SO WHY EVEN BOTHER HAVING A BEST OFFER OPTION?

[lichtpriester]

Hey, sellers! Why do some of you give a "best offer" option with your listings, when you seemingly have no intention of even WANTING a best offer to be made? If you're selling something for $100 for example, and the only best offer that you will take is $99, then what is the point? No potential buyer is going to make an offer on something that's 10 cents less (or whatever) than your asking price, so unless you're willing to knock a few dollars off (depending on the original price of course) why waste both your time and that of buyers? Best offers SHOULD be reasonable, but so should the best offer amount that you're willing to accept.

[caninekopz]

Why I said you need to read the whole thread is this,

1.  Because I have the lowest price or try to put the lowest price on my items, I really do not want to accept a lower price, but I will use best offer as a form of adjusting payment for people who buy multiple items.  Because I offer free shipping and you buy 5 of an item, I may decide to work with you on the price because I do not have to pay 5 seperate shipping charges.  You only buy 1 I do not have the time to deal with hagglers.  You obviously chose me for a reason,  I have the cheapest price plus I include free shipping, and now you want to badger me about lowering my price.  Sorry not interested.  Find someone who has a more expensive product and play the games with them.  

Now having said all of this, If I have a product that has been sitting for a while, then I may decide to work with the buyer on a price, but if I do not, don't get bent out of shape and just move on.  You see the only thing that sells on here is price.  There is no longer any benifit for customer service as Ebay dictates any and every thing that happens.  I can offer you good service and Ebay will just throw all of that away.  They are a machine now, and fufilling what Ebay wants is more important than customer service.

So Price is the driving factor.  Most sellers on here are scratching the bottom due to Ebays constant theft of our money due to retruns, fees and fraud, all of which Ebay could care less about.

So I do not get bent when you ask about a discount, but dont get bent about my declanation of your offer, just move on to someone that will give you what you want.  Simple as that. 

And that 5 dollars may be the only profit for that seller after product cost, shipping, Ebay and Paypal fees and time and cost of mailing supplies. 

Just because you want something at a cheap price does not mean I have to give it to you for the price you want.  Thier are people that appretiate the fact that we as sellers need to make a profit.  We are not here for fun some peoples livelyhood depends on the business they conduct here.

Rich 

[ptdgames]

It's a complete scam. "Best offer" really means "$2 less than the minimum bid." Don't waste your time.

[suyung55]

mmm well i just got refused for offering £1.50 lower than start price, so as said why have a make offer. Is it the sellers or one of Ebays options sellers have no control over though. Sure i read of my friend disliked this option but said they couldnt remove it.!

[marzayma-0]

I offered $100 for an item listed at $110. Seller didn't bother to make a counter offer. Was she waiting for a $109.99 offer? I mean what's the point? Leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

[blueray0918]

Sometimes ebay independently changes a listing to include best offers. Sellers find out thru email that this was done. Sometimes we find out to late and best offers are made. Sellers should reply to buyers what happened. Ebay independently makes the acceptable best offer so low the seller would rather keep the item than sell it for what they have listed, I have tried many times to get them to stop this practice but have been unable to do so.

[partsguynow]

so why dont you just counter at the price you want, see what happens

[partsguynow]

you have to thicken your skin for the low baller crowd, they have been taught from birth by their cheap parents to buy low and sell high and the resellers live and die by pennies of profit. So the low ballers dont even deserve a counter from you, just ignore them like a passing mosquito but I think any legitimate offer deserves a counter instead of a decline, after all you got three shots at a sale. A decline on the first offer is offensive to the buyer, if it lists as best offer, play the game and negotiate!

[partsguynow]

just think of these idiots like you do those pesky robocalls or telemarketers, ignore them

[partsguynow]

I agree the low ballers are insulting but they are not like us, they dont give a **bleep** what you think about them, their job is to cheat you. What i dont understand is the type of listing that offer an item with best offer dont really want an offer. Example of this I recently made an offer of $8. on an item that was listed at $9.99 with a best offer. My thinking was well maybe there was some room there on their part. My offer of $8 was declined, no counter. So then I made a 2nd offer of $9. Again declined, no counter. I'm thinking now what the hell is the point of best offer, what do they want as a legitimate offer, #9.98? And why wouldnt they come back with a counter of $9.50 or ANY counter to make a sale? I didnt stick around to find out

[partsguynow]

They are either very devious or totally stupid to operate like this. I make FAIR offers, happy to get a nice item for myself at a fair price, never low ball. Waste of my time and theirs.

[partsguynow]

When you cant figure out something logically look for the scam. There must be something going on about this best offer thing that we dont know about. If a seller lists an item with best offer and never accepts a best offer there is something goofy going on. There are too many people doing this to explain it away as just stupidity.

[partsguynow]

thank you I did not know this

[cora1899]

I rarely-if ever- use the "Best Offer" option on my items yet I constantly have Buyers sending me Best Offers.

I could go on and on listing the ridiculous offers I have gotten-mostly because a Buyer has seen the same

item for less from another Seller which "of course" means that I should be able to sell it for that amount as

well. My response- No Thank You- and then I Block Them.

[marzayma-0]

What gets me is when best offer is used to attract potential bidders but seller won't accept 5% off of a $80 item. This seller also ignored my message asking if the best offer was a mistake. The experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily the vast majority of sellers are great

[blackcrow06]

eBay added that feature before I realized it was even on there when I was relisting auctions, and often eBay slapped their own Will Accept for Air Kisses & Free Shipping price on it before I realized why I was getting so many absurd offers.  I've been on eBay for a LONG time and have always set my prices to the lowest I can possibly sell an item for + reasonable shipping to free shipping in some instances.  I agree with the sellers who've stated Best Offers are meant to be a reasonable 15% discount.