Best Offer

[rover39]

I listed multiple items in the auction format. In some instances it was the second time I listed the item and in those instances I reduced the starting bid. eBay unilaterally inserted the best offer option. I feel that should have been up to me to decide if I wanted to do that. Additionally it discourages anyone from bidding in the auction format as the price seems to cap expected cost of item. Has this happened to others and is there a way I can stop this? Thank you

[7606dennis]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@readabouthorses wrote:

@Anonymous

I've gotta ask ... when eBay thinks the starting price of the auction is too high, just exactly what data are they collected to make that decision?

For example, I may be selling a magazine that is in good condition and shipping properly and not abusing Media Mail ... please don't tell me you are comparing that listing that recently sold for a magazine in ratty torn musty condition and being shipped by Media Mail simply because it sold for less than my starting bid for my almost perfect magazine.

Does a simple bot make this decision? A bot that has no idea about shipping policies, item condition, etc? Does that bot just see "magazine" and "prices on completed" and make the decision?

I'd really really like to know how this process works. Is each item compared the exact same item? My magazine might contain a hard to find photo or article while the magazine you are comparing it to is just a run of the mill issue that can easily be purchased from the publisher.

Inquiring minds want to know!

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Hi @readabouthorses, happy to elaborate. The starting price of the auction is compared to the trending price on eBay and other marketplaces for the past 90 days. If the starting price is higher than the average price similar items have sold for, Best Offer may be applied. We take into account factors such as the item condition.

Additionally, @ymeagainlord, as soon as a bid has been placed on an auction the Best Offer option is removed and any offers that have been placed but not yet responded to are automatically declined. The Best Offer feature on auctions serves as a supplemental option for when a listing is not receiving bids, not as a replacement for the bidding process.

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@trinton

As  a licensed auctioneer and auction business owner I would advise anyone holding an auctioneer or auction business license to be extremely cautious with regard to running auctions where the Best Offer option has been attached by eBay.  While eBay itself may not be subject to the laws of state's in regard to auction business licensing or required to adhere to the ethics codes of auction associations as their members are, the sellers may very well be.

While I know that you have stated that the BO option goes away after the first bid has been placed on the item, eBay does not have too exemplary a reputation for being glitch free.  In a situation where a single glitch could result in a member seller losing their license, facing fines, other sanctions and potential litigation, might it not be better if eBay, if the must add the Best Offer option to auctions, at least put a warning to sellers that they may be putting themselves in jeopardy or better yet, allow the sellers to make the choice.

[ted_200]

You're right, Sherry, but I wonder if Ebay has considered tweaking it to accomodate higher offers.  This would be more advantageous to both seller and Ebay.  Scenarios where the buyer doesn't want to wait and would offer more.  But then again, sellers may not like that because they want an auction to determine the price.  Oh well.

Since the item has been relisted and is still not seeing any activity at the start price - and OP is lowering the start price on the relist - it seems highly unlikely that someone would suddenly show up wanting to pay MORE.  The current program is intended to sell the item at a lower price. 

But I would never underestimate the logic at eBay Towers.  Your suggestion is probably already on the Tuesday conference room aganda...

[Anonymous]

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@readabouthorses wrote:

@Anonymous

Thanks for the update. Now I have to ask ... how similar ... same magazine, same year, same month? And "trending prices" ... are these also similar items or just magazine back issues in general?

So just how "similar" are they when doing the comparison?

I noticed the OP who started this thread seems to be selling Antiques. So how do you find "similar items" do comparisons on antiques?

I'm not trying to be a pain ... I just think it is almost impossible to do similar comparisons to justify adding a Best Offer because you "think" the auction has started too high. 

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Hi @readabouthorses, while these are all reasonable questions I won't be able to go into further detail regarding the specifics of how we determine the trending price we use as a reference. I can add that this feature is only added to Auctions for new and occasional sellers (those who sell/have sold less than 25 items a year). This also would not be applied to any auctions in the motors, tickets, cell phones, tablets or real estate categories.

