How to handle lowball offers on Facebook Marketplace

You list a dresser for $150. Within ten minutes someone messages "$50 cash today?" Then another asks "is this available" and vanishes. If you sell on Facebook Marketplace, this is every listing, every week.

Most advice tells you to block lowballers or to argue them up. Both miss the useful part. A lowball offer is information: it tells you the item has interest. What you do in the next few hours decides whether you sell at $50, at $150, or somewhere sensible in between.

This guide covers the tactic resellers on r/Flipping swear by, a reply for every size of offer, and how to price so lowballs stop hurting.

What is the best way to handle a lowball offer?

The best way is to wait, then reply once. Do not accept or decline in the first few minutes. Let the offer sit while the listing keeps getting views, then answer with either one counter near your floor price or one polite no.

A few terms first, so the rest is clear:

• Asking price: what your listing says.
• Floor price: the lowest you will take. Decide it before you post, never in the chat.
• Lowball: an offer far under a fair price, usually 30% to 50% below, according to sellers in r/FacebookMarketplace.
• Counter: one specific number you send back.

The reason this works is simple. Buyers who offer half price are rarely your only buyer. They are just the fastest.

Why letting the first lowball sit works

In a r/Flipping thread with more than 1,600 upvotes, a seller described getting a $100 offer on a $200 eBay listing. Instead of countering, they left it pending. Someone watching the item saw there was an active offer and bought it at the full $200.

The replies backed it up. One seller said that 90% of the time they resisted accepting an offer right away, especially on an item that had been sitting, it paid off because someone else bought at the full price. Another had an item at $30 with nine watchers, got a $25 offer, waited, and sold at $30 a couple of hours later.

Watch out: That thread is about eBay, where watchers can be told an offer exists. Facebook Marketplace does not work the same way. The lesson that carries over is patience, not the alert.

On Marketplace, waiting does three things for you:

1. It gives other buyers time to message. New listings get most of their views early. A rushed yes to the first lowball closes the door on everyone who would have paid more.
2. It tests how serious the lowballer is. Someone who really wants the item often follows up with a better number on their own.
3. It stops you negotiating against yourself. Answering instantly with a counter tells the buyer you are keen to sell, and the haggling starts from their number.

One honest caveat from the same thread: do not lie. A top comment pointed out that pretending to accept an offer you have no intention of honoring is just deceiving people. Waiting is fine. Inventing other buyers or fake deals is not.

How long should you wait before answering?

Wait a few hours on a fresh listing, and less on one that has been up for weeks. The goal is to let new interest arrive, not to ghost people for days.

These bands come from what sellers report in r/FacebookMarketplace, not from any Facebook rule. One seller said they knock 10% off almost anything after a week and will go 20% for a buyer taking several items. Treat the table as a starting point and adjust to how fast your category moves.

Tip: If an item gets several lowballs and zero full price messages in its first week, the market is telling you something. Check your price against sold comps before you blame the buyers.

What to say to a lowball offer: replies you can copy

Keep every reply short, friendly and final. Long explanations invite arguments. Here are the replies by situation.

When the offer is close (within about 20%)

Thanks for the offer. I can't do $X, but I can do $Y if you can pick up today.

Pick Y at or just above your floor. Adding a condition like "today" or "you pick up" gives the buyer a reason to say yes now.

When the offer is far under (30% to 50%)

Thanks for asking. That's lower than I can go. The price is fair for the condition, but I appreciate you reaching out.

This is the polite decline that sellers in r/Mercari recommend. No counter. If they come back with a real number, you can talk.

When they ask "what's your lowest?"

The listed price is $X. I'd consider a reasonable offer.

Never name your floor first. In the r/Mercari thread, one seller's rule was simple: a buyer who asks for the lowest after hearing the price is firm gets blocked.

When you want to keep them as a backup

I have someone coming to look at it at my asking price. If that falls through I'll message you.

Only send this if it is true. It keeps a fallback buyer without a fight, and it is the most common honest exit in Marketplace advice.

