouldn't have let them come!
 
I think it comes down to what percentage of the asking price it is as well though.

Offering 3K on a 5K horse then yes rude unless discussed prior
Offering 13K on a 15K horse then more acceptable
 
I completely agree with you! The last couple I've brought I offered £500 less and then I think with one we ended on £300 less and other £250. But I was prepared to pay full asking price if necessary. I personnaly wouldn't have the nerve to do anything else!

Equally I can't believe what some people think is acceptable - I would turn people away there and then if they were that rude - you know what figure the seller is thinking when you go to see it! Don't go and see it if you're not prepared to pay for it!
 
As B&J says, it depends greatly on the price of the horse in the first place. If the horse is 10k, offering 8k isn't necessarily unacceptable imo. Depending how horse is priced to start with, I'd say going in with an offer of 20% below asking price isn't out of order if the horse is priced quite highly for what it is.

However I do agree that it is rude to come and see a horse more than once and act interested and then offer a ridiculously low amount. If you really don't think a horse is worth half what they're asking, I think really you should say that when you call up, that way if they're not prepared to budge on price you won't waste your time and theirs.
 
But even at 10k then offering 8k is a huge difference. If i had 10k to spend on a horse for instance, id get a lot different to if i was spending 8k. If we were talking say, 25k and offering 23, then maybe. But until you get that high up it's still a lot to take off.
 
Because that's the way it's always been done.
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I agree, it's very rude to low ball an offer and if I had my way horses would have sticker prices and that would be that. But traditionally horse deals have been "flexible" and that's the expectation no matter how many "no offer" advertisements people put in the paper. Just reading this thread, almost everyone got something off the stated price!

The people who can hold hard are the ones that have incredibly saleable horses, especially at the top end. But demand controls price and most horses won't end up the subject of a bidding war so most people will either offer what they have to spend or walk away. I don't want to spend everything I have to spend on a horse just because, I only want to spend what I think the horse is worth. If we don't agree, fine. Moving on and good luck to all.

That said, I don't think people should look at horses way out of their price range - it wastes everyone's time. But then again, I know some people who have got real bargains so that keeps everyone hoping. I bought a horse once for HALF the original asking price because after a couple of months the owners realised they weren't have much luck at the price. In the end I paid less than I would have offered them originally!
 
I think George's previous owners were very pleased when I a novice buyer fell in love with George, I offered & paid the full asking price!! No wonder they happily agreed to transport him to me for free!
 
But a lot of people overprice horses in the expectation they will be knocked down.

Personally I think 20% starting offer to compromise at 10% off the asking price is fair. Most people will put a lower offer in than the asking price, so if you want to get say 10k, you're better off asking 11. Of course asking for 2k off is very cheeky if the horse is an absolute bargain at 10k, but as I said, a lot of the time this isn't the case, and people have whacked an extra couple of grand onto the asking price to allow room for bargaining.
 
couple of grand? most owners add something more like 500 quid, or at most 750. Hence odd prices. Like my coloured chap. Up at 6.5k. we wnted 6. My bay pony, bargain at 3.5k, we wanted 3k. Then sum1 offered us 4k for the coloured and 2k for the pony... which i found a little rude, seeing as we paid my new horses full asking price, both sets of buyers had visited on several occasions, and i had turned awya other viewers on the basis that the horse was being taken on trial by them.
 
i think alot of poeple try to make a more expensive horse fit their budget
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i have had a total of 5 horses & paid asking price without trying to negotiate a discount for 4 of them , because i felt all 4 were worth the money & whilst i am very financially aware i also like to think i'm fair

when i sold a horse recently i too had a very cheeky offer from the first viewer which i refused ,she then tried game playing, she got her cumupence when second viewer made a sensible offer which i accepted straight out as i really liked the lady (don't think she;d bargained on that!)
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Depends on how much the horse is. I know of plenty of people who price horses at a grand more than they actually want for the horse, I don't think its uncommon at all. Like I said though, I think 10% off the asking price is perfectly reasonable.

I would be happy to pay full asking price, IF that price was reasonable.
 
I also believe many people have an over-inflated view of what their horse is worth though as well. We paid the full asking price for my horse 13 years ago but i loved him straight away, he passed a 5 stage VC with flying colours and was worth the asking price due to how he'd been brought on and how good he was for his age (he's still going strong at 17 now).

Our last purchase had been advertised for several weeks and we were intrigued why it had not sold as sounded lovely. Went to see (we weren't in the market for buying a horse really so prob naughty) but he turned out to be v nice indeed. They wanted over £3K for him (4 yo), but he was weak unfront. We had him vetted and due to his growth immaturity the vet advised us he would need another year before he could be worked. Therefore we felt we had bargaining power and got him for about £800 less!

I have since seen a 2 yo coloured which, in my mind was over priced (it hadn't done anything more than have a headcollar on) so i offered what i believed it was worth and they did not accept. They since readvertised when it'd turned 3 for over £1000 more than the original amount!

I think it does depend on the circumstances. If someone's advertised a horse for a long time you may be in better position to offer a lower amount. As someone said - if you don't ask you don't get. I wouldn't however go and see a horse I couldn't afford the full asking price on either though.
 
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