I probably complained about this before but
I don’t do negotiating and I already hate low ballers. I’ve had this happen numerous times tho where the lowballer doesn’t even try. I know they are casting a big net, but their big net has a bunch of holes in it.
It’s clear these guys already copy and paste their messages in bulk. So why can’t they at least jazz up that pasted message instead of just messaging me with a number? That’s right, I have the listing set at $25 and this buyer just messages me with “14†and nothing else. Crafting a message that says something like “Will you take 14†to copy and paste is waaaay too much work for this buyer. He’s got places to be and things to do to be bothered with that. I’m not even expecting punctuation or a dollar sign there.
I wonder how many successes do buyers have with negotiating by just messaging a number and nothing else. I’m fighting the urge to not reply with “6-7â€. 😉 You young’ins will understand that.
jbbowers12012
·7 months agoWe here in New Jersey get a few "Low-Ballers." Often on items that are not "Make Offer Listings." We find it quite entertianing & get quite a chuckle from some.
simba6
·7 months agoIt's just part of selling in venues like this. No big deal.
meme6253
·7 months agoComplaining is good for the soul!, I have had buyers do the same exact thing, One I messaged back & said I don't understand your message, Never heard back.
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoWhenever I think of these lowball hagglers I always picture the Chris Rock scene in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka https://youtu.be/tgHcYxKjwVE
gurlcat
·7 months agoI have somehow never seen that movie -may need to check it out. "One rib." 🤣
But MAN, imagine getting an order of ribs for $2.50 now!
nh_sales_lv
·7 months agoThere's worse, I Just had one throw a 100 low ball at a 200 dollar item. I only agreed because i sold 5 items this weekend. I clicked agree and he clicked cancellation requested about 4 hours later. I cancelled the order and he earned a place on my blocked buyers list.
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoWhat's the item? Asking for a friend 😉
thismarkjohnson
·7 months agoThat’s pretty common, a lot of buyers just spam numbers hoping someone bites. I usually ignore those or set auto-decline on offers below a certain amount to save the headache. It’s not really negotiating, it’s just fishing.
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoRight. Fishing with a net with holes in it.
It's funny how @gurlcat mentioned grunting. I guess I'm a bit biased here because I've been teaching my kids to "use your words" and not just animalistic primal sounds. Even when saying hi to someone. Sometimes I call out my own parents who when I say hi, bye, or thanks to they just reply with a "Ughh." What a bunch of Kevins.
luckythewinner
·7 months agoSo why can’t they at least jazz up that pasted message
Because they have no reason to.
I wonder how many successes do buyers have with negotiating by just messaging a number
I suspect they succeed every time the seller is willing to sell at the offer they make.
toomuchstuffagain35
·7 months agoIt's not so much they're low balling but that they can't even put in the effort to form a coherent sentence.
Anyway, you should know the correct response is 42
It's the answer to everything.
gloryglorygifts
·7 months agoCan't say that has ever happened to me but it does seem the height of laziness.
tobaccocardyahoo
·7 months agoI do not know the demographics of Ebay sellers in 2026. But I knew many Ebay sellers who relied on their Ebay earnings to pay their rent, buy food and meet other essential costs of living. They would take almost any offer when their bills were due. They would even take a lowball offer so they could use the money to buy inventory they thought they could make more on, quickly.
It is likely that the lowballers get enough results to keep lowballing.
They are likely to get blocked when they contact me, unless they are very, very courteous.
cashvaluerecovery2011
·7 months agoThere are what vet sellers know as "scalper lowballers". Humans make mistakes. Scalpers will send low ball offers to 100s if not 1000s of sellers with best offer available, hoping that they made a mistake setting up there "lowest automatic accepted offer." Example: Pair of shoes for sale for $75 with best offer on and I try to set me auto accept at $65 but accidentally leave it a $.65, or $6.50 or even just type to fast and miss a key $6. If it their low ball gets auto shot down they can then play Hot/Cold to see where that low auto is at. Just use all 5 of their available offers to keep going up $5 until they find it acceptable......or they cant snag it cheap and move on. A fast typer and good scalper can do 100s of listings in an hour or so.
But yes.......there is a reason people continue to low ball. It must be effective at some level.
gurlcat
·7 months ago@cashvaluerecovery2011 But you are talking about them using the Make Offer feature on the listing. What the OP is talking about is when they send private messages directly to the seller, totally sidestepping the official feature (or ignoring the fact that the seller chose not to enable it on the listing at all).
