Bottom Feeders

[homegoods2u]

Anyone else noticing an EXTREME number of bottom feeders (those who send RIDICULOUSLY low offers) recently?  

Example: I currently have some Brand New in the Box items for sale for $249.00.  The lowest current price for these items anywhere on the Internet, whether it be Retail or Wholesale is $719.89!  Yet, I get offers for less than $100.00!

Yes, I know I can set minimum prices with BIN but I’m always curious what responses I get and it allows me immediately block the buffoons!

I’m just trying to determine what to attribute this ‘bottom feeding” phenomenon to. I don’t think it’s the economy.  The reason I say that is because when I’m out and about whenever I hear someone complain about the economy I watch them get into their $65,000 F250’s (or Dodge Monstertrucks, etc)  and guzzle gas all the way to their $500,000+ suburban lairs where they undoubtedly have 2-3 other vehicles (read BMWs, Audis, Teslas, etc) parked in the driveway!

WTH? My wife and I earn a grand total $40-$45,000 a year (dependent on eBay proceeds), yet we own 2 vehicles outright (both Hybrids which average 40-45mpg) and we have a mortgage which we been paying on for 27 years. In 8 years we will have paid it off entirely.  We are able to vacation 2 (and sometimes 3x) a year, we dine out 1-3 times a week and we have both been able to put together decent retirement accounts.  We live modestly otherwise with very few “extravagant” purchases and the last thing either of us would do is offer less than $100 for an item that has already been discounted by 65%! 

So other than the fact that most Americans are Self-Centered, Greedy and feel Entitled I’m just wondering if there are any other obvious clues regarding this descent into oblivion?

Your thoughts would be appreciated!

[yuzuha]

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@pickapaper wrote:

I think we are all bottom feeders, in a way,  Just try going to an estate sale on the last day when things are half price or 75% off!  Let the grabbing begin!

I remember several years ago, the media blitzed us with newspaper and magazine articles and television shows about "don't pay retail price for anything".

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Exactly. I rarely ever pay full price for anything-- if there is something I want, unless I really need it right away I'll just wait for a sale or a coupon. I just got a brand new gaming computer because Best Buy had a sale and I had been looking at it for a while... the sale was what tipped me over into finally deciding to buy.

[gurlcat]

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@pickapaper wrote:

I think we are all bottom feeders, in a way,  Just try going to an estate sale on the last day when things are half price or 75% off!  Let the grabbing begin!

I remember several years ago, the media blitzed us with newspaper and magazine articles and television shows about "don't pay retail price for anything".  They suggested even if you go to a retail store that isn't having a sale, to ask for a discount anyway.  "It doesn't hurt to ask."   They also said to haggle prices whenever and wherever possible, and offered more "helpful hints" about getting a better price on anything.   (Remember when it used to be part of the game to haggle prices when buying a vehicle?  I'm glad most dealerships don't do that anymore.)

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Well a 75% off clearance sale is different because it's the SELLER lowballing themselves, just to get rid of items they don't want to deal with anymore.  -But I like that you flipped the script on "bottom feeder".  It was part of the overall nasty tone in the original post that I didn't appreciate.  But yeah why not take the derogatory sting out of it and embrace it instead -we're ALL bottom feeders!!  

Now, that "don't pay retail for anything" concept make my nose wrinkle uncontrollably.  The idea of trying to get some low-wage Assistant Shift Manager or whatever to (I guess) override the computer's PLU price for an item somehow ...... EW. 

That is barely a step above returning an item used once for a task or event rather than paying to rent it, and maybe two steps above a slip-n-fall, LOL.  TRASHY.    Feeding in a tunnel UNDER the bottom.  🤣

[gurlcat]

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@farmalljr wrote:

I do NOT buy ANYTHING here without haggling. Sellers are free to store all that junk on the shelf if they want. 

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I think I asked you this once before but you didn't reply.  -So if you see an item you want and the seller is already offering it for a lower price than anyone/anywhere else, in fact you consider it the item WORTH their asking price (to you) ...... but they don't have 'Make Offer' enabled on the listing ..... you just don't buy it?  

[farmalljr]

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@gurlcat wrote:

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@farmalljr wrote:

I do NOT buy ANYTHING here without haggling. Sellers are free to store all that junk on the shelf if they want. 

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I think I asked you this once before but you didn't reply.  -So if you see an item you want and the seller is already offering it for a lower price than anyone/anywhere else, in fact you consider it the item WORTH their asking price (to you) ...... but they don't have 'Make Offer' enabled on the listing ..... you just don't buy it?  

