What is up with all these Low ball offers and am I out of line blocking these buyers?

[juststuffisell]

I have a 90's minnesota vikings ball cap I threw up on ebay given football season is starting. It's actually in excellent condition, hard to find, and the only reason I didn't toss it a year ago. Yes, I have had it for at least 18 months, no biggie to me. Anyway, I threw a best offer on it thinking maybe 10 bucks. I have it listed for like 14.95 which I think is reasonable given when I did the listing one like it sold for 20 bucks used.

Anyway, I got an offer yesterday for 5 bucks from a guy. I thought it was quite insulting so I just declined it. The guy immediately offers 6.50 so I declined it and blocked him. Speaking of which, I have seen the same stuff with some LP's where people are offer 2 bucks for a 20 dollar LP and 10 bucks for a 50 dollar LP, 100 bucks for 180.00 is spot gold jewelry. Simply because sales are so bad on eBay right now, doesn't mean I am desperate - which I am not.  Irritate maybe, but far from desperate.

The guy was still able to email me after I blocked him...which I thought they could not do. Said he really wanted the hat. I was thinking, if you really wanted the hat you should have just bought it or made a reasonable offer.

So was I out of line blocking these low ballers? And what is up with the rampant low ball offers?

[offroadarsenal]

I see both sides of the coin here. But, I do think lately it has become increasingly annoying lately because of all the high expectations put on sellers. I cant stand when my listing offers, 1 day handling, free shipping, free returns, and the offer comes in lower than what the shipping cost one way would be. It is absurd. I will usually counter twice before I block someone. If the buyer makes 3 insulting, outrageous, offers that are not even economically possible in a row. He is blocked and you now have saved yourself from having to waste your time with this buyer again. My business colleagues think its to much of a hardball approach, but when you deal with thousands of items and hundreds of offers daily, it is up to you decide how much time you want to waste on those dickheads. I think 3 strikes is a fair rule and still use it.

[membersinceaug2001]

This is why you need to triple your price you really want when listing your item.

It's so tempting to ask these lowballers if they would go into work tomorrow for half their normal wages.  No?  Then why should I?

[gopetersen]

For heaven's sake! USE EBAY'S OPTION FOR BLOCKING LOW BIDS.

You don't have to see the lowball bids. I never do. If I list an item at $100 and I'll consider bids down to $75, then I use the eBay option to block all bids below $75 and to auto-accept any bids between $90 and $100.

It's a waste of time to look at lowball offers and to be filling up your blocked-buyer lists. Let the software do the work for you!

[retrose1]

If you have best offer on your listings - then you should not be insulted if you get lowball offers.  Best offer implies the best the other guy is willing to offer not the best you are willing to take.  If the other guy is a reseller, then their BO is always going to be insultingly low.

I don't use best offer and will block anyone that makes an offer on the first round.  I have ALWAYS regretted following through on someones offer because scam attempts come once I do.  If a buyer knows that you are going to deal before they get the item, on ebay they also know that you will be willing to deal once you are helpless.

It would be one thing if my prices were in the top 10% in price, but I price my items reasonably so there is no reason to haggle with me for my stuff.

And I have been known to jack up my price if someone makes an offer that I find insulting and comeback with my original price.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I agree.

Sellers should not be insulted by total strangers over a business proposition. If they are they may not be the person you want to do business with. An insult is your best friend telling you your dog is really ugly. It's meaningful and personal. 

People give away too much power. Blow it off, move on, block or don't. But don't let a stranger "insult" you over a business offer. That's just silly.

BTW the other week I mentioned that I always make my Best Offer the most I want to pay. Several sellers on this board told me I was doing it wrong and should be offering less, preparing to counter a counter. SO the short answer is you cannot please all the people EVER.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

One more comment. It is NOT the responsibility of the buyer to make sure the seller is making a profit. That is the responsibility of the seller. People should look out for themselves.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

It's ebay's fault. Free this, free that, and nothing is free ever, it all costs the seller. I am not going to let ebay nor "ebay's" buyers squeeze me. I am here to make a very good profit, and my time and energy is vaulable. So low ball buyers can move along to their next victim, because I'm not playing.

Recently I received two messages to reduce the prices on items. One after telling him no thanks immdiately bought the item full price less than five minutes later. So don't assume you are going to lose the sale. Apparently some buyers think "it can't hurt to ask" even though on my end I am rather annoyed. It's the ebay mentality and ebay is breeding this type of behavior in their desperation, making this site more of a flea market everyday. 2nd buyer who asked for a discount (just because) I flat out told her no. She bought it a week later, and then she hit my feedback with less than steller comments. Yet other buyers who spent far far more on items lately have left me wonderful feedback. I don't know why I seem to have more trouble with sales on the lower end, but I can guess why. 

[yuncreations]

you could have counter offered. You may have missed on a sale, if he had accepted your counter. I always do that, you never know, sometimes they are just trying to see what happens, and then they accept my counteroffer.. Or, you could set-up an Automatically decline amount. so you don't have to get upset when they low-ball you.

