Offers. Yay or nay?

[setyourclockback]

What is up with all the offers flying around on eBay?  Literally I can put 10 things on my watchlist and I’m going to get offers for eight of them , from seemingly desperate sellers.  Is this the new norm now,  the new selling strategy on here?  I’ve also noticed to sell several of my higher-end things,. I’ve had to offer something off, so I’ve priced things accordingly. Now I’m not new to the realm of antique selling. I’ve been doing it since I was 14 and haggling is always part of the deal. If a dealer won’t haggle I usually walk away but on this platform I’m just not used to that I guess I better get used to it.    So thoughts?  Yay or nay?  

[lonebuck-books]

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@setyourclockback wrote:

And yes, I’m replying to my own post simply because there’s no way to go back and edit  

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You can edit your posts by clicking the down arrow at the top right corner of your original post.  There is a time limit but it is well within the couple of minutes between first and second posts.    

As for offers, I like them.  If you put an item in your cart or wish list, more often than not you will get a seller offer for less than the listed price.  If you can wait to buy, it is always worth putting the item in your cart or wish list and wait a day or two.   I will say that I wish they would change the wording in the header of the emails you get.  The look way to similar to the email you get as a seller when someone makes an offer.  

[strugglinlikeyou]

I do not send offers to watchers because I do not want to be interrupted in my daily life haggling over price. I also switch off the make offer feature. 

I list items at what I feel is a reasonable price and let it ride. If the item is not getting much attention I lower the price. If this doesn't make the sale I take the item to my local auction house and pick up my cash two weeks later. I need to keep my hand in the game at the auction house; auctions run biweekly and if I do not participate on a regular basis I am put on a waiting list which could keep me out of the local auction for 2 months or more.  I also sell at two local consignment shops and I need to drop stuff off now and then to keep the relationships healthy. 

So, I have more than one selling venue and this keeps me busy enough without having to deal with offers. 

[luckythewinner]

What is up with all the offers flying around on eBay?

Sellers are able to make unsolicited offers to buyers, and many are taking advantage of that. I do it about once a month; others seem to do it daily.

I’m going to get offers for eight of them , from seemingly desperate sellers

If they are desperate, then use that information - and your anonymity - to your advantage. Instead of countering, make them a new offer that doubles the discount they offered and see what happens. They won't know it was the person they made an offer to.

Is this the new norm now,  the new selling strategy on here?

Some do it, some don't. There are 20 million sellers here, and you cannot generalize. I do not get nearly as many offers as you seem to.

I’ve also noticed to sell several of my higher-end things,. I’ve had to offer something off, so I’ve priced things accordingly

It sounds like you just answered your own question about "What's up with all the offers?" 🙂

 If a dealer won’t haggle I usually walk away but on this platform I’m just not used to that

You may be not used to it, but offers has been a staple on eBay for years and years.

So thoughts? Yay or nay?

As a buyer, IMHO it would be foolish to not make an offer to any seller who has practically hung out a sign saying his prices are too high and are thus negotiable. (You know, like you just admitted about your prices.)

And as a seller, IMHO it would be foolish not to accept an offer that you would accept at an in-person sale.

[farmalljr]

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@gurlcat wrote:

Just because you want to haggle every time doesn't mean all or even most buyers do.  If that were the case then I wouldn't have about half my items sell for my full BIN price.  -Don't take my word for it, check out my Solds.  I sell almost all pre-owned items too.  

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I'm not saying ALL buyers will haggle. But even you admit, many do. If you do not offer "deals" in the fashion of sales, mark downs, and offers, then you seriously cut yourself from consideration by many buyers. Any seller is free to price their inventory however they want. But if you are not ready to bargain, you have to realize that many people will not just pay an asking price. Not only do you have to compete here on eBay, you are competing against every seller on the internet. 

Looking at some of your listings, you also have make offers active. So, it's a bit of a moot point to say that many just buy at the listed price, when you already know that offers are key to making more sales. 

[chariot_badges]

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That may be, unfortunately the paid promotions that started last year has had sellers increasing the price of items to compensate for the cost and that has made it to where today Ebay is not the cheapest anymore. So it could also be that buyers simply want things to return to where they were, most buyers on ebay are not newcomers but seasoned veterans who like things to retain a status quo and so they're pushing to get back to that, my oil pinion.

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My pricing strategy is rooted in a thorough analysis of past sales and current market offerings. I strive to position my asking price at the midpoint of the value curve, seldom going below a 20% discount. This ensures a fair valuation of the item while considering market dynamics.

In drawing parallels to everyday expenses, buyers on platforms like eBay are no strangers to managing their budgets responsibly. They've purchased groceries, paid utility bills, and covered housing and transportation costs, giving them a keen awareness of prevailing prices.  They face the same price vs value push/pull forces that I do. 

