Send an offer
Summary: In a discussion about selling strategies on eBay, gurlcat mentions the different attitudes toward pricing and discounts in retail and resale. tobaccocardyahoo and christworks share insights on the effectiveness of sales and offers, emphasizing how sales strategies differ based on market expectations and individual approaches to inventory management. christworks discusses their shift in strategy towards minimal discounts, focusing on quality inventory and patient pricing for better sales, a strategy that seems to have paid off during the holiday season. The participants exchange various experiences and thoughts on when to put items on sale and the impacts of slight price adjustments on their businesses.
Does anyone have any luck in sending an offer to their watchers? I realize many of them are competitors waiting to see what the item sells for, but some of them must be interested.
femmefan1946
·4 months agoI realize many of them are competitors waiting to see what the item sells for, but some of them must be interested.
I don't know why anyone would think that.
When I am researching prices, I will View some listings, but there is no reason for me to Watch them.
All my accounts sell what could be defined as collectibles, not mass market NIB goods.
I assume that Watchers have more than a passing interest and do send Offers.
But those Offers are lower than the Best Offer I have on almost all of my listings.
Still, they seem to work. (So does Best Offer, btw.)
erikstuff
·4 months agoThings have been slow for a stretch but sending offers has helped some. At least it reminds the person you're still there and at least you have another crack at them.
gurlcat
·4 months agoHa I don't believe it. About 10 minutes ago I sent an offer for only 1 listing, a $75 BIN necklace, which had only 6 interested buyers. My offer was $60 (20% off). It was accepted almost immediately, paid fast too!
It's just so funny because a few days ago I sent offers on several items, to at least 30 interested buyers total, and got a big fat nothin.'
adamcartwright
·4 months ago@gurlcat
I had one accepted tonight, too.
And I only reduced it by 7%.
gurlcat
·4 months agoOh! I just remembered when the effectiveness of sending offers took a nosedive (for me anyway). -It was when eBay launched autopay for accepted offers. I don't even use it, opted out immediately when I saw the swarm of angry posts showing up in the Buying forum, but I bet a lot of buyers think all offers now require auto-pay, and they just want nothing to do with it.
gurlcat
·4 months agoI used to get great results from it but not anymore, and I have no idea why. I still try sometimes, but without much expectation. And btw I don't do piddly little 5% offers either, I'm talking a minimum of 15% off, maybe as high as 25% off.
But even when those fail, I take it as my cue to change something. Either lower the BIN price (and if I'm going to do that I might as well do End/Sell Similar too, and give it the advantage of being a brand new listing), or I'll end it and SS it as an auction instead of BIN, with a minimum bid that is the lowest amount I could live with, if it gets only 1 bid.
christworks
·4 months ago5% isn't pidley. If i send out a 5% offer on a $500 item, that's $25 off. I'm not going to give my stuff away. If the market has changed, that's different. That's a pricing issue on my end. I find if I price slightly above the market and am patient, there are plenty of fish willing to pay my asking price without running a sale and without sending out offers. I'm at a place now where I do not put things on sale unless 90 days have passed since the item was listed.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months ago@christworks
Your attitude, although it is similar to mine, does not seem to be in the majority among Ebay sellers, and definitely not among buyers who make offers.
I don't know when sellers cross a line where they become confident in their ability to judge when their price is going to lead to a sale and when they feel motivated to change their price. I am less likely than ever to alter a price on an item which I am not planning to remove all similar items from my inventory.
I use sales to move product I never intend to offer similar products to. Even then I do not make even a 25% reduction when I am discontinuing a category. Murphy's law always had sales of discontinued product hit at the same time I was having a higher number of orders of product I was more committed to selling.
gurlcat
·4 months agoExactly, it's all in the eye of the beholder. But I wouldn't say a person's idea of 'piddly' comes from nowhere -imagine how ridiculous it would be if a retail store ran a sale on something and the sign said 'Sale! 5% Off!' 🤣
And no, resale is not retail, but retail is the bulk of commerce, so it's what shapes consumers' sense of what's normal.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months ago@gurlcat
To some extent it is a function of business practices among the competition.
Many years ago, when I made my first trip to Europe, I was amazed that many, if not most retail stores were advertising as sales prices, discounts of 5-10%.
European governments and the EU still discourage heavy discounting. It is not uncommon for some US based sellers, who are selling on European sites to be threatened with anti-trust action for selling items at US discounts from MSRP and have to raise their prices.
christworks
·4 months agoBefore I get into what changed my approach, let me say that I come from a place where even if I turn on offers for all of my items, very few things sell through an offer. Buyers are willing to pay full price. Some of that, I believe, is the quality of inventory I sell, which has improved over the past 18 months as I got out of selling HBC products. So I already know that offers, whether I allow buyers to send them or I send them out, don't generate many sales. They're fine, but I wouldn't want to have to depend on them. I'd be out of business if I did not change my approach.
