vindje.com / Guides / Buying on Marktplaats
On Marktplaats, offering 10 to 20 percent below the asking price is normal and rarely offends anyone, as long as the offer is polite and you are ready to collect quickly. Lowball offers of half the price usually get ignored. Your strongest card is being the easy buyer: clear, fast, and on time.
Before you offer anything, look at five to ten similar listings and note what they ask. Then remember that asking prices are the top of the range; the sold price is often 10 to 25 percent lower, especially for furniture that has been listed for weeks.
Check the listing date. A wardrobe that has been online for six weeks has a seller who is getting tired of it. A listing posted this morning with twenty views per hour gives you much less room.
Rough rules that work in practice:
Keep it friendly and concrete. Name your price, give a short reason if there is one, and offer a pickup time. 'Hoi, ik zou 120 euro willen bieden. Ik kan morgenavond ophalen.' (Hi, I would like to offer 120 euro. I can collect tomorrow evening.) That is a message a seller can say yes to in one tap.
Avoid messages that only ask 'last price?' or 'lowest?'. They sound like you are shopping around, and many sellers do not reply. Also avoid criticizing the item in writing to push the price down; it rarely works and sours the pickup.
If you agreed a price and the item matches the listing, pay that price. Renegotiating at the door when nothing is wrong is the fastest way to a bad reputation and an awkward ten minutes.
If something does not match, like an undisclosed stain, a missing shelf, a wobble, a dead battery, then say so calmly and propose a fair adjustment. Point at the problem, name a number, and accept that the seller may say no. Walking away is always an option, and the seller knows it.
Sellers clearing out a house often have more listings. Buying two or three items from one seller is the easiest discount you will get: 'I'd like the desk and the chair, would you do 90 for both?' It saves them a second buyer and a second appointment.
Timing also helps. Offers on Sunday evening or near the end of the month, when people are moving out, tend to land well. A seller who has to hand over their keys on Friday becomes flexible on Wednesday.
Faults visible in the photos are already in the price, so bringing them up again rarely moves the seller. Faults the seller did not mention are different. If the listing says 'werkt prima' and the washing machine leaks, you have a fair reason to offer less or leave.
Be specific: 'The left drawer runner is broken, a new one is about 15 euro, would you take 100 instead of 115?' is much easier to agree to than 'it's damaged, 70?'.
Items marked 'vaste prijs' (fixed price) mean exactly that; offer anyway only if the gap is large and the listing old. Rare items priced fairly will be gone while you haggle. And with free items, the only thing to negotiate is the pickup time.
Describe what you want in your own words and vindje.com searches Marktplaats in Dutch, then reads every listing and keeps only the real matches. For example:
Two-seat leather sofa in brown or cognac, listed for a while, under 250 euro, pickup near LeidenSearch Marktplaats like this
No, it is expected. A polite offer 10 to 20 percent below the asking price is normal. Offers around half the price usually get no reply.
On listings with bidding enabled you can place a bid, or you can send a message with your price. A message with a pickup time often gets a faster yes than a bare bid.
Only if the item turns out different from the listing. Otherwise pay what you agreed.
Fixed price. The seller does not want offers, so expect a no unless the listing has been online a long time.