Just like major corporations such as Chevron, Safeway, and PG&E, I, too, cannot absorb rising costs. It's a reality that these expenses are passed on to the ultimate buyer. In essence, if the market doesn't meet my required margins for my offerings, they risk becoming disposed of as trash which is where items of no value belong.

While some sellers here may opt to sell at a loss, I am committed to maintaining a sustainable business model. I believe that, in the long run, this strategy positions me to weather market fluctuations and emerge as a resilient player. Success, in my view, isn't always about winning; sometimes, it's about avoiding losses ... and lasting.  

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[tobaccocardyahoo]

If those buyers restricted their offers to listings with Make An Offer, I would agree with you.

But more and more buyers are sending offers on listings which do not have Make An Offer. And wasting seller time. Make an Offer is a lazy or ignorant seller's tool which distorts pricing, sows distrust of sellers and wastes seller's time.

As used by many sellers, it attempts to try to stimulate sales of price inelastic items and degrades the value of them and similar items without making sales and profit.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

They're really not doing much to discourage the "flea market' image they say they hate so much are they?

[farmalljr]

Your prices does NOT determine the value of an item. That's an uninformed and uneducated thing to say. The buyer who pays, determines what the price of something is. You can pick a random rock out of your driveway and list it for $300, but unless it sells for that price, a willing buyer coming along to buy it, it does not matter how much "research" you do to determine the price. Any random given thing is only worth what a buyer will pay. 

Past sales here are not necessarily a gauge of value either. Today a given item that's actually rare may sell for $200, but will never again sell for that price because no future buyer will be willing to pay that much. The one buyer willing to value the item for $200, has the item. No other buyers see it as that valuable. Many things trend up and down with pricing. Comic books and baseball cards come to mind. 

Allowing offers does not "devalue" any merchandise. It encourages sales at a true market value. Every see a car or motorcycle dealer that had 1-3 model year old cars/motorcycles on the lot?  I have. Sticking to MSRP doesn't get it sold, the have to take offers and offer discounts to get rid of it. Every day your capitol is tied up in inventory is a day that capitol makes you no money. Every dollar of capitol tied up into non selling inventory, is money you can't use to buy other inventory that turns faster and makes no money. Turning 10 bucks once a year is far less profitable then turning it 12 times a year. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@farmalljr wrote:

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@gurlcat wrote:

Just because you want to haggle every time doesn't mean all or even most buyers do.  If that were the case then I wouldn't have about half my items sell for my full BIN price.  -Don't take my word for it, check out my Solds.  I sell almost all pre-owned items too.  

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I'm not saying ALL buyers will haggle. But even you admit, many do. If you do not offer "deals" in the fashion of sales, mark downs, and offers, then you seriously cut yourself from consideration by many buyers. Any seller is free to price their inventory however they want. But if you are not ready to bargain, you have to realize that many people will not just pay an asking price. Not only do you have to compete here on eBay, you are competing against every seller on the internet. 

Looking at some of your listings, you also have make offers active. So, it's a bit of a moot point to say that many just buy at the listed price, when you already know that offers are key to making more sales. 

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That's a bit broad brush.

[farmalljr]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@farmalljr wrote:

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@gurlcat wrote:

Just because you want to haggle every time doesn't mean all or even most buyers do.  If that were the case then I wouldn't have about half my items sell for my full BIN price.  -Don't take my word for it, check out my Solds.  I sell almost all pre-owned items too.  

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I'm not saying ALL buyers will haggle. But even you admit, many do. If you do not offer "deals" in the fashion of sales, mark downs, and offers, then you seriously cut yourself from consideration by many buyers. Any seller is free to price their inventory however they want. But if you are not ready to bargain, you have to realize that many people will not just pay an asking price. Not only do you have to compete here on eBay, you are competing against every seller on the internet. 

Looking at some of your listings, you also have make offers active. So, it's a bit of a moot point to say that many just buy at the listed price, when you already know that offers are key to making more sales. 

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That's a bit broad brush.

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That's a fact. A Google search is not confined to only eBay listings. All platforms and sites show up in a search. Next to absolutely nothing sold here is so unique that you can't find it somewhere else. 

Many people who make an offer, will turn away and look at either other listings or other sites for a better deal, if they are turned down. 

I'll take it a step further to say that a seller who can't negotiate on the listed price, does not know what they are doing on the buy or sell ends of a sale. If you have no margin to offer a better price to spur a sale, you are doing it wrong.  The whole point of reselling is to sell, not hold inventory or fill a dumpster. There is no such thing as a profit margin set in stone. There is no such thing as never losing money on a sale to get rid of inventory that is stale. 

