Private Offer

[blueberryjellyfish]

Hi alan@ebay. I could not make it in time for the chat but I hope you can help with my question.

When I use the Private Offer feature through eBay Messages I cannot find any place on the Reply With Offer page to check a box and have a copy sent to my e-mail and it does not occur automatically as with regular messages or best offers.

I can go to the listing on my selling page and "review all offers", but I want a copy in my e-mail, too.

One reason is that I want confirmation the offer has gone through to the buyer. Sometimes buyers tell me they didn't receive the offer.

From the chat:

For SNAD, just make sure the offer bundle is clearly detailed through your member to member messaging, and in your "message to buyer" section of the offer. That way eBay can see what was included in the order and the associated prices.

This is another important reason to have e-mails of the offer & text for our own record-keeping.

Can you request for copies of Private Offers to be sent to the seller's e-mail and for this feature to be added sooner rather than later, please?

[lovtaco0]

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@dhbookdswrote:

My bad............  need more coffee..........  as I  understand it, the private offer designation only applies to the offer if it includes more than the original listing........  I was reading your original message as private offer, rather than sending the offer only on the one listing.........  ie. a plate plus x =$65

lol, I understand Griff.........this is also mentioned on the Motors video, but you have to sign in to see that, so you may not want to do that either.........

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I'll have to watch Griff's video to see what you're talking about. My offer was for more than the original listing and it was a private offer. It was a bundle deal but the offer was completed through the eBay messaging send offer feature on a single listing.

I don't know what original message you're referring to unless you're confusing me with the OP? Maybe I could use some coffee, too. I've been operating on the adrenaline from my morning run.

[dhbookds]

@lovtaco0

lol, I think I will give this up.......was replying to another poster.......sigh.......  However, it does say the private offer accepted will appear..........why it isn't, I don't now know.......hopefully Jm will come straighten this (me) out..........

[lovtaco0]

@dhbookds Maybe it's specific to the Parts & Accessories category right now? I don't know but if I get any clues after watching the video or listening to the radio session I will post here and tag you.

[jmb344]

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@tev4all wrote:

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@gracieallen01wrote:

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@castlemagicmemorieswrote:

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@bubbleman2010wrote:

jmb ran out of time,but when you send a offer to a interested buyer and you want to bundle do the items you want to bundle have to be listed on ebay? A example would be if I have a set of dinnerware I just list the dinner plates only can I offer all the other pieces from the set not listed in my bundle offer?

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bubbleman, not sure but my take away from Chat was that you can add pieces not listed on Ebay to the offe.  I guess they are hoping this will drive and generate more sales, while eliminating off ebay sales.

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Generate more sales?

And, what is going to happen when folks start NOT listing everything - just teasers - and then start bartering, with ebay's permission, in their private messages for the 'other items' and those with like items that DO list don't know that their competition is out doing them, not having to pay for promoting their items for search placement, not having to do pricing battles with others sellers and all sorts of gaming of the system?  Yes, ebay will get their commission.

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Generate more sales?

  Generating skewed information is more likely.

   Re-imagine 2 sellers with the exact same 12 piece place setting. Each Seller,  places 1 Dinner plate up for sale at $19.99

Both sellers recieve questions. 

Seller A, understands how to use the PO, answers the prospective buyer's question  and makes  the buyer an offer of adding other select pieces  and completes a sale which results in the sale price of $65.

Seller B, Does Not Know about or understand how to use the PO, answers the prospective buyer's question   and completes a sale which results in the sale price of $19.99

Does ebay show through a completed listings search that both plates sold for $19.99?

OR 

Does ebay show through a completed listings search that 1 plate sold for $19.99 and 1 plate sold for $65?

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Great question! eBay doesn't show the negotiated price for a private offer. It does not show a price in sales history. As for the question about not listing items ever and eBay losing fees over it, eBay will make way more with the final value fee of an item that sells for 3x or 4x of the listing price than the lost fees from listing. And you as a seller shouldn't want to list less because then buyers will never know what you have to sell them. For a dish set it may be obvious if you take a picture of the whole thing and mention in a subtitle that you can sell each piece individually. But you won't sell unrelated products because buyers will never ask you about them. So in situations where it makes sense, sure you may be able to list less items, but it's more the exception than a new method to avoid listing fees, in my opinion. And you are WAY more likely to sell items through private offer and engaging with buyers than to just list it and hope that buyer will find it and you'll never have to engage with them. All we're trying to do is help you sell more stuff.

[lovtaco0]

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@jmb344wrote:

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Great question! eBay doesn't show the negotiated price for a private offer. It does not show a price in sales history. 