I track my data very closely. My mind changed on this last December. My sales were better than I expected and by mid-December, I was ready to slow down but didn't want to close up until Christmas Eve. I decided to stop running sales after the weekend of December 13-14. I had everything at full price. My thinking was that would ease back how many sales I had so I could focus on Christmas here. To my amazement, my sales went up! No doubt it was last minute gifts, but people were willing to pay full price - and my full prices are about the market by 10%-20%, sometimes more if STR is lopsided. The only exception is if I am selling an electronic item for parts/not working. Then I go below market and just try to break even so I don't have that stuff taking up space.
I came into 2026 with a new strategy to grow net income. Part of that was reducing how I send out on an offer. I do 5%. Maybe 10%. That's it. I use it more of a reminder. "Hey, remember this widget you looked at, it is still here."
When it comes to sales, I'm no longer putting things on sale until after 90 days has passed. I'll do 10%. When I hit six months, I'll do 25%. If it does not sell at that point, I will review at the beginning of the year whether the item is worth keeping listed or to ditch it. Not everything I buy will sell and I know that. I'm okay with that, because I buy mostly in bulk and pay pennies on the dollar.
Now, this weekend I did put everything on sale. The reason is because earlier this week I started making adjustments to my shipping. I condensed down the number of policies I have by half, and made some adjustments to my rate tables. Since I was making those adjustments, I wanted everything on sale at 10% off to see if people would buy at my new shipping rate stratgedy. So far, for the long holiday weekend, I have out-performed 2025 and 2024.
gurlcat
·4 months ago@christworks @ If a buyer is watching a $500 item it is doubtful they are watching because they think it is $25 too high. They are more likely willing to pay $500 but just don't have enough until their next paycheck (they may even have the item in their shopping cart) .... or they think $500 is way too high and they hope for an offer much lower, or any of the handful of reasons that have nothing to do with wanting to buy the item at all.
Anyway when I said 5% is piddly I wasn't picturing a $500 item; I was picturing a $30 item and the seller sending me an offer for $28.50. It is just an annoying waste of my time having to see what a notification is about, and it's that.
This is another example of things a seller doesn't realize if they don't buy on eBay often or ever. It's all well and good to say you're not giving your stuff away; nobody says you should. But it's a mistake to picture your offers in a vacuum, like you're the only seller sending one to each of your watchers, or that ONLY watchers will receive your offer. Remember, eBay made the stupid decision to count some buyers who merely viewed a listing as "interested buyers" so they may be among the people who receive your offer. I get so many dang offers every day, if it weren't for the occasional one that is actually worth accepting, I would just set my preferences to block them altogether.
christworks
·4 months agoThat's exactly why I don't put much stock in offers. I'm looking for a buyer today, not tomorrow or whenever someone gets paid. Rarely does someone come back to buy something after they get paid. Not saying it never happens — of course it does. Talk to anybody in retail and they will tell you it is not common. Once a customer walks out the door (or watches your item, places it in their cart, etc.), it is very hard to get them back.
Car dealers know this better than anybody. A customer at a car dealership can get all types of information about a vehicle and a salesperson's business card. That salesperson and the dealer GM know, though, that once the customer leaves, the chances they will come back without some type of reminder from the dealership are slim. Even then, it is difficult to get the customer back.
That's how I see seller offers. It's a gentle reminder to say the item is here, and here is a small discount if you come back. I am more apt to do 10% off on a $30 item. I'm no longer likely to do a 20% or even 40% offer. If we get to Q4 and I know it is an item that I'm going to pull in January, I'd have no problem sending out larger offers or running a larger sale. That is now the exception, not the rule.
gurlcat
·4 months ago@christworks The last time I bought a car I followed a list of tips I found on the internet for getting the best deal. One of them was: When you find the car you want, don't agree to buy it that day, no matter how bad you want to or what tactics the salesman tries. Just go home. Then come back the next day and say you're considering a few cars at other places as well as this one (and do the other deal-getting tips). Every single one of them worked, and I wonder if the one about leaving and coming back was for shock effect, because salesemen are so used to never seeing that.
christworks
·4 months agoThat is what you want to do - and why they try so hard to stop you from leaving.
Back where I lived at the time, everybody knew me. I could take any car off the lot I wanted and try it out for a few days, so that's what I did. I think I took a total of three cars over a week or so timeframe. I took the third car back and had decided on car #2, but I didn't want the one I tried, I wanted a different color so they had to order it. I wrote down the price I wanted and slid it across the desk and smiled. The guy goes to the GM and comes back. We do this several times. Truth-be-sold, the price I wanted was likely going to leave the salesman with only a couple hundred dollars for his cut. They told me they couldn't do it. I got up, went to my car and started to back out of the parking spot. I will never forget the salesman and GM sprinting out the door to stop me. 😂 I got the car I wanted at the price I wanted. I am a tough negotiator. I don't like to give an inch.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoWarning: Evidently, from information posted here, there are some eBayers who are extremely offended by receiving offers, so you might want to tread lightly on this one.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoSome sellers who are willing to give away product to a competitor who is more patient, sometimes see an offer accepted. Sometimes a bottom feeder who is not a competitor has some money and will accept a giveaway price.
