Price On Application.
Discussion
It's a straightforward asymmetric information scenario. The seller is gambling that a potential buyer does not have as much information about the condition, value of other similar items/properties, how much the seller is looking for, what other buyers might offer and so on. Above all the aim is to get the buyer to see themselves owning the item/property before they consider the price. Estate agents and car salesmen are very aware that once that happens emotion can trump logic. Buyers begin to overlook information that conflicts with their aspiration and up their bids to ensure they obtain it.
It shifts the balance away from the market price and towards the value that individual bidder places upon the item/property. Should that value be higher than the seller expected then bite their hand off. Should it be lower, the lack of defined price gives more room to haggle upwards or reject outright.
Although the internet reduces the asymmetry, it doesn't eliminate it altogether due to buyers who don't use it, rare/unique items with no suitable comparatives, and most importantly the emotional element mentioned above. Yes, it is annoying for buyers but it remains a very effective tactic for sellers in certain circumstances.
It shifts the balance away from the market price and towards the value that individual bidder places upon the item/property. Should that value be higher than the seller expected then bite their hand off. Should it be lower, the lack of defined price gives more room to haggle upwards or reject outright.
Although the internet reduces the asymmetry, it doesn't eliminate it altogether due to buyers who don't use it, rare/unique items with no suitable comparatives, and most importantly the emotional element mentioned above. Yes, it is annoying for buyers but it remains a very effective tactic for sellers in certain circumstances.
KFC said:
StuTheGrouch said:
Or to weed out timewasters.
I think you would achieve the opposite of what they're trying then.People who have no intention of buying something but are curious about the price will phone up because they're nosy, thus wasting the sellers time ... or in my case once I saw a car I was interested in but the dealer hadn't put the mileage on the advert so I had to phone up and ask. The car was priced like on with 60k on the clock but had over 110k on it when I asked. I wouldn't have bothered phoning up if it had been written in the ad and the seller wouldn't have had to put his newspaper down.
davepoth said:
If the house is on Rightmove or Zoopla, it seems there's a price in the background even if it's POA - if you sort by price the POA ones go into the middle rather than at the top or bottom. You can work out a fairly close value that way. 
Ah yes, and if there's not much to go on you should be able to adjust the high/low price filters to narrow it down a lot.ninja-lewis said:
It's a straightforward asymmetric information scenario. The seller is gambling that a potential buyer does not have as much information about the condition, value of other similar items/properties, how much the seller is looking for, what other buyers might offer and so on. Above all the aim is to get the buyer to see themselves owning the item/property before they consider the price. Estate agents and car salesmen are very aware that once that happens emotion can trump logic. Buyers begin to overlook information that conflicts with their aspiration and up their bids to ensure they obtain it.
It shifts the balance away from the market price and towards the value that individual bidder places upon the item/property. Should that value be higher than the seller expected then bite their hand off. Should it be lower, the lack of defined price gives more room to haggle upwards or reject outright.
Although the internet reduces the asymmetry, it doesn't eliminate it altogether due to buyers who don't use it, rare/unique items with no suitable comparatives, and most importantly the emotional element mentioned above. Yes, it is annoying for buyers but it remains a very effective tactic for sellers in certain circumstances.
It must be fantasic being in sales, being smarter than the average bear, Dale Carnegie will be pulling him self off in his grave if people still believe this bullsIt shifts the balance away from the market price and towards the value that individual bidder places upon the item/property. Should that value be higher than the seller expected then bite their hand off. Should it be lower, the lack of defined price gives more room to haggle upwards or reject outright.
Although the internet reduces the asymmetry, it doesn't eliminate it altogether due to buyers who don't use it, rare/unique items with no suitable comparatives, and most importantly the emotional element mentioned above. Yes, it is annoying for buyers but it remains a very effective tactic for sellers in certain circumstances.
t in 2015?ninja-lewis said:
Although the internet reduces the asymmetry, it doesn't eliminate it altogether due to buyers who don't use it, rare/unique items with no suitable comparatives, and most importantly the emotional element mentioned above. Yes, it is annoying for buyers but it remains a very effective tactic for sellers in certain circumstances.
I can quite believe that, although I would doubt it would be the case on a knackered old 80's Range Rover as mentioned by the OP 
I'm another who finds it very pretentious and would generally ignore any advert with POA on it.
I can just about understand it with houses - not wanting family, friends etc to see how much you're trying to sell for (although, as pointed out, a Rightmove search makes a mockery of that!) but I really don't get it with cars. Some dealers in the classics magazines have POA on all of their cars and I don't see how that can help sales - people that might be able to afford the car are put off because they think they can't afford it, others that can't afford it ring up and waste the sellers time. I cannot see a single valid reason why, when you're trying to sell a car, you wouldn't include a price. Unless it was something unique that couldn't be bought anywhere else I wouldn't go near a POA!
Rotaree said:
I can just about understand it with houses - not wanting family, friends etc to see how much you're trying to sell for (although, as pointed out, a Rightmove search makes a mockery of that!) but I really don't get it with cars. Some dealers in the classics magazines have POA on all of their cars and I don't see how that can help sales - people that might be able to afford the car are put off because they think they can't afford it, others that can't afford it ring up and waste the sellers time. I cannot see a single valid reason why, when you're trying to sell a car, you wouldn't include a price. Unless it was something unique that couldn't be bought anywhere else I wouldn't go near a POA!
POA is a symptom of a rising market - there are a number of cars for sale that I have seen rise in price by around 50% in the last 6 months or so. I know this because they were over optimistic in their pricing for ages, but recently the market has caught up and overtaken them, and each time I see them now, the price has jumped. If the dealers had first advertised them six months or so ago, they'd have been poa and that would not have been visible.
As it is, it is off putting to see a car that you first became familiar with advertised at 18k, making one think the dealer put less than 15 into it, rapidly jump to 30 or more.
More so for the dealer, because any punter has a fair idea what it stands them at.
MitchT said:
wildcat45 said:
Why do sellers do this?
Because they're pompous wkers with an inflated sense of their own importance and of the significance of the thing they're selling. Same applies to car dealers that do it. f
k off! POA get's filed in the same category as "Offers" in my world.
Both are f
king pointless ways of wasting everyones time.Me "How much are you looking for?"
Seller "Make me an offer like it says in the advert"
Me "Ok then, £20,000"
Seller "I'm sorry but that's nowhere near, we aren't even in the same ballpark"
Me "erm, £22,000?"
Seller "No, that's still not close enough. It's worth far more"
Me "Well just tell me how much you want for it and I'll decide if I want to buy it or not"
Seller "Well I would like you to make a good offer as I have stated"
Me "oh f
k off and tell me when you actually know how much you want to sell it for".Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff