Offers and asking for free shipping messages.......

[jerzee908]

Should I put a message in my listings stating "don't send me any offers" and "no I can't ship something for free"?  It has got to a point where every single day, multiple times a day that I am getting messages to lower a price or if I could ship something cheap.  Mind you, 100% of the time, someone comes along and just buys what I am selling that someone previosly tried to get at a much cheaper price with some crazy offer.......

I ignore every offer message and every "can you ship for free" (I love when they tell me they will pay for it right away..........you're darn right you would have to pay right away I tell myself, but you are still going to have to pay for shipping).

Anyway, would a nicely worded message work or has it worked for anyone else?  I'll work with someone if they are buying multiple items or if they have bought from me before, but I do not owe a one-time shopper a steep discount or "free shipping" which is not free whatsoever to me........

(I'll add that I have close to 2000 items listed in total on here......98% is listed as "Buy It Now" only).

[rixstuff]

So today I found an item I wanted but the shipping was kinda high.  So I made an offer that would cut the shipping in half ($40 item with $15 shipping so I offered $33).  The seller came back with a counteroffer of $38  STILL $15 shipping.  So a whopping $2 discount.  I lucked out and found it from someone else for $35 with free shipping in a different color.  To save $20, I can live with blue instead of red.

[coolections]

I keep waiting for the new Ebay update that will read that buyer's offers are for the total cost including shipping. I have a good feeling it will eventually happen. It would make it so much easier for both buyers and sellers. Offers should not be a separate line item, but for the total the buyer is willing to pay and the seller is willing to accept IMO.

[justafemster]

So as a buyer, I can include a note with the best offer that I expect a 12 lb bar of gold and free shipping?

If I get an offer that has a note of "free shipping ", I decline and block. I have my prices set competitively, or I'm the only seller across all venues.

[coolections]

That is the point in which why Ebay needs to eliminate a separate line item. There would be no need for a note. It would include the buyer's postal zip on file in which the item is to be sent.  The buyer offers you xxx amount and you either accept it or decline it. 

[jason_incognito]

it's funny. I've had sellers accept without even a counter, $100 on a $250 listing, and I've had sellers counter a $90 offer on a $95 item.

For me, the longer it's been listed, the lower I'm willing to offer. The $100 offer was on a isting that had sat for a good year.

Not too long ago I offered something like $45 on a $50 listing and they countered at $48. I ignored it. Got a rude email telling me not to waste the sellers time because I ignored the $48 counter. Seriously?

[retrose1]

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@cenitta wrote:

Not only   the sellers should add a line telling Buyers they dont want offers,  they  now  also  need to add an extra line :  if a buyer asks to lower the price after the  purchase is made, the seller will cancel the deal and block the buyer.  why?   b/c there are are so called "experts" promoting stuffs like this:

You can also contact a seller immediately after you've made a purchase to ask for a sweeter deal before shipment, though they're not obligated to give you one at that point, so make your request a pleasant, persuasive one rather than a demanding one to get results.

Source: https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-haggle-on-ebay-1139987

I dont care how "pleasant" the buyer sounds, I call it an Extortion & its disgusting.

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AND a legitimate reason to cancel the transaction for Unreasonable Demands.

[jerzee908]

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@linus.hux72fe wrote:
I apologize for being off topic jerzee. May I ask why when going to your listings I was redirected to a page that asked me to confirm I was of age and willing to see "adult" type stuff? Perhaps I missed the "adult" stuff in browsing your extensive listings? Apologize for being off topic but my curiosity took over as I've never seen that screen before.

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I have some items listed that are considered "adult" and had them pulled before for not having them listed in an "adult category".   They are Tijuana Bibles........(old comics that are full-frontal nudity and risque humor)

[femmefan1946]

Since I am in Canada, I use Free Shipping when I list here on dotCOM.

But those are items under 500 gr and 2cm which can move by LetterPost, which is a Flat Rate service.

And of course the cost of shippingis included in the asking price of the item.

Which is cheaper:

A $10 item with $5 shipping

A $15 item with Free Shipping?

When one of my listings has to move by Parcel Post, I list on eBay Canada, where I can use Calculated Shipping which gives my buyer the cost of shipping to his doorstep.

You can set your Seller Preferences to ignore any Offers under a chosen amount.

Some sellers raise their prices by that amount, then allow Offers only at the original price or higher.

Shipping is not supposed to be a part of the Offer, ever. After all, the seller may control the service used, but not the cost of that service.

[jerzee908]

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@jerzee908 wrote:

Should I put a message in my listings stating "don't send me any offers" and "no I can't ship something for free"?  It has got to a point where every single day, multiple times a day that I am getting messages to lower a price or if I could ship something cheap.  Mind you, 100% of the time, someone comes along and just buys what I am selling that someone previosly tried to get at a much cheaper price with some crazy offer.......

I ignore every offer message and every "can you ship for free" (I love when they tell me they will pay for it right away..........you're darn right you would have to pay right away I tell myself, but you are still going to have to pay for shipping).

Anyway, would a nicely worded message work or has it worked for anyone else?  I'll work with someone if they are buying multiple items or if they have bought from me before, but I do not owe a one-time shopper a steep discount or "free shipping" which is not free whatsoever to me........

(I'll add that I have close to 2000 items listed in total on here......98% is listed as "Buy It Now" only).

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Just an update to my post........

