@fi.ra wrote:
I think one of the most profound studies of human nature would be to understand why, when buying, buyers make offers the way they do. eBay essentially would act as the best host to study buyer behavior.
A good example is an item I have for sale at the moment. I am selling an Italian outerwear item. It's an almost $1100 coat. NWT. I have a price of $475.00 + $9.95 for shipping. 55% less than the tagged price. Yet, buyers are making offers for $125, $150 and $175. My question is why? I am not concerned as a real buyer will come along, I sell high end items usually from my personal collection and always find the right buyer, but if 10 come along, 8 seem entirely oblivious. I'm a buyer myself occasionally. If I came across the listing, I would process it as "wow, that's an already really good deal, but I'll see if I can get it for $400, and that would be a steal, if so". That's what I expect from most people. Does the buyer that made an offer for $125 really, deep down think, that the seller would accept it? I know a lot of people are stupid. Not biologically stupid, but like absolutely washed out stupid. The filament in their lightbulb is cooked. This is what I want to understand. Why, do people make these offers? One of the offers, I countered, just to see where it could go and the buyer increased his/her bid by $6.00. Like, the 1st attempt didn't work and they actually thought, maybe if I throw another $6.00 in the pot, that could do the trick. At a total price of 90% off and another 35% less than my 55% discount.
Anyway, there's the rant. Just wanted to hear a few thoughts, maybe get a few chuckles in the process. What I do know is there are a lot of really stupid people out there and this is not a class or rich poor thing. I don't want to discuss the merits that $475.00 is expensive for many people, etc. I'm talking about how buyers make their valuation of many items. How do they establish value, especially when lacking any relevant comps. Are they just throwing spaghetti against a wall to see what sticks?
I think it's easy to see why some buyers make really low offers, they obviously are hoping to get something they want for a lot less than the seller has the price set at.
There are a lot of frugal people in the world, and then you have others who can only spend a certain amount. They don't care about possibly insulting the seller, so they make a low offer. The seller either takes it, declines it, or counters. If a seller doesn't want to be bothered with offers they consider stupid, then they set up the offers so they don't have to see the stupidity.
If I see a listing for $200, I usually would not make a $60 offer, I would just bypass the listing if I'm only willing or able to pay so little. There was only one time I made a really low offer on something I simply could not afford at that moment, I just knew the seller was going to let it expire or decline it, but she didn't, and now it is part of my vintage clothing collection.