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Josh, that is consistent with what I'm seeing. However, if the buyer leaves feedback for the purchase then you can see the true selling price reflected in the seller's feedback. That doesn't show the details of what was or wasn't included in the transaction but it does show you the price.

[jmb344]

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@lovtaco0 wrote:

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@fern*woodwrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Does ebay show through a completed listings search that 1 plate sold for $19.99 and 1 plate sold for $65?

No, it will show up with no price:  Private offer accepted.

The Griff audio is worth listening to........... 

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My apologies if I'm misunderstanding your response here...plus I haven't listened to Griff. (I have my reasons.)

I just looked at my most recent "Send an Offer" sale, and in completed, it shows exactly the price of my offer as the sold price.   There is no mention of private offer accepted.

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Mine shows the price from the listing, not the private offer price.

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@lovtaco0, can you give me the listing or more information so I can help out?

[lovtaco0]

Ran out of edit time, please see my corrected response below.

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@lovtaco0wrote:

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@jmb344wrote:

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Great question! eBay doesn't show the negotiated price for a private offer. It does not show a price in sales history. 

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Josh, that is not consistent with what I'm seeing. The listing and the search pages for completed/sold reflect the listing's original item price as the sold price. There is no indication of a private offer.

On eBay Radio you said "you'll see private offer accepted as the sold price" and that does not line up with what I am seeing.

Aside- if the buyer leaves feedback for the purchase then you can see the true selling price reflected in the seller's feedback. That doesn't show the details of what was or wasn't included in the transaction but it does show you the price.

@dhbookds Hope this helps.

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[d-k_treasures]

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@jmb344wrote:

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@tev4allwrote:

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@gracieallen01wrote:

---

@castlemagicmemorieswrote:

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@bubbleman2010wrote:

jmb ran out of time,but when you send a offer to a interested buyer and you want to bundle do the items you want to bundle have to be listed on ebay? A example would be if I have a set of dinnerware I just list the dinner plates only can I offer all the other pieces from the set not listed in my bundle offer?

---

bubbleman, not sure but my take away from Chat was that you can add pieces not listed on Ebay to the offe.  I guess they are hoping this will drive and generate more sales, while eliminating off ebay sales.

---

Generate more sales?

And, what is going to happen when folks start NOT listing everything - just teasers - and then start bartering, with ebay's permission, in their private messages for the 'other items' and those with like items that DO list don't know that their competition is out doing them, not having to pay for promoting their items for search placement, not having to do pricing battles with others sellers and all sorts of gaming of the system?  Yes, ebay will get their commission.

---

Generate more sales?

  Generating skewed information is more likely.

   Re-imagine 2 sellers with the exact same 12 piece place setting. Each Seller,  places 1 Dinner plate up for sale at $19.99

Both sellers recieve questions. 

Seller A, understands how to use the PO, answers the prospective buyer's question  and makes  the buyer an offer of adding other select pieces  and completes a sale which results in the sale price of $65.

Seller B, Does Not Know about or understand how to use the PO, answers the prospective buyer's question   and completes a sale which results in the sale price of $19.99

Does ebay show through a completed listings search that both plates sold for $19.99?

OR 

Does ebay show through a completed listings search that 1 plate sold for $19.99 and 1 plate sold for $65?

---

Great question! eBay doesn't show the negotiated price for a private offer. It does not show a price in sales history. As for the question about not listing items ever and eBay losing fees over it, eBay will make way more with the final value fee of an item that sells for 3x or 4x of the listing price than the lost fees from listing. And you as a seller shouldn't want to list less because then buyers will never know what you have to sell them. For a dish set it may be obvious if you take a picture of the whole thing and mention in a subtitle that you can sell each piece individually. But you won't sell unrelated products because buyers will never ask you about them. So in situations where it makes sense, sure you may be able to list less items, but it's more the exception than a new method to avoid listing fees, in my opinion. And you are WAY more likely to sell items through private offer and engaging with buyers than to just list it and hope that buyer will find it and you'll never have to engage with them. All we're trying to do is help you sell more stuff.

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Nor do they show the best offer accepted price anymore - on search it just says BO accepted, the listing shows full price.

We all know why. That's the data you are selling. Not the real data.

[jmb344]

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@lovtaco0 wrote:

Ran out of edit time, please see my corrected response below.

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@lovtaco0wrote:

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@jmb344wrote:

---

---

Great question! eBay doesn't show the negotiated price for a private offer. It does not show a price in sales history. 

---

Josh, that is not consistent with what I'm seeing. The listing and the search pages for completed/sold reflect the listing's original item price as the sold price. There is no indication of a private offer.

On eBay Radio you said "you'll see private offer accepted as the sold price" and that does not line up with what I am seeing.