Only sellers who want to waste everyone's time around them, think that a profit margin of X and no less is the only right answer. Only people clowning around think that negotiating is not acceptable. Making offers and bargaining is 100% part of ANY business. It called negotiations. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@farmalljr wrote:

Your prices does NOT determine the value of an item. That's an uninformed and uneducated thing to say. The buyer who pays, determines what the price of something is. You can pick a random rock out of your driveway and list it for $300, but unless it sells for that price, a willing buyer coming along to buy it, it does not matter how much "research" you do to determine the price. Any random given thing is only worth what a buyer will pay. 

Past sales by sellers who are idiots or desperate for funds distort the value of items because they are recorded forever on the internet, as the value a willing buyer and a willing seller agreed upon.

When you go to Walmart, you either pay the price or go somewhere else to find a lower price, if you can. Or you decide you do not need to make a purchase.

The specific circumstances of a specific sale are lost when limited price information is saved.

I listed an item for $3 more than I had sold another of the item for a few months back. Of course, I had a buyer message me offering me what I got months back. The fact that this item was in better condition than the past sale was irrelevant. That old price will be there until after my latest item is sold, and it will be.

When you sell obscure, rare and uncommon items, it is likely you will set the price at a level you choose and eventually sell at that price, if you know what you are selling.

I see many items sold on Ebay which are sold to other resellers at a price which allows those sellers to sell at the level I price at. These other sellers are effectively wholesalers. I am a retailer and do not want unsolicited offers to wholesale the product.

When I want to wholesale a product on Ebay, I use a auction with a starting bid of a fair wholesale price.

If I have not sold the item, the value is my price. When I sell it the value might change. Even if someone else sells another example of the item, its condition will not be identical to mine since most of what I sell is over 100 years old.

[farmalljr]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

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@farmalljr wrote:

Your prices does NOT determine the value of an item. That's an uninformed and uneducated thing to say. The buyer who pays, determines what the price of something is. You can pick a random rock out of your driveway and list it for $300, but unless it sells for that price, a willing buyer coming along to buy it, it does not matter how much "research" you do to determine the price. Any random given thing is only worth what a buyer will pay. 

Past sales by sellers who are idiots or desperate for funds distort the value of items because they are recorded forever on the internet, as the value a willing buyer and a willing seller agreed upon.

When you go to Walmart, you either pay the price or go somewhere else to find a lower price, if you can. Or you decide you do not need to make a purchase.

The specific circumstances of a specific sale are lost when limited price information is saved.

I listed an item for $3 more than I had sold another of the item for a few months back. Of course, I had a buyer message me offering me what I got months back. The fact that this item was in better condition than the past sale was irrelevant. That old price will be there until after my latest item is sold, and it will be.

When you sell obscure, rare and uncommon items, it is likely you will set the price at a level you choose and eventually sell at that price, if you know what you are selling.

I see many items sold on Ebay which are sold to other resellers at a price which allows those sellers to sell at the level I price at. These other sellers are effectively wholesalers. I am a retailer and do not want unsolicited offers to wholesale the product.

When I want to wholesale a product on Ebay, I use a auction with a starting bid of a fair wholesale price.

If I have not sold the item, the value is my price. When I sell it the value might change. Even if someone else sells another example of the item, its condition will not be identical to mine since most of what I sell is over 100 years old.

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LOL. It's quite ironic you mention Walmart as your model for pricing. Walmart comes into a town and lowers prices until they have run any mom and pop retailers out of business. THEN they can charge whatever they want because there is no local competition.  As a matter of fact, Walmart offers cheaper options through third party sellers on their dot com site. 

The business that gets to "set" the price, is the one that dominates the category here. You don't, so your pricing model is just about your ego, rather than getting sales. A business buys inventory as an "investment".  It's sole purpose is to take $1 and turn it into more than $1. When you know competitors are selling an identical product for less money, and you refuse to compete with them, you are the loser. 

1 Because buyers will go back to the seller who gives them good deals and treats them decent.

2 If you are not selling you are sitting on useless inventory. It's not a profit until someone else buys it. 

3 The inventory you sell is not high demand or "need" items. People that collect that stuff are older, and older people die or just finally stop hoarding useless junk their heirs don't want. 

4 The more items you list and don't sell, the less traffic you are going to get, even if you promote. Smart sellers know there is more benefit to turning inventory then just a quicker sale (or a sale at all). 

You can hate on those "idiots" that sell at a lower price. They already won the game. They got paid, moved the inventory and are already moving on to the next thing to sell, while the other sellers who will not budge, wish they could get more sales and are frustrated they can't seem to get more no matter what they do. 

