How to Answer a Message You Do Not Want

Everyone selling gets messages they would rather not have. Handled well they take thirty seconds. Handled badly they take an evening and leave you not wanting to open the app.

Answer once, briefly

One short reply that closes the subject. Not something I offer. Prices are as listed. The brevity is the whole technique, because a long reply reads as an opening position and invites the next message.

Do not explain your reasons

Reasons get argued with. A refusal with three justifications attached hands over three things to push back on, and each one you defend makes the position look more negotiable than it was.

Recognise the ones who are not buying

Long conversations with no question about price, postage or availability are usually not heading towards a purchase. You do not have to be rude about it. Let me know if you would like to order and then let it go quiet.

Never negotiate at midnight

Everything reads worse late and everyone agrees to more than they meant to. Leave it until the morning. Nothing in this work genuinely cannot wait eight hours, and the reply you write after sleeping is always shorter and better.

Block earlier than feels polite

Someone who has ignored a clear no twice is not going to start listening on the third. Blocking is not an escalation, it is the end of an interaction you already ended. Most sellers wait far too long and spend that time being ground down.

Do not take the bait

Occasionally someone wants a reaction more than an item. The response that costs you nothing is no response. Anything you write becomes the next thing they respond to.

Your inbox is a workspace, not an obligation. Short answers and an early block keep it that way.