Every online seller eventually runs into the dreaded “price police”. These are those people who want your item but tell you where they can buy it for less then insist that you should price match the place they suggested. Here’s an example from Reddit/Poshmark:

Here’s what you need to know:

• You are a business, not a charity
• Last I checked, you’re not Ulta, Victorias Secret, Macys or Bed, Bath & Beyond.
• You have absolutely no obligation to price match anyone or anything.

Usually when a potential buyer says stuff like this it is because the merchandise isn’t CURRENTLY (<--- keyword!) available at the store they named. Ulta may have had it in the past for $32 but they no longer have it in stock. We hear stuff like this all the time, “This was only $7.99 at the Semi Annual sale!”... ok ma’am, well that was 3 months ago.

HOW TO RESPOND

You can risk bad feedback or further problems by telling them to go buy it from the place with the better price. Personally, I think the reply shown above is hilarious, however our company would never respond to a buyer in that manner.

Instead, you can use one of these types of replies that still leave the possibility of the potential buyer purchasing it and also assure that you don’t get slammed with bad feedback for being “rude”.

Do a quick google search to find out how many locations Ulta has. If you type into Google “Number of Ulta Stores” you will see, the fourth or fifth link on the page is Wikipedia and it says “As of February 2, 2019, Ulta operates 1,174 retail stores across 50 states “ - Now you can use this information to actually explain to your potential buyer, such as “Hello! I am unable to price match Ulta. They have 1,174 retail stores inside the USA, so they have far more buying power than me which means they can offer prices I cannot compete with. Have a great day!”

Or, use the perfect go-to-excuse, “I’m selling this for my sister so I am not able to alter the price. Sorry!”

IN CLOSING,

It’s always better to bite your tongue and send a reply that still says “Nope”, but says Nope in a way that will turn the inquirer into a buyer then a repeat buyer, because, reality is, “Bitchy money spends the same as Nice Money” (I tell my staff this all the time, when a potential buyer is super rude; that “bitchy money” puts food on your table, so hustle for it! :)

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