Why I countered a buyer offer with 1 penny less

[lux.ra_14]

Buyer offered $20 on an item I had listed at $25 for a long while.

I wanted to accept, but the buyer included a specific shipping question with their offer. I couldn't see a way to respond to the question before replying to their offer.

I ended up countering $19.99 with a brief note that answered the shipping question and explained the 1-penny discount. The buyer accepted the counter,  and all went well.

I'm not sweating the penny, but was there an easier way?

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@lux.ra_14 wrote:

Buyer offered $20 on an item I had listed at $25 for a long while.

I wanted to accept, but the buyer included a specific shipping question with their offer. I couldn't see a way to respond to the question before replying to their offer.

I ended up countering $19.99 with a brief note that answered the shipping question and explained the 1-penny discount. The buyer accepted the counter,  and all went well.

I'm not sweating the penny, but was there an easier way?

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I don't think you have anything to worry about. I can't remember on an offer if you can click on the buyers name to open up their profile. If so, you can send them a message and include the item number in the message or when prompted when messaging. Now after you have sold the item, if you did not have 100% clarification with a response, you may want to contact them again to make sure they received your message and understood the answer. Just because they accepted the offer does not mean they took the time to read it or understood it. You now have there Ebay Id and can contact them before shipping.

- Good Luck

[lux.ra_14]

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@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

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@lux.ra_14 wrote:

Buyer offered $20 on an item I had listed at $25 for a long while.

I wanted to accept, but the buyer included a specific shipping question with their offer. I couldn't see a way to respond to the question before replying to their offer.

I ended up countering $19.99 with a brief note that answered the shipping question and explained the 1-penny discount. The buyer accepted the counter,  and all went well.

I'm not sweating the penny, but was there an easier way?

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I don't think you have anything to worry about. I can't remember on an offer if you can click on the buyers name to open up their profile. If so, you can send them a message and include the item number in the message or when prompted when messaging.

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I did try that, but I got only so far. After entering the item number and clicking the 'contact' button, it just keep returning me to the offer page. I assumed at the time that I couldn't contact a buyer about a transaction we didn't have yet -- despite the pending offer. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

I thought you could contact the member (from offer) if you have their id but its been some time and i don't remember for sure.   That being said, just make sure you message them now before you ship to clarify the questions/answers so there are no surprises. IMHO

[lux.ra_14]

Good advice, but I neglected to add that the item is already delivered and +feedback received.

I think the difference here was that the question was included with the best offer, as opposed to coming from the ask-seller-a-question link.

I was also kind of surprised that eBay let me counter less than the buyer's offer, because who does that normally?