Ebay now forcing 5% minimums when sending offers for listings over $1000

[iwasl_55]

According to ebay,

"The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing: at least 5% lower for items under $200. at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000."

but now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is. 

[bonanza125]

It's been like that for awhile now. It's how Ebay not only makes money but also helps reduce a nonsense special offer. Nobody is going to buy at special offer of 1%-2% off. At that deduction buyers would just pay the full price. 

[slippinjimmy]

I'd be insulted if a seller sent me an offer that was less than 5%, in fact anything less than 15% I would not even look at.

[wastingtime101]

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@iwasl_55 wrote:

According to ebay,

"The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing: at least 5% lower for items under $200. at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000."

but now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is. 

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Hmm - either that's a new change or there's an issue somewhere. Your quoted text should be accurate.

What's the current price of the item you're trying to discount through an offer? Is that item currently on sale? Sometimes markdown sales can affect offer amounts.

[sin-n-dex]

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@iwasl_55 wrote:

According to ebay,

"The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing: at least 5% lower for items under $200. at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000."

but now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is. 

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It's always been that way. I've been sending offers since it became a thing for everyone to do, and they always require 5% off the best price.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@iwasl_55 wrote:

According to ebay,

"The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing: at least 5% lower for items under $200. at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000."

but now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is. 

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Hmm - either that's a new change or there's an issue somewhere. Your quoted text should be accurate.

What's the current price of the item you're trying to discount through an offer? Is that item currently on sale? Sometimes markdown sales can affect offer amounts.

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It's not new. I haven't sent an offer for a few months now, and when I do, it tells me that the price must be x.xx or lower, which amounts to making sure it's 5% at least. When I have an item for 19.99 and try to do an offer for $19, it doesn't let me, tells me must be 18.99 or lower.

This is not a new policy, it's always been that way.

C.

[wastingtime101]

It's tiered based on item value - that's not new. The quoted text has been in effect for as long as I can remember.

The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing:

at least 5% lower for items under $200
at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000
at least 2% lower for items over $1,000

Edit to add a discussion from 2022:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/5-minimum-for-sending-an-offer-to-a-buyer-is-a-rip-off/m-p/328...

And here's a link to the Seller Center page with a screenshot:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/growth/seller-hub-discounts/offers-to-buyers-best-offer

[sin-n-dex]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

It's tiered based on item value - that's not new. The quoted text has been in effect for as long as I can remember.

The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing:

at least 5% lower for items under $200
at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000
at least 2% lower for items over $1,000

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The OP made it sound as though 5% was a new thing and we didn't have to offer at least 5% before. I wouldn't know about the tiers since I only have a few items above $200. Generally if I have an item for $200, I'm going to offer a substantial discount to sell it, so I wouldn't have found out that I could offer less than %5 off. For $200, it's usually a 15-25% discount.

C.

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

The OP made it sound as though 5% was a new thing and we didn't have to offer at least 5% before.

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That's now how I read their comment:

>>now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is. 

To me, the "no matter what the price is" combined with their quote of the tiers tells me they are now being forced to offer a 5% min on items over $200 - which is not how the system is supposed to work unless there's a new change or another factor.

This is why I asked about the OP's pricing and whether or not they had any markdown sales running. Hopefully we can help them figure out what's going on here.

[simba6]

Offers much under 30% are just a waste of time anyway.

[asset_liquidators]

I wouldn't even bother sending an offer if it wasn't at least 5% off no matter what the items price. Even if it was a $2000 item I am not wasting my time or anyone elses by sending less than 5%.

[stainlessenginecovers]

If a $100 is not $80; I don't care and am annoyed

If a $40 item is not $35, I don't care- and am annoyed

If a $3 item sends me an offer- I would just giggle and delete. 

[doodledog8]

I think that this new way of eBay regulating offers is a great way of dealing with crappy  Chinese sellers. My hubby  buys many  things from all over the world, unfortunately some of it  HAS to come from China, they always say "Make Offer' on their listings and then they reject the offers until they are 1%, it's a complete joke. 

So what you have to do, If you want to send offers, just  factor in what kind of discount is your maximum and set your prices accordingly. I have certain items that I will just NOT go ANY lower on. SO NO ONE gets a discount. I usually figure when I set a price on an item that I will be happy to give a 10% discount,  if I sit on it for some time, then maybe to spark sales, I'll offer 15- 20%, it rather depends on what it is.

I know that it is hard to ignore the constant prompts from eBay to make these offers, but that's exactly what I do, especially if it is for a high end item.  Also, just because you send out an offer doesn't mean somebody is going to snatch it up at the new discounted price but that is a story for another time.

[yuzuha]

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@asset_liquidators wrote:

I wouldn't even bother sending an offer if it wasn't at least 5% off no matter what the items price. Even if it was a $2000 item I am not wasting my time or anyone elses by sending less than 5%.

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Agreed. If I'm sending an offer, it's because I want to move that item on out and get rid of it. I don't send less than 15-20%.

[sin-n-dex]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

The OP made it sound as though 5% was a new thing and we didn't have to offer at least 5% before.

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That's now how I read their comment:

>>now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is. 

To me, the "no matter what the price is" combined with their quote of the tiers tells me they are now being forced to offer a 5% min on items over $200 - which is not how the system is supposed to work unless there's a new change or another factor.

This is why I asked about the OP's pricing and whether or not they had any markdown sales running. Hopefully we can help them figure out what's going on here.

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OK, I misread. I'm a little bit tired tonight.

C.