To me they're already in hot water when they do that. Then add to that, flippant caveman speak, and it's straight to my BBL they go!
cashvaluerecovery2011
·7 months agoYeah my point was to direct them to best offers and discuss things that way. Just like you said discussing deals via message, without best offer feature, is a red flag for both buyer and seller and ebay doesnt want the discussions to go off site either.
cashvaluerecovery2011
·7 months agoIm going to come back at you with a different angle. I also......dont like low ballers.........but. If you have time, having best offers on your listing offers you more opportunities than without. Now.......I turn my best offers on and off all the time and only use them when it helps me. Here is a good reason to turn them on.
1) Some people really just want the human interaction to feel good about a purchase. I cant tell you how many dozens of times I came down $2 on a multy $100 item and the people were happy to take it. Me getting a chance to send them a message "Hey I appreciate that offer but I still have free shipping and fees to pay on my end.......I can ship very securely and first thing in the morning if that helps make you feel comfortable." As an example.
2) I LOVE being able to use best offers to weed out scammers and professional hassle buyers and add them to my blocked bidder list. LOVE IT. $55 for a brand new item, cheapest on ebay, free shipping and great feedback and a guy offers me $7 with free shipping? Straight to the blocked buyer list and one less freeloader that I have to deal with.
3) Again, more opportunities to be a salesman. I had an offer of $30 on some shoes I was selling for $60 with free shipping. I sent a counter of $55.....and message that this was my absolute lowest.........unless they wanted a second pair of shoes then I could do another $5 off of each. So I ended up selling 2 pairs for $105 with 1 $13 shipping charge instead of 1 pair at $55 with a $13 shipping charge.
You always have the option to turn it on and off. You have the option to stop negotiations immediately if you get sick of it. But why miss a chance/opportunity to deal with a buyer and possibly future return buyer by giving good personal customer service? Ive had so many good return buyers who buy from me multiple times a year using buy it now............after first being a pain in my butt offer sender. Not all sellers are easy to deal with or reputable and buyers are cautious with their money. Make them your buyer by offering dependable service.
bdmh-enterprises
·7 months agoLiterally the quickest way to get on my block list right there..
short_circuit.lineman61
·7 months agoSo you sell on a marketplace that many refer to as the worlds largest yard sale but do not like people making offers?
tarotfindsandmore
·7 months agoIn fairness, ebay isn't really the worlds largest yard sale. That's a perspective held by a particular type of buyer. Many sellers specifically choose BIN only without enabling "best offer" because they sell items that are rare, hard to find, out of print/production, and/or unavailable to buyers in certain regions. These sellers know the value of their items and aren't interested in haggling or dealing with bargain hunters.
I don't mind a little negotiating, but like the OP, I cannot abide low ballers. I especially detest folks who message me behaving as though they're doing me a favor by offering me an absurd price that is waaaaaaay below what I know to be market value. It's almost as though these types of buyers don't realize that 1) we can see what other like items have sold for and 2) that there are 3 years of comps available to us via the Research tab on our dashboards.
wastingtime101
·7 months agoThank you! 👠I get tired of hearing people refer to this place as a giant yard sale; it's a dismissive comment.
Preowned is a large piece of the pie, and can encapsulate the yard sale sellers, the sellers you described, and also sellers of refurbished which can sell in large volume and don't come near the 'yard sale' description. There are also sellers of brand new items, multi quantity, no one-offs. Sellers like us are also a large piece of the pie.
grann-4629
·7 months agoYou can call it a worldwide mall, if that works better for you. I know when I am looking for neat or rare type items, the first place on my list is a yard sale.
If I want to look at a lot of neat or rare items, I look for a big yard sale, like the one they do in PEI every year.
If I want to look at a really big bunch of neat or rare items, I look for a really big yard sale ... a worldwide yard sale ... eBay!
😎
grann-4629
·7 months agoNice response, and as a buyer I hear exactly what you are saying and agree 100%. As a buyer, I do some research on an item I want to buy ... prices on other sites, for example.
If the listed price is within a couple of bucks of the best price I can find elsewhere (my 'loyalty' is to eBay ... sorry Amazon), and if the seller accepts offers, I will offer the best price I have found. It's always been very close for me, so far, and deals have always been made.
