Best offer thoughts

[personalkreations]

Hi,  I've been selling for about a year now.  Still more of a hobby and I'm still learning so I'd appreciate some advice on Best Offers. 

I normally only list using auctions and I've noticed my sell through the last few months has dropped about 15% compared to the same months last year.  I've been wondering what kind of success people have had with best offers?  I sell a little bit of everything but mostly vintage and I like buying stuff under the list price like most people even though there are times I still overpay because I like it. 

I know what my break even point is, as well as my breaking point but that's a different story.

I tried posting this on Seller Central but evidently know one feels like responding yet so I thought I'd give this group a shot.

I appreciate any suggestions.  I'll also take suggestions on my listings if anyone wants to critique them and who doesn't like to do that!

Take care,

PK

[hondamedic]

A few years back I did some OBO's with auto decline. ID's only get 3 chances to send so after I got a few nasty emails they couldn't low ball me anymore on that auction I never used it again...

[benderdealergroup]

You can set your Best Offer to automatically decline anything under a set price which weeds out the bottom feeders.

[leogexx]

As a buyer I like best offers. Last night I was looking through some collectibles and saw one I wanted .It was $8 but had a best offer button.I offered $5 and the seller counter offered with $6 which I was more than happy to accept , that seller is not getting rich by me, but by having the best offer button he got a sale. If I hadn't bought that item the seller might have spent the same amount on relisting fees until that item sold.

[2011*momstuff]

I don't like best offer when it comes to my coin buying, right now I am focused on the 5 oz silver America the Beautiful "P" series and the BO thing is driving me nuts! Prices are overly inflated on the BO listings but I can't go into the sold items to see what current market value really is. I know as a seller it wouldn't help me if people could see what offers I took, but I prefer listing my item for the lowest I will take. Watching how far up the market place takes the value is the fun part for me. Ha ha the words 'Russian Roulette" popped into my head as I wrote that!

[annieland]

Here I am resurrecting another thread.  What do you guys think of receiving offers when you don't have OBO set?  This is happening to me a lot.  I rarely use BO because of all the aformentioned reasons.  Pretty much just for big ticket furniture items, or maybe something I'm really scraping to move.

But I keep getting unsolicited offers for things, and it's kind of pissing me off.  But then I start wondering if I should accept, or if then I'm letting myself get pushed around.  

I'm selling an expensive vacuum right now, I'm asking a tad over half price ($529), and offering free shipping that could set me back up to $75.  Oh, and it's the only one for sale right now!  So far I'm getting $350 which I ignored, and he came back with $425.  This intrigues me yet ticks me off at the same time!  

It's more evidence to me that Craigslist is ruining eBay.  First with sellers and their 5 word ads, and now with buyers and their unsolicited offers, lowball or not.

[anonymoose99]

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@annieland wrote:

But I keep getting unsolicited offers for things, and it's kind of pissing me off.  But then I start wondering if I should accept, or if then I'm letting myself get pushed around.  

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If the item is on its 2nd or 3rd listing, I'll consider it as long as it's at least 80% of my BIN price. But even then, I'll counter-offer.

[hondamedic]

Here I am resurrecting another thread. 


I'm the king of resurrecting threads... Why start a new one when the old one has advice still relevant to the topic and adding to it improves the thread? Rhetorical question of course.

What do you guys think of receiving offers when you don't have OBO set?

My reply is two part:

First is the fact it is against eBay policy.> http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/best-offer.html

• If the Make Offer button doesn't appear in the listing, the seller isn't interested in receiving offers and you shouldn't try to contact this seller to negotiate price or terms. Doing so violates our offers to buy or sell outside of eBay policy.

As noted above a reportable violation.> http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html

If you receive an offer to buy or sell outside eBay, please report it.

And the second is my observation has been these low ballers are invariably not the type of buyer you want. If they're a PITD (But I keep getting unsolicited offers for things, and it's kind of pissing me off. ) before the sale they're even worse after (You can't imagine how many times I've read the low-baller hits the seller up for a partial because item not as good as description.)

