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Done Dealing with Low Ball Offers and Low Ball Buyers
Is it just me or do many others on here have some of the most difficult transactions with these people asking for big discounts on items. In my experience a huge percentage of these people end up being partial refund scammers, not as described critics who want another deep discount after they get the item. I swore I would block each and every one of these from now on but got soft on this one recent transaction and here we go again with these people. My strategy from now on is to block each and every low Ball offer. No exception from now on.
37 comments
kh-ornesh
·2 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
erzengelb
·2 years agoBuyers are looking for good deals and are under absolutely no obligation to offer what you think is a fair price. You have the power to set the minimum offer at whatever you choose, and you have no business being upset by "lowball" offers if you fail to do so. You also have no business automatically assuming they're scammers.
This is not a buyer problem, it's a you problem.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoOK. But are you aware that you are not required to respond?
And this post is over 9 months old.
videozone0117
·2 years agoHeads up everyone, we found the lowballer who's upset we wont accept their terrible offers
videozone0117
·2 years agoAmen! I block em all too. Those losers are like flies buzzing around **bleep** pestering people to get a few cents off.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoFrom post #21
) View listings‎05-14-2023 12:05 PM
Easy to avoid.
Set parameters to accept/refuse offers automatically.
If you set your price at $100 but would accept $90, any offer between $90 and $100 would be accepted with no effort on your part.
If you would not accept less than $80 you can also set that, and the lowball customer gets a polite automated refusal. You don't even see it.
You can set the accept/refuse a penny apart.
You can set the accept at a penny below your full asking price, but that is just annoying the customer who perseveres.
danielghost2501
·2 years agoI quite often get people asking for really silly discounts and I ignore them. I feel horrible for doing so, but too many people deliberately low ball with sob stories, and "I'll pay cash".
Now I am a believer in if you don't ask, you don't get. However I'm far more accomodating to those who just simply ask if there is any wiggle room on the price, rather than those who come in wanting 40, 50, 60percent on items that are priced in line with similar listings in similar condition.
Same applies to those looking for delivery on bulky collection only items. I ignore them too, as usually they ask for free delivery on said items, and get upset when you tell them that they'd need to pay for a courier. Or they ask for large discounts for having to come to collect. Without sounding horrible, I personally think it is rude to ask for money off for collecting an item that is listed as collection only, especially if it is a very low value item. It is not the sellers concern with how far a buyer has to travel, if the buyer wants the item it's down to them to make their own travel arrangements. Again nothing against people asking for a small discount depending on price, or even meeting them halfway if the buyer has a long trip, but you can't expect a seller to foot the fuel bill for the buyer collecting it. You wouldn't go to the supermarket then ask for money off for driving there.
People seem to ignore that private sellers need a bit of profit on their items and that eBay also takes a final value fee.
thelongball
·3 years agoTry this next time. If the item is 10.00 and they offer 3.00. Send back that you'll take 17.00. When they come back to ask why your going up -Say - yeah ridiculous isn't it.
moon_goddess_emporium
·3 years agoIf you Reply at all, to these Unsol. L.B.O., you then can not successfully block them from continuing to message you.
If they are what I think are UNREASONABLE, & really, if not accepting offers but you message me a L.B.O., plus "Free Shipping," yep. Blocked.
They are not opening a reasonable, tactful, smart dialog. Especially when you do not accept a B.O. They are just annoying time-wasters.
Just had one, a new $50 item w/ Free Shipping. Unasked for message, offered $8.00, Free Shipping, needed to know "right away."
And Blocked.
If I answer, they are able to keep messaging me.
defjimrecords
·3 years agoI have been selling (mostly vinyl records and music related stuff) on ebay for over 20 years. In early 2023, I started noticing that offers were coming in on my items waaaaaay more than in any other previous year. Basically, I understand that nobody needs the things I sell to live, so they are going to try to get it as cheap as possible. As us record collector people like to say, "records make us very happy, but you can't eat them." My "policy" isn't really a policy, but I like to think that it would work as a general approach for most sellers. If the offer isn't reasonable, simply do not respond. Try not to get miffed about it. Just move on. If the offer is reasonable and the item doesn't have a ton of views/watchers, accept it. I recently did an experiment with a piece of percussion gear as I was getting a TON of offers and my asking price was already well below market value. I took the item down and put it up a few weeks later. It sold on the first day. As for the partial refund scam, since I don't pay return shipping, I just insist they send it back - again, unless the refund request is reasonable. Hope this helps!
lonebuck-books
·3 years agoTwo giant red flags for me are super lowball offers on items I don't have best offer turned on, and people who send a dozen messages asking a lot of questions. If you keep asking me a ton of questions on a $20 item, you get blocked. I have learned that people who ask too many inane questions are never going to be satisfied. Also, if you ask questions that are clearly answered in my description, I have no interest in selling to you.
atlasesattic
·3 years agoI just had one today....offers 5.00 for a model train that I had 16.00 on....I blocked him....so done with it too...
