I think some sellers really need to learn to use "best offer" better.
I think some sellers really need to learn to use "best offer" better.
I made a $8.00 offer on a $8.99 item I have been watching.
I didn't consider it a "lowball" offer.
My offer was auto-denied.
That's fine. No problem.
I bought one from someone else. There are literally thousands of them on ebay.
The next day I received an offer from the same seller for the same item for $7.64.
I am currently contemplating a sarcastic reply.
32 comments
brightlightbookseller
·3 years agoWe found that if we use sales/promotions and lower the price of our item, it doesn't lower the "Minimum Best Offer" price, so that can end up being higher than the actual sale price of the item if we don't go check each item individually! We've worked around it by setting that minimum offer price very low, and just evaluating a few more offers that we're likely to reject rather than having them automatically rejected, but that could easily be what happened to your seller. They may have no idea your offer was rejected.
my_boston_baked_beans
·3 years agoIn my opinion, you offer was very acceptable! I would have no problem, and would be happy to take your offer, however, many times I will received offers less than half my asking price. That is unacceptable, and not worth my time. For that reason; I revert back to fixed price to avoid being insulted.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoPerhaps eBay has been adding Best Offer to his listings without his permission, as they have been known to do - so he set up auto-decline to combat offers because he did not want to deal with unsolicited offers.
And the offer you got was the result of the Send Offer feature, which is how that seller prefers to handle offers.
mam98031
·3 years agoThat was certainly not the case in my experience. I wrote to the sellers that did this. It was because they wanted pennies below their asking.
mam98031
·3 years agoI completely agree. I too have had this happen. As a buyer it is extremely frustrating. They system just really should not allow for this to happen at all. They need to put some guardrails on the program IMHO.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years agoSounds like you were dealing with a seller that has set up their listings to 'accept' best offer, then put 'parameters' on those offers and then offered you less...so that seller is simply a person that the elevator just does NOT make it to the top floor......
inhawaii
OP3 years agoAlso, I once discovered one of my listings had best offer enabled by mistake (whether it was ebay or my mistake). You what I did? I disabled it.
simba6
·3 years agoI have learned over time to not even waste time making offers. Even worse are the offers you get from putting an item on your watch list. Yea, they discount a few cents.
sakic92710
·3 years agoAfter hearing about his offer to you, I feel certain there was an error made when he probably did a 'sell similar' & forgot to switch a price. There are times when I listed a lot of similar items & did not have to change part of the title or S/H, etc. then realized I made an error & had to go back to revise about 15 listings. 😞 lol
axiombody
·3 years agoI think sellers shouldn't be able to do best offer unless it is 10% off or more auto-deny. I offered someone 20 on a $21 item and got denied. His reasoning was the item was reasonably priced, and it was the best price on Ebay, but why do you have best offer if you can't even take 5% off?
dqdistribution
·3 years agoThat's a bit ridiculous. Having BO on while it's set to deny a 20-dollar offer on a 21-dollar listing. That seller just wants to have the feature on for some reason but not let anyone actually use it.
For the OP, I have a feeling he capped it at 10% so if your offer was $8.09 it probably would have been accepted. He probably had auto accept on, and put his auto decline right under it so he wouldn't have to deal with pending offers.
Sellers can do what they want, his offer settings made him miss the sale.
glorybells
·3 years agoMy best offer pet peeve currently is not on eBay, it’s a real estate situation where I’m getting absolutely at my wits end dealing with low ball offers. I have the property listed at $110,000; Thursday someone called me and offered $12,000. I started laughing.
iamalwaysright
·3 years agoHow often does that happen in real estate where you actually get lowball offers like that? I mean doesn’t the seller has to fill out all these forms to formally submit an offer? I know I did every time I put an offer on a house I wanted when I was on the market recently. Lowball offers would be a waste of time for the buying agent.
I ask because when I listed my old house for sale, I got about 15 offers all above my asking price. Isn’t the selling market hot right now?
glorybells
·3 years ago@iamalwaysright ,
they weren’t formal offers, they were either phone calls or in the mail with their “great cash offerâ€. Although the real estate agent did turn down a $40,000 offer for us.
