What exactly does "OBO" mean?

[SunnyD]

Yes, I know it means "Or Best Offer"... etiquette-wise, when someone lists something for $xxx OBO, I've always been under the impression that if someone offers you your full asking price, that was it. Apparently, OBO is synonymous with eBay, as I found out today.

Long story short, found a decent washer & dryer listed on CL for $200 "OBO". My wife emailed, said we'll take it for the full $200, to which the selling party agreed and asked when we would be by to pick it up. My wife replied saying we'd be there around 6:30pm tonight with cash in hand. The next reply from the seller was the puzzling one. It was a simple reply stating that they just had someone offer $220 for it.

It was at this point that we put principles before anything here, and while we were willing to match the offer my gut said this would end up being a bidding war even it it were against a fake party (my notion is that the seller decided he could get more for it so replied with a fake other party offer - because I'm pessimistic and firmly believe humanity sucks like that), I wouldn't be a party to it.

So really... what does "OBO" actually mean?

 

[her209]

It means "best offer". It could be that the final price may be less than, equal to, or more than the asking price.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Let me put it in ebay terms.

$200 = Buy it now price

Auction starts from $0.01. You bid up.

Unfortunately when your wife emailed, it's not the equivalent of hitting the Buy it Now button because he doesn't automatically close the listing to new bids.

 

[meltdown75]

i think in this case, it means the seller is an asshole.

 

[sswingle]

I agree with you, it is $200 OR best offer. Meaning, no one wants to pay $200, you get an offer of $150, no one else wants it, so best offer of 150 gets it. Or if someone does want to pay $200, then its theirs.

 

[CRXican]

You're supposed to lowball. When you immediately agreed to the $200 asking price it gave them the impression that you've got money to blow.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I agree with you, it is $200 OR best offer. Meaning, no one wants to pay $200, you get an offer of $150, no one else wants it, so best offer of 150 gets it.

This is how I always interpreted it.

 

[Blackjack200]

Yes, I know it means "Or Best Offer"... etiquette-wise, when someone lists something for $xxx OBO, I've always been under the impression that if someone offers you your full asking price, that was it. Apparently, OBO is synonymous with eBay, as I found out today.

Long story short, found a decent washer & dryer listed on CL for $200 "OBO". My wife emailed, said we'll take it for the full $200, to which the selling party agreed and asked when we would be by to pick it up. My wife replied saying we'd be there around 6:30pm tonight with cash in hand. The next reply from the seller was the puzzling one. It was a simple reply stating that they just had someone offer $220 for it.

It was at this point that we put principles before anything here, and while we were willing to match the offer my gut said this would end up being a bidding war even it it were against a fake party (my notion is that the seller decided he could get more for it so replied with a fake other party offer - because I'm pessimistic and firmly believe humanity sucks like that), I wouldn't be a party to it.

So really... what does "OBO" actually mean?

Doesn't matter what OBO means, you have a contract right there. If the seller won't honor it, I wouldn't do business with them. I would send a note to the effect of:

"We submitted an offer of $200 for washer/dryer on xx/xx/xxxx and you accepted the offer on xx/xx/xxxx. Please confirm that it is your intention to honor the agreement and let us know when we can complete the transaction."

 

[aigomorla]

agree'd

You offered 200, and now he wants 220?
Thats not OBO. That's called Baiting in my book.

Sounds like sellers grief.

Tell him to keep the washer/dryer. Go look for another one.
You really dont want to deal with a seller like that.

 

[Iron Woode]

I had some jackass try that with me over a car 12 years ago. It was $1300 or best offer certified. I offered him that price based on the car passing my mechanics inspection. Next thing I hear is he was "offered" $1500 and that's what he wanted me to pay him. I said, "$1300 is what you asked and that is what you accepted from me. Either you want to sell the car or play games. Which is it?". He said I wasn't serious about buying his car. I asked him to take it to my mechanic 3 different times and he never showed up with it. I went and found a much better car for $2000 and bought that.

Later he called me and offered the car to me for $1100. I told him to get lost. It apparently ended up in the local wrecking yard.

