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?

[jmb344]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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.

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I agree @dtexley3. I'm compiling recommendations for improvements to the tool. No promises on when, but for now I am doing my best to be scrappy with the tool in its current form. Keep the suggestions coming, but also the successes! Nothing like some great success stories to help drive improvement and more successes! If any of you use this tool effectively, tell others about it.

[dhbookds]

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@lovtaco0wrote:

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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@lovtaco0

Thanks, I got a bit befuddled as to what I heard where..........not an unusal occurance......

[d-k_treasures]

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@dtexley3wrote:

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.

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Will a bot catch the item numbers in the private offer and then send a nastygram to the seller when they cancel the listings manually if the buyer accepts the PO?

Exactly. This could potentially put a seller out of business on here, or 'allow' them to keep selling with the extra 4% FVF's added on.

[dhbookds]

I never wanted the offer price to show.........because I don't want to be tied to the offer if I have another of the same item.    I realize I would not have to use the same offer price, but then you get into the buyer seeing it and assuming I would sell for the same price. possible negs, etc. 

I don't like not having the true selling price when I research tho.  At one time, you could find out the real selling price, but ebay shut that down............

[lovtaco0]

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@dhbookdswrote:

I don't like not having the true selling price when I research tho.  At one time, you could find out the real selling price, but ebay shut that down............

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Now you can only see a best offer price if it's a multi-quantity listing.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

dtexley3, good point, and good suggestion for future improvement, but couldn't the seller basically do that now? Use the Reply with Offer button to negotiate the deal, but then make any revisions necessary to existing listings and have the buyer buy through the regular flow? I agree that's not ideal, just asking if it could be done?

[dtexley3]

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@d-k_treasureswrote:

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@dtexley3wrote:

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.

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Will a bot catch the item numbers in the private offer and then send a nastygram to the seller when they cancel the listings manually if the buyer accepts the PO?

Exactly. This could potentially put a seller out of business on here, or 'allow' them to keep selling with the extra 4% FVF's added on.

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What I was suggesting would be when you hit the Send Offer button the screen that comes up now just asks for a price.  for what I suggested it would also have a button to add item#s to the offer.  That way the bots could be programmed to ignore it.  Structured data not free text in this case.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

great suggestion!

[dtexley3]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiqueswrote:
dtexley3, good point, and good suggestion for future improvement, but couldn't the seller basically do that now? Use the Reply with Offer button to negotiate the deal, but then make any revisions necessary to existing listings and have the buyer buy through the regular flow? I agree that's not ideal, just asking if it could be done?

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Why would you use the send offer button in that case?  If you are modifying existing listings based on a coversation with a member you would want them to purchase via the listing(s), not the private offer.

If they want to make this an easy way to drive sales, there needs to be a way to tie together any listings in the offer.  Right now there's no audit trail other than some free text, open to interpretation by the buyer, the seller, eBay CS, Paypal CS and CC companies.   Throw in a little mixed languages and you have a real mess.

It's a good idea, but as it stands now the risk level is just too high for my comfort, ymmv.

[d-k_treasures]

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@dtexley3wrote:

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@d-k_treasureswrote:

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@dtexley3wrote:

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.

---

Will a bot catch the item numbers in the private offer and then send a nastygram to the seller when they cancel the listings manually if the buyer accepts the PO?

Exactly. This could potentially put a seller out of business on here, or 'allow' them to keep selling with the extra 4% FVF's added on.

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What I was suggesting would be when you hit the Send Offer button the screen that comes up now just asks for a price.  for what I suggested it would also have a button to add item#s to the offer.  That way the bots could be programmed to ignore it.  Structured data not free text in this case.

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I know that's what you were suggesting, and that's exactly the way it should be implemented. And if accepted, the listing(s) in the PO would be closed as sold.

But that's too simple of a concept and leaves no room for errors(by ebay bots).

[dtexley3]

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@d-k_treasureswrote:

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@dtexley3wrote:

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@d-k_treasureswrote:

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Will a bot catch the item numbers in the private offer and then send a nastygram to the seller when they cancel the listings manually if the buyer accepts the PO?

Exactly. This could potentially put a seller out of business on here, or 'allow' them to keep selling with the extra 4% FVF's added on.

---

What I was suggesting would be when you hit the Send Offer button the screen that comes up now just asks for a price.  for what I suggested it would also have a button to add item#s to the offer.  That way the bots could be programmed to ignore it.  Structured data not free text in this case.