Ultimately, the Best Offer option is simply another option for the buyer and seller and it won't in any way interfere with the Auction Process. The seller still has the choice of accepting or declining the offer and, as mentioned before, once a bid has been placed the Best Offer option is removed and any offers that have not yet been responded to are automatically declined. 

Our goal is to increase traffic to our platform, subsequently leading to more sales for our sellers. The changes we have made to Best Offer have contributed positively to this objective and while I understand it may take some adjustments on the seller's end to review and respond to Best Offers that may come in or set up automatic responses, this feature benefits our Community overall. We encourage sellers to be open to the positive impact this can have on their businesses.

I suggest that anyone wanting to learn more about Best Offer review our Help Page on this topic. If there are any other questions or concerns, you are welcome to contact our Customer Service teams 

[readabouthorses]

@Anonymous

You make me laugh. The two absolute categories that should have Best Offer on all of them is Motors and Real Estate. I don't think I've ever in my life purchased a car (new or used) or bought any of the real estate that I own or have owned without making a Best Offer and haggling over the price.

[jonathankirkland]

Have you considerd that it destroys buyer confidence? They see best offer and they think the seller WANTS best offer and that the seller is the one who put it there, so what's it going to do to buyers who are constantly waiting 2 days to have offers declined that never are, or worse yet, when the seller declines saying "Sorry I didn't put a best offer on my listing, ebay did it for me" ... ?

I have yet to find one person on these boards without the ebay logo next to their name who agrees this feature is a good idea...

[d-k_treasures]

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@kim_y_buran wrote:

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@ted_200 wrote:

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@kim_y_buran wrote:

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@rover39 wrote:

 Additionally it discourages anyone from bidding in the auction format as the price seems to cap expected cost of item.

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I think you misunderstand.   The idea is to make an offer above the starting price.  Basically they are trying to formalize and legitimize the widespread practice of messaging the seller and offering him to buy his auction at certain price.

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I thought that was called a bid.

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No that's more like bid + end an auction and sell to the current highest bidder.   Or BIN price set by buyer.

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No, it's more like ebay again butting into a sellers business.

It's wrong, it's stupid, and it's going to end up destroying auctions on here - something they keep trying to do. Obviously they are scraping the bottom of the idea barrel now.

[d-k_treasures]

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@ted_200 wrote:

You're right, Sherry, but I wonder if Ebay has considered tweaking it to accomodate higher offers.  This would be more advantageous to both seller and Ebay.  Scenarios where the buyer doesn't want to wait and would offer more.  But then again, sellers may not like that because they want an auction to determine the price.  Oh well.

Since the item has been relisted and is still not seeing any activity at the start price - and OP is lowering the start price on the relist - it seems highly unlikely that someone would suddenly show up wanting to pay MORE.  The current program is intended to sell the item at a lower price. 

But I would never underestimate the logic at eBay Towers.  Your suggestion is probably already on the Tuesday conference room aganda...

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What if the seller is turned off for the week that the auction runs? If no one sees the listing, no one can bid on it.

And we all know that happens.

[Anonymous]

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

Have you considerd that it destroys buyer confidence? They see best offer and they think the seller WANTS best offer and that the seller is the one who put it there, so what's it going to do to buyers who are constantly waiting 2 days to have offers declined that never are, or worse yet, when the seller declines saying "Sorry I didn't put a best offer on my listing, ebay did it for me" ... ?

I have yet to find one person on these boards without the ebay logo next to their name who agrees this feature is a good idea...

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Hi @jonathankirkland, do you have an example of a buyer who has let you know that the Best Offer option in one of your auctions created a poor experience for them? We are seeing the opposite, but I'm happy to review a situation you have run into that resulted in a poor experience. Let me know and I will reach out to you privately for the specific details.

