Ebay threatening insertion fees for turning off "allow offers" feature

[timjazzguy]

Ebay is a great platform for buying and selling.  I've been a member since 2011.  I've had success using 7-day auctions.  I choose not to "allow offers", but people make offers anyway, which is fine.  Turning on the "allow offers" feature (actually, not turning it off) implies that I am willing to take less than the starting bid for the auction.  Most times, that is not the case.  I don't want to mislead people into thinking that I might sell the auction item at a lower price than the starting bid.  That wastes their time and mine.  But recently, when setting up an auction item, ebay started giving me the warning "Allow buyers to make offers or a fee may apply."  This irritates me.  I wish ebay would allow me to choose the features I want when selling an item at auction.  I have been successful in the past, and Ebay has made a fair amount profit from commission on my sales.  Why mess up a good thing?

[futuretomorrow]

This has been answered extensively over the last few days if you do a search. It's almost always the seller is using the quick listing tool.

I just tried to relist a pair of shoes as a test (I don't sell here anymore) with the advanced listing tool, which is what I always use and there was no message anywhere about paying fees or otherwise or it indicating I needed to allow best offers. 

[martin-mcfly]

I got the threat also - this really burns me.

[couldabeenworse]

The last explanation I've seen - which actually makes sense - is that everybody sees the warning, but it only applies to listings made under a Free Listing promotion that requires Best Offer.  Hence, the phrase "may apply".

Anywhere else, one would expect that programmers would only show that warning in situations where it will apply, but this is eBay.

[shamrock_trades]

I know! I've come up with a trick to bypass this though. If I want to sell something for $24.95, (and need to put the make an offer choice) I'll make Ebay decline anthing lower than the buy it now price of $24.95. This works, but sellers shouldn't have to do this. I don't see why this benefits this site. Please change it back to normal Ebay!

God bless. 🙂