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I think I asked you this once before but you didn't reply.  -So if you see an item you want and the seller is already offering it for a lower price than anyone/anywhere else, in fact you consider it the item WORTH their asking price (to you) ...... but they don't have 'Make Offer' enabled on the listing ..... you just don't buy it?  

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correct

Rarely am I going to see something here I want to buy "fly off the shelf". It's so rare to actually find something here at such s screaming deal, that I need to hit the BIN immediately. It's not about feeling like I got one over on the seller. It's about getting the best deal. And I'm willing to wait until I do. Delayed gratification, its not just a concept of building your wealth/business.

I have a full collection of F.O. Baird leathercraft books. I bought them for a FRACTION of what most list them at. I've even bought some on another platform and resold it here, at a screaming deal. I took an offer on it. The other sellers who have them listed, have had them listed for a LONG time, unsold.   

As much as any seller here may think an item they have listed is the "best deal", someone else will give a buyer a better one. 

Sellers that turn down ready cash, tend to struggle with sales. I'm not saying sellers should give away their inventory, but these stupid high margins they tend to expect has now become UNsustainable. It's a BUYER'S market and will be for some time to come. Sellers are free to stand firm on their price mountain, just like buyers are free to leave them in the dust. People who are serious about reselling, know they HAVE to turn inventory over. Buyers know with patience, they can get a deal that makes them put down the money. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

“I’m just trying to determine what to attribute this ‘bottom feeding” phenomenon to. I don’t think it’s the economy…

So other than the fact that most Americans are Self-Centered, Greedy and feel Entitled I’m just wondering if there are any other obvious clues regarding this descent into oblivion?”

 A waning respect for one’s buying population could have poisoned the well.

[chapeau-noir]

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@gurlcat wrote:

If you could have dinner with Jonathan Swift, Maya Angelou or Mark Twain, who would you pick?  

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Probably Maya Angelou because her books are so wise. Jonathan Swift was nuts and Mark Twain smoked*.

*cheap stogies. 🤢

[gurlcat]

I appreciate your honesty and I can actually identify with what you're saying more than you might think, because I don't even buy "wants" very often, in fact I don't know what I would want if I had a bunch of mad money.  I grew up poor and have lived on the edge most of my life, so even if I suddenly became filthy rich I would still look for deals, just out of habit.  

But where I think your reasoning goes a bit off is how you apply your own outlook to the whole of eBay buyers. Really there are all sorts of people shopping here, for all sorts of reasons, with all sorts of outlooks.  There are still people who impulse-spend stupid crazy amounts of money on things they don't have the remotest need for, and it is still possible to sometimes find those things for $1 like you say at a garage sale, and then sell them here.  -What I like to do is buy them here and sell them here, because it's too dang hot out for garage sales.  

I'll show you my most extreme example.  -I bet some eyes will roll as some people scroll past this because I've shown it many times before.  This was in a big lot of vintage items that I won in an auction here, $311, but some of the other items sold for more than that, so I don't know what you'd call my investment amount on this piece.  Anyway it sold 50 minutes after I listed it, late at night, with 'Make Offer' enabled, but the buyer didn't mess with that and just paid the full price, for this little hunk of pot metal and glass.  



And note that when I say it's my most extreme example, what I mean is I mostly make my living from lots of 'lesser' examples, but which still have margins you would probably call unrealistic.  I certainly don't mess with anything that won't sell for at least double what I paid.   And I DON'T like things sitting on a shelf for too long, in fact I start to get really sick of seeing a listing in my Actives once it reaches the 3-month-or-so mark.  So I do markdowns and consider lower offers.  But what's really annoying is receiving lowballs for something I just listed, so I often don't even enable offers at first, and when I do I definitely apply auto-reject amounts, so I don't even have to see those.  

 

[gurlcat]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@gurlcat wrote:

If you could have dinner with Jonathan Swift, Maya Angelou or Mark Twain, who would you pick?  

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Probably Maya Angelou because her books are so wise. Jonathan Swift was nuts and Mark Twain smoked*.

*cheap stogies. 🤢

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Good points.  I think I'd pick her too, because although I don't think she'd suffer fools, she could fake being comfortable with a ball of nerves like me, maybe even genuinely relax me by dessert time.  Now, whose brain I'd really like to pick is Margaret Attwood, but I think she might actually be mean to me, so that's a big nope.  🤣

[reallynicestamps]

It usually starts with the redundant question:

"Is this available"?

Umm- That's the standard boilerplate question FBMP supplies. Nothing to do with the customer, who may not realize how annoying it gets after that tenth iteration.