If the listed price is much higher than the best price I find, I won't bother the seller with an offer.
😎
tarotfindsandmore
·7 months agoThis is the number one reason I send offers (with very low discounts...5-10%), but don't have "best offer" enabled on my listings. It lets folks know that I'm open to negotiate, but that I'm not "dumping" anything in my inventory. This also gives them a chance to go do their own research over a few days so they can decide if they want to do business with me. Sometimes they come back with a slightly lower price. If it's something I can live with, I take it.
I occasionally get a lowballish counter, but nothing like the pure trash offers I was getting when best offer was enabled. Most of the really obnoxious lowball offers are totally spontaneous like @iamalwaysright's "14" or from other sellers who somehow think I'd like to give them my inventory so that they can sell it at my currently listed price.
reallynicestamps
·7 months agosend offers (with very low discounts...5-10%), but don't have "best offer" enabled on my listings.
I use both, but on my Best Offers I have enabled an automatic Accept/Reject.
So if I want $100 but would accept $95, that is the automatic Accept.
If Reject was set at $94.99, I would see no offers below that.
If the listing was getting stale, I might set the Reject at $80 and consider any Offer above $80 and below $95 based on destination (shipping cost) and how long I have been storing the item.
tarotfindsandmore
·7 months agoI just don't have any interest in wheeling and dealing. I'll send interested lookieloos an offer when the "send offer eligible" message shows on my dashboard, but I have zero desire to haggle. I'm not running a yard sale.
I know how to set the bottom limit and auto accept, but that does zip to deter the bottom feeders from sending absurd messages that I don't want to waste my time on. I still get them occasionally, but nowhere near the frequency that I was when "best offer" was enabled. It's just not a message I care to send to the ebay buying community. I'm in no hurry to dump my items, as the majority of the items I sell tend to increase in value over time rather than depreciate.
gurlcat
·7 months ago@tarotfindsandmore I TOTALLY get that -I personally find haggling rather gross. Not saying I never do it (as a buyer) but when I do it's only because the seller has the item so grotesquely overpriced that the Make Offer feature appears to be their actual strategy for getting the price they actually want. In other words, they are a haggler. So, when in Rome ......
That's also the only reason I have M.O. on my listings, and it took me a couple years before I even started that. What made me finally take the plunge was reading posts in the Buyers forum. It made me see there are buyers out there who literally won't buy unless they can feel empowered, like they managed to groom a "deal." It's not just a lower price they want; it's the feeling of winning. They're the kind of people I would never socialize with because that need to dominate carries over to other personality traits .... but I don't need more company anyway; I need money, so I will entertain their little quirk.
.... But only by "so" much. My auto-reject amount tends to be around 10-15% off the BIN price. If they can't reach that with 5 tries, that means they started SO low they're not just Type A personalities; they're SHARKS, and I don't need those at all.
But I am surprised you get more private message offers WITH M.O. enabled than without. For me it's the opposite, and it would seem only logical that giving the M.O. option should prevent messaging, because it's easier for them to use. I wonder if you just had a lot of them use up their 5 tries but refuse to give up, so then try by messaging you. Once in a while I do get a message where that appears to be the case, or when they ask "What's your best offer?" I'm guessing they have used some of their 5 tries, and think if they just ask I will tell them what my auto-minimum is! 😆🤣😆 YEAH RIGHT, like I'm gonna do that!
gurlcat
·7 months ago@reallynicestamps Auto reject/accept is key to my bliss. Once in a blue moon I'll go to the page where you can see what lowballs were auto-rejected, and I think about how I could have gotten those (with a phone noise notification) right in the middle of the argument I was having with my kid, or right after my cat puked on the rug, or just when I sat down with a bowl of ice cream or whatever naughty 'cheat' thing I sacrificed other calories to eat.
I don't need ANY additional crap sprung on me at any given time, which is why I not only use auto reject/accept; I set them to the SAME amount, that way if they offer "enough to consider" it's as good as "enough to accept" and the only sound my phone makes is "CHING!" -loveliest sound it ever makes.
gurlcat
·7 months ago@short_circuit.lineman61 If you were having a yard sale and someone picked up an item you had priced $25 and they just grunted "fourteen" at you, would you like that?
chapeau-noir
·7 months agoGo for the gold - '147'.
kibble-net
·7 months agoI get them too, it feels like that meme from The Office.