I cannot be more definitive because I NEVER knowingly offer at a giveaway price, and usually turn down any buyer offers from other than my repeat customers.
pastimpressions
·4 months agoI surely wish I could target seriously interested candidates with offers. Only.
Short of refraining from sending out offers, we send them out blind as per platform policy.
The last thing I want to do is harass, cajole or otherwise annoy someone without just cause or purpose.
Short of refraining from sending out offers, we send them out blind as per platform policy.
That being said, I tend to see on average a 25% sales return on sent offers.
On average a 25% decline rate as well as a 50% "no response at all" rate.
luckythewinner
·4 months agoIn other words, a 75% decline rate 😂
IMHO someone who does accept has declined - whether they click the 'decline' button or not.
chapeau-noir
·4 months agoIs this a koan?
pastimpressions
·4 months agoI did not realize that fact was being disputed.
The OP asked a question; I merely answered it with specificity.
But I do thank you for the further clarification.
baydealz
·4 months agoI price appropriately, any discount is just leaving money on the table since they are either expecting that (as I do as a buyer), or waiting till ready to actually order). Not everything is an impulse buy. I no long allow offers because even someone will to pay will seek a discount as 99% of sellers will comply.
And I absolutely do not chase viewers (not watchers) as ebay tries to get me to send offers to non-watchers. Also asa a buyer, I find that annoying.
simba6
·4 months agoIt has to be a good offer. A few percent off may not be enough.
albertabrightalberta
·4 months agoI find that about 10% of offers I send result in sales.
luckythewinner
·4 months agoYes, i have success doing that.
And if the people recieving the offers are the competition, perhap that would benefit me by hinting that the item is not worth listing.
keziak
·4 months agoNormally I get pretty good results but it's been sluggish lately. I keep waiting to see when my no longer listing FP books will affect my sales and offers. Seems to be the case last week. I am considering buying one month more of the store though not so much now because I expect sales and offers. Mostly to give me time to go through everything and decide whether to move to auction or take to the used book store.
Apropos of ways to get sales, it's not something I do myself but international sales really help. They are just constant.
keraz-0
·4 months agoI always send offers. I estimate out of every 10 offers sent, I might get one sale. Low percentage, but a sale is a sale, and it only takes a couple of seconds to do.
christworks
·4 months agoVery few of my sales come from offers. Then again, I only send out 5% and on occasion 10% offers. I look at it this way: If someone wants the item, they will buy it. If they are hesitant, they will watch it or move on to something else. I'd rather not deal with hesitant people who might take an offer when tempted, but change their mind later.
adamcartwright
·4 months ago@christworks
I think many people watch because they want it but it's priced a bit high for them.
As a buyer, that's why I watch. I'm hoping to see if the price comes down.
jundedh2012
·4 months agoYes i just sold a couple things from offers
broto_64
·4 months agoYeah, about 1 out of 10 offers I send turn into sales.
kensgiftshop
·4 months agoNo, I never send out offers.
I'll put items on sale, but never offers.
chapeau-noir
·4 months agoI find sales work better than offers, myself.
bonanza125
·4 months agoDepends upon what percentage you are expecting. If you are expecting 5%-10% of the watchers land up accepting your special offer then that is realistic. If nobody is accepting your special offer than chances are either nobody is willing to pay your price or the offer was sent to someone who viewed your listing but wasn't really an interested buyer. Yes competitors do watch listings but there is no evidence of "many competitors" are watching a particular listing.
chapeau-noir
·4 months agoSome do, some don't. It's never consistent.
authentic*vintage
·4 months agoI don't but I sell weird items and I think most of my watchers are other people just looking at my stuff but not really interested in buying.
I did send out over 100 offers last Saturday and experienced a spike in sales on my other items, so that tells me that the algorithm appreciates the activity from your store.
turtles-trading-post
·4 months agoI send all the offers eBay allows as part of my morning routine. Right now I can send 18 offers, but it's evening and I want those folks to still have the opportunity to buy at regular price. Next morning is when they've forgotten the item and I poke at them with the offer.
I also use the 300 characters in the offer text. I'm surprised how many offers I receive with just the eBay canned "Here's your chance to get this item at a great price!" I use this text to send them a discount code to get a better discount on 2 or more items. I have a special code just for this so I know where my orders originate.
My main strategy as a collectibles seller is to have followers and repeat customers. I use the offers to fish for new customers and hope they like my service enough to become a customer. I've had them buy one item with an offer, and next time buy 10-50 items. I currently have close to 600 followers and in the days when it's slow, I will notice a good percent of my orders are from regulars!
onefootflipper
·4 months agoVery few people watch other people's listing in order to see what they sell for. There is no reason to do that unless the item is actually unique. Instead "competition watchers" are normally because they clicked your listing in research or they watched it in order to sell similar from later.
And yes, a lot of my sales come from those offers as well.
tarotfindsandmore
·4 months agoYep! 20-25% (21.5% this month) of all my sales are the result of offers I've sent. During peak and just after it jumps to 25-30%.