[jerzee908]

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@midnight_mystic wrote:

This is why I don't use Best Offer. That, and the fact that IP is not R with Best Offer.

"The guy was still able to email me after I blocked him...which I thought they could not do."

It seems that there is some loophole that allows buyers to continue to contact you through the listing that they originally contacted you through or transacted through, even if you block them later. I have found that making a completely new listing (not relisting or Sell Similar) is the only way to put a stop to it.

"So was I out of line blocking these low ballers?"

You can block anyone you like for any reason. But like another poster pointed out, if you continue to use Best Offer, you're going to continue to get lowballers. You can either stop using Best Offer and use BIN with IPR instead (which is what I recommend—if you're willing to sell the hat for $10, why not just list it for $10?), or you can set rules to auto-accept/auto-decline offers.

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I think one of the biggest problems is if you choose not to use "Best Offer" and use "Buy it Now", you are still going to get people messaging you with offers.  If the OP lists that hat for $10 BIN, I can guarantee someone will want that hat for $10 with Free Shipping or still make a low-ball offer.  There's almost no way to get around the offers and its becoming a problem with sellers that just want to list their item at the price they have set.

Just about all of my messages are offers or requests for free shipping.  I don't block these buyers, but buyers like the guy that cursed me out and called me a crook (posted about this a few days ago), earned his spot on my BBL .

[laserpartshq]

Just set a min that you will consider and EBAY to reject those idiots right away and you won't have to deal with them

[retrose1]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

It's ebay's fault. Free this, free that, and nothing is free ever, it all costs the seller. I am not going to let ebay nor "ebay's" buyers squeeze me. I am here to make a very good profit, and my time and energy is vaulable. So low ball buyers can move along to their next victim, because I'm not playing.

Recently I received two messages to reduce the prices on items. One after telling him no thanks immdiately bought the item full price less than five minutes later. So don't assume you are going to lose the sale. Apparently some buyers think "it can't hurt to ask" even though on my end I am rather annoyed. It's the ebay mentality and ebay is breeding this type of behavior in their desperation, making this site more of a flea market everyday. 2nd buyer who asked for a discount (just because) I flat out told her no. She bought it a week later, and then she hit my feedback with less than steller comments. Yet other buyers who spent far far more on items lately have left me wonderful feedback. I don't know why I seem to have more trouble with sales on the lower end, but I can guess why. 

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That is why I block them BEFORE I tell them no.

[auventera]

Feeling insulted or offended is a personal choice. Life is too short and precious to invest personal emotion in an ebay widget, regardless of cost or supposed worth. Set auto decline if you are unable to let it roll off your feathers.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Just got another one, request for a lower price through messages, not running  a  sale, not using best offer. That's almost 50% of interested buyers this week. All were told NO! 🙂 

[monster-deals]

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@jason_incognito wrote:

So the guy offered $5 and then when you declined he offered $6.50....

You had a live one, that likely would have bought..... but you chose to refuse the sale and block him? 

I always counter. What does it hurt? If you were thinking 10 bucks, why didn't you counter at 12? 

Why block?

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I would have blocked too. 

There is little sense in having an angry customer that you don't want to do business with have free access to your items & feedback.

that's just begging for a retalitory SNAD

[turquoisetulips]

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@juststuffisell wrote:

I have a 90's minnesota vikings ball cap I threw up on ebay given football season is starting. It's actually in excellent condition, hard to find, and the only reason I didn't toss it a year ago. Yes, I have had it for at least 18 months, no biggie to me. Anyway, I threw a best offer on it thinking maybe 10 bucks. I have it listed for like 14.95 which I think is reasonable given when I did the listing one like it sold for 20 bucks used.

Anyway, I got an offer yesterday for 5 bucks from a guy. I thought it was quite insulting so I just declined it. The guy immediately offers 6.50 so I declined it and blocked him. Speaking of which, I have seen the same stuff with some LP's where people are offer 2 bucks for a 20 dollar LP and 10 bucks for a 50 dollar LP, 100 bucks for 180.00 is spot gold jewelry. Simply because sales are so bad on eBay right now, doesn't mean I am desperate - which I am not.  Irritate maybe, but far from desperate.

The guy was still able to email me after I blocked him...which I thought they could not do. Said he really wanted the hat. I was thinking, if you really wanted the hat you should have just bought it or made a reasonable offer.

So was I out of line blocking these low ballers? And what is up with the rampant low ball offers?

---

Some low ball offers can be insulting . The common one for me is for someone to offer half of my asking price . When this happens  I send them a counter offer  with the reminder that  I offer free shipping .  If they are a suspected reseller  whose desperate to make as much profit as they can  - then they decline . However if its someone trying to just get the best deal  they  can  they will  usually accept the counter offer . I sold three items to the same buyer this way just a few days ago .  Tulips