The reply should be nice, "I'm sorry but it would be unfair to everyone else and I think it would be best to let the auction run it's course.", and adding the ID to your BBL swift IMO.

[annieland]

Yeah you're totally right, Honda.  I always strive to never break an eBay rule, and wonder about people who blatantly do.

Since it's a BIN, I'm going to do my standard "Thanks so much for your interest, but I'm not accepting offers at this time."  Not sure about the BBL add, but might be prudent...

Last week I was getting repeated offers from a competitor.  I know she was trying to buy my stuff low to flip and sell high.  She's a pretty big seller and it's sad she routinely breaks rules like that.

As an aside, a few weeks ago I was researching something of mine, and took a couple sentences of a description from another ad which I thought she took from the box or manufacturer.  I think it amounted to fewer than a dozen words in total.  I had my own sentences and description before and after.  HOLY she got mad!!  Sent me a very professional and ANGRY cease and desist email accusing me of violating her copyright, violating eBay rules and intellectual property laws, and flat-out calling me a very dishonest person.  Whew, some rule followers really play hardball.  Since I could find no more original way to describe the contents of the item, I just deleted that part from the ad.  Lame.

[juliew8]

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@taadaa58 wrote:

Hi PK and welcome! We're the friendliest board around and I'm sure you'll like it here,so stick around! 😉 :^O

As far as BO I personally don't like them as a seller or buyer.As a seller I know what I want for my items and do not like dealing with low ball offers.I get enough of them on BIN items as it is,,but others love BO.It's a personal preferences IMO,but others will chime in with their opinions.

I'll give your items a look and be back. 🙂

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Personally, I don't "get" the whole BO thing. It seems to me like it's an invitation to buyers to pay less than the asking price. If you're willing to take list, then just list it at the lower price in the first place.

That said, I'm trying it out on (I think) 1 or 2 of my current listings. Just because, I guess!

What am I not understanding about it?

[pantlandia]

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@juliew8 wrote:

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@taadaa58 wrote:

Hi PK and welcome! We're the friendliest board around and I'm sure you'll like it here,so stick around! 😉 :^O

As far as BO I personally don't like them as a seller or buyer.As a seller I know what I want for my items and do not like dealing with low ball offers.I get enough of them on BIN items as it is,,but others love BO.It's a personal preferences IMO,but others will chime in with their opinions.

I'll give your items a look and be back. 🙂

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Personally, I don't "get" the whole BO thing. It seems to me like it's an invitation to buyers to pay less than the asking price. If you're willing to take list, then just list it at the lower price in the first place.

That said, I'm trying it out on (I think) 1 or 2 of my current listings. Just because, I guess!

What am I not understanding about it?

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I've sold 7 things in the past 3 days. All my listings have BO on them. Of those 7 items, 4 purchased without BO and 3 made offers that were very reasonable that I accepted. Actually, one of the made an offer that was a penny OVER my asking price, which I accepted and they paid right away. 

It's been my experience that most buyers won't even offer, they will just purchase it outright.

[kdavis4635]

I have finally had it with low ball best offers and am removing "best offer" from everything.

I was offered $2 for a "best offer" $10 item (I would have taken 8 or 9)

I declined with this note.

You certainly can't be serious! Shipping is $2, plus the bag, plus my costs for the item, Ebay fees, paypal fees, etc.. Keep your eye on Craig's list. I'll put them out "free" on a curb alert before I "PAY" someone to take them.  The buyer has been blocked as well

[skullywag64]

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@kdavis4635 wrote:

I have finally had it with low ball best offers and am removing "best offer" from everything.

I was offered $2 for a "best offer" $10 item (I would have taken 8 or 9)

I declined with this note.

