The Last Horse Trader

[Hodr]

This is going to be tough to explain.  As kid when I grew up, 50+ years ago there were always horse traders of every stripe making an offer.  The deal always started with an item of value being offered at an outrageous price with the expectation of an equally outrageous counter offer.   Eventually a middle was found and a deal was struck with both people thinking they got a good deal.  Four days ago, Oct 26, I tried to start a horse trade on General Classified here at GBO.  My terms were outrageous in the best tradition of horsetraders and I said so in the offer which is not tradtional.  In four days no one has felt courious enougth to reply although over seventy people have read it.  No one has even told me I am an idiot by PM or reply which is the second move in any horsetrade.  I have sat here awhile and am thinking, that except for my wife at garage sales, nobody is making trade offers any more.  It seems sad the E(vil)bay has the internet convinced that MONEY must change hands before people can exchange any thing.  I have no intent to bump my offer up to the top of the list at any in the future.  It was my hope that I could find another horsetrader with a computer.
 
Hodr

[Cuts Crooked]

Maybe no one is interested. Lotta folks these daze don' know who Keith was.

[briarpatch]

Talking about horse trading brings back long ago memories. There was a barber shop in my home town run by two brothers and most days you could go there and the place would be standing room only. From old to young, rich and poor. Not a lot of hair cutting going on.
I dont think a man in there would leave with the same knife he came in with. On a daily basics everything you could think of was traded. I loved going there and when I got older I left with a knife or two. Yes everyone was proud of his knife and it took a lot of trading to get it where you wanted it.

[BUGEYE]

Talking about horse trading brings back long ago memories. There was a barber shop in my home town run by two brothers and most days you could go there and the place would be standing room only. From old to young, rich and poor. Not a lot of hair cutting going on.
I dont think a man in there would leave with the same knife he came in with. On a daily basics everything you could think of was traded. I loved going there and when I got older I left with a knife or two. Yes everyone was proud of his knife and it took a lot of trading to get it where you wanted it.

I've done that a few times.  everyone kept a broken blade junker in their pocket to "drop" knives with.

[mechanic]

Hodr,
 
Several things apply.  The rules of the classified forbid making comments about price on open forum.  GB indicated that the seller has the right to price his goods at whatever he wishs, and if we reply to that at all it must be through personal message.
 
Second....I'm the consummate horse trader, having done it all my life and still do.  But...this is not an auction site where we can bid or barter.
 
What I normally do, is go ahead and price my stuff at or near the least I would sell it for.  If it doesn't move in a timely manner, I might mark it down once...then I just withdraw it.
 
Believe me, if you list something I really want, regardless of price, I will shoot you a pm and try and negotiate!
 
Hang in there...GB's has a bunch of good folks and occasionally one or two not so good that don't last long.  The classifieds work well as set up, and don't produce as many arguments as they might otherwise.
 
Ben

[Graybeard]

I thought the price asked was so totally ridiculous it wasn't worthy of a comment. Even if it had been something I wanted I'd not have bothered to respond. It really wasn't anything I wanted.

I believe I sold my copy of the book to someone on the classifieds here at a fair price. Such a letter as you mention might have value to some folks but to me it has no value at all.

Personally I think folks should price their items somewhat appropriately for what they have. Yeah you should expect folks to try to get you down on price somewhat and perhaps built a wee bit in for that or do like Ladobe does and just say price is firm no negoiating.

Very intentionally this isn't an auction site and I won't allow folks to begin a bidding war on the items listed.

[powderman]

I'd love to have the book, have no use for the letter. Like GB, when I saw the trade value asked it was so ridiculous I didn't even bother looking further. And YES, I was raised horse trading so to speak. POWDERMAN. 

[Hodr]

Hello Graybeard.
Last Elmer Keith book I found in first issue was Six Guns and I put a price on it to be sent to the server fund, not to me, it sold the next day. 
1     What I was really hoping for was a person who would store and archive both book and letter.  I stated that I thought my offer was unfair and invited alternative offers.  I think the letter is far more important than the book.  To me it shows an undereducated man, holding down a job as a magazine editor, and willing to help any one who asked.  There are not many of those type people left.  If I had listed on ebay or a signature collectors site it would have disappeared into a stack of papers held only for value.   
2     Selling at my dinner table, it is always best to look the man you are dealing with in the eye and I make good coffee and great cookies. 
3     Too much asked; I offered additional trade bait in rifles, handguns, buck knives etc., I could even have throwen in A restraunt milkshake maker.  Any trade I make will be fair to both sides or it will leave me with a sour feeling, I just can't skin some one and feel good about it. 
4     If I have no one intrested in Elmer Keith on this forum I will pull this offer and then relist elsewhere .  If I wind up with cash(?) I will donate some. 
5     My kind of horse trader was best put forward by Paul Douglas in his last movie, "The Mating Game".   
Lastly, I think it is possible that I may have been misunderstood, if I have offended any one here I apoligise, that was never my intention.   
 
Hodr

[Graybeard]

I wasn't offended, I figure everyone has the right to price their items as they wish. Thanks for the donation. I have zero interest in letters no matter who they are from as I'm not a collector and don't suffer from hero worship. Yes I recognize there are folks who feel differently and I'm sure the letter has a value. If I had it I'd likely just donate it to the Elmer Keith museum.

I'm not really sure I know who Paul Douglas is and for sure never have seen the movie you mention.

I really don't understand the concept of pricing items far above realistic value. It is foreign to me tho fine with me if that's what a person wants to do. It does however always take me out of consideration for an item. If I feel it grossly over priced I just ignore it even if I'd like to own it. I'll haggle a bit if I feel the item is priced somewhat reasonably and sometimes will even buy at the asking price if I can't get it down but for me personally to do so I have to consider the asking price to be a realistic one.

I dunno for sure but suspect a whole lotta folks here look at such over priced items much as I do.

[Doublebass73]

I was raised by a very good yankee hoss trader, he taught me at a very early age to just walk away from the stuff that's outrageously priced since even if you talk the person down quite a bit you're still not getting a good deal. I learned the hard way after haggling with many of the outrageous price sellers that most of them will not come down to the point where you're even getting a fair deal much less a good deal. Now that I'm older I take my old man's advice and just walk away.

[powderman]

I dunno for sure but suspect a whole lotta folks here look at such over priced items much as I do.

 
YEP, me too. POWDERMAN.