Best Offer Plus or Minus?

[moxiedrinker]

Is anyone else bothered by the "Low Ball " offers that this option seems to generate? Is this a license to do that? Perhaps  the eBay management could point out to bidders that they could even offer what the thing is worth as an offer. Which did happen once, For some magazines that  I had for up for auction. That was a pleasant surprise! What ever happened to the idea that this is an Auction Site?  

[slippinjimmy]

When you put Best Offer on your listings you are basically saying "my item is overpriced and I'll take less".

And yes eBay will sometimes tell buyers that they have a better chance of having their offer accepted if they increase their offer.

Just like eBay suggesting to sellers to lower prices (which they usually ignore) most buyers are going to ignore any suggestion that they offer more.

If you don't want offers below a certain percentage you can set up auto-decline and you will never see an offer below your specified amount.

[luckythewinner]

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Is anyone else bothered by the "Low Ball " offers that this option seems to generate?

I am never bothered when people show interest in my items. 

Perhaps the eBay management could point out to bidders that they could even offer what the thing is worth as an offer.

First, eBay management doesn't know what your item is "worth" to you. Second, when a buyer send an offer, the eBay system does warn them if it thinks their offer is too low: 

What ever happened to the idea that this is an Auction Site?

eBay still allows seller to list items as auctions. But the idea that it  was primarily auction site ended well over a decade ago - despite the fact that some sellers still desperately cling to the notion that it is. 

[7606dennis]

Actually, eBay hasn't been strictly an auction site for quite some time now.

When making an offer one is in essence asking the seller to do them the favor of selling them their merchandise for less than they are asking for it.  It is totally up to the seller to determine if he is willing to do this person the favor or not.

Auctions are a bit different than fixed price listings and haggling.  The selling price is determined, not by the seller, but by the bidders bidding in competition with each other.  The seller may set the starting price for the bidding or a reserve below which they do not have to sell, but the actual price is set by the bidders.

[spittser]

eBay was far more lucrative to most of us when it was primarily an auction site. I think those of us that don't want to let go of the idea that it's still an auction site just long for the days when we actually made good money on here. Auctions are what built eBay. Without them, eBay is no different than at least a dozen other sites that anyone has available to sell their wares on. Based on my experience in the past few months, many of these sites excel well above eBay in performance and seller/customer satisfaction. All eBay has going for it now is name recognition. Unfortunately for them, that recognition is not a plus in some circles these days.

[syracusesemiconductors · Accepted solution]

I have the Best Offer option on most of my listings and, yes, I get more than my share of low ball "offers".

I had a funny experience with a low ball best offer a number of years ago. I was listing a part for $3 which, if you bought it from a distributor, would cost about 9 bucks. Some clown offers me $1.00 - - - count it, A WHOLE DOLLAR! - - - for it. I declined the offer. (I wonder if people like this realize it is not worth my time or effort to pull the part, pack it up, and then ship it out in time... for a buck.) 

True to form, the guy ups his offer to $2.00 - - - WOW !!!  HE DOUBLED HIS OFFER !!! - - - I can now afford that Hawaiian vacation I always dreamed about !!! - - - I declined his $2 offer.

But then, mischievous me swung into gear. 

I amended my listing and upped the listed price to $6.00 instead of the $3.00 originally stated. I also deleted the Best Offer feature from that listing.

The guy sends me a message and says he would like to buy the part for $3.00 as it used to be listed.

I SAID NO !!!

I told him that his repeated low offers made me realize that I was selling the part too low and I thanked him for helping me realize my mistake.

I never heard from him again.

[moxiedrinker]

I am not particularly desperate about the lack of Auctions. I would Like to see more actual auction action on what was once an interesting auction site. Thanks for your deep insight to the question.

[moxiedrinker]

Sad and very true!

[moxiedrinker]

Wonderful! I have done nearly the same thing. I now just up the price each time I get an idiotic offer. And It is sure is interesting how many do it. I am sure many buyers pick up items all the time . Thanks for posting.

[moxiedrinker]

I like that idea!

[rpalma]

>>When you allow best offer, you are indicating there may be some wiggle room in the price.

I sell some items that I have listed in multiple quantities. I will indeed consider an offer on multiple items.

I have items that are kind of a pain to ship, but if I get an offer and I happen to have the perfect box, I will consider it.

I have items that are seasonal but listed year round. I will consider an offer on an xmas item in July so I don't have to keep it until December.

I have items that I listed a bunch of, like cds, at an at or above market price per disc, like $9.99 each.

This is because I know some of the cds are worth that, some will sell for that even if the pricing is aggressive, and some will never sell for that but it easier to list and see what sells then investigate each individual disc.

For the ones that didn't sell several months into their being listed, I am willing to consider offers on them.

As a purchaser, when I am looking for a fairly generic item like an off-lease dell desktop pc, I will usually shop by price and location but will then make an offer to a seller that is 5% to 10% less than his listing price and he usually accepts. The market for this is that the computers are widely available, the seller has lots of them to move, and they decline in value while they are sitting on his shelf.

Like any other sales technique, "best offer" has its place.

The obvious answer to not dealing with low ball offers is to set a minimum and have it auto-reject anything below that minimum.

[postfiftymodern]

I don't think "best offer" is a bad idea...BUT I think ebay should only give the buyer one chance at a best offer and not three like they currently do. A buyer should put their one TRUE best offer and leave it to the seller to accept or decline. I think this method "might" make low ball offers less plentiful.

Ebay now allows a seller to make a ONE TIME offer to buyers who are watching their items. Why can't they use the same logic with a buyers "best offer"??

[coolections]

For many it is an auction site. Most of my listings are auctions. It is up to you to either do auctions, or fixed price. You can do fixed price with best offer to auto accept, or auto decline. You also have an option to not even use the bartering method and skip the best offer all together. What something is worth to an individual seller varies greatly. What something is worth to a buyer varies greatly. There is really no such thing as actual worth but only what the two sides agree to.