It happens in a split second. You list your car for $15,000, feeling pretty good about the research you did on Kelly Blue Book. Ten minutes later, a notification pings. "I'll give you $6,000 cash right now." Your blood pressure spikes. You feel insulted. Maybe you even feel a little bit of second-hand embarrassment for the person on the other end.
That is lowballing.
Basically, it is the act of making an offer that is significantly below the fair market value of an item or service. It’s a tactic as old as commerce itself, yet it remains one of the most polarizing moves in any negotiation. While it feels like a personal attack, in the world of business and private sales, it’s often just a cold, calculated opening gambit. Some people do it because they’re cheap. Others do it because they’ve been taught that you never know what someone will say "yes" to unless you ask.
The Psychology Behind the Bottom-Feeder Offer
Why do people even bother? Most of us wouldn't dream of walking into a grocery store and offering two dollars for a ten-dollar steak. But the second we hit Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or a corporate boardroom, the rules change.
Psychologically, the lowballer is often looking for "the desperate seller." They aren't necessarily trying to buy your item; they are trying to buy any item at a price that guarantees them an immediate profit or "win." In behavioral economics, this touches on the "anchoring effect." By throwing out a number that is absurdly low, the buyer tries to pull the entire negotiation toward their end of the spectrum. Even if you eventually settle on a higher price, that initial $6,000 "anchor" has subconsciously dragged your expectations down from the $15,000 you wanted.
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It’s a power move. Pure and simple.
However, there is a nuance here that most people miss. Not every low offer is a lowball. If you are trying to sell a 2010 laptop for $800 but the market says it's worth $200, the person offering you $150 isn't lowballing you. They are reality-checking you. True lowballing only occurs when the offer is objectively, measurably below what the asset is worth.
Where You'll See It Most (It's Not Just Garage Sales)
While we usually think of lowballing in terms of used furniture, it is rampant in high-stakes environments.
The Corporate Salary Negotiation
This is where it gets nasty. Recruiters sometimes use a lowball salary offer to see how much a candidate values themselves. If a role is budgeted for $120,000 and they offer $85,000, they are testing your "floor." If you accept, the company saves $35,000 a year. If you counter, they still have plenty of room to move up while making it look like they’re doing you a favor.
Real Estate and "All-Cash" Flippers
You’ve seen the signs: "We Buy Ugly Houses." These are institutional lowballers. They target people in foreclosure or those who need to move in 48 hours. They offer 50% to 60% of the home's value, banking on the seller’s need for speed over their need for equity.
Freelancing and the "Exposure" Trap
If you’re a graphic designer or a writer, you’ve felt this. A brand reaches out asking for a massive project but offers a "stipend" that wouldn't cover your internet bill for the month. They’ll tell you it’s great for your portfolio. Honestly, it’s just a lowball wrapped in a compliment.
How to Spot a Lowballer Before They Open Their Mouth
Experience tells us that certain behaviors signal a low offer is incoming. If you’re selling something, look for these red flags:
- The Over-Complimenter: They spend ten minutes telling you how much they love your work or your car. They’re "buttering you up" so the insult hurts less.
- The "Cash Today" Crowd: They act like the mere presence of physical currency makes the value of the item drop by 40%. "I have $2,000 in my pocket right now." Good for you. The price is still $4,000.
- The sob story: This is a classic. They need the item for their kid’s birthday, or their car broke down, or they’ve had a rough year. It’s an emotional lowball, designed to make you feel like a villain for wanting a fair price.
Real-World Impact: The Cost of Saying Yes
When you accept a lowball offer, you aren't just losing money. You are resetting the market. In the freelance world, this is known as the "race to the bottom." When one expert photographer accepts $50 for a wedding, clients start to think $50 is the standard. It devalues the entire craft.
In a job setting, starting with a lowballed salary has a compounding negative effect. Since most raises are percentage-based (say, 3% a year), starting $20,000 below your worth can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a thirty-year career. It’s a math problem that never fixes itself.
How to Handle the "Insult" Offer Without Losing Your Mind
You have three real options when someone lowballs you.
- The Hard Pass: "No." That’s a complete sentence. You don't owe them an explanation. If the offer is so low it’s laughable, don't even engage. Delete the email. Block the number. Move on.
- The "Correction" Method: If you think they’re just testing the waters, respond with data. "I appreciate the interest, but based on recent sales for this model in this condition, the lowest I can go is $X." This signals that you aren't desperate and you know your stuff.
- The "Add-On" Counter: In business, you can sometimes accept a lower price if the terms change. "I can do $85,000 instead of $100,000, but I’ll need an extra two weeks of PTO and a four-day work week." If they want a lowball price, they get lowball service or fewer features.
Why Some Experts Say You Should Lowball (The Other Side)
To be fair, there’s a whole school of thought—think Art of the Deal style—that suggests you should always start with a lowball. The logic? You can always go up, but you can never go down. If you start at a "fair" price, you’ve left yourself no room to negotiate when the seller inevitably asks for more.
Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator and author of Never Split the Difference, suggests a version of this called the Ackerman Model. It’s a systematic way of offering 65%, then 85%, then 95% of your target price. While it feels like lowballing to the person on the other side, to the negotiator, it’s a calculated staircase to a deal.
But there is a huge risk here. If you go too low, you don't just lose the deal; you lose the relationship. In many industries, reputation is everything. If you become known as the guy who lowballs everyone, people will stop bringing you deals altogether. They won't even give you the chance to see the "good stuff" before it hits the open market.
The Professional Way to Move Forward
If you find yourself on the receiving end of a lowball, take the emotion out of it. It isn't a comment on your worth as a human. It is a data point. It tells you exactly who you are dealing with.
Actionable Steps for Sellers and Job Seekers:
- Know your "Walk Away" number before you start. Write it down. Stick to it. Don't let the heat of the moment or a charming personality talk you into a number you'll regret tomorrow morning.
- Keep your data ready. Whether it's a printout of comparable home sales or a salary survey from Glassdoor or Payscale, having "the receipts" ends the lowball conversation quickly.
- Don't be afraid of silence. After you reject a lowball or give your counter-offer, stop talking. Let them sit in the discomfort. Often, the lowballer will start negotiating against themselves just to fill the silence.
- Verify the buyer's "why." If someone offers a low price because they found a defect you didn't see, that's not a lowball—that's a discovery. Be open to genuine feedback, but stay firm against "just because" discounts.
The goal of any transaction should be "fair." Not "I won and you lost." When one side feels robbed, the deal rarely stays together in the long run. Lowballing might get you a cheap win today, but it usually builds a very lonely bridge to nowhere.