eBay

atx-liquidators · ‎01-11-2023

So this year, 2023, I've decided to add "Make an Offer" on nearly all my items I can take somewhat of a discount on. I've had 80%+ offers made near or below 50 cents on the dollar and those that I do accept, 80% don't pay. Is this an issue with everyone? Is make an offer really worth it, given that extra time to deal/respond with low-ballers and non-paying bidders? Maybe I should remove make an offer all together, but the only alternative I can think is to set buyer requirements to block all buyers who have received 2 or more unpaid item strikes in 12 months via this link: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerRequirements

Thoughts/Comments?

-Christine

pburn · ‎01-11-2023

Of course you should be utilizing that buyer block. Most sellers do.

If you continue to make and receive offers, unpaid transactions are just going to be part of the deal; however, eBay is testing an immediate payment required on offers, so there's hope . . .

Make sure you're cancelling those unpaid transactions after 96 hours/four days using the "buyer didn't pay" option so those people get a strike on their accounts.

P.S. As a buyer, I've received and accepted several offers in the past week or two and paid immediately. We're not all deadbeats. 😁

mcw1627jed · ‎01-11-2023

Yes, Ebay pushed the make offers on the sellers a few years back & didn't do anything about non-payers.

Easy to fix.Allow sellers to block non-payers .like 2 or 3 a month the seller can block the buyer .

Ebay has all the information of buyers who are making offers and not paying.Should do this with buyers bidding auction not paying also.

dirk12955 · ‎01-11-2023

As noted by others, Filing the NPB report on EVERY eBayer that does this sort of thing, Plus

putting them on your blocked bidder list does do some good.

A chronic non paying bidder soon finds out that he's blocked from buying by his potential victims . If the sellers take half a minute to adjust their settings to block NPBs, which too many sellers fail to do.

kandf_vintage_finds · ‎01-11-2023

I have all of my listings set up for offers. BUT I have initiated the lowest acceptable offer in the listing tool. I do not see low ball offers coming through, only the minimum (or more) I would accept. When these come through I immediately accept and 99.9% pay! I guess I've been lucky because many of my sales have been best offers.

coolections · ‎01-11-2023

@atx-liquidators wrote:
Is make an offer really worth it, given that extra time to deal/respond with low-ballers and non-paying bidders?

Set up auto accept and auto decline. Many buyers are impatient and/or by the time you respond they find a better deal. If they make an offer and it automatically accepts 95% will just pay right, then and there.

byrd69er · ‎01-11-2023

Forget "make an offer." List the items you've decided that you'll take a little less for, and list them at that price with "buy it now."

pburn · ‎01-11-2023

@mcw1627jed wrote:
Yes, Ebay pushed the make offers on the sellers a few years back & didn't do anything about non-payers.
Easy to fix.Allow sellers to block non-payers .like 2 or 3 a month the seller can block the buyer .
Ebay has all the information of buyers who are making offers and not paying.Should do this with buyers bidding auction not paying also.

@mcw1627jed

Perhaps you weren't aware that the exact block you've described is already available in the Buyer Requirements feature.

But I have to ask you, why would a seller choose "2 or 3 a month?" After the month is over, and those "2 or 3" drop off, the block would be released. That's virtually the least restrictive block available!

All sellers should be using the most restrictive setting: two strikes in a twelve-month period.

mcw1627jed · ‎01-11-2023

I agree with 2 or 3 being too many.I was just throwing that out there.

Perhaps those non-paying offers/bids should be able to be seen in feedback as a separate number ,instead of a automatic feedback of 100% for all buyers.

eburtonlab · ‎01-11-2023

Perhaps those non-paying offers/bids should be able to be seen in feedback

eBay is highly unlikely to ever make such numbers visible, but that is not actually necessary.

As long as a seller sets the Buyer Requirements properly, accounts with two or more unpaid item strikes in the last year cannot be used to make a bid or purchase on an item listed by that seller. Any bids or purchases by those accounts will be preemptively blocked as long as the requirements are met.

You should be able to check your Buyer Requirements Activity Log to see a list of all the attempted bids and purchases that were automatically blocked.

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎01-11-2023

I've done offers for quite sometime and generally non-payment has not been a problem albeit in the last week I've had two of them, sort of. One made offer to, he accepted, never paid then the day eBay cancelled and relisted the order (4 days after) he messaged me saying he wanted pay. I told him he's free to make the offer again and I'll accept it, haven't heard a word since. My guess is he got an unpaid item strike and is all done or whatall.

Another made me an offer, I accepted then several days later he paid for it then 20 minutes after asked cancel it saying, "He made a mistake accepting the offer and wants cancel it." He made the offer not me and I messaged him informing him of that and asked why he'd pay and then cancel? I've heard nothing of course and cancelled it.

Other than those best offer has worked really really well.

Perhaps non-payment/cancellations are a result of the holiday spending and people needing fulfill the "shopping fever" then realizing they are actually supposed to pay?

I find more people DONT accept offers I send than much anything else to do with the Best Offer system but since it only takes a moment to send an offer I do so as I have had quite a few sales happen that way.

reallynicestamps · ‎01-11-2023

I've had 80%+ offers made near or below 50 cents on the dollar

You can set parameters that will politely decline too low offers. You never see those.

You can set parameters that will automatically accept reasonable offers. You only see the acceptance.

(eg on a $100 asking, with Best Offer any offer under $85 could be rejected automatically and any above $90 accepted. You would see an $89 offer and manually accept, reject, counter- offer, or ignore it.)

and those that I do accept, 80% don't pay.

Best Offers work pretty much like an Auction.

And one reason Auctions make up less than 15% of transactions is that they have a very high rate of UIDs.

It goes with the territory.

And in my experience, the lower the Offer , the less likely the customer is to pay.

Do set up the Block on deadbeats with Strikes.

And do set up your listings for automatic Cancellation if Unpaid for 96 hours.

These will at least reduce your workload.

pburn · ‎01-11-2023

@mcw1627jed wrote:
I agree with 2 or 3 being too many.I was just throwing that out there.
Perhaps those non-paying offers/bids should be able to be seen in feedback as a separate number ,instead of a automatic feedback of 100% for all buyers.

@mcw1627jed

You think it would be a good idea for eBay to shame buyers that way? There are all kinds of reasons people end up not paying for an offer, and not all of those reasons make a person a scammer. Really bad idea.

As @eburtonlab explained, and I'll copy/paste it here to make sure it isn't overlooked:

eBay is highly unlikely to ever make such numbers visible, but that is not actually necessary.

As long as a seller sets the Buyer Requirements properly, accounts with two or more unpaid item strikes in the last year cannot be used to make a bid or purchase on an item listed by that seller. Any bids or purchases by those accounts will be preemptively blocked as long as the requirements are met.

You should be able to check your Buyer Requirements Activity Log to see a list of all the attempted bids and purchases that were automatically blocked.

dbfolks166mt · ‎01-11-2023

I quit using OBO long ago for that very reason plus the amount of time it consumes.

allen1853 · ‎01-11-2023

I use Make an Offer on almost all of my items BUT I set the automatic decline at my (WOW, I had no idea you could not use the two first LETTERS for words that rhyme with Full and Wit, sorry Mr. Bot) threshold. I price my items fairly and competitively to begin with (I would say more than half sell for full price) so the decline threshold is usually 10%. Every once in a while I will check the offer history on an item and see the ridiculous offers that were automaticallly declined. Less than half of melt for gold jewelry or heavy sterling items. Not worth my time dealing with ridiculous offers.