eBay

itsjustasprain · ‎08-18-2020

Im looking at an auction item with no bids on it yet. There is no BuyItNow price showing. I decided I would try making an offer anyway before any bids are received in case the seller was willing to add a BIN price. (I am offering higher than the opening price.) If a bidding war breaks out then the price will go higher so my strategy is to try to win it before too many others see it.

So anyway - when you go to the Contact seller link you get a choice of topics. One of them is 'Make an offer.' So I chose that topic - but everything beyond that point looks like a routine message form. There was no specific place for me to plug in a price to offer so I just put it in the text.

Does the seller actually get something in his message that lets him send me an offer (either my price or a counteroffer)? Im not sure what to expect here. I know its all over if a bid is received but one has not come in yet. Thanks for any insight here.

mtgraves7984 · ‎08-18-2020

If you ask a seller a question (message) about an item, the seller has the option to 'Send Offer' to you.

If inclined, the seller could offer the amount that you mentioned.

woodland_gnome · ‎08-18-2020

If there is a "Make Offer" button on the listing itself, you click that to fill in the Best Offer form.

If there isn't you can and may make an offer in an ordinary message to the seller. Sounds like they have added "Make Offer" as a suggested header, but that's all it would be. That is not the same as the Best Offer process invoked by the Make Offer button. It's just a message asking the seller to consider ending the auction early and sell it to you at a fixed price. My advice to sellers is to NOT do so--there are extra fees, it ticks off existing and potential bidders, and the buyer is doing it because s/he doubts the offer amount would win or is impatient or is a scammer.

7606dennis · ‎08-18-2020

While I'm not a fan of the BO option being added to auction style listings, I want to point out that once a bid is placed that option ceases to exist and any offers made become void. One should keep that in mind when making an offer. If the seller accepts it before a bid is placed, fine. However, if while the seller considers the offer a bid is placed, the seller will not be able to accept the offer. To do so would put the seller in legal jeopardy under the auction laws of several states so the offer automatically becomes void.

If one has made an offer that is voided because a bid was placed on the item, one should know that the offer does not convert into a bid. Thus if that person still wants a chance of buying the item they will need to place a bid through the bidding process, as the offer they had made no longer exists, if they still want to compete for the item.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

itsjustasprain · ‎08-18-2020

@woodland_gnome wrote:
If there is a "Make Offer" button on the listing itself, you click that to fill in the Best Offer form.

If there isn't you can and may make an offer in an ordinary message to the seller. Sounds like they have added "Make Offer" as a suggested header, but that's all it would be.

Okay - the listing had no Make Offer on it - but Ebay does offer 'Make an offer' as a choice of topic when you send a message to the seller - so thats what I did.

I heard back from the seller a little while later. He declined my offer but he added a Make Offer button to the listing. I had to laugh because when he did that he also raised the opening price of the auction to the amount that he had declined from me.

Oh well. Somebody will probably come along and bid soon enough. I think at this point I might as well be the one to start bidding. Maybe the price wont go as high as I was afraid it would.

airsheep · ‎08-18-2020

Maybe the price wont go as high as he hoped it would.
FTFY 😄

Coffee is my friend.

T&S Tool #10mm ratchet

lamber9347 · ‎08-18-2020

@itsjustasprain wrote:
@woodland_gnome wrote:
If there is a "Make Offer" button on the listing itself, you click that to fill in the Best Offer form.

If there isn't you can and may make an offer in an ordinary message to the seller. Sounds like they have added "Make Offer" as a suggested header, but that's all it would be.
Okay - the listing had no Make Offer on it - but Ebay does offer 'Make an offer' as a choice of topic when you send a message to the seller - so thats what I did.

I heard back from the seller a little while later. He declined my offer but he added a Make Offer button to the listing. I had to laugh because when he did that he also raised the opening price of the auction to the amount that he had declined from me.

Oh well. Somebody will probably come along and bid soon enough. I think at this point I might as well be the one to start bidding. Maybe the price wont go as high as I was afraid it would.

Seller obviously thinks they will get more for their item, and perhaps they will. They handled this incorrectly though by raising the opening bid to the amount you offered. Raising a price on you is a red flag. They'd already declined your offer. If I were you I would move along. Whatever this item is it will be available again with another seller. This one sounds like they could become an issue. Nothing is one of a kind. Just be aware of what you are getting yourself into before you bid. Best of luck to you....

mudshark61369 · ‎08-19-2020

@itsjustasprain,

@lamber9347 wrote; "Seller obviously thinks they will get more for their item, and perhaps they will. They handled this incorrectly though by raising the opening bid to the amount you offered. Raising a price on you is a red flag".

