Why even put best offer?

[lawrencbuen0]

I have run into many sellers in the past and one today where their listing said best offer.  So I send them an offer around $3 less than the asking price and they counter offer. When I read to see what the counter offer is it's the same as the buy it now price. I have had a lot of sellers do this to me. I finally got tired of it so I sent this last seller a message saying "why even have a best offer if you're not even willing to reduce your price"? Needless to say the seller never responded back to me. Why do sellers put best offer if they don't want to reduce their price? 

[guybemis]

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@myangelandmyprincess wrote:

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@guybemis wrote:

I agree. I have been using Best Offer on eBay forever, and never had an offer rejected. But in the last year or so it has become a complete joke. One seller counter offered that I could pay full price. He explained that he only accepted Best Offers on quantities of ten or more. Which was interesting, because he only had three listed for sale.

Another seller rejected my Best Offer, without any explanation. I was confused as to why, so I continued watching the item for another seven or eight months. He finally accepted a Best Offer from somebody else, for 50 cents more then my offer. He waited over seven months and re-listed it again and again, to get an extra 50 cents. I'll give it to him though, he got an extra 50 cents on the item. LOL.

Rejecting a reasonable Best Offer is just plane rude. I get the feeling that many sellers accept or reject Best Offers based on what kind of mood they are in that day. I immediately look for the item elsewhere, if a seller rejects my offer. Several times I would have bought the item at full price if the seller just didn't put Best Offer on it. But since they rejected my offer, they lost a sale.

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The first seller may usually have more than 10 and it’s free shipping that policy makes sense 

the second seller I can understand too.  When I list something if there is an offer that I’m not sure of because I just listed it I won’t accept it but say months later it’s still listed and I get that offer than I may be willing.  

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The first seller, I'm not buying it. If he only accepts Best Offers on 10 or more items, then he should only put Best Offer on the listing when he is offering 10 or more items. Otherwise it's just a lame excuse to reject a Best Offer. He should also probably state in the listing that he only excepts Best Offers on 10 or more items. Otherwise he is going to lose sales, as he did in my case.

The second seller, you are probably right about. But it's still dumb selling. He shouldn't have put Best Offer in the listing unless he was willing to accept a Best Offer. It's that simple. If you or eBay puts Best Offer in your listing, then you should be prepared to accept a Best Offer. It's that simple. Most sellers seem to get it.

[guybemis]

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@annasunicorns wrote:
(Btw, I am sure alot of people feel the way you do @guybemis, its completely rational to expect best offer to be the sellers choice. When it was a choice, I negotiated on every thing with that on it. Now unfortionately you have to guess which items sellers will flex on vs not. Its made buying annoying because sellers either no longer respond or get mad at me for using it. How am I supposed to know? Ugh. The buyer seller relationship on ebay is becoming animostic!) 

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You shouldn't even have to be gussing if they seller will actually accept the Best Offer or not. The sellers need to take responsibility for what is in their listings. If the listing contains Best Offer, then they should be prepared to accept a Best Offer.

[jitterbug2003]

I just started selling again after years and they put them in my auctions. I took them out with edit but they relisted my items on their own and put them in again. I have never relisted any items before, I use to just put new on.  Makes me feel like they are making my decisions and running my life.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@lawrencbuen0 wrote:

I have run into many sellers in the past and one today where their listing said best offer.  So I send them an offer around $3 less than the asking price and they counter offer. When I read to see what the counter offer is it's the same as the buy it now price. I have had a lot of sellers do this to me. I finally got tired of it so I sent this last seller a message saying "why even have a best offer if you're not even willing to reduce your price"? Needless to say the seller never responded back to me. Why do sellers put best offer if they don't want to reduce their price? 

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I'm curious ... what was the asking price?

$3 off of $30 is 10%

$3 off of $20 is 15%

$3 off of $15 is 20%

$3 off of $10 is 30%

$3 off of $5 is 60%

Its all relative ...