Sure, you can set your price to whatever you want. You can wait around for the "right" buyer, if that ever happens. You are free to keep pushing yourself lower in search by not getting sales, not working with buyers, and adding everyone to your blocked list. It's not getting you more sales. It's not moving your inventory. In the mean time, other sellers who "price like idiots" get the sales, the traffic, and the money. 

There are certain items I watch/buy. I see this ego trip all the time. Smart sellers let stuff go for what it's worth rather then waiting for a unicorn. One of my latest purchases are an example of that. A book that other sellers "think" is worth $200, I bought for under 30. Solds show that book selling for around that 30 dollar mark, yet ego sellers keep thinking some brain dead buyer is going to come along and give them $200. Might happen, but way more likely to not happen. But hey, at least those sellers are holding out, right? Lol. Those "idiot" sellers are making money, ego sellers are just complaining with empty pockets. Not saying sellers should give everything or anything away. But far too many sellers are the actual "idiot" when buyers are not choosing them. To get top dollar you need to offer the best of everything, AND find the buyer who thinks you offer it too. Many sellers do a really poor job of selling that to buyers, and expect them to just know that. 

[ckimodog]

@kensgiftshop 

I got an offer for a loaded vape cartridge...PS Prohibited...lol!

[gurlcat]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

If those buyers restricted their offers to listings with Make An Offer, I would agree with you.

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It looks like I didn't make myself completely clear.  What I should have said was (and this is true), once I enabled 'Make An Offer' on my listings, I stopped getting those insulting emails.  I don't get any emailed offers anymore, because those buyers just use the Make Offer feature now.  

And the reason I included all that stuff about using both boxes for 'minimum' and 'auto-accept' -that was to address your stated concerns about how annoying and time-consuming it is to respond to offers.  By using the automated features, I don't have to respond to anything!  

As for whether offers "distorts pricing" I guess you would need to be more clear what you mean by that.  I think when it comes to eBay and the wide variety of items, also wide variety of sellers, AND the fact that this is not the only place where people can buy most things, it's nearly impossible to say what "true" price of something is getting "distorted" by anything.  I would say things like money laundering and even fads create more distortion.  

[gurlcat]

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@farmalljr wrote:

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@gurlcat wrote:

Just because you want to haggle every time doesn't mean all or even most buyers do.  If that were the case then I wouldn't have about half my items sell for my full BIN price.  -Don't take my word for it, check out my Solds.  I sell almost all pre-owned items too.  

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I'm not saying ALL buyers will haggle.
You said: "This foolish notion that your price is the only right price, doesn't really work IF you want to sell the thing you listed." -That sounds like an absolute to me, that an item WILL NOT sell at the price a seller considers right and they don't give buyers a way to offer what they consider right.  And then you proceeded to describe your buying strategy, involving waiting for offers, etc.  I have no idea what kinds of things you tend to buy here, but when it comes to collectibles especially rarities (the kind of stuff that built eBay), quite often buyers know that a listed item might be their last chance ever to get a thing they want, and if they wait around someone else is going to get it.  

But even you admit, many do. If you do not offer "deals" in the fashion of sales, mark downs, and offers, then you seriously cut yourself from consideration by many buyers.

Many kinds of items don't NEED consideration by many buyers.  But yes, others do.  That is why I do utilize offers. 

Looking at some of your listings, you also have make offers active. So, it's a bit of a moot point to say that many just buy at the listed price, when you already know that offers are key to making more sales. 

I don't know about "more" sales, just faster ones, and some sellers are in no hurry; we would rather wait to get as much as possible than a lesser amount soon. So when you look at my active listings and see that they have 'Make Offer' what you can't see is that I have an automatic minimum accept amount set up, typically no more than 10% off.  I figure I'll let compulsive hagglers have a bone, but not a big one, considering my prices are already competitive. 

And as I said before, only about half of my buyers even make offers!   When I invited you to look at my Solds, maybe you didn't know this but you can see which items a seller sold for their listed BIN versus which ones sold for an offer.  The ones with the price crossed-out were offers. 



And here's the funny thing.  Fairly often I accidentally UNDER-price something, because it sells really fast with no offer attempted.  Here's the best case in point, happened just a couple weeks ago and set an all-time record for speed of sale, for me.  I was literally checking the live view of this listing immediately after posting when I heard the 'CHING!' notification that it sold.  I'm not kidding -3 to 4 minutes.  That buyer knew if she made an offer someone else would have snapped these up while she waited for a response (actually she would have gotten an automated response because like I said I use that feature, but she had no way of knowing that).  



All I'm saying is it's not accurate that seller who doesn't want to haggle can't succeed here.  The ones with absurd ideas of their items' worth -yeah, they are constantly frustrated, and they're the ones you'll see here in forums, whining about how much better eBay was in 2001 or whatever.  But it is absolutely possible to do great business here without offers.  

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