When the offer is absurd

Say nothing. A $20 offer on a $120 item, with no greeting, does not need an answer. One seller on r/FacebookMarketplace said they had blocked around 400 people and had still sold everything they listed there at full price.

How to price so lowballs stop hurting

Build a small buffer into your asking price, so a normal haggle lands on the number you wanted. The pricing is where most of the stress comes from, not the buyers.

Here is the method in steps:

1. Find what the item actually sells for. Use sold listings, not asking prices. Our guide to pricing with sold comps walks through it.
2. Set your floor from that sold price, minus anything you would lose by waiting (storage, space, the next buy you could fund).
3. Add a buffer. One r/FacebookMarketplace seller divides their target by 0.7 and rounds up to the nearest $5. That is aggressive; a 10% to 20% buffer is more common.
4. Write the listing to filter people. Clear photos, honest condition notes, "pickup only" and "no holds" in the description.
5. Decide your replies before you post, using the scripts above, so you are never improvising in the chat.

Worked example: a desk sells for about $100 in your area. Your floor is $85. With a 15% buffer you list at $115. A buyer offers $70; you wait, then counter at $95. If they meet you at $90, you beat your floor and they feel they won. If you had listed at $100 and accepted the first counter, you would have landed nearer $80.

Tip: Buffers work best on common items with many local comps. On rare items, price at the comp and hold firm, because the right buyer will pay it.

If you want this as a repeatable system, the Reselling pack has the full pricing and negotiation lessons, plus listing templates built for Marketplace and eBay.

Common mistakes when dealing with lowballers

Most lost money on Marketplace comes from the seller reacting, not from the buyer offering low. These are the mistakes that show up again and again in reseller threads.

• Accepting the first offer because it arrived fast. In the r/Flipping thread, the most upvoted reply was a seller admitting they usually accept offers quickly and had never considered waiting.
• Arguing value with someone who will never pay it. Sellers in r/Mercari said too many people get drawn into long debates with buyers. One reply is enough.
• Naming your floor first. Once you say "lowest is $80," that becomes the new asking price.
• Holding items for lowballers. "Can you hold it till Friday?" from someone who offered half price is rarely a sale. Sell to whoever shows up with your price.
• Taking it personally. Plenty of buyers open low on purpose. One r/FacebookMarketplace buyer said their own rule is never more than 30% under, and that they move on if the seller says no. That is a business habit, not an insult.
• Ignoring the pattern. If every buyer offers the same low number, your price may simply be high. Read what actually sells on Facebook Marketplace and recheck your comps.

When should you accept a lowball?

Accept a low offer when the item has sat for a month or more, it takes up space you need, or the cash funds a better buy right now. Selling at 75% today can beat 100% in two months.

Ask yourself three questions:

1. Has the price been fair for at least two or three weeks with no full price buyers?
2. Is the money worth more to me now, for example to buy stock that flips faster?
3. Will the buyer pick up today, with cash or a payment method I trust?

If the answer to all three is yes, take it and move on. Always meet in a public place or a police station exchange zone where your area has one, and confirm payment before handing anything over.

If you sell across platforms, remember that offer behavior differs. eBay has a built in offer system and watchers; Marketplace is all messages. Our eBay vs Facebook Marketplace vs Mercari comparison covers where haggling is heaviest.

Where to go from here

You do not need to win every chat. You need a plan you follow every time.

1. Price from sold comps, with a 10% to 20% buffer above your floor.
2. When the first lowball arrives, wait a few hours before you answer.
3. Reply once, with a counter near your floor or a polite no.
4. Ignore or block anyone who keeps pushing.
5. Review listings weekly and drop the price on anything with no full price interest.

Results vary by item, area and season, and none of this guarantees a sale. If you want the full system behind it, the Reselling pack gives you 24 lessons across 6 modules, with sourcing checklists, pricing worksheets and the negotiation scripts, for $19. All 16 Money Printer packs are $39.