eBay

jettshutt · ‎11-16-2023

I've been on & off eBay with my online storefront/brand for over 14 yrs. In my industry, which includes vintage Star Wars, best offers worked for many years. Lately however, the offers average less than it would cost me to ship an item. And the time sink with customers questions, wow. Here the best one yet...

Customer messages me 6 times, each time a full day apart. A $99 vintage Star Wars item I had listed with a best offer. Item had an average sold history of $75 to $125.

Customer: "Is this legit vintage?"
Me: Sure is, I ordered it myself via Mail-Order back in 1983, I was 18 yrs old.
Customer: "That's cool, is this considered rare?"
Me: Seeing it was a mail-in out of Bantha Tracks a the time, I think that's fair to say"
Customer: "This would be a super addition to my collection"

Me: "Great, make your best offer and I'll ship it out free via USPS priority"

Customer: "And you will pack it up safe and secure"
Me: Sure will, I have custom boxes made just for this stuff and 14+ yrs experience
Customer: "OK, thanks for the the information"

So, I get the best offer.... $9.75

annadryl · ‎11-16-2023

One of my biggest pet peeves in general is when buyers try to school the seller on how to do it better, cheaper. I was offering a huge box of DVD's with free MM shipping for ~$75. I get the offer for $10 and when I explain to them that the budget shipping alone cost more than that, then there are fees...

"You can ship like Prime does, it's free. And you can get a bank account with no fees".

Lesson learned! I had been doing it the hard way for years I guess 🙄

collectfest · ‎11-17-2023

I could care less on what buyers offer me. It’s their money. I pick 75 to 125 dollars for 10 quite often.

I don’t see offers that are that are low, I set that up when I list. They are blocked.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎11-17-2023

Sounds like the typical 'cut off nose/spite face'.

Just because there are a few bad apples doesn't mean they all are.

luxgoods · ‎11-17-2023

That was pretty funny but all to often the case with best offers. After the third question, I would have blocked that buyer but that is just me

toomuchstuffagain35 · ‎11-17-2023

I have an item - not this ID-(2 of them) priced at $12.95. Someone sent a message asking if I could go lower on the price if they buy both (I don't do BO). I usually just say yes or no off the top but for some reason I did a search and hmmm only other ones listed are either $15 or $22 with higher shipping. So nope, don't think so and I may raise the price slightly on the weekend.

So mine are already the lowest price available, but you still want to dicker?

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

4pawsup* · ‎11-17-2023

I use it all the time on all my listings. I also enjoy connecting with other collectors. I have my minimum set so i do not see the lowball offers. The category i sell in i get as many BIN as i do offers. To me it is just another tool that i use to let me know what the market is doing.

maxine*j · ‎11-17-2023

@annadryl wrote:
... I explain to them that the budget shipping alone cost more than [the offer], then there are fees...
"You can ship like Prime does, it's free. And you can get a bank account with no fees".
Lesson learned! I had been doing it the hard way for years I guess 🙄

OH, NO! I've been doing it wrong, too!

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎11-17-2023

@albertabrightalberta wrote:
@retro_entertainment_collectibles wrote:
I must be odd, I dont mind offers are all, takes me all of two seconds. In as far as messages go well I type pretty fast, I have found communicating a pleasure whether people buy or not.
I don't mind b.o. at all and offer it on all my items.

For lowballs, I decline and don't respond. I don't consider tham to be serious.

If an offer is reasonable but a bit low, I counter but just once. I don't like the back and forth up to 5 times and I wish ebay would go back to just 3 offers per buyer.

But my favorite reason for having a b.o. option is the benefit of being able to weed out bad buyers. I can't count the number of bullets I've dodged because so many offerers love to neg! This is just one buyer whose feedback earned them a "decline" on the offer and a place on my BBL.

Great idea!

soh.maryl · ‎11-17-2023

Are you aware that, on eBay, an offer is understood to NOT include the shipping?

In other words, if I offer you $30 for your item and you accept my offer, unless you listed it with free shipping, I will expect to pay the $30 plus the shipping cost plus the state sales tax, if any.

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎11-17-2023

@4pawsup* wrote:
I use it all the time on all my listings. I also enjoy connecting with other collectors. I have my minimum set so i do not see the lowball offers. The category i sell in i get as many BIN as i do offers. To me it is just another tool that i use to let me know what the market is doing.

There's also the repeat buyer. When they know they stand chance of saving some money or better yet buying multiples save money. Would a seller rather have 5 items lets say sit there hoping and waiting for buyer or sell them making profit on each one? Stands true more so even for collectors and sellers of collectibles. The buyer is seeking enhance their collection and have a perceived value in items. By the way doesn't make it so ask any stamp, coin or collectibles retail dealer who buys, sells and trades.

The fact the seller is willing to engage them has VALUE to the prospect buyer, the best offer system and messaging is probably the best tools eBay provides for customer retention.

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎11-17-2023

@stainlessenginecovers wrote:
Sounds like the typical 'cut off nose/spite face'.

Just because there are a few bad apples doesn't mean they all are.

Depends on what you sell. Some items draw bad apples.

I use very limited BOs. And almost all reject insulting orders automatically, unless I forget to set the minimum.

Repeat buyers will sometimes ask me to make accept an order in a message, their offers are always reasonable and always accepted.

I used to get European and Canada buyers begging me for a price reduction to help them pay postage, and they have not asked since Ebay Global Shipping and now EIS have become available.

Some sellers wish to project a different image than others and Make an Offer is not consistent with the image I want to project. I can afford to lose some short margin sales, so I don't allow any short margin sales on online marketplaces and every short margin sale is as much risk of causing a problem as a full margin sale.

I debate with myself whether to raise my minimum sale price, quite frequently.

reallynicestamps · ‎11-17-2023

I used to get European and Canada buyers begging me for a price reduction to help them pay postage, and they have not asked since Ebay Global Shipping and now EIS have become available.

Good to hear that as a Canadian buyer (not so good as a Canadian seller).

Mostly we hear complaints about eIS /GSP on the Canada boards, but it's good to hear that international buyers actually like seeing their full cost upfront.

4pawsup* · ‎11-17-2023

@gb58

After the second offer they would have been put on my BBL. When things are slow and i go thru offers just to see how much traffic i had. When i see a buyer who 2 or 3 times were auto rejected i put them on my BBL.