I have found over the years that if you are patient, someone who is not living paycheck-to-paycheck will come along in time and relieve you of your merchandise at the price you are asking.

Yes. That is the customer we all want.

I do use Best Offer but like Post #12, I use automatic parameters that let eBay politely reject the lowballer -- and encourage them to try again.

[chapeau-noir]

I sense that she would be cool with an honest bundle of nerves. It's disingenuousness that she didn't like. Authenticity, not a problem.  The best thinkers understand this - even crazy old Jonathan Swift (OMG, the outrage his satires would cause now - but the 18th century had a bludgeoning sense of humour - I doubt their political cartoons would pass censorship now, particularly with the current lamestream corporate 'bothesides' media, though the more radical underground press would publish them).

[chapeau-noir]

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@gurlcat wrote:

This was in a big lot of vintage items that I won in an auction here, $311, but some of the other items sold for more than that, so I don't know what you'd call my investment amount on this piece.  Anyway it sold 50 minutes after I listed it, late at night, with 'Make Offer' enabled, but the buyer didn't mess with that and just paid the full price, for this little hunk of pot metal and glass.  


 

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Dayum, girl! 😯

[farmalljr]

Let me fill you in a bit. I grew up dirt poor. It wasn't until my 30's that I started to change my mindset and my goals. I own a successful business today, that I built from nothing. I know all about the growing up poor mindset. I know all about doing things yourself, rather than paying someone to do it, that you can't afford. I know all about being frugal. 

That said, there are MANY things listed here that just are not worth the asking price of the seller. So much stuff gets listed as "rare" that has at least another dozen listings right above and below it. Trifari isn't really a fair comparison. It has intrinsic collector value, much like coins. True, it's pot metal and glass, but people pay up for it because of the current intrinsic value. But the piece you show is likely a really hard to find piece. Most things listed here are not like the Trifari piece you sold. That was a true needle in a haystack piece. 

I agree that some people still impulse buy, that's just the nature of people. There were people in the Great Depression that did the same, but they were few and far between. It's reaching that point today as well. People are strapped for money and most people are living on credit today. Few people have anything in savings and we are now passing laws to allow people to access a grand from their 401k's. People who have cash, are going to get the deals because the sellers who stand firm on their price mountains are going to have to sell if they want any money at all. The people that have money to spare, will always have money to spare. They are much better at managing money then those who don't have money. 

Where there is a disconnect, is too many sellers think that something bought for a buck, should at least make them $100 more dollars. In good times, maybe that's possible. We are not in good times. I see every single day, loads of sellers who do not price check solds, do not price check current listings, sellers that think because THEY listed something that in itself makes it worth more money. It's nuts. And then to see sellers run here and cry, bemoan and cuss eBay because their sales "suck" taking zero responsibility. I mean, check the OP post of this thread. Thread after thread just like this one. Hating on buyers, hating on eBay, it's insane. So many confrontational sellers here. So many sellers self entitled. There is far too much stuff that is common, being listed as "rare" or the seller thinking the item is somehow REALLY valuable. Most everything is just "stuff", and there are houses and storage units EVERYWHERE loaded to the gills with all that garbage. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

Not familiar with the term 'bottom feeders'. Must be a new social media term. 

I simply call it low-ball offers. When I get those, they just go to my block list. 

[gurlcat]

Again I don't think there's no truth to what you're saying, but I would just put forward the possibility that you're extrapolating metadata from micro.  We can't know what "too many sellers think" based on these forum posts.  The Community is automatically a skewed source of info.  -People come here when they have a problem, usually something involving a single transaction or maybe a platform issue, but when it's about their overall sales, of course it's always of the 'problematic' sort.  Why would anyone come and write a post about how their sales have stayed steady for 10 years, or that it has grown by leaps and bounds?  For the record mine has, but it feels icky just writing that because if feels like bragging. 

I don't even know where I'm going with this.  I asked if you never buy items you can't make offers on, you answered, and I have no intention of trying to change your mind about it because it's none of my business and it sounds like you have sound reasoning behind your buying strategy.  

[gurlcat]

"Bottom feeders" definitely is not a new or eBay-centric term.  It's been around a long time and is derogatory in nature.  Put it this way -the literal meaning pertains to fish that eat only what's on the bottom of the pond, river, sea, aquarium, etc., in other words whatever sinks to the bottom from the "higher" fish.  So as a metaphor it can be used all sorts of ways I guess, but it's never a nice thing to call someone.  I don't even think it really fits lowball offer-makers very well, but for whatever reason it's what the OP chose to call them.  I don't like lowball offers either, but rather than whine I just use the handy auto-reject feature so I don't have to see those offers.