About "Make Offer"

[rubiano98]

I've been active on Ebay for 25 years and remember when, for many years, "Make Offer" on a listing seemed to mean submitting an offer for less (but not ridiculously so) than the opening bid price. It seemed to be the understood way for sellers and potential buyers.  Now, and for a while, "Make Offer" seems to mean an offer above the opening price.  

Since shipping costs gave gone way up making an offer below the opening price seems to make even more sense. I buy vintage jewelry and it costs almost $5.00 to ship a pair of earrings, even from a few states away, that weigh essentially nothing (not the seller's fault).

Am I living in the (Ebay) past to think "Make Offer" means less rather than more of the opening bid?

[jameshen1]

Here is my take, right or wrong.  On a fixed price listing, make an offer means an offer less than the fixed price.  On an auction, make an offer means an offer above the current bid so that the seller will be enticed to take the offer and end the auction.  It has to be enough that they are satisfied with not seeking out other, higher bids.  So it means different things depending on the type of listing.

[otow_18]

That's only for listings with both BIN and BO, and if a buyer makes a BO higher than the BIN, eBay tells the buyer to BIN instead.

Sellers usually set a starting bid price at the lowest they will take. And then eBay adds a BO without their OK if eBay feels that the starting price is too high. So a buyer may be dismayed trying a BO below the starting price.

[7606dennis]

It has only been relatively recently that eBay has permitted the option to make offers to be included in auction format listings.  Previously the option was only available for use in fixed price listings.  While I'm of the opinion that eBay has done both buyers and sellers a disservice by allowing it to be included in auction listings, it is important that both sides are aware of how the option works when dealing with auctions.  However, I'm not going to go into the legal ramifications at this time as I've done that on numerous other threads.

It is important to know that in the case of an auction, the starting bid price is the minimum amount to start the bidding and not the asking price of the item as it is in a fixed price listing.  Thus anyone making an offer would need to consider the potential end selling price when making an offer.  In such cases the offer would need to be calculated to be below what the one offering believes the item will bring if the bidding is allowed to run its course.  This is opposite of the fixed price listing where the selling price is a known factor.  

[rubiano98]

Make an Offer has been an option sellers can use for many, many years and not just fixed price auctions. It is not recent. Like I said, I've been active in Ebay for 25 years, so I remember a lot of how it's been.

[rubiano98]

"That's only for listings with both BIN and BO,"

Sorry but that is not true. There can be both options in a listing, or the "Make an Offer" option can stand alone.

[rubiano98]

I am not talking about any listings that have a fixed price. Only the ones that have one option other than an opening bid - Make an Offer.

[rubiano98]

When doing a search in a category there are 4 options for "Buying Format" to customize the search:

All Listings

Accepts Offers

Auction

Buy It Now

You can select as many or as few of those 4 as you want. 

Since I mentioned buying jewelry, here are some brand new listing from categories I search in, that have Make an Offer without a Buy It now option. These are selected at random:

eBay item number:  175252175299

eBay item number: 154959425744

eBay item number: 175252036962

eBay item number: 265655788196

eBay item number: 203920889223

eBay item number: 154959297479

This is true in any category of Ebay auctions.

[kathiec]

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@rubiano98 wrote:

Make an Offer has been an option sellers can use for many, many years and not just fixed price auctions. It is not recent. Like I said, I've been active in Ebay for 25 years, so I remember a lot of how it's been.

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I've been active in eBay even longer than you. At some point after Buy it Now listings were added, eBay threw in the Best Offer option. And yes, the intention was to allow an offer lower than the Buy it Now price. But no more than about five years ago, eBay also started allowing a Best Offer option on auction listings. The intention was to offer a price over the starting bid. That option is a gamble for sellers. They have to weigh the certainty of the offer price with the possibility the listing will go for more if they let the auction run. 

These are two different animals. With BIN, the seller says "this is the end price I want". If they add Best Offer, they signal they're willing to accept less. But with an auction listing, the opening bid is the least amount the seller is willing to accept. Best Offer lets someone offer a higher amount to stop the auction, which lets the buyer avoid being outbid and hopefully get the item for less than what they would have had to bid to win.

[ittybitnot]

@rubiano98 

I looked at the first two items in your list.  Both are AUCTIONS, not fixed price (BIN/Buy it Now) listings.  

Though the "Best Offer" feature has been around for a long time, the Best Offer feature on AUCTIONS has not. 

@7606dennis  in message #4

and

@jameshen1  in message #2  have explained this quite well.

  Please note again, that eBay will often place the Best Offer feature on the seller's listings whether the seller wants it or not.  The seller can revise/remove it only for eBay to put it back again. 

[otow_18]

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@rubiano98 wrote:

the "Make an Offer" option can stand alone.

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A listing with just "Best Offer" alone?

Five years ago, eBay also started allowing a Best Offer option on BOTH fixed price  and auction-style listings. On the latter, the intention was to offer a price BELOW the starting bid.

10-16-2017 02:26 PM

Recently, eBay began adding Best Offer to fixed price  and auction-style listings. Based on previous tests, we found this feature drives higher sales conversion, especially in cases when the starting bid or fixed price is set higher than the recommended price. In auction-style listings, the option for a Best Offer disappears after the auction receives its first bid.

[sierras1160]

Recently there was an auction for kitty salt and pepper shakers that I was interested in. I noticed the best offer on it. I offered the seller a little more than the starting bid. The seller accepted my offer. I was delighted.

[reallynicestamps]

"Make Offer" on a listing seemed to mean submitting an offer for less (but not ridiculously so) than the opening bid price.

Okay-- we're going to be more precise about the words we use.

There are Auction listings which have Opening Bids or Opening Prices

and there are Fixed Price listings which have an Asking Price.

With Fixed Price, yes , a Best Offer is usually less than the asking price.

With Auction, a Best Offer is expected to be MORE than the opening bid.

• Best Offers on Auctions are a recent introduction. We used to warn newbies that an offer on an auction was all too often a scam.
• A scammer/savvy buyer has seen the newbie had underpriced the item and offered what seemed to be  a good price, but which was still far below what an Auction would usually get -- in those last few frantic moments.

Since shipping costs gave gone way up making an offer below the opening price seems to make even more sense.

Shipping is NOT a part of the Best Offer process.

However, it should be considered as part of the Best Offer.

If the customer sees a nice brooch being sold for $35 with $5 shipping, she might offer $20 and pay $25.

• But she cannot offer $25 with Free Shipping,
• nor can she offer $35 with Free Shipping.

So keep what you want to pay in total in mind when you make Offers.

Over 85% of transactions are Fixed Price.

[rubiano98]

Again, my points have been misunderstood. I give up. 

[otow_18]

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@otow_18 wrote:

10-16-2017 02:26 PM

Recently, eBay began adding Best Offer to fixed price  and auction-style listings. Based on previous tests, we found this feature drives higher sales conversion, especially in cases when the starting bid or fixed price is set higher than the recommended price. In auction-style listings, the option for a Best Offer disappears after the auction receives its first bid.

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So that was then, 5 years ago. eBay announced they "began adding Best Offer" to auction-style listings when the starting bid is TOO HIGH.

And this is now, today:

There's just one price in view, the "Starting bid" (hence, it's an auction-style listing). And a "Make Offer" (which goes away when a bid is placed).

What does eBay mean by "Negotiate an even better deal" than the Starting bid ... higher or lower?