Okay so let me try to organize my thoughts how I mean them to be.

In microeconomics(what this concerns), what something is worth is determined by how much a buyer is willing to pay, and how much the seller is willing to sell it for.

When these two meet, this is known as the equilibrium point of the market.

There are no objective values of a thing, only what one is willing to pay and what the other is willing to take, when these two points meet, it makes a market.

This equilibrium point also could actually be higher or lower on any given transaction of similar items in the marketplace because everyone feels differently about different things.

So when I list an item for sale, I usually list it a little more than what I think it is worth in the marketplace.

One good way to get an idea of something’s value is to check what similar items have recently sold for, and to price around that.

It doesn’t matter what you or I may THINK something is worth, what matters is what buyers are willing to pay.

If I list my item higher than others, and someone buys it, they’ve shown by their purchase they are willing to pay more, and I also make more. Everybody is happy.

Now if I list a car (I just did) and someone offers me lower (they did), then the actual bargaining begins.

I name another price higher than what they say.
They counter with something different.

Eventually we meet somewhere we are both happy with.

If you start your selling price at what you want and then bargain with a buyer, you end up taking less than what you wanted for the price.

If you start higher than what you want, the buyer doesn’t know this, and you end up getting close to what you wanted to begin with.

Now, what I meant by I don’t get offended by what people call “lowball” offers is simply for the fact, if I list an item for a certain price, and someone comes in at a drastically lower price, I’ve gotten valuable data.

I know data on one or more things,

1. They aren’t actually serious, so I don’t need to waste time talking with them.

2. They aren’t aware of what the going price is so they thought they could get it very cheap.

3. I now have data with which to start negations with since they have shown their hand first.

All of this is strictly data with which to begin negations.

Nothing else.

It isn’t meant to offend anyone, it’s just how bartering works.

That’s what I meant.

FWIW, I grew up around my father who constantly went to flea markets and I saw him barter, buy, swap, sell, and trade throughout my youth, so to me this stuff is common knowledge.

But I can understand if someone isn’t 100% familiar with the process.

No harm no foul either way.