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OBO - Or Best Offer

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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Gentlemen -

I've seen sales on Craigslist, etc. showing something like "$5000 OBO".

OBO = Or Best Offer.

But the ad doesn't usually give a time period for when the OBO period ends.

If you advertise at "$5000 OBO" - and after a week, the best offer you get is $1200 - do you just keep advertising <span style="font-style: italic">ad infinitum</span>?

Shouldn't the seller advertise the date when the OBO period ends - and a minimum?

"I have the ability to cloud men's minds - usually my own."

Thanks.
Tom
 
When they say "Or Best Offer", they usually mean "Or Best Reasonable Offer". Of course, "Reasonable" is in the eyes of the beholder.

Marv J
 
Actually in that case, I think "reasonable" is in the eyes of the seller.
 
I don't think OBO means anything anymore. It's just a reflex that some people have when they place an ad. It's a hold-over from a time when you paid by the letter to place an ad and you wanted to telegraph that you were a motivated seller. If it means anything today it's that the seller believes he'll be entertaining multiple offers for more than the asking price.

A good friend of mine went to look at a Craigslisted Miata. The seller had a price/obo on the car. The seller set it up so that everyone who was interested came to look at the car at the same time to create that situation. Much to everyone's surprise...
 
With a "ringer" in th' mix to whine and bid it up?


...sorry for th' cynical attitude, it comes naturally. "Estate Sales" are what come to mind initially.
 
DrEntropy said:
With a "ringer" in th' mix to whine and bid it up
Click to expand...

You know it! There was a Wild Card too. The first guy to show up went agro and scared a few people off. At one point throwing an actual tantrum pounding on the car and yelling at everyone that he was FIRST therefore the car was his...Bet the seller didn't count on that. Part of me wishes I would have been there to see/antagonize. The other part is content to have not wasted the time.
 
Boink said:
"OBO" seems to occasionally appear on eBay... such as this: https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Austin-He...=item43b0166a98
One wonders if such offers ever go anywhere in these non-auctions.
Click to expand...

I've bid on quite a few "buy it now, OBO" items on e-bay for stuff needed here at work, and most of the time, if the offer is reasonable, I'll get the item. Of course, those items are more industrial so I think there's a different mindset of the seller.
 
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