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoIt's business, not personal.
femmefan1946
·3 years agoEasy to avoid.
Set parameters to accept/refuse offers automatically.
If you set your price at $100 but would accept $90, any offer between $90 and $100 would be accepted with no effort on your part.
If you would not accept less than $80 you can also set that, and the lowball customer gets a polite automated refusal. You don't even see it.
You can set the accept/refuse a penny apart.
You can set the accept at a penny below your full asking price, but that is just annoying the customer who perseveres.
d_b_cohen
·3 years agoNot so easy - I have offers turned off on all of my listings - they just pester message you asking for a discount. Then when you say no they get all abusive. It is really annoying.
jhtobias
·3 years agoAbsolutely all the time this happens to me. I just ignore them or block them if the constantly keep sending me low ball offers. You nailed the issue perfectly . I have no problem with people trying to low ball go for it , but you are correct these clients turn out to be the biggest headaches and problems in all my prior experiences . Those who want it for the cheapest demand the most . Same theory why I don't sell things to relatives or friends a disaster waiting to happen .
I have fun with these offers now used to stress not worth it one bit. I will send them a counter offer for 1 penny less than the asking price . they either ignore it or send back some ridiculous offer then I block them . Have fun with it don't let it stress you at all.
certifiedcitynet
·3 years agoI know of other coin dealers who refuse to sell on Ebay due to the plethora of nasty, unreasonable, and/or crooked buyers. But my way around these arrogant lowlifes is to block anyone who throws up a red flag, such as curtly demanding a 30% discount on a popular coin whose profit margin is merely 15%.
In my experience, the best customers will never ask for discounts, be rude, or make absurd demands. The least profitable customers always seem to cause 99% of the trouble. Block them or deal with the unpleasant consequences including suspicious losses, wasted time, and/or unwarranted negs.
chariot_badges
·3 years agoI once told a customer, face to face in my B&M that "You are the type of customer I wish on my competition. Can I give you their address?"
weatherloach
·3 years agoYou can block whoever you want, you make your own policy, it's your account. We get messages asking for a $20 item plus shipping for $5 with free shipping. We laugh and decline politely, most go away. On 1 occasion a low baller kept low balling higher and higher us until he/she BIN at full price. Two got real nasty, one said that he could get the same item on Amazon for half price! Why are you bugging me when you can get this deal somewhere else, We again laugh! Another called us scammers for being so high and refusing his pennies on the dollar. The 2 nasty ones we got last year when we politely turned down were blocked, that's it.
Remember they are resellers so your $150 item if bought for $50 from you might get listed for $200 after they get it.
Weatherloach
vintagecraze50
OP3 years agoThere is a lot of wheeling and dealing these days from resellers on here i would imagine, especially if an item is a hot item, an expensive everwhere else item. They can get really aggressive about this.
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoAgain, a good reason to set those parameters so you don't even see the lowballs. Easier on the ego and the ulcers.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years agoSometimes a lowball offer is meant to get you to meet them somewhere in between. I try to NOT to get mad. I set my items with a best offer option but when I relist, ebay insists on taking it out. Since I relist in bulk, I don't always get a chance to edit each one. Keep in mind, that in some cultures, making offers is a very common practice. It's actually expected and the store owners there know it and price their items a bit higher so that they can negotiate with the buyer. Count to 3 and send them a counter offer of your lowest price. Before you send that offer, edit the listing to reflect that lowest price. Also make sure that they are not sellers too.
If the buyer has a lot of feedback AND they sell too , that would make me very mad. Since I can't cuss them out, the best revenge is to completely ignore their email. I can imagine them checking their devices constantly to see if I accept or will send them a counter offer.
vintagecraze50
OP3 years agoYES, I just ignore. Sometimes I go to their feedback left for others and if I see some big red flags with these folks I block as well.
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoThat's a reasonable use for Best Offer.
It's the only chance FP sellers have to see what kind of person we are dealing with.
Surprising that so many do not realize that.
Set your parameters friends. They can be different by a penny.
inhawaii
·3 years agoI hate the term "lowball offer" because it's so subjective.