I decided to NOT add anything to my listings.  Since this post, the amount of messages about offers and asking for free shipping have increased.

I've been getting "the economy is tight" messages, they can buy the item cheaper someplace else (do it then?), they'll pay me right away (of course youre going to have to do this when I only take immediate payment).  Not so much on this page, but my other page I get messaged at least twice a day/everyday.  I had one person from Egypt message me 8 times this weekend alone over a car part that is absolutely the cheapest on-line and their numerous offers were all lower than what an aftermarket part costs (I sell genuine GM/Mopar parts on another page). 

Some of the stuff people pull on here, I really hope they don't pull it in real life.  Like, would someone walk into a store and tell the person behind the counter "you don't sell what you have because your prices are high" and then walks out the door.  You would be looked at as a crazy person.  When I go food shopping, I don't take every item to the cashier and say.....this bottle of soda, I can buy it cheaper at Walmart?  Or when I order a pizza and they have a delivery charge.......I don't start the phone call with "can you waive the delivery charge and maybe I'll order a pizza?".  I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be getting a pizza delivered to me.

I've also been responding to some offers and I tell them if they purchase another thing, I'll work on the price.........crickets.  During the one of those percent off promotions, I got a message from someone with a offer and when I told them about the promotion, they messaged me with a "LOL" and that they still wanna pay what they are offering no matter what.

My sales are pretty steady so no complaints there.  I just wish ebay would enforce the "don't message a buyer not taking offers" rule again.  Luckily I'm a patient person and I'll just continue ignoring some of the messages I get on here.

[rixstuff]

I was selling an item for $100 and got an offer of $10, which I declined. Later I got a comment that someone else was selling one for $65.  So I asked the "buyer" if he also offered THAT seller $10.  Never heard from him again.  I also find a correlation between the "the economy is bad" folks wanting a discount on a $5 item ALSO buying $300 purses and $2000 vintage Harley collectible items.  The economy must not be THAT bad...or maybe he meant MY economy.  Then again, I sell vintage jewelry.  I understand if they cut back on my stuff when times get tough but I guess the idea of not buying AT ALL doesnt compute.

[rixstuff]

Actually my aunt is SHAMELESS about asking stores for discounts (asking for the sale price that starts on Friday if she is shopping Thursday night so she wont have to come back or pointing out damage that she can easily fix, a missing button or belt that she didnt care about anyway,  or dirt that might require dry cleaning to get a discount) but she would never play one store off against another.

[7606dennis]

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@missjen831 wrote:

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@sockmonkeydave wrote:

@7606dennis

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@7606dennis wrote:

Personally, if the best offer isn't in the listing I recommend declining the offer and putting the person making it on your BBL.

If, however, you decide to entertain Best Offers, I would suggest that you read the offer carefully before accepting it.  If the one making the offer attaches any conditions to an offer that you do not like, decline or ignore the offer.  You can also counter offer if you choose but they will probably come back with the same request for free shipping so make sure your counter offer is enough to more than cover the shipping cost.

Of course, eBay's Best Offer system has always warned those making offers that the offer is on the item price only, but still people try to slip things in.  I've heard that eBay was going to let those people add some terms of their own.  In that case my recommendation would be to not use Best Offer at all.

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My last buyer who made an offer, when I went to accept it had new wording.

There was no "item price only" it now said item and conditions of the offer.

It may have been a beta test, it was running 50/50 some old wording, some new.

lol  I wish I were getting offers, it's dead around here.

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Yep, eBay removed that warning years ago and in the last few months, despite repeated requests to make it clear to the buyer that the offer is for the item price only and shipping is NOT negotiable, they quietly added a blurb on the sellers end that says by accepting the offer you are agreeing to any terms set by the buyer! 

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In that case, declining any offer received seems to be a good option as does putting the one making it on one's BBL.  Provided, of course, you don't want to haggle.

[7606dennis]

Upon further reflection, I would suggest that anyone willing to entertain offers not use the option to auto-accept offers since you would have no way of knowing what kind of stipulations are being attached to the offer that you are agreeing to by doing so.

[femmefan1946]

've been getting "the economy is tight" messages,

And yet unemployment in the USA is down to 3.9%

Even here in Canada our unemployment rate is only 5.9% -- the lowest I can remember and I started working in 1959, when I was 13.

Thank heavens for all those refugees pouring in from Syria and the US, we need the workers.

[retrose1]

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@rixstuff wrote:

Actually my aunt is SHAMELESS about asking stores for discounts (asking for the sale price that starts on Friday if she is shopping Thursday night so she wont have to come back or pointing out damage that she can easily fix, a missing button or belt that she didnt care about anyway,  or dirt that might require dry cleaning to get a discount) but she would never play one store off against another.

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When I would get customers in my B&M store doing something like - taking my beautiful pair of 60s bell bottoms I have priced at $45 and bringing them up to me and saying that mine are used and they can get the same thing new at Target for $20....I'd just tell them to go to Target and buy them there.  And while they were at it, if they were indeed really authentic 60s bell bottoms, to buy them all and bring them here and i would give them $25 a piece for them.

I just block them.  The bottom feeding hagglers are just one step away from scammers, if you give in to them once, they will be all over you and you'll never sell anything at full price again.  And i have better things to do with my time than to spend an extra couple of minutes with every item trying to figure out how much I might get extra if I play the haggle game with a bottom feeder when i price something.