Why use many word when number do?
I have a guideline that I use when replying to these low effort buyers. The amount of effort I put in will correlate with the amount of effort they put in. So if they message me "100" if I'm asking 500, my response is "500".
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoOh Kevin. Go back to making your famous chili. It’s what you do best. 😀
wastingtime101
·7 months ago"Sorry, we don't carry size 14."
"Sorry, this doesn't come in a 14 inch length."
"Sorry, we only have 9 left in stock, not 14."
"To purchase a quantity of 14, change the quantity on the listing then tap the 'add to cart' button."
reallynicestamps
·7 months ago"To purchase a quantity of 14, change the quantity on the listing then tap the 'add to cart' button."
Definitely my favourite.
They would take almost any offer when their bills were due.
Like I keep telling DH , "We have stuff. What we want is money."
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoYea honestly I had to think twice to wonder what the buyer meant when he typed 14. It wasn’t immediately apparent to me that he meant to negotiate price.
ubcensored
·7 months agoOr he's bragging.
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoðŸ˜
And I'll reply assuming he's talking about his age and just reply "Sorry I can only sell to buyers who are 18 or over."
reallynicestamps
·7 months agoAs you know you are not required to respond to any Message or even a formal Offer.
But if you do accept Offers, I hope you have set automatic Accept/Reject parameters on your Best Offer option.
If you do that you will never see the lowballers, which is good for your mental health, and you only see the Accepted Offers when they pay.
keziak
·7 months agoI've never had that one. I'm not interested in emails asking for a discount. They can leave an offer which I will decline if too small.
inhawaii
·7 months agoIf a potential buyer messaged me with a partial question like "14" I would reply back with a partial reply like "N'".
pickapaper
·7 months ago@iamalwaysright
If he just messages you "14" and you don't want to negotiate, message him back "25".
Or, mesage him back "no"
Or, ignore and block.
ubcensored
·7 months ago1x downside
3x upside
whoever advertises similar item for the lowest price establishes the new "used retail" price.
Divide that by four. That's the offer, more or less.
It's either a reseller or someone who doesn't want the depreciation after "driving it off the lot".
When they are done with it, they resell it. They will compete with lowest price on market, but might sell for 1/4 the ask. Brutal isn't it?
We've come a long way from buying used pez dispensers. I miss Meg.
12345jamesstamps
·7 months agoI get those with just a number all the time...no 'Hi or Hello'...or anything.
I don't have 'best offer' but eBay does put a button next to item for me to use if I want to add a number(price) when a potential seller ask.
I did get an 'less 5' last week...at least it was a word and a number.
Some potential buyers even tell me what it's worth and those buyers I block right away.
I had one buyer last week ask do I do a discount for multiple items...I ask which ones...buyer responded and stated I will get a list tomorrow...well, tomorrow came and went and I blocked this buyer also.
This buyer asks so many questions and so did I...how many are you buying...expensive or cheap...
Too many questions and emails and I just had to block him...and oh, this buyer was from Armenia....
a_c_green
·7 months agoI understand it too... but the way things work around here, the buyer will accept it and you'll have to sell for... I dunno, $6.50... 😄
Realistically, I don't think I would have responded at all to that offer as you described it. Maybe add him to my Blocked Buyer List unless I was desperate to sell it, in which case I would send a counteroffer of something realistic but lower than the opening price. Some buyers try that with every purchase: make a ridiculous offer and hope that the seller will meet them in the middle.
iamalwaysright
OP7 months agoYea but a simple word or punctuation mark to go with that ridiculous two character message offer would increase the chances of a seller reply.
Even the slimy guy at the bar knows to at least smile at the ladies when making his ridiculous offer.
grann-4629
·7 months agoJust respond by asking him how he plans to pay the balance.
I thought the seller didn't see these offers ... that's what I was told in another thread here.
tarotfindsandmore
·7 months agoIt's like that slimy guy at the bar who hits on every woman who walks through the door. 99 times out of 100 he gets slapped, but he hits pay dirt with number 100.
iamalwaysright
OP7 months ago🤣but that’d be equivalent to the slimy guy saying nothing else but “sex?†to every woman that walks in, lol.