You certainly can't be serious! Shipping is $2, plus the bag, plus my costs for the item, Ebay fees, paypal fees, etc.. Keep your eye on Craig's list. I'll put them out "free" on a curb alert before I "PAY" someone to take them.  The buyer has been blocked as well

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I think you are taking ths way to seriously.  When you allow best offer....$2 offers are just as much part of the game as $9 offers.  Just decline the low ball offers and move on...nobody is forcing you to take the low offer...nothing to get upset over.

On the flip side....I've had sellers decline $9.95 offers on a $10 or best offer item.   AND I've also had a buyer ACCEPT $5 for a $20 or best offer item....for all I know, they may have previously listed it repeatedly at a BIN price of $6 with no bites, and the "best offer" was part of their selling strategy.  Who knows?   Having someone show interest in your item is nothing to get upset over, and blocking them may not be your best strategy....they can always offer more, or take BIN price if low offers are rejected.

[liw48]

Suggestion:

Have a bottom floor best offer so that everything above that is accepted automatically.  If you just check "best offer" and don't have a high or low amount, yeh, you're going to get the $2 offers.  I was like you, btw,and  noticed the setup.

There are two boxes,

1 - Best Offer decline below XX  amount

2 - Best offer of at least XX amount

I always use #1.  It's an automatic decline.

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@kdavis4635 wrote:

I have finally had it with low ball best offers and am removing "best offer" from everything.

I was offered $2 for a "best offer" $10 item (I would have taken 8 or 9)

I declined with this note.

You certainly can't be serious! Shipping is $2, plus the bag, plus my costs for the item, Ebay fees, paypal fees, etc.. Keep your eye on Craig's list. I'll put them out "free" on a curb alert before I "PAY" someone to take them.  The buyer has been blocked as well

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[liw48]

Set up your BO to accept/decline XX amount.  The customer can still email you for a lower price, and you can delete the email message and/or not answer.

The Decline BO is an automatic "no."  Saves a lot of trouble.  As for CL ruining EB, you know -- you can also list that vacuum on CL and probably get a faster sell.

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@annieland wrote:

Here I am resurrecting another thread.  What do you guys think of receiving offers when you don't have OBO set?  This is happening to me a lot.  I rarely use BO because of all the aformentioned reasons.  Pretty much just for big ticket furniture items, or maybe something I'm really scraping to move.

But I keep getting unsolicited offers for things, and it's kind of pissing me off.  But then I start wondering if I should accept, or if then I'm letting myself get pushed around.  

I'm selling an expensive vacuum right now, I'm asking a tad over half price ($529), and offering free shipping that could set me back up to $75.  Oh, and it's the only one for sale right now!  So far I'm getting $350 which I ignored, and he came back with $425.  This intrigues me yet ticks me off at the same time!  

It's more evidence to me that Craigslist is ruining eBay.  First with sellers and their 5 word ads, and now with buyers and their unsolicited offers, lowball or not.

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[liw48]

Annieland, I checked your listings.  You only have two items?  Is that correct.  Or do you have another store?

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@annieland wrote:

Yeah you're totally right, Honda.  I always strive to never break an eBay rule, and wonder about people who blatantly do.

Since it's a BIN, I'm going to do my standard "Thanks so much for your interest, but I'm not accepting offers at this time."  Not sure about the BBL add, but might be prudent...

Last week I was getting repeated offers from a competitor.  I know she was trying to buy my stuff low to flip and sell high.  She's a pretty big seller and it's sad she routinely breaks rules like that.

As an aside, a few weeks ago I was researching something of mine, and took a couple sentences of a description from another ad which I thought she took from the box or manufacturer.  I think it amounted to fewer than a dozen words in total.  I had my own sentences and description before and after.  HOLY she got mad!!  Sent me a very professional and ANGRY cease and desist email accusing me of violating her copyright, violating eBay rules and intellectual property laws, and flat-out calling me a very dishonest person.  Whew, some rule followers really play hardball.  Since I could find no more original way to describe the contents of the item, I just deleted that part from the ad.  Lame.

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