It’s been a frustrating situation as supposedly the real estate market is good. The problem is this is the lot only, the house burned down two years ago. The real estate agent actually thought we could get $140,000 for the lot.
iamalwaysright
·3 years agoOooh. "There's gold in them thar hills!"
doc-holmes
·3 years agoWhere I am, homes were selling comfortably over asking price for awhile. They may still be. My sister-in-law put her house up for $750,000 and was shocked at a lowball of $900,000. It sold for $1.2 million.
Unavailable member
·3 years agoSome sellers need to learn about negotiations - too many think that it is just about meeting close to the middle of offers. Several weeks ago, I offered $50 on an $80 item. That's as high as I wanted to go. If seller had done his research, he'd see that $50 would be about what he should expect. Seller countered with something around $60. I declined and moved on. One week later, I put in an offer at $40, seller countered with $45. I was really tempted to tell him that he should have taken my week-ago offer, but thought better of it.
ten_o_nine
·3 years agoI understand negotiating an $80 item, but $8 knowing what sellers have to do for that $8, we need to support sellers and not take advantage of them.
Unavailable member
·3 years agoOP's point was that sellers should better manage their offer settings. But, you have a fair point, but I don't consider it wrong to offer $8 on an item that the seller is willing to offload for $7.64. Personally, I really wouldn't screw around with a discount of $1, but some do like that buying experience.
yuzuha
·3 years agoHow is it "taking advantage of" if the seller has Best Offer enabled? That to me says that they want the item gone and are willing to take less for it in order to get it out of there. I would never pay full price for an item that was listed with Best Offer, just as I wouldn't expect a buyer to want to pay full price if *I* listed something with Best Offer.
buyselljack2016
·3 years agoWalk away. No contact with the seller is needed.
12345jamesstamps
·3 years agoI have never done a "best offer" on buying from a seller. I guess if I want it I would just buy it.
After all, going out on a Friday night to the bars can cost $75.+ for me on Polk Street in San Francisco.
I did have someone ask for .15 off on two different items on two different times and just gave it to him.
I wonder if the person really needed that extra .15.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years agoLet them know what happened. Maybe they are naive. Maybe you missed by a cent. May he set it to accept 8.01 but not 8.00.
ten_o_nine
·3 years agoI don't know why you are negotiating 99c with a seller like you, is it worth your time or theirs? just pay $9 instead of $8 and stop the madness.
inhawaii
OP3 years agoI wouldn't call not wanting to pay full price on a "make offer" listing madness.
vikingsandpintos
·3 years agoI sold an item recently, had listed for $14. Someone made an offer for $12. I didn't realize I had make offer enabled on that item, but since it was a reasonable offer I sold it anyway.
Now, if it had been one of those $3 offers on an $14 item..... lol!
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoSome sellers set the auto deny when they first list, and forget to reduce it along with the price when they reduce their price---which they might do several times. We all make mistakes. Also, I have discovered if you use the phone to list, there are times when the ebay listing tool has set the autodecline....(I think when I've used an existing listing from someone else as the base for my listing).
You can send a friendly suggestion to the seller that he check his autodecline settings, but experience has taught me that even a very friendly, non-sarcastic letter doesn't go over well with everyone. If it were a boardie or someone I've bought from before, I might send it. A person I did not buy from, someone I don't even "know" from someplace like the boards? I wouldn't feel compelled to provide my guidance. But that's just me.
inhawaii
OP3 years ago.... and then there's my other "best offer" pet peeve.
Offer a seller who has "best offer" enabled one cent less than the asking price and get DENIED.
blingfling123
·3 years ago".... and then there's my other "best offer" pet peeve.
Offer a seller who has "best offer" enabled one cent less than the asking price and get DENIED."
@inhawaii
There are many sellers that do not want to use the best offer option and eBay keeps putting it on their listings anyway, so they use the full price or denied vs having to keep taking BO off the listing. That way eBay does not keep changing their listings and they do not have to worry about offers.
epowerbargains
·3 years agoYou are way too nice and helpful for sarcasm! I would be gobsmacked if you actually did that it is not your style!!! Humor aside, some sellers might not even be aware of or remember what they set as an auto-decline. Heck, sometimes I am lucky to find my car keys LOL.
inhawaii
OP3 years agoSo a friendly "reminder" to this seller may be helpful. 😉
anjofak
·3 years agoI came to the conclusion that if an item is in massive quantities and has a price range of $0.99- $1,000,000.00..
It's life saver to burn it.