Selling is getting impossible by Buyers relentlessly asking for discounts

[santamonicajeweler]

This is not a Selling platform anymore, it has become a Garage Sale. It use to be a Swap Meet which I thought; it could be converted to a Mall. But not anymore, eBay is an everyday Yard Sale  

List a piece for any price, checking to be  the lowest price for  same item sold or presently listed, still, someone wants %20 lower than asking. I finally figured it out. It's the system. It wouldn't matter if you have the 'Make An Offer' light on or not, they'll come and ask for your Best Price. System is built this way

So, raise your prices and anticipate people asking for a Markdown. Give it to them and make that sale. I want to stay competitive but price hike has become the only alternative now. I don't mind answering messages and talk to prospective Buyers but I am going to lose those Buyers whom respect the Sellers and their pricings ... So be it!  I could negotiate fine 

[meme6253]

I Have been raising my prices, It seems to be the only means of survival!

[dirk12955]

Me too.     Raising prices so I can use the "Send offer" thing in seller hub.

Buyer gets a discount and I get the original price.

eBay has systems in place to market your items and make sales.      

[vintagecraze50]

About half themessages I get are buyers trying to get huge discounts. Unfortunately the prices to acquire what we sell are very high right now and no way do we reduce prices significantly here for these buyers. Many of them are sellers who try to get stuff cheap for Christmas sales this time of year. They also return stuff and try to steal stuff this time of year. I had one the other day who bought two items rather expensive sent them signature tracked, they waited a week before picking up the stuff and my quess is that when it required sig, they found it more difficult to say did not receive. Then they message saying they want me to do a return on this stuff with their email address becuase DAH! They do not know how to start a return saying they bought it on a quest account which makes no difference whatsoever in starting a legit return request on here. Now they finally started the return and I am holding  my breathe that I get this stuff back. If I had a lot more of this stuff happening here I would shut this store off. Hang on for Christmas and see if this improves. 

[vintagecraze50]

Good plan.

[vintagecraze50]

The economy is a lot different this year than last year, People were getting stimulus checks and a lot more assistance and inflation is up.

[jayjaspersgarage]

Blame it on me.  It's in my user name.  Plus I have been undercutting prices for ten years out here.  The key is to buy a lot of stuff to flip at estate sales after 3 P.M. on Sundays.  Bundle!

[vintage-camerastuff]

Everybody wants a good deal including me.   If you buy low and sell high you can make money.   You have to know your product and your market.

[vintage_buy_sell]

Been doing it for a while, I call it the 'reverse auction'. I price my stuff up knowing everyone will ask for a better price. I can't think of the last time I sold something for my asking price. So I add some more than I want, beating on the 'offer price' will match what I really want.

Might hurt me in sales to have higher prices, but at least I am not one of those guys charging a super cheap price with an hyper-inflated shipping rate to make up the revenue.

That's also why I do not offer 'free shipping' makes working out a deal even harder. Sellers don't get it when they ask for a price that would essentially be me PAYING them to take the product.

I also don't get the perpetual 'watchers'...why watch a fixed bid item, I am not lowering my price, so it's a waste of time to watch it. Buy it, make me a reasonable offer or move on.

[meme6253]

I Agree With All Of It 100%, Yeah I Especially like the sellers with a $3 item & shipping cost $12 who are they kidding?, Gotta stay High With the Prices to Stay Alive!

[ekmadonna]

Just had someone yesterday message me with the standard "I'LL GIVE YOU $30" exact quote for a $65.00 FREE SHIPPING item that weighs over 3 lbs. before I could even answer I got another message from same buyer "well dear?" my answer was simply NO, then I get another message "OK 30 THEN". That's when I made my way to the BBL list. Way to many of these kind of messages lately, I agree and it's only going to get worse this quarter. 

[ekmadonna]

Forgot 1 hr later I get a message from a different buyer offering $50 on a item priced at $175 or best offer. I mean really?

[dirk12955]

Maybe the low ballers come to these boards and see the endless stream of Sellers complaining about poor clicks,  views,  sales,    Etc......

Then they think,      "I guess I'll go look for a bargain"    What an opportunity.    

[coolections]

IMO people have always considered Ebay as a garage sale/barter place to sell and buy. Nothing has really changed except the difference is "sellers" decided they no longer want to just get rid of stuff and actually sell it. They prefer to be like Amazon or a big box store and just list things at high prices and forget about it.

[jayjaspersgarage]

"Just had someone yesterday message me with the standard "I'LL GIVE YOU $30" exact quote for a $65.00 FREE SHIPPING item that weighs over 3 lbs. before I could even answer I got another message from same buyer "well dear?" my answer was simply NO, then I get another message "OK 30 THEN". That's when I made my way to the BBL list. Way to many of these kind of messages lately, I agree and it's only going to get worse this quarter. "

If my listing isn't open for offers I delete the offer emails unread.