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I know that's what you were suggesting, and that's exactly the way it should be implemented. And if accepted, the listing(s) in the PO would be closed as sold.

But that's too simple of a concept and leaves no room for errors(by ebay bots).

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But, but didn't they state that the messages would be reviewed and we would be protected????? Ya, Right!

[terrycanarsky]

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. 

A few notes on this since I was in the middle of a work day during the chat yesterday (like many here) and did not have time to ask/respond.

I just spoke at length with my co-worker on this topic.

We already have potential buyers write us and ask if we have XYZ.  If we do and it's not listed, we create a listing for that item just like eBay policy suggests.  To do otherwise violates eBay policy as we understand it - and as TRS+ and reputable merchants, we are very careful.

On the rare occasion we use the "Reply with Offer" button, it is due to an offer being missed during the weeked - this is a business with business hours and we spend the weekend with family - as long as we have a message from the potential buyer asking something.  Otherwise there is no option to re-connect without triggering the entire process.

It is also now extremely common for us to have potential buyers write us saying "hey, I need 12 widgets, how many do you have" - and we have only 2 as clearly stated in the listing. Or, better yet, "I need part X" using the listing link for (sometimes) an unrelated item.

Theoretically "Private Offer" could help with certain situations, but to be honest, the whole thing seems a bit sketchy overall.

eBay does not seem set up to effectively support "Private Offer" as you are promoting.  Is this a fully supported feature which will be in a future update?

~M

[jmb344]

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@terrycanarsky wrote:

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. 

A few notes on this since I was in the middle of a work day during the chat yesterday (like many here) and did not have time to ask/respond.

I just spoke at length with my co-worker on this topic.

We already have potential buyers write us and ask if we have XYZ.  If we do and it's not listed, we create a listing for that item just like eBay policy suggests.  To do otherwise violates eBay policy as we understand it - and as TRS+ and reputable merchants, we are very careful.

On the rare occasion we use the "Reply with Offer" button, it is due to an offer being missed during the weeked - this is a business with business hours and we spend the weekend with family - as long as we have a message from the potential buyer asking something.  Otherwise there is no option to re-connect without triggering the entire process.

It is also now extremely common for us to have potential buyers write us saying "hey, I need 12 widgets, how many do you have" - and we have only 2 as clearly stated in the listing. Or, better yet, "I need part X" using the listing link for (sometimes) an unrelated item.

Theoretically "Private Offer" could help with certain situations, but to be honest, the whole thing seems a bit sketchy overall.

eBay does not seem set up to effectively support "Private Offer" as you are promoting.  Is this a fully supported feature which will be in a future update?

~M

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@terrycanarsky Thanks for the well thought out question. I can understand your hesitation. It is true that this is a feature that has been largely overlooked in the past. I know that the majority of sellers have no idea about it, and many eBay employees are unaware of its capabilities. BUT, is a fully supported feature on eBay today. Prior to launch I trained many groups within customer service on how to handle these types of transactions. It's true, there will likely be hiccups along the way. But now that people are catching the vision, and sellers are learning how to use it properly, it's getting a lot of internal traction. Feel free to hold off on doing anything if you are too worried, but I know that as sellers use this tool and it creates better seller and buyer experiences, we at eBay are noticing and planning for the future of this tool. Show us you value it, and we'll make it better! But if you ignore it, we will too. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

dtexley3, Well, we have different comfort levels then, I would be happy to use this as it now exists. As you say, your mileage may vary. Your improvement is a good idea, although I'm not sure it would be as simple to implement (from eBay's end) as it may sound.

[d-k_treasures]

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@dtexley3wrote:

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@d-k_treasureswrote:

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@dtexley3wrote:

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@d-k_treasureswrote:

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Will a bot catch the item numbers in the private offer and then send a nastygram to the seller when they cancel the listings manually if the buyer accepts the PO?

Exactly. This could potentially put a seller out of business on here, or 'allow' them to keep selling with the extra 4% FVF's added on.

---

What I was suggesting would be when you hit the Send Offer button the screen that comes up now just asks for a price.  for what I suggested it would also have a button to add item#s to the offer.  That way the bots could be programmed to ignore it.  Structured data not free text in this case.

---

I know that's what you were suggesting, and that's exactly the way it should be implemented. And if accepted, the listing(s) in the PO would be closed as sold.

But that's too simple of a concept and leaves no room for errors(by ebay bots).

---

But, but didn't they state that the messages would be reviewed and we would be protected????? Ya, Right!

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Yep - just as protected as if you were using 'refurbished condoms'.