Kudos to Ebay for improving the "best offer" function, regarding offer duration.

[kingofthewind]

Well, at long last, I see that Ebay has returned some reasonable control to a buyer who wants to limit the duration of their offer to something other than Ebay's earlier default of 48 hours.  I just made a best offer on an item and saw that there is a drop-down menu that give various choices, starting with 12 hours (IIRC). Giving the buyer more control of the duration of their offer is fundamental to the whole process, and should have always been there.

So, I have griped about it in the past, and now I commend Ebay for listening to me, and surely countless others, who feel that the duration of their offer should be the offeror's choice.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Oh no, not that again!

eBay experimented with choices for offer duration for a while about a year ago. The main outcome was confusion.

[7606dennis]

The problem I see with a variable time limit on the offer set by the buyer is that there is no way of knowing if the seller will see the offer if it is set to a short period such as 12 hours.  Buyers, by the impatience, could be putting the kabosh on the offer when making it.

Frankly, making an offer is, in reality, a buyer asking the seller to do him the favor allowing him to purchased the item at a price below the seller's asking price.  In my opinion, for the one making the offer to attempt to rush the seller into making a decision to grant this favor may be counterproductive to the potential buyer's purpose in making the offer.

[myboardid]

Just a warning to buyers who make offers with short time limits.  When eBay experimented with this before, a "buyer" made an offer that was only available for 4 hours.  I was working, not home, didn't see it until after it expired.  I was very annoyed and that buyer ended up on my BBL.  Then he came back again with a new offer and was blocked from buying.  I refused to deal with him. 

I would, and will, do it again if I get what I consider a short time offer.  And 12 hours is too short. 

[myboardid]

I didn't see Dennis's post before typing mine, but I think I just gave a good example of exactly what he is posting about. 

[castlemagicmemories]

Absolutely.  Choosing a short time frame on a Best Offer may simply result in it expiring before the seller can see it or act on it.  

[mudshark61369]

@kingofthewind,

As I see it, buyers who are making Reasonable first offers will accept the default  48 hour limit.  Chances are a seller will respond before that time frame has lapsed.  However, those who lowball and try for a quick decision will likely end up Blocked, and lose the chance for negotiating.  You may also find more sellers using the auto accept/decline feature, so you will get very quick answer(s) but if a buyer starts too low they may run out of offers and lose all chances of negotiating, and end up blocked.

[kingofthewind]

Odd response for my complimenting Ebay on having their platform match business norms in the world at large. I guess people are free to respond with their opinions, regardless of what I see as a lack of valuable content.
Know-it-alls, who actually know far less than they think, and who deem themselves arbiters of all things reasonable, will be the death of these forums.
BTW, the best-offer I made when I found out about the change, was accepted as written. Cheers.

[creekcoyote]

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@kingofthewind wrote:

Well, at long last, I see that Ebay has returned some reasonable control to a buyer who wants to limit the duration of their offer to something other than Ebay's earlier default of 48 hours.  I just made a best offer on an item and saw that there is a drop-down menu that give various choices, starting with 12 hours (IIRC). Giving the buyer more control of the duration of their offer is fundamental to the whole process, and should have always been there.

So, I have griped about it in the past, and now I commend Ebay for listening to me, and surely countless others, who feel that the duration of their offer should be the offeror's choice.

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I, for one, would not like this.   I usually shut down my computer around 9 PM and start working on it around 10 AM or so the next day.   So that twelve hour time limit would be gone before I get a chance to see any offers. 

There are sellers out there who only deal in an 8 hour work day on E-bay.  They may have another job, etc.  They too would probably not see all offers.

It is certainly an option that buyers could use but it could lead to more anger and hostility towards a seller that doesn't respond within that twelve hour time frame.  And through no fault of the seller.

Just saying.

[mudshark61369]

@kingofthewind,

 "Odd response for my complimenting Ebay on having their platform match business norms in the world at large".

