I was going to purchase a dining room set from a lady off Craigslist. There were 11 pieces – table with two leafs, eight chairs (two arm and six side), buffet and china cabinet with hutch. The furniture is 15 years old and for the most part it was well kept. There is a pretty long scratch on the table top. It wasn’t like a surface scratch, but more like something had slightly carved the wood. The buffet had a few knicks and the chair cushions were that old thick material. To add new fabric I would have to take them to an ulphosterer because they weren’t the kind that you could redo yourself by stapling the fabric to the bottom. She was originally asking $1,200 to $1,500. When we talked, I offered her $1,000. She told me to come look at the furniture first then we could talk. I went to her house and looked at the furniture. After I saw the furniture I offered her $900. She countered $950. I told her $900. She agreed. I went back home and talked to my husband.
He didn’t think the set was worth $900, considering the cost to have the chair cushions done ($30-50 per chair plus I still had to buy my own fabric) and suggested I keep looking. I called her back that evening and left her a voicemail explaining that. She called me back the next day saying she talked to her husband, and he would sell it to us for $800. At that point, I took into consideration that it would cost almost $400 to get the chairs redone, so I offered her $700. She countered $750. I told her to talk to her husband and see what he was willing to do. She said she would call me back that evening or first thing the next morning. I never heard from her. I went back on Craigslist to look at other tables for sale, and I saw she had reposted the ad asking for $975. It wasn’t a big deal because I wasn’t in love with the furniture to begin with, but did I go too far with the negotiations? I didn’t expect her to give it away, but I just felt because it is so old she was asking a bit much.
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