What might be a lowball offer to one may not be a lowball offer to another.
Here is what I found based on information I gathered over the years from this board.
51% or more of asking price = OK
50% or less of asking price = Lowball Offer
movieman630
·3 years agoYou gotta love those people. I had a guy offer me $8 on a $15 car part (based on competitor prices) made of cast iron that I have to ship in a Priority Flat Rate bubble mailer for $8.30.
INSTANT BBL!
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoThere are a couple of reasons I quit using OBO many moons ago the low ball offers was one of them. Ditch the OBO and simply ignore any unsolicited low ball messages that you may get.
certifiedcitynet
·3 years agoNot replying to all messages or offers will lower your listing placements in searches. Even know this fact, I still do not respond to offensive inquiries because doing so will just encourage backbreakers to continue to harass you with low offers and/or nasty messages, which will waste far too much of your valuable time.
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoIt's a corollary of Aspirational Buying.
The idea of AB is that the more you pay for something, the more it is worth.
With that mindset, the less you pay for something, the less it is worth.
If the seller will reduce the price, the buyer thinks he could have got it even cheaper and feels cheated.
And strikes back by being a Bad Buyer- with false claims and demands for partial refunds.
With Best Offers, which are a useful marketing tool, we have a simple defense.
We can set parameters.
Any Offer below a certain amount is politely and automatically refused by the program.
Any offer over a certain amount is accepted and invoiced immediately, so the customer is there when the Offer is accepted, making it easy to pay.*
And those two amounts can be a penny apart.
So if you have an item you would sell for $90, you could list it at $100 and set your refusal at $89.99 and your acceptance at $90.00.
The buyer is happy to get a bargain. The seller got their 'real' price.
Note that Immediate Payment Required is not compatible with Best Offers. Choose which is most important to you. If your price is firm go with IPR.
Note that Best Offers on Auctions disappear with the first bid. The bid you see is not the bidder's maximum bid which might even be higher than the acceptable Best Offer.
But basically, bottom feeders are horrible customers. Many years ago a poster dubbed them "armed bargain hunters".
*A side effect would be a little egoboo to the customer-"They accepted fast! They like me!"
vintagecraze50
OP3 years agoWe use buy it now exclusively in our store. The buyer bought an item that is listed on many other sites for over 500 bucks. They got it for around 220 because our initial cost for the item was low. And wanted to move inventory. They were working over another seller on Etsy for the same item. Their loss as we have no problem accepting their return and giving them a free shipping label so we can relist at the going price again of around say 450 to be lower than the competition. The buyer is a dumbo.
movieman630
·3 years agoI usually will entertain low (not insultingly low) but low offers on things if I research it and find that someone has it listed around that price. If it's comparable to mine and mine has been listed for a long time I usually take the offer and move on. Just another inventory item and more free shelf space for something more valuable.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoI've found that people who beg for big discounts are more trouble than they're worth - not just here, either.
susanb1872
·3 years agoJust ... say... no. Honestly, I laugh when I get lowball offers! To quote Judge Judy, (in reference to these buyers)---"you're a moron".
rugerskick
·3 years agoDont reply to the email. Just block them. If you reply their emails can still get through to you even if they are blocked.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years agoBest offer has 'automatic' minimums that YOU can set; and SHOULD set.
Then, you will NEVER see any 'lowball' offers.
Problem solved.
gregmech26
·3 years agoShe doesn't have "best offer" enabled. That's the whole point.
People still go out of their way to email her with UNSOLICITED (low ball) offers which is EXTREMELY annoying.
linda7913
·3 years agoYes, it has happened to me too. I don't have Best Offer on my listings, yet I get messaged by someone asking if I will take an offer of 50% off my listing. If they are out of the USA, I just thank them for their interest and tell them I don't ship outside the country. If they pursue it, I block them and mark the listing as question answered. I recently received a message from a "buyer" saying it would be great for me to "give them" my item. Their eBay id was immediately placed on the BBL.
I used to stress out when receiving questions that wanted discounts rather than asking legitimate questions about my item they were interested in. After reading other comments from sellers on how they handled solicitations from people wanting discounts irregardless of no Best Offer choice, I have learned to block questionable buyers and move on. If it makes you feel like you were wrong to sell your items because of some inconsiderate people, you're not wrong, they are. So, keep your blood pressure under control, calmly go to the Blocked Bidders (Buyers) List, enter their eBay id, and move on. There are some really fine buyers out there. Don't let the bad apples and bad manners of others ruin a great experience.