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!

[chapeau-noir]

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

Don't forget the pre-requisite sob story.  I got one recently that checked all the boxes and then some:  older, cancer, lots of kids/grandkids, and...Amish.  I kid you not. 

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Amish - that's a nice touch.

[reallynicestamps]

There is no reason ever to see "lowball" Offers.

When we opt for Best Offer we can also set   Reject /Accept parameters.

If you would like $100 and would reject an $80 offer but would accept a $90 offer, you can set those as your parameters.

The lowball Offer gets a polite letter from eBay automatically telling the customer to try again.

The seller never sees those.

Unless the customer does try again.

When there is a successful Offer the unsuccessful ones are listed below it.

I often see two or three unsuccessful low offers  made earlier than the successful Offer.

If there is a difference between Reject/Accept, the seller does see the not quite Acceptable offers, and can still counter offer or Accept.

There is no reason ever to see annoying lowball offers.

[gurlcat]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

There is no reason ever to see "lowball" Offers.

When we opt for Best Offer we can also set   Reject /Accept parameters.

If you would like $100 and would reject an $80 offer but would accept a $90 offer, you can set those as your parameters.

The lowball Offer gets a polite letter from eBay automatically telling the customer to try again.

The seller never sees those.

Unless the customer does try again.

When there is a successful Offer the unsuccessful ones are listed below it.

I often see two or three unsuccessful low offers  made earlier than the successful Offer.

If there is a difference between Reject/Accept, the seller does see the not quite Acceptable offers, and can still counter offer or Accept.

There is no reason ever to see annoying lowball offers.

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Except when buyers ignore the lack of the 'Make Offer' button and write a message to make a lowball offer, ha. 

Otherwise I agree.  And I set my reject/accept to the same amount.  I figure if an offer is worth considering it's worth taking, and I'd rather the buyer know right away that it was accepted (and hopefully pay right away) rather than have to wait for me to accept it.  I like the simplicity of it, where it's just another Sold, without me having to do any more tending.  

[chariot_badges]

So, does everyone see the news this morning?
See what's going on with the stock market?   The stock markets of the world?

Think that's going to affect Target's bottom line?  WalMart?

You?

It's not Target's fault, or eBays.

It's ours.

[gurlcat]

Could you be more specific?  "The news" and "the stock market" is a bit broad.  

[silvervintagephoto]

I don't even offer Best Offers, and I've been getting a bunch of them, nearly all from customers in Armenia/Georgia/other former Soviet States via INEX Group (a freight forwarder). Offers of like 10% of the BIN price.

If you see the buyer has an address in Wilmington, DE, that's the tip-off.

I always cancel orders when I see a known freight forwarder address. Some people here claim that dealing with them is fine, but I have had nothing but headache after headache, with INRs, false damage claims, etc. when sending through freight forwarders, and I simply don't have the time to spend hours maneuvering through eBay CS each time to finally get someone to acknowledge that freight forwarded packages don't qualify for the money-back guarantee rather than simply settling in favor of the buyer over and over.

[silvervintagephoto]

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@theteamsetguy wrote:

@homegoods2u ,

Instead of allowing offers on your items why don’t you change your to Buy it now at the absolute lowest price will accept? 

Problem solved No more low ball offers! I’ll bet you will sell a lot more items while you are at it.

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I've never had Best offers on my items, yet I get several offers every week via the regular messaging system, and they are typically insultingly low.

eBay actually explicitly encourages this kind of behavior in the communications they send out to buyers. Just more evidence that all eBay cares about is their sell-through rate and couldn't care less about the health of their sellers' (their REAL customers) bottom line.

[gurlcat]

So when you're cancelling all these orders, what reason do you select from the menu?? 

[silvervintagephoto]

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@gurlcat wrote:

So when you're cancelling all these orders, what reason do you select from the menu?? 

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"Problem with buyer's shipping address." This is both true and does not automatically leave a defect for you unless the purchaser challenges it, and you lose.

I make it clear that I ONLY ship internationally through EIS, and I've only ever once had a freight forwarder complain/leave bad feedback when I've canceled for that reason. I spoke to an (American) eBay CS rep, and they assured me I was in the right and removed the negative feedback/defect.  In cases where Freight Forwarders have slipped through and then opened INR/INAD cases, when I've been able to reach American CS, they have always closed the case in my favor when I've been able to show them that the address was associated with a freight forwarder.

The Philippines-based reps don't have clue one and will tell you "too bad." I've had most success getting to American reps who know what they are talking about when asking to speak to the fraud department.

[chariot_badges]

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@gurlcat wrote:

Could you be more specific?  "The news" and "the stock market" is a bit broad.  

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No.  Broad is good.

You NEED to watch and understand the news.

I'm not going to teach you.

Economic and political issues affect your life and your business.

Educate yourself.

YOU need to read and understand it for yourself.

I can't do it for you.

[gurlcat]

Ohhhhh-kay then!  If your "point" (whatever it was) only makes sense to you, and you don't care to elaborate, not sure why you posted it in the first place.  But, cool I guess.  

[reelworks]

Its pretty simple, if I do a search from my personal phone or my home computer on my account and I type in the very title of the item that's listed at work, more often then not it don't show up in the search.

Its happens all the time. I get a ton of similar items then a long list of unrelated chinese junk which has nothing to do with what i searched for, and after looking through 200+ items it finds none are the one i was looking for.
More often than not the only way to see ads I put up at work is to email myself a link to those items because search doesn't find them. 

If I open one on my home computer, and save it in my watch list it does trigger a watcher and a look on the work acct..Today makes 5 weeks without a watcher or look on the work accounts.

I even added a few items the other day at super low prices to see if anyone jumped on them but they got no looks at all. If no one is seeing the ads when they search they aren't going tosell.
If I were the buyer, I'd have just given up after the first page of useless search results.

This has never been a fantastic season for buyers, back to school time always seems to tighten up peoples wallets but the types of items we list should be mostly unaffected.

Last year was odd too, but it was the holidays that were dead, with zero looks or watchers from Nov. 29 to Jan. 19 for some reason.

]

[evry1nositswindy]

Just had someone this week offer less than half price on an item.  I do not have best offer on any of my items, but it was yet another unsolicited offer through messages.  I simply said no, I cannot accept half price.   I looked at solds and priced my item well.  I price all of my items to sell, so offers are not activated for a reason.  I don't inflate my prices and then add best offer.

[baydealz]

I always immediately look at their profile or listing to see if they are sellers of such an item.  Some may still accept (as I have) just to clear inventory and let someone else deal with holding - just like wholeselling, OEM selling or bulk busting (back in the day).  The OTHER risk though (and I've seen this) is where a trader of the same item might be looking to swap out his less favorable conditioned item as yours, so document and photograph like CRAZY (adding to the inefficiency in ebay selling).  Red flag for this is where they ask for a random specific condition ("is there a mark on the upper right?"...then when they complain to swap with theirs, they say, "there is a mark in the upper right and I even asked you!"), but even most of these fools aren't that foolish, but I've seen it.  Add that they can them claim INAD, keep your item for free and get their money back - so you send them a label to get the item back, but it's their item - make sure you can prove everything.  Some real filth got into ebay. 

[baydealz]

dh, I like your attitude.  It happens in real life too where I hear people say things like 'the gall of them to want me to lower the price, pay for something," etc.  - it cracks me up.  These are people who don't know how to say no.   Sure it's frustrating but not personal,  I always say 'I don't fault people for trying'...but I'm good at saying no, very good.  I like negotiating also, but I always know value and real prices in advance.