I'd really like to know what norms those are, and who has them?  I have not seen time limits placed on seller responses to offers on any other site.  Other than direct sale sites like Craigs, or other classified ad sites. What online retail sites allow you to make offers in the first place?

"So, I have griped about it in the past, and now I commend Ebay for listening to me, and surely countless others, who feel that the duration of their offer should be the offeror's choice".

eBay has not made a full change yet, they are apparently testing it again, just as they did a few years ago, which got very negative responses from sellers. If they go ahead with letting buyers set terms, you probably will not find Best Offer being used much.

  Are you sure you really want to see that change?  Shouldn't the offeree (sellers) be able to demand a response to a counter offer with the same time frame you select.  What if you missed a counter offer because of work, or you were someplace you could not respond?  

 "I guess people are free to respond with their opinions regardless of what I see as a lack of valuable content. ...".

Yup, the First Amendment is a wonderful thing, it allowed you the same freedom.

[transamcc]

I like the idea and have seen it tried before. Buyer should have some control over offer duration. What is too short? I dont know, but 48 hours is way too long unless a weekend or holiday intervenes.  I usually do a rule of thumb that if seller does not reply in some manner within 24 hours, I will withdraw my offer with "cannot contact seller"  or "entered wrong amount" as my reason. Either my offer was too small, the seller is not really interested enough in offers to even counter, or is only going to let my offer expire without action (frequent) hoping for a better offer from someone else before mine expires. Whatever, either is valid reasoning since I was so insignificant that I did not even get seller's attention and the courtesy of a "get lost" reply. If a seller has auto accept/decline $ points set you will usually get a reponse quickly.  If an offer expires from seller inaction, I will not place a new one. If I have not received some response in 24 hours I will withdraw and shop elsewhere, often for a better price from someone else, sometimes with only one extra day in delivery time. I can counteract the extra day with the time wasted waiting on a seller to respond.  I am not lowballing, just making a fair-price offer.

[wpt05]

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@creekcoyote wrote:

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@kingofthewind wrote:

Well, at long last, I see that Ebay has returned some reasonable control to a buyer who wants to limit the duration of their offer to something other than Ebay's earlier default of 48 hours.  I just made a best offer on an item and saw that there is a drop-down menu that give various choices, starting with 12 hours (IIRC). Giving the buyer more control of the duration of their offer is fundamental to the whole process, and should have always been there.

So, I have griped about it in the past, and now I commend Ebay for listening to me, and surely countless others, who feel that the duration of their offer should be the offeror's choice.

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I, for one, would not like this.   I usually shut down my computer around 9 PM and start working on it around 10 AM or so the next day.   So that twelve hour time limit would be gone before I get a chance to see any offers. 

There are sellers out there who only deal in an 8 hour work day on E-bay.  They may have another job, etc.  They too would probably not see all offers.

It is certainly an option that buyers could use but it could lead to more anger and hostility towards a seller that doesn't respond within that twelve hour time frame.  And through no fault of the seller.

Just saying.

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I understand where you are coming from.  However, as a buyer I would like the option to reduce the time frame.  If I do not receive an answer, then I can look for the item from another seller.  I would have no hostility toward the seller.  I would hope that there would be no hostility towards me either for missing my short time period offer.  For me, it would certainly be better than being forced to wait 48 hours.  I think at the very least there should be an option to choose 24 hours.  

As a seller, I don't believe I have ever blocked anybody for sending a low offer.  I just reject it.  There are other reasons I block bidders, but not for that.  I try to respond as soon as I can, but if I miss the short time frame offer so be it.  

[wpt05]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

….eBay has not made a full change yet, they are apparently testing it again..."

It must be only available to some buyers because I just tried it and didn't work.  There was no option for me to change the time frame.   

[castlemagicmemories]

You do have another option.  As Ebay says when you send a Best Offer:

Don't want to wait?  You can still buy it now!