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Communication Preferences > Competing Offers
Communication Preferences > Buying Activity > Competing Offers
"Competing Offers" is a recent addition. It's separate from "Offers to buyers" and "second chance offers" Can you tell us what that setting controls @devon@ebay @kyle@ebay ?
I've asked a few experienced buyers and sellers, but none of them had an answer. The best guess I've seen so far is maybe eBay is now alerting buyers when another buyer makes an offer on an item from their watch list?
23 comments
kh-cathy
·1 year agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
wastingtime101
OP1 year agoAfter 6+ months this is the closest I've seen to a potential answer:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/New-buyer-notification-quot-Another-buyer-has-made-an-offer-quot/m-p/34740369#M2475141
Thanks @gurlcat .
wastingtime101
OP1 year agoI'm coming back to confirm what @gurlcat saw was, indeed, a competing offer. Just saw one of these on a screenshot a friend sent me and it does use the term "competing offer."
It was sent as a push notification through the app, not found in eBay messages.
In short, the system sends a notification to let you know another buyer used the "make offer" button on an item you're interested in (in your cart, on your watchlist, etc), alerting you the window of opportunity to send a competing offer is shrinking.
With this in mind, I can now see what @devon@ebay said upthread is correct, but was worded in a way that was missing a piece of the puzzle so it wasn't clicking for some of us.
"We are still waiting to get 100% confirmation but based off of the various people I have spoken to, this feature is designed to allow buyers the chance to still send offers and purchase an item even if the seller has another offer from another potential buyer."
Thanks again, Devon, for your assistance with this. 🙂
Edit to add: I just re-read the OP and it looks like my original guess was correct. That's kinda funny.
wastingtime101
OP1 year agoQuick update to this old thread to close it out:
A year later and competing offers are now coming through web; they are no longer app exclusive.
There's an item I added to my watchlist yesterday, and today someone (I think @gurlcat actually - she sent me the link in the first place) made an offer on the same listing. Today I get this in my email:
"Competing Offer! Act now on [item title]"
"Another buyer just made an offer on the item you were interested in."
Multi quantity listing; still plenty available so @gurlcat didn't pull the rug out from under me or anything. 😂
gurlcat
·1 year agoHa it wasn't me. I didn't even notice the listing had Make Offer; I just did BIN. The price is pretty sweet already, and free shipping!
eburtonlab
·2 years agoI just now saw a post on Reddit about someone in the process of submitting an offer getting a popup message indicating that someone else had already offered more, and I immediately thought of this thread.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoThanks @eburtonlab ! That does support the theory from the OP, in a sense.
"The best guess I've seen so far is maybe eBay is now alerting buyers when another buyer makes an offer on an item from their watch list?"
A pop up is not the same as an eBay message, but perhaps there's a connection.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@eburtonlab thanks for that info, very interesting! 'd be interested in reading that if you have a link handy.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoFound it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ebay/comments/1cbfoes/auction_bots_reacting_immediately_after_my_offer/
I'm unclear if it's talking about "make offer" or if it's talking about placing a bid because "auction" was referenced. Seems eburtonlab came to the same conclusion based on the comment to the post.
Could be a buyer that's auto-outbid by someone else's proxy. The way it reads to me it's about auction bids, not best offer. 🤷
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@wastingtime101 looks like the OP on that reddit thread has confirmed they were talking about auction bids, not offers.
mudshark61369
·2 years ago@wastingtime101,
I think that @valueaddedresource 's last reply is what "Competing offers" means.
The way special offers from sellers works is they are sent after 30 people have viewed or watched a sponsored item. Allowing sellers whose items who haven't reached that mark yet, to have their offers displayed, as competing offers, opens the doors to reach more people and possibly make more sales. They are trying to reverse their down slide in the market after all.
recycleyourself
·2 years agoJust wanted to say a huge thank you to you for your solution I've been seeking for a couple days and I'm not a computer illiterate. 😕
(how to switch payment method of shipping labels)
I even called EBay and the nice guy couldn't tell me how. Made my day, thanks!!