[Anonymous]

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@readabouthorses wrote:

@Anonymous

You make me laugh. The two absolute categories that should have Best Offer on all of them is Motors and Real Estate. I don't think I've ever in my life purchased a car (new or used) or bought any of the real estate that I own or have owned without making a Best Offer and haggling over the price.

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Hi @readabouthorses, the seller still has the option of adding this option themselves, we just won't be adding it automatically.

[sandmansales]

What about the best offers you're adding to BIN listings?

Best Offer implies that the seller is willing to take less, thereby immediately rendering the listing in a devalued state and in many cases ruined if BO cannot be removed as is the case from many reports.

ebay's AI metrics don't take into account the millions of unique nuances, characteristics and divergence of each listing. Characteristics such as a signed document vs. non signed. A large scratch vs. a small scratch, a cord with stains on it vs. a clean cord, a rare color vs. a common color. Therefore you cannot accurately forecast or gauge an accurate price and frankly never will which is evidenced by your laughable 'price suggestions.'

You are potentially cheapening the 'real' or realized value of the item by introducing BO into the fold. Relying on a block of code rather than the actual owner of the product. Not only does that hurt the current seller, it hurts other sellers with the same listings priced at or about the current value. Bringing the 'average price' down for everyone.

To put such a unique environment into a one-size-fits-all container, i.e. BO by bot (among the hundreds of other things you've interfered with,) is an extremely careless and negligent policy that does nothing but angers both buyers and sellers alike.

[somestuff_i]

  This has got to me one of the most smug policies by an online merchant I have ever seen.  What gives Ebay the right to override my will and force listing options I do not want on me?  If I as the seller wanted to offer a best offer option on an item, I would put that option in the listing itself in the first place.  If I want to list at an unusually high price relative to some nonsensical algorithm Ebay comes up with, that is also my right and perrogative.  What's next, you all going to start changing prices listed to help increase sales and your commissions?  And while it may be true that I can decline all offers, that is not only unfair to perspective buyers, it makes work for the sellers...work they explicitly did not need to do if you just left the listing as the seller entered it.

This changing of a seller's listing without their consent is absolutely horrendous.  You can spew whatever drivel you like about helping increase your sales at the expense and\or inconvenience of your sellers, but by not giving a seller an absolute right to opt out of this ridiculous, privacy invading policy, you show nothing but utter contempt for us imo.  I would strongly advise chaging your policy and stopping this ridiculous policy of unwanted and undesired listing changes.  Offer up whatever suggestions you like, but changing anything without our approval is just plain wrong.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@ted_200 wrote:

You're right, Sherry, but I wonder if Ebay has considered tweaking it to accomodate higher offers.  This would be more advantageous to both seller and Ebay.  Scenarios where the buyer doesn't want to wait and would offer more.  But then again, sellers may not like that because they want an auction to determine the price.  Oh well.

Since the item has been relisted and is still not seeing any activity at the start price - and OP is lowering the start price on the relist - it seems highly unlikely that someone would suddenly show up wanting to pay MORE.  The current program is intended to sell the item at a lower price. 

But I would never underestimate the logic at eBay Towers.  Your suggestion is probably already on the Tuesday conference room aganda...

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I was sincere in that thought~although the listing had not seen any action thus far~that does not negate the fact that someone could suddenly come along who wants the item but does not want to wait.  In that case, the buyer could offer more, if they cared to.

[partsalot1]

are you saying you agree that ebay shouldnt have done it hence the seller deserves the choice 

or

are you saying stop complaining because you can answer offers easily?

because it kinda looks like your saying both.

 I had an incident where a number of items ended up with a best offer option that I did not intend.  I have no idea if it was eBay is doing or it was my mistake.  it was not an easy thing for me to deal with.  I had a couple people send me mean messages  because I wasn't excepting their offer and when I went to try and turn off the best offer I could not do it even after i declined the offer.    I had to end the listings  it remake them .    

 it's just one more thing were eBay is trying to create a one-size-fits-all environment and not care what the actual seller wants to do. They said never put in a buy it now option without the sellers approval .