Recently I decided to clean the safe out and sell off the firearms I haven’t shot in over 18 months, so that means selling off whatever doesn’t make the cut. After listing some of my less loved firearms on a local trading site as well as Gunbroker, I have a new respect for those that spend their work week behind a local gun store counter or even a pawn shop gun counter.

It seems that the art of negotiation is disappearing quickly in today’s society much to my dismay. While many of the prospective buys that emailed either were happy with my asking price or understood that it is good form to throw a reasonable offer out that can be haggled upon, other prospective buyers don’t seem to understand the finer points of haggling.

The staggering amount of “what’s your bottom dollar” emails is nothing short of infuriating. As a personal rule when someone uses the “bottom dollar” method I inevitably respond with an email that states that the asking price is the bottom dollar out of annoyance. With the question of what my bottom dollar is, the buyer is essentially asking me to haggle with myself so that they don’t have to.

If you are wondering if there was a particular interchange that spurred me to write this rant up, there was. Below is the interchange between myself and a person I shall refer to as “Lazy Ace” to protect their identity.

Lazy Ace: “Still interested in selling?”

Patrick R: “I am.”

Lazy Ace: “I’d like to buy..bottom dollar”

Patrick R: “The listed price is the bottom dollar.”

Lazy Ace: “I can buy now 300 .”

Patrick R: “No. I said the listed price was my bottom dollar. Please read my email and accept the answer. Have a nice day.

While I may have been a bit curt with Ace over nothing more than a minor annoyance, this growing trend of asking for someone’s bottom dollar is nothing short of aggravating when trying to sell items. If you are looking to buy a firearm from a private seller and you think their price is a bit on the high side, have the courtesy to assign a value to it so that the seller will take you seriously. The worst that can happen is you receive a “no thanks” response.

What are your experiences with haggling buyers? Do you have a story about a particularly aggravating interchange between a prospective buyer in regards to price?