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?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Tulips why do you care so much what a random stranger thinks? Do you worry about your neighbors, friends of friends or random people on the street? What if the neighbor across the street hates the color of your car, do you care? Don't give your power away. Nobody can insult you without your permission. You should be saving that for people you know and love lol.

Me, I have early 20s kids. I get a ton of practice at ignoring insults.

[alvecorde-ffydvjw8]

I agree with setting a min., the problem I've ran into, setting a min. just a dollar off can scare off a potential buyer,or the potential buyer gets mad, you won't sell at his price, so he ties up your product by not declining, just letting it run out, preventing any changes to your listing.

[thomasglasshoarder]

Your listings seem pretty reasonably priced to me, especially your auctions.  I understand your frustration, it happens to me.  I stopped using BO most of the time because of this reason, but I still get messages with offers, some reasonable that I either accepted or countered.  The ridiculous ones most times get ignored.  I feel there is nothing wrong with blocking the last ones and ignoring any other communication from them.  Loved one of the replies to you that she sometimes only has lint in her pockets and still likes to shop and buy, so she makes low ball offers.   Hilarious, but not our problem as sellers.  People need to learn to forgo purchases they can't afford.  I wonder if she goes into Wal-Mart and other stores and low balls the cashiers on her items she wants to purchase?

[janette9790]

I get so many low ball offers and people thinking its OK to haggle when bundling.  Recently I was offered less than half of asking price on three items than they wanted free shipping AFTER making the purchase.  I charged a minimal combined shipping fee which I would normally do anyway.  Then I blocked this bidder.  I do not want customers who are cheap like this and once they find a seller who sells their stuff cheap, I believe it encourages them to return for more.   I'm in this to make money plain and simple.  Many buyers don't understand reselling IS WORK.  I'm not sure if blocking buyers this way is accepted or not but I don't need or want this sort of business.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@janette9790 wrote: ... .  I do not want customers who are cheap like this and once they find a seller who sells their stuff cheap, I believe it encourages them to return for more.....  I'm not sure if blocking buyers this way is accepted or not but I don't need or want this sort of business.

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You shouldn't be surprised that if a buyer finds a bargain, they come back for more. That's just basic economics.

When you put a member on your BBL, eBay doesn't take for a reason.  So apparently eBay doesn't care WHY you're putting them on your list.  

You might have fewer aggravating experiences if you make your combined-shipping policy clear in your listings, and if you use the automatic decline option. 

[rushcomics]

I only ever blocked for lowball offers once.
Someone was going through ALL my listings and offering 0.99 for ALL my items that were $8-$20 ears.  I couldn't stop the notifications!  He was actually putting in more offers while I was declining them.  I had to block him just to stop from getting 100 notifications.
There was one other time I blocked after a lowball offer, but for a different reason.  The customer was sending me messages, go back and forth, waste my time with many questions about the item... and then, when he made an offer and I suggested a little higher, he said, "I changed my mind. I don't really want it."  He did this more than once.  The second time he did this with a different item is when I blocked.
I get an offer too low, I decline or I counter.

[rushcomics]

The option to block low bids would be better if you could select it for a percentage of the asking price rather than a specific dollar amount.  Then I could do a mass change of all my listings and say, automatically decline offers less than 75% of my asking price.  I don't want to change my listings on at a time.

[kh-ornesh]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread Here. 

Thanks.