What does "lower than" mean?

[retrogiant]

Automatically accept offers of at least: $5.99

Automatically decline offers less than: $5.99

The way I enter these fields on my listings, I am mathematically correct. Yet eBay says "It looks like there's a problem with this listing. The price for accepting offers cannot be lower than or equal to the price for declining offers"

So instead of having the auto accept/decline function work for all offers, I now have to revise all my listings to make them less efficient. So I guess I will do it like this:

Automatically accept offers of at least: $5.99

Automatically decline offers less than: $5.98

The question now becomes what happens when a buyer offers $5.98, is the offer accepted or declined?

After a long and unproductive conversation with eBay customer service, they assured me that $5.98 is less than $5.98 and that the offer will be automatically declined because "that is how the system works". Of course $5.98 is not less than $5.98, nor is it at least $5.99, so the offer is not accepted or declined. Instead the auto accept/decline function is rendered useless and you have to manually review the offer. 

This would not be such a big deal except that I now have to manually revise about 5000 listngs which will literally cause me days of unnecessary work. The kicker is that I have to change my listings to make the auto/decline function work less efficiently because eBay simply does not seem to understand what "less than" means.

It's pretty hard not to feel frustrated by such an abject lack of basic mathematic knowledge. Have you ever seen these symbols on your keyboard < > they really do have a meaning that is simple to understand. 

[llllady]

If I were in your shoes, I'd leave out the auto accept and just use the auto decline.

If you set the auto decline to $5.98, then everything above that will be accepted. 

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@retrogiant wrote:

Automatically accept offers of at least: $5.99

Automatically decline offers less than: $5.99

The way I enter these fields on my listings, I am mathematically correct. Yet eBay says "It looks like there's a problem with this listing. The price for accepting offers cannot be lower than or equal to the price for declining offers"

So instead of having the auto accept/decline function work for all offers, I now have to revise all my listings to make them less efficient. So I guess I will do it like this:

Automatically accept offers of at least: $5.99

Automatically decline offers less than: $5.98

The question now becomes what happens when a buyer offers $5.98, is the offer accepted or declined?

After a long and unproductive conversation with eBay customer service, they assured me that $5.98 is less than $5.98 and that the offer will be automatically declined because "that is how the system works". Of course $5.98 is not less than $5.98, nor is it at least $5.99, so the offer is not accepted or declined. Instead the auto accept/decline function is rendered useless and you have to manually review the offer. 

This would not be such a big deal except that I now have to manually revise about 5000 listngs which will literally cause me days of unnecessary work. The kicker is that I have to change my listings to make the auto/decline function work less efficiently because eBay simply does not seem to understand what "less than" means.

It's pretty hard not to feel frustrated by such an abject lack of basic mathematic knowledge. Have you ever seen these symbols on your keyboard < > they really do have a meaning that is simple to understand. 

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I reads to me like the programming logic behind the decline offers would accept $5.98 being the declining value. Sometimes their code doesn't match up with the descriptoin.

Yikes, I'm going to give the programming group an INAD.

[zzydny]

This is pointless and it limits your options as a seller.  If you automatically accept offers above $5.99, then  you are already rejecting any offer that is lower.

The reject lower option is essentially for weeding out any offers that are too low.  The accept option is for the lowest price you will accept.  There should be a field of play between the two numbers so that you may offer counteroffers on offers that are not quite enough.

Thus, if you say that your auto-accept is $5.99 on an item that is listed for $6.99, you could reject offers lower than $4.99.   Then if someone offers you, $5.50, you can counter with $5.99.

[a_c_green]

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@llllady wrote:

If I were in your shoes, I'd leave out the auto accept and just use the auto decline.

If you set the auto decline to $5.98, then everything above that will be accepted. 

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that in that scenario, everything above $5.98 will be passed on to the seller for consideration; it won't be automatically accepted as a sale.

[creativecrisis]

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@retrogiant wrote:

Automatically accept offers of at least: $5.99

Automatically decline offers less than: $5.99

The way I enter these fields on my listings, I am mathematically correct. Yet eBay says "It looks like there's a problem with this listing. The price for accepting offers cannot be lower than or equal to the price for declining offers"

When I use best offer, I fill in only the "automatically decline" field. So, for example, if I would accept $19.99 for an item listed at $24.99, I use the instruction, "Automaticaly decline offers less than $19.99." This way I see offers only from buyers who are willing to pay my lowest acceptable price.

