eBay

rajuncajuncreole · ‎09-04-2021

I work at a company that sells textbooks for contractor licensing exams. We have a bunch of used books too. These we sell on eBay. For a single book type, there's a lot of variation. Some books have tabs, others have highlights, some have both, and then there are different types of tabs, etc. Five or more variants for one book type is typical. So, I like variants, they're pretty helpful.

We want to sell these books quickly. I'm happy to accept reasonable offers. But there's a problem. Buyers cannot make offers for listings with multiple variants. So, they make their offer via messaging me. There are a few ways I know of dealing with this problem, but none of them are great. Here's how I currently do it.

1. I reply to their message with these instructions:

"Add your items to cart, but click the 'Request total' button instead of the pay button."

Once they've done this, their items go into the "Awaiting payment" category on the "Orders" page. I can then send them an invoice. But, when sending an invoice there's no way to adjust the items' prices, just the shipping. If an item is $50 with $10 shipping and the customer is asking for $10 off the item, I can just waive the shipping. Same effect in the end. But if an item is $75 with $10 shipping and the customer is asking for $25 off, they probably won't be happy with just $10 off, and I might lose an opportunity to sell. That's where option 2 comes in.

2. I go to the existing listing and find the variant the customer is making an offer for. I remove that book from the listing and make a whole new listing. This listing does not have any variants, so I’m able to check the “Best Offer” box when creating the listing. To ensure no one else buys the customer's book, I give it an absurd price, and in the item description, I write that the item is reserved. Then I instruct the customer to make an offer for it. This method requires a lot of time and I have to coordinate with the customer. Just a lot of hassle.

Do any of you know of a more elegant way to deal with offers for multi-variant listings? Is there some obscure way a customer can actually make an offer for an item in a multi-variant listing that I’m just not aware of? I don't think I can do without variants, otherwise, I would have a staggering number of listings.

Here are some screenshots for reference:

No variants

With variants

this*old*attic · ‎09-04-2021

You can put up a buy it now separate listing for your customer. Say “just for Fred” in the title.

then revise your variation lists to take the proper amount out

wastingtime101 · ‎09-04-2021

@rajuncajuncreole wrote:
2. I go to the existing listing and find the variant the customer is making an offer for. I remove that book from the listing and make a whole new listing.

Why don't you just lower the price of that variation?

Are you sure you're using variations in accordance with policy? I see you're using them for different item conditions and that's not how variations are meant to be used. eBay could slap you with some policy violations if they catch wind of that. If they're all the same general condition, ex: good or acceptable, then why not list without variations? List with multiple quantities at the same price instead, then in the item condition description area note that the book may have highlights, writing, etc. By doing it that way, you'll also be able to add the offer button to the listing.

GLORIOUS!

rajuncajuncreole · ‎09-05-2021

Why don't you just lower the price of that variation?

I could do that, but many variations have a quantity of just one. My concern is if I lower the price substantially for a customer's offer, someone else might swoop in and buy it before they do. Which is why I go the route of making a separate listing, but it's clunky.

Are you sure you're using variations in accordance with policy? I see you're using them for different item conditions and that's not how variations are meant to be used. eBay could slap you with some policy violations if they catch wind of that. If they're all the same general condition, ex: good or acceptable, then why not list without variations?

Thanks for bringing that up. I hope they don't. There is a lot of variation within a book type. A plain used book might be worth $50, but an unbound book is worth just $5. To me, that seems like a good reason to use variations. But I'll look into the policy.