Chinese Zero Feedback Buyers Constantly Sending Ridiculously Low Offers....

[dcmerc2012]

Anyone else have to deal with this constantly? I'll get offers on three or four listings within minutes, all from the same buyer. They are always in China, have zero feedback and they always send a message asking if I can combine shipping costs. Their user names is usually gibberish or just random numbers. Their offers are generally about 1/4 of what my asking price is and when I tell them that I will not take offers from zero feedback buyers from China they just send the same messages over and over again asking me to combine shipping. 

It is so frustrating and just feels like a scam. I really wish eBay would let sellers block buyers with zero feedback. 

[ebooksdiva]

The way I deal with offers is I don't accept them. 

[dcmerc2012]

Well, that's great for you. I do accept offers because it increases sales by a considerable percentage. I see that you sell ONE type of item, but when you sell all kinds of different things accepting offers, especially on items that have no set in stone value, is wise. 

[pjcdn2005]

With best offer you could set a minimum amount so that offers below that amount would be automatically. Then you don’t have to look at them. Of course that won’t help if they are sending the offers through messages.

[reallynicestamps]

If you have opted into Best Offer, take a look at your Selling Form.

You can set parameters to automatically Reject or Accept any offer.

So if you have an item at Fixed Price with $100 asking, but you could let it go for $80, you would set your automatic Rejection for $79.99.

The customer who offer $25 gets a polite "no but try again" message from eBay.
You never see it.

The serious customer can try again.

If they offer $80, you get a message asking if you want to accept that.

If it has been listed too long, you can decide to accept. If you put it up yesterday, you may decide to go for the bird in the bush and wait for a better price.

And if you have an item at Fixed Price with $100 asking, but you would be happy to get $90 , you can set an automatic Accept at $90, and all you will see is the Notification of Sale*.

The Accept/Reject can be set a penny apart.

No stress.

*Often I find the automatic Acceptance is higher than my parameter for acceptance. (eg I would accept $90 on a $100 item but the Offer was $95.)

[reallynicestamps]

BTW - Did you know that you can Block countries you  don't want to ship to?  I have four countries Blocked because they have terrible postal systems.

[dcmerc2012]

Let me guess.... China, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Hungary. Those are the ones that constantly give me headaches on both eBay and Etsy items. 

[reallynicestamps]

No. India and Israel have terrible postal systems, expensive tracking is absolutely necessary. Russian and Saudi Arabia I Block on political grounds.

As a Canadian I don't have access to eIS, but I've never had a problem with any of the former Soviet Bloc countries.

I once had  a Spanish customer who forgot to put his city into his address, but that was resolved eventually to our mutual satisfaction.

[dbfolks166mt]

No. India and Israel have terrible postal systems, expensive tracking is absolutely necessary. Russian and Saudi Arabia I Block on political grounds.

As a Canadian I don't have access to eIS, but I've never had a problem with any of the former Soviet Bloc countries.

I once had  a Spanish customer who forgot to put his city into his address, but that was resolved eventually to our mutual satisfaction.

     A lot of sellers think they are blocking Russian buyers and eBay thinks they are complying with the sanctions but creative Chinese businesses have put methods in place to get around those blocks and the sanctions. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I have not used OBO in a LONG time for multiple reasons. Even without using OBO I get unsolicited offers on occasion which I simply ignore. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Well, that's great for you. I do accept offers because it increases sales by a considerable percentage. I see that you sell ONE type of item, but when you sell all kinds of different things accepting offers, especially on items that have no set in stone value, is wise. 

     If there is no average or set market value put the item on an auction, set your starting bid price at the minimum you are willing to accept, put a BIN price on it and don't use the Best offer option. You have several items listed that I would have used the auction format for. 

     Also while it is minimal you should be aware that free shipping potentially cost you more in fees as well as costing the buyer more in sales tax. I tend to avoid items with free shipping for that very reason.

[stuff4divas]

@dcmerc2012   just ignore them, delete the message and put them on your block list

[modyroad]

I have lived in Hong Kong and I can assure you that this is perfectly normal market behavior for Chinese buyers. When you are in one of the markets there, your opening offer should be no more than 25% of the asking price, else  you are leaving money on the table.  Trust me, they are not trying to insult you, just testing your bottom line. If you really want to sell the item, counter with a price that is a touch about your walk-away price. You can always flat out decline their counter-offer if it is not acceptable.