[luckythewinner]

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@retrogiant wrote:
It's pretty hard not to feel frustrated by such an abject lack of basic mathematic knowledge. Have you ever seen these symbols on your keyboard < > they really do have a meaning that is simple to understand. 

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Didn't you start two other topics on 8/3 and 8/4 to complain about this same issue?

[retrogiant]

Yes I did, and by the answers here I am guessing it is pointless to try to agitate to get eBay to fix the issue. 

The advice being given is not at all helpful. I have simply used the fields this way for 3 years. It is not how I am using the fields which is the problem, it is the fact that eBay changed the function but not the rules...no one can explain why and that apparentlt includes you!

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@retrogiant wrote:
It's pretty hard not to feel frustrated by such an abject lack of basic mathematic knowledge. Have you ever seen these symbols on your keyboard < > they really do have a meaning that is simple to understand. 

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Didn't you start two other topics on 8/3 and 8/4 to complain about this same issue?

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I believe he just wants a question answered. Maybe that would help?

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@retrogiant wrote:

Yes I did, and by the answers here I am guessing it is pointless to try to agitate to get eBay to fix the issue. 

The advice being given is not at all helpful. I have simply used the fields this way for 3 years. It is not how I am using the fields which is the problem, it is the fact that eBay changed the function but not the rules...no one can explain why and that apparentlt includes you!

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Since we don't know how that particular field is populated, you may want to call Customer Service and see if they can find out for you, or wait until the weekly chat meeting on Wednesday at 1pm pst and ask the eBay management the same question. 

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@retrogiant wrote:

Yes I did, and by the answers here I am guessing it is pointless to try to agitate to get eBay to fix the issue. 

The advice being given is not at all helpful. I have simply used the fields this way for 3 years. It is not how I am using the fields which is the problem, it is the fact that eBay changed the function but not the rules...no one can explain why and that apparentlt includes you!

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Also I don't think it's fair to the other poster's who tried to offer an explaination to help,  to lump us in with one person who is upsetting you. 

[pingpong517]

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@retrogiant wrote:

Yes I did, and by the answers here I am guessing it is pointless to try to agitate to get eBay to fix the issue. 

The advice being given is not at all helpful. I have simply used the fields this way for 3 years. It is not how I am using the fields which is the problem, it is the fact that eBay changed the function but not the rules...no one can explain why and that apparentlt includes you!

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SO this posting is to get ebay to cahnge a small..and i'm saying it right here and now..SMALL thing...--with some thought and using a little bit of thinking...who care... if the possible amount because it could happen once..by the way you want to set it up>..well you may have to decide for yourself if the one amount is offered... BUT the idea of it is most will be declined and other maybe aut accepted..

and if there is is one possible loophole in the auto price thing... really?  does it matter ...? 

i'm being blunt here..because there are way too mant thing that they will/are working on...and THAT just doesn't seem to anyone's big deal..exept you and your posting... 

Is there anyone else , that really thinks this is a big deal?  

[llllady]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@llllady wrote:

If I were in your shoes, I'd leave out the auto accept and just use the auto decline.

If you set the auto decline to $5.98, then everything above that will be accepted. 

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that in that scenario, everything above $5.98 will be passed on to the seller for consideration; it won't be automatically accepted as a sale.

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Nope. That is true, but at least it resolves the issue of $5.99/$5.98.  Sometimes you gotta give a little, even if you don't like it!

[retrogiant]

I give up! I have done it this way for years without any issues. The problem is not how I have created my listings, the problem is that eBay has now changed the code and that has caused me to have thousands of these errors. 

All of the advice here has me manually revising over 5000 listings. This is what I am complaining about and am trying to avoid.

I was stupid to post here and for that I am sorry. Sometimes I wrongly believe that I can make a difference and fix issues that might impact others as well, but clearly I have been a fool once again. 

I'm calling it quits when my subscription expires anyway, so I will just take my lumps and do the pointless nothing work to fix all my listings. Thanks for the advice everyone....goodye now. 

[retrogiant · Accepted solution]

Clearly you have time to revise 5000 items....just a small thing...no big deal! But I guess if you were really a hard working seller, you wouldn't have time to waste minimizing the importance of this issue to me on a chat board. The reason I hate these discussion boards is people like you who simply criticize sellers and offer notthing productive whatsoever.