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoI assume that was a post on a different discussion. Glad it helped @recycleyourself . It's something even front line CS should have been able to help you with; sad to hear that did not happen. Come here any time you need help.
recycleyourself
·2 years agoYes, it was on another thread that had been closed for comments. 🙂
You're awesome, thanks again!
devon@ebay
Hey @wastingtime101! We are still waiting to hear back with more insight on this and once we do we will let you know!
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoLooking forward to an answer on this one. Thanks @devon@ebay .
devon@ebay
Hey @wastingtime101! We are still waiting to get 100% confirmation but based off of the various people I have spoken to, this feature is designed to allow buyers the chance to still send offers and purchase an item even if the seller has another offer from another potential buyer.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoBy that, is it safe to assume you mean not just another offer, but another offer that's been accepted but not paid yet @devon@ebay ?
Asking because it's always been possible for a buyer to make an offer on a listing with make offer no matter how many offers other buyers sent in. And it's always been possible for seller-initiated offers to go out to multiple buyers with the option of counter-offers.
It's under buyer settings, not seller settings, so it seems kind of odd if the intended purpose is for buyers to be able to submit offers to sellers when there's an existing competing offer. That seems like it would be a seller setting, not a buyer setting.
Plus it's under communication preferences, so wouldn't it have more to do with the types of communications eBay sends buyers, not whether or not buyers could submit competing offers?
Sorry for all the confusion - it's just not clicking for me right now. Will wait until you can get a full confirmation on what that setting does. Thanks again.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@wastingtime101 my first thought was maybe it's to set whether you, as a buyer, want to receive communication about when there are competing offers in play?
I can't find any examples right now, but similar to your watch list idea, I seem to recall seeing posts here in the past where eBay was sending out messages to buyers trying to create a sense of urgency by alerting them that other buyers had received offers from the seller for the item or that their offer had been accepted but the sale isn't final until checkout is completed so they should "act now" to make sure they get the item....or something along those lines.
I could see how that option might make sense for buyers to be able to control if they receive those kinds of messages.
Hopefully @devon@ebay can confirm or provide more detail if that's not it.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoThat's on regular seller initiated offers (aka "offers to buyers" on the communication settings displayed in the OP). Not something I'd link to this new "competing offers" setting.
But that's just an accepted offer, no? I get the item is still available and someone else could purchase it, but I don't think that would be considered a "competing offer".
I did have an "out there" idea which probably has zero basis in reality @valueaddedresource :
Say a buyer is interested in a catalog item like an iPhone - what if competing offers means they express interest in one item (add to watchlist or cart or just view multiple times) so they get offers from that seller, but then they also get offers from other sellers with the same exact item in the same condition? Like I said, just a theory with zero to back it up. Add some iPhones to your watchlist, Liz, maybe you'll get some competing offers from different sellers. 😂 (Man, if that "out there" guess turns out to be right I think I deserve a prize.)
I could sit here and make guesses all afternoon, but I'll wait and hopefully Devon will come back with a definitive answer. It's a communication setting in the buyer's control; eBay should be able to tell us what communications that setting will turn on or off. It's crazy Devon has to work through a maze of people to find the one that knows about the setting. I didn't think it would be such a challenging question. Sorry, Devon. But I still hope you can find the answer.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@wastingtime101 wow I hadn't thought of that and while it is a little out there, it's not so far out there that I'd say it's not possible.... you know I'm always up for testing things out and you will definitely deserve a prize if that's it. 😂
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoHi @devon@ebay . Any chance you've found someone at eBay that knows what this "competing offers" communication preference controls? What messages it triggers to buyers?
devon@ebay
Hey @wastingtime101! I have not been able to get any more insight on this as of yet but I will message the Product team again to see if I hear back!