 

[darkxshade]

Tell them "Have fun sending it to Nigeria"

 

[GlacierFreeze]

i think in this case, it means the seller is an asshole.

This.

Tell him he didn't mention anything about being that hard up about $20 and OBO doesn't mean a bidding war.

 

[SunnyD]

agree'd

You offered 200, and now he wants 220?
Thats not OBO. That's called Baiting in my book.

Sounds like sellers grief.

Tell him to keep the washer/dryer. Go look for another one.
You really dont want to deal with a seller like that.

I did forget to note that we've already told the seller to essentially go fuck a cork. I told my wife at best to tell him we'd match $220, but that we weren't going to be getting into a bidding war so he could kiss that idea goodbye.

 

[darkxshade]

I did forget to note that we've already told the seller to essentially go fuck a cork. I told my wife at best to tell him we'd match $220, but that we weren't going to be getting into a bidding war so he could kiss that idea goodbye.

Should have countered with $180 to maintain your stance of dominance.

 

[trmiv]

Craigslist is full of flakes and crooks. I was selling a fish tank and stand on craigslist one time, and some guy emailed me and said he wanted it and agreed to the price I had listed (I posted very detailed pictures too, so he knew exactly what he was getting). I said great, here's my address. He came the next day to get it and decided then he wanted to negotiate price, and tried to lowball me by $40. I told him we had already agreed to a price, and if he didn't like it he could not buy it. He kept wanting to offer me a lower price, so I told him to GTFO. Ended up selling it the next day for my listed price to someone else.

 

[gorcorps]

AFAIC best offer can mean either way. If he got an offer higher than what you were offering, then it's totally in his right to take the higher offer. It's his shit, his sale, his rules. In my experience it generally means that they'll accept less than the asking price (whatever the best offer is) but that's not always how it works out.

 

[Nik]

You offered him one offer. Someone else offered another offer. He clearly stated that he will take the BEST offer.

What part of "or BEST offer" is so damn confusing?

 

[TallBill]

Thought this thread would be about these:

 

[Leros]

You offered him one offer. Someone else offered another offer. He clearly stated that he will take the BEST offer.

What part of "or BEST offer" is so damn confusing?

More than likely the seller is just trying to get him to pay more.

 

[olds]

I thought it was "Or Bacon Offering"?

 

[ViviTheMage]

Low ball them, gotta let them know their stuff isn't worth crap, otherwise they'll start fake bidding wars like that!

 

[Blackjack200]

My wife emailed, said we'll take it for the full $200, to which the selling party agreed

You offered him one offer. Someone else offered another offer. He clearly stated that he will take the BEST offer.

What part of "or BEST offer" is so damn confusing?

I don't know. What part of "to which the selling party agreed..." is so damn confusing?

 

[aigomorla]

You offered him one offer. Someone else offered another offer. He clearly stated that he will take the BEST offer.

What part of "or BEST offer" is so damn confusing?

That makes no sense tho.

The listing had 200 on it. And then OBO.

That means 200 or less in 99% of the cases, if not the seller would of wrote 220 OBO.

Its not OBO... its sellers grief.
The seller realized it can be sold, and now he wants more.

Would you randomly pay more then asking for something?

SunnyD i would of done the same thing as you. Told the seller LOLz, and then just walk off.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

You offered him one offer. Someone else offered another offer. He clearly stated that he will take the BEST offer.

What part of "or BEST offer" is so damn confusing?

What part of agreeing to sell it is so damn confusing? If an extra $20 was that big of a deal, then maybe he should have waited to see if he got more offers before agreeing to sell it. The guy was most likely just trying to bait them into giving him more money.

 

[vshah]

Doesn't matter what OBO means, you have a contract right there. If the seller won't honor it, I wouldn't do business with them. I would send a note to the effect of:

"We submitted an offer of $200 for washer/dryer on xx/xx/xxxx and you accepted the offer on xx/xx/xxxx. Please confirm that it is your intention to honor the agreement and let us know when we can complete the transaction."

seriously? its craigslist....

just start looking for another dryer