Aside- if the buyer leaves feedback for the purchase then you can see the true selling price reflected in the seller's feedback. That doesn't show the details of what was or wasn't included in the transaction but it does show you the price.

@dhbookds Hope this helps.

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Very interesting. Let me work on getting some screenshots of this. To all sellers: how do you feel about the sold price of the listing showing, either in feedback or on the sold page of the listing itself?

[lovtaco0]

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@jmb344wrote:

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Very interesting. Let me work on getting some screenshots of this. To all sellers: how do you feel about the sold price of the listing showing, either in feedback or on the sold page of the listing itself?

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Speaking as both a buyer and a seller I would prefer to see the sold price on the listing, feedback, and search page with a clear indication that it was a private offer. That provides much more accurate info when researching prices.

It is important that the fact it was a "private offer" is clearly shown because then you know it is possible there was a change from the actual listing such as a bundle deal, a parted out listing, or other circumstance.

[d-k_treasures]

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@jmb344wrote:

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@lovtaco0wrote:

Ran out of edit time, please see my corrected response below.

---

@lovtaco0wrote:

---

@jmb344wrote:

---

---

Great question! eBay doesn't show the negotiated price for a private offer. It does not show a price in sales history. 

---

Josh, that is not consistent with what I'm seeing. The listing and the search pages for completed/sold reflect the listing's original item price as the sold price. There is no indication of a private offer.

On eBay Radio you said "you'll see private offer accepted as the sold price" and that does not line up with what I am seeing.

Aside- if the buyer leaves feedback for the purchase then you can see the true selling price reflected in the seller's feedback. That doesn't show the details of what was or wasn't included in the transaction but it does show you the price.

@dhbookds Hope this helps.

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Very interesting. Let me work on getting some screenshots of this. To all sellers: how do you feel about the sold price of the listing showing, either in feedback or on the sold page of the listing itself?

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I feel that would be honest - as long as everyone can see the sold price.

You either show sold prices everywhere, or you don't. You certainly don't show(and sell) the asking price.

And feedback should be fixed also - when you combine shipping, the total shipping charge shows up on the feedback page on EACH item, which could cause a buyer to think that the seller screwed them over on shipping.

[dtexley3]

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@jmb344wrote:

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@lovtaco0wrote:

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Very interesting. Let me work on getting some screenshots of this. To all sellers: how do you feel about the sold price of the listing showing, either in feedback or on the sold page of the listing itself?

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For me I think it's more important that the completed listing is flagged as Private Offer than showing the accepted price.  

Going back to the example above, the private offer was on a listing of one plate for $19, but sold for $65.  I would rather see the strike thru on the $19 and Private Offer, than see $65 and Private Offer.  the PLATE in the listing did not sell for $65, so changing the apparent sale price skews the value in the eyes of buyers and sellers.

On the flip side, I would like to see the actual sale price on Best Offers, as those are typically lower than the listed price and it is beneficial to buyers and sellers of that listing.

[dtexley3]

My pie in the sky request would be to allow the seller to attach multiple item numbers as part of the offer and if the offer was accepted those listings would close as sold and a single order created, same as a cart sale.  Make it closer to an actual invoice, not just a free text offer.   Adding items not currently listed would still be acceptible, but active/unsold items would be tied to the Private Offer.

This would significantly reduce the backend accounting load for the seller.  Right not when you add additional listings to the offer, they have to be manually closed.  They DON'T show as Sold and for those using accounting programs that pull the orders off, the sales have to be recorded manually.

If the seller misses just one or two of the bundled items and forgets to end listings, they are setup for an OOS defect.  Converting the Private Offer to an actual Order would help prevent this.

[lovtaco0]

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@dtexley3wrote:

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For me I think it's more important that the completed listing is flagged as Private Offer than showing the accepted price.  

Going back to the example above, the private offer was on a listing of one plate for $19, but sold for $65.  I would rather see the strike thru on the $19 and Private Offer, than see $65 and Private Offer.  the PLATE in the listing did not sell for $65, so changing the apparent sale price skews the value in the eyes of buyers and sellers.

On the flip side, I would like to see the actual sale price on Best Offers, as those are typically lower than the listed price and it is beneficial to buyers and sellers of that listing.

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I'm changing my answer. This is better than what I said.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Personally, I would prefer the sold price not be shown. Showing the price will only confuse price research. A fifty dollar item will show as $500 because it has been bundled with several higher dollar items, but if I'm researching prices, it will show as $500. It will also throw off any qui9ck averaging I might try to do to determine an average price. Since we have no way to know what the bundle consisted of, any price shown to us will just muddy the waters in my opinion.