Sellers who accept lower competing best offers than your own.

[nscourge]

I have just had my best offer of $401.00 declined for an offer of $400.00.

Do seller's have the option to choose 'lower' best offers from competing best offers?

If so, anyone have an idea why they might do that?

If not, does anyone have an idea what might be going on?

This is the second time this has happened to me.

Why are lower best offers than my own being accepted?

Thanks.

[woodland_gnome]

A seller is under absolutely no obligation to accept a Best Offer.  Period.  And price is not the only consideration as to what offers are "Best" or acceptable to him.  It is entirely up to the seller which, if any, offer to accept.  This is NOT an auction, highest offer is not entitled to "win".

[alcoforever]

Could be that the seller didn't want to ship to Canada.

[fuzzface50]

Sellers can accept a lower offer and don't need to accept the highest offer.

A seller can look at people's toolhaus  and turn down an almost full price offer from someone that tends to leave negs and nuets and accept a lower offer from someone that always leaves positives.

If  free shipping is involved some will turn down a higher offer and accept a lower offer if they make a profit  difference on the shipping cost.

Location.  if someone is selling breakables they might accept a closer lower offer than take a higher offer cross country and take a chance on shipping damages .

Location again. Some might not feel comfortable selling international and might accept a lower offer in their own region.

repeat customer. Some will accept a lower offer from someone they dealt with before especially if they had good transactions with them before.

[startmark]

I could think of several reasons. It could be someone that lives closer to the seller so less shipping cost. Or he could have liked the other buyers history better. Not sure what your history is but I know I always take the best track record of the buyer if the best offers are close. But I also would take shipping cost into consideration.

[sfginsider]

probably shipping. 

[nscourge]

Ah, I guess it is not obvious that 99% of of my eBay traffic involves my USA shipping address.

[7606dennis]

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@nscourge wrote:

I have just had my best offer of $401.00 declined for an offer of $400.00.

Do seller's have the option to choose 'lower' best offers from competing best offers?

If so, anyone have an idea why they might do that?

If not, does anyone have an idea what might be going on?

This is the second time this has happened to me.

Why are lower best offers than my own being accepted?

Thanks.

---

Yes, a seller can accept a lower offer made on his item.  Submitting an offer is not the same as placing a bid in an auction.

[mudshark61369]

@nscourge,

  "I guess it is not obvious that 99% of of my eBay traffic involves my USA shipping address". 

It is impossible for any seller to know that you have a U.S. forwarding address.  Many sellers look at feedback profiles when they receive offers, which only tells them that you are registered in Canada. If the listing you are making an offer from says ships to United States, you should attach a message to the offer saying I use a U.S. address, and have items forwarded to me, that address will be on the payment form.

If you mostly buy from U.S. sellers you could create an ID based on your American address then the profile would show registered in U.S.  You could also change the info on this ID to show the same info.  However, then you might have to explain the use of a Canadian address to sellers from countries other than the U.S. 

[woodland_gnome]

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@nscourge wrote:

Ah, I guess it is not obvious that 99% of of my eBay traffic involves my USA shipping address.

---

Even if you do tell them you will be using a domestic address, many sellers are wary of buyers using forwarding services.

[nocoolnamejane]

90% of all Canadians live within 100 miles of the border, most of them much closer actually. A Canadian buyer with a US address doesn’t necessarily mean forwarding service, most of us actually just pick up our purchases at our PO Box across the border.

[7606dennis]

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@nocoolnamejane wrote:

90% of all Canadians live within 100 miles of the border, most of them much closer actually. A Canadian buyer with a US address doesn’t necessarily mean forwarding service, most of us actually just pick up our purchases at our PO Box across the border.

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I suppose that that is convenient for Canadian buyers that live that close to the border and makes a lot of sense for them.  However, a seller would not know that and could easily choose an offer from someone else simply because the prefer not to ship internationally. 

Of course, if the seller has his shipping preferences setup correctly and the OP simply bought the item for the asking price, the sale would go through easily if the OP had their US shipping address selected.  However, by making an offer the OP has allowed the seller to see that they are registered in Canada but didn't let them know that they had a US shipping address.  Unfortunately, most sellers are like myself and are somewhat psychically challenged.  The main reason I detest drivers that do not use their turn signals.  Ahh! That is a story for another time. 

[robot-hands]

I look up all users making offers in toolhaus.

If I see crummy feedback, I wouldn't sell a $400 thing to them for $500

[b1ue_rose]

Are you a sniper? I have a strict "No Sniper" policy when I sell, and always decline the bid if it is a new bidder in the last minute.

[mudshark61369]

@b1ue_rose,

  "I have a strict "No Sniper" policy when I sell, and always decline the bid if it is a new bidder in the last minute".

That is not a valid policy, and if there is no time left to cancel bids, you will get a defect for trying to cancel the auction,because you have decided there is something wrong with sniping.  Sniping is a valid way to bid, it is even mentioned in ebay's bidding policy. (Link Below)

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/auctions-bidding/bid-sniping?id=4224