[nowthatsjustducky]

Okay.  Was just making sure.  😉

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@annasunicorns wrote:
(Btw, I am sure alot of people feel the way you do @guybemis, its completely rational to expect best offer to be the sellers choice. When it was a choice, I negotiated on every thing with that on it. Now unfortionately you have to guess which items sellers will flex on vs not. Its made buying annoying because sellers either no longer respond or get mad at me for using it. How am I supposed to know? Ugh. The buyer seller relationship on ebay is becoming animostic!)

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I guess one way to get a good idea of whether or not a seller has Best Offer on their listings by their own choice or not is to have a glance at their ended listings.  If none of them, or a very small percentage of them have Best Offer, then the odds are good that eBay added it without their knowledge.

[7606dennis]

Since eBay has decided to add the BO option without the seller's knowledge, having them appear in a listing is about as useful as a buyer's feedback rating when it comes to determining if the seller is actually willing to accept offers.  Just as 100% feedback for a buyer doesn't accurately reflect their true desirability as a customer; the BO option in a listing can't be counted on to reflect if the seller is open to receiving offers.

[uzumakey]

eBay automatically selects best offer sometimes if you've enabled that option on your listings before. I've also had eBay apply best offer to listings without best offer when I relist through mobile. Finally, eBay has in the past month started randomly enabling best offer on some of my listings without my permission - I'll sometimes get messages saying "congratulations, best offer is now enabled on this item!" when I've never gone back to revise the listing in that way.

So...more than likely eBay has forced your sellers in some shape or form to use best offer. It's much more likely a seller missed this sort of thing if they have very many listings.

[leslie_peine]

eBay buyers have just gotten so filthy cheap it's ridiculous. I list at a price and that's it. Buyers do have a choice. Take it or leave it. Quality costs money. Can't (or won't) afford it, get lost. Don't be so cheap (and picky). Buy it now (instant payment required) cuts out the low-rent bottom feeders.

[uzumakey]

Not always, thanks to the "make an offer" option when you message someone. Buyers rarely bother with that but I still get people messaging me asking if I'll take X amount for an item that's BIN with no BO enabled. It's a nice heads up...because I then go ahead and block lol.

[frightcastle]

EXACTLY! Hey, I've had 2 different sellers reject my offers when they were just ONE DOLLAR under the Buy it Now price. That's crazy--if you don't accept offers, why would you list it with that option? I don't disagree with them having a bottom line price, whatever it is, buy why give people hope that you will lower your price when you will not? If ebay is the one adding that option, they need to seriously stop it. It makes no sense...

[airsheep]

In my case, I found a secondhand shirt with best offer. I decided to offer $1.50 off (the shirt started at $16, so not unreasonable). Seller raised the price to $99 a day later with no response to my offer. Scratching my head, I contacted him and asked if he had already sold the shirt; he said no, he had found a tiny hole that would only get worse over time. Shirt is still for sale at $99; I can't tell if the shirt is so unique he thinks he can get that price, or he just doesn't know how to remove an entry. Still puzzled.

[beez5720]

Ebay sometimes makes that choice for sellers and adds that little "Make Offer" option to listings without the seller's approval or even their knowledge.

Keep in mind - Not all sellers are scheisters and scam artists. Some are just ordinary people who are trying to eat once a day. Ebay likes to give sellers a bad rap so that buyers feel like ebay is on their "side".

Clearly they aren't, but please know that it's not always the sellers making your experience "unpleasant".

[beez5720]

Back it up a minute - after reading through the posts, you're saying that you are a seller and you know that ebay adds those little options onto listings and that sellers are not always aware.... and THEN you gave your seller a hard time about having that option on the listing? Whattttt?

[fuzzface50]

Because they won't accept $3 off from you doesn't mean they won't accept $3 off from someone else. who knows maybe they will accept $5 off from someone else.