Seller offer issues

[seekbus]

I've ran into an issue as a seller extending an offer to a buyer that I wanted to outline here.

First, a little background…

I had a potential buyer message me to ask if I would accept a lower offer for an item. I replied back and asked if we could agree to a price between their offer and the original asking price. They replied back that they couldn't go any higher than their original offer and so I decided to accept it. To this point, everything had been handled via eBay messages. They didn't make a Best Offer and I hadn't extended a formal offer to the buyer.

Here is issue #1. When the potential buyer originally contacted me, my eBay Inbox presented me with two actions "Reply" and "Reply with offer." But for all subsequent messages from the potential buyer, the only action presented to me was "Reply." "Reply with offer" should be presented on subsequent messages as well. This of course isn't the end of the world, I simply went back to the potential buyers original message and selected "Reply with offer." 

Here is issue #2. I messed up and offered the wrong amount, forgetting to factor in shipping. Now my potential buyer can't figure out how to decline the offer, and I can't figure out how to cancel the offer. Since there is an outstanding offer, if I attempt to select "Reply with offer" again, I receive an error message noting that I have already extended an offer. If I attempt to revise my item, I receive an error that the item can't be revised while there is an offer outstanding.

I realize this is partially my problem for making an incorrect offer, but there are some clear logic holes here in the user experience.

[tunicaslot]

There should be no reason they can't decline that offer - all they have to click is view offer and then can accept or decline. If they don't respond the only thing you can do is let it time out.

[seekbus]

Appreciate the response. Makes sense that the potential buyer should be able to decline the offer. I'll wait for the offer to expire since they can't seem to figure it out.

I still contend that there are significant issues with this flow, as I outlined in my original post. I note this mainly in the off chance that an eBay representative reviews this thread.

Thanks again!

[luckythewinner]

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@seekbus wrote:

I still contend that there are significant issues with this flow, as I outlined in my original post. I note this mainly in the off chance that an eBay representative reviews this thread.

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If I am willing to accept an offer for a lower price, I simply edit the listing and lower the price. 

Then I just let that person know I changed the price. This way there is no confusion over the offer, no confusiob over shipping, and no waiting for offers to time out. 

[gdiesel70]

Your workaround for #1 is actually how it’s done.  Poor UX/UI and eBay go hand-in-hand. 

as for #2, if the customer starts a new message thread from that listing maybe  it will enable the  “reply with offer” feature. 

[thekozz7]

I wonder what would happen if you just tried to end the listing. End it by choosing "problem with the price" or something. Has anyone tried to do this?

[slippinjimmy]

Why would you end the listing? I thought you were trying to make a sale?

[ekmadonna]

The answer is yes. in the situation and example the op stated they can just END the listing and relist at a different price. as stated the OP can't edit the active listing after an offer was submitted until it it times out.