What Red Flag? If the OP had simply placed a bid for the amount of their offer, which they already felt might be less than the closing price, there would have been an incremental increase for the next bidder. A seller has a right to raise the starting bid of an auction any time up until the first bid is received. By raising the price they only only guaranteed they would not end up selling the item for less than the unsolicited declined offer. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

"If I were you I would move along. Whatever this item is it will be available again with another seller. Nothing is one of a kind."

Some items are rare enough that another may not come along for several years. Though there is always the possibility of another seller seeing the results of this auction and deciding to list theirs for either the end price, or starting the bidding at close to the end price of the current auction.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)

mudshark61369 · ‎08-19-2020

@itsjustasprain,

"when you go to the Contact seller link you get a choice of topics. One of them is 'Make an offer.' So I chose that topic - but everything beyond that point looks like a routine message form... Does the seller actually get something in his message that lets him send me an offer (either my price or a counteroffer)? Im not sure what to expect here".

It has been a few years since as a seller I received a message with something mentioning an "Offer" on an auction that was newly listed without Best Offer. If I recall correctly, I could have formalized it with an Accept or a Counter offer. I do not remember there being a Decline option. Whether or not it still works the same way I cannot say.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)

itsjustasprain · ‎08-22-2020

@mudshark61369 wrote:
A seller has a right to raise the starting bid of an auction any time up until the first bid is received. By raising the price they only only guaranteed they would not end up selling the item for less than the unsolicited declined offer.

You called that right. In fact we went back and forth again one more time with me raising my offer a bit and he did the same thing. So at that point I decided I wasnt going to play his game anymore and I just plugged in my latest bid as the opening one - since he had already raised the opening price again to the amount that I had offered and which he had turned down.

So basically he has now accepted my offer as a bid instead of as a Buyitnow price. I expect others will have higher bids before the auction ends so I will wait and see if I want to snipe it. I dont know if he knows the real value of the item - which is higher than anyone has bid yet - or if he just likes messing around with offers.

7606dennis · ‎08-22-2020

@mudshark61369 wrote:
@itsjustasprain,

"when you go to the Contact seller link you get a choice of topics. One of them is 'Make an offer.' So I chose that topic - but everything beyond that point looks like a routine message form... Does the seller actually get something in his message that lets him send me an offer (either my price or a counteroffer)? Im not sure what to expect here".

It has been a few years since as a seller I received a message with something mentioning an "Offer" on an auction that was newly listed without Best Offer. If I recall correctly, I could have formalized it with an Accept or a Counter offer. I do not remember there being a Decline option. Whether or not it still works the same way I cannot say.

If memory serves, at one time eBay considered making an offer when the BO option wasn't included in the listing as an attempt to engage in an off eBay transaction. Now they include the option of making an offer in messaging.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

myboardid · ‎08-22-2020

I don't run auctions any more, but if I were to do so, and I did not put a Make Offer option on the listing, I would not want anyone making an offer via a message. I would have not only refused your offer but I would have been annoyed and would have blocked you from bidding.

----------------------------
Successful and experienced seller since 1997, over 70,000 feedback, boardie since the boards were begun.

lightlily_arts · ‎08-23-2020

Whenever a buyer contacts you for the first time on a listing there is an option for the seller to Make an Offer on their item. That includes both Auctions and Fixed Price listings. In your message to the seller make it clear that you are making an offer on the item.

simply-the-best-for-you · ‎08-25-2020

Interesting. That explains why I keep getting offers with "Make an Offer" in the title on my FP listings. I had no idea how/why buyers were sending these to me, since I do NOT use BO.

OP, on the ones I receive, the offer is just written as a note, but I would recommend NOT sending one unless there's a BO on the listing. I find it very annoying as a seller. If I don't have BO on a listing, then I don't want an offer. But if you choose to do so anyway, be polite 🙂 I probably get 4 of these a week & most of them are worded quite rudely, esp considering that there's no BO on the item to begin with.

This one goes to Eleven - Nigel Tufnel

Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
eBay Seller since 1996

lightlily_arts · ‎08-27-2020

Whenever you message a seller eBay does give the buyer an option to make an offer whether or not the seller has a Best Offer option enabled. The seller does have the option of responding with an offer. The only issue would be that the buyer would have to accept the offer if it's an auction before any bids are placed.