Regards,
Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
velvet@ebay, devon@ebay , elizabeth@ebay
I have a list of items that I sent Offers out on last week and the offers expired on August 13, 2022. However, those items have NOT been put back on my list of items available to Send offers for again. I had one Buyer interested in two items he got Offers on but he missed the deadline and the Offers expired ... now I can't Send out Offers again ...
I need the details on how that feature works, what happens to listings after offers expire and how to get them back on the list so Offers can be sent again????? What happens if we delete Expired listings from the Offers Sent list???
Thank you,
Mr. L
@luckythewinner wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
Active for years, members can Watch and un-Watch and then Watch again sometime later so certain variables change.You are overthinking it.
All they need to do is record the listing ID and the potential buyer's ID when the first offer is made.
After that, if there is a matching record, additional offers are not allowed.
When the listing is deleted, they delete the history for that item because it is no longer needed.
My day job for 35 years has been designing this sort of thing.
Exactly. Mine job was similar. It's very easy to do. I would code it the exact same way that Lucky described. Can we be 100% sure that that's what eBay did? No, we can't. But it certainly seems that way with everything I've observed & I sometimes send 250 offers in a day, regularly send 30-50 per day & worked in software & coding for most of my adult life.
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:velvet@ebay, devon@ebay , elizabeth@ebay
I have a list of items that I sent Offers out on last week and the offers expired on August 13, 2022. However, those items have NOT been put back on my list of items available to Send offers for again. I had one Buyer interested in two items he got Offers on but he missed the deadline and the Offers expired ... now I can't Send out Offers again ...
I need the details on how that feature works, what happens to listings after offers expire and how to get them back on the list so Offers can be sent again????? What happens if we delete Expired listings from the Offers Sent list???
Thank you,
Mr. L
Good Morning, @mr_lincoln! For sending offers, someone must have the item in their cart or watching it and must have turned on accepting offers within their account for the option to be available and only one offer can be sent per buyer. As a workaround you can reach out to the buyer via messaging to present the new offer, and if they're interested you can create a new listing tailored to them as you suggested.
elizabeth@ebay Actually your last sentence is only true if you have Counteroffers turned on. As I spelled out in a prior post. If counteroffers are off, then we have no way to link back to the user, even if they have sent us a note through the offer.
@mr_lincoln wrote:
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:Ahh, gotcha. I was confused by your question, at first, because I figured you should already know the stuff I explained since you're experienced, but I didnt want to assume you knew and I thought that was what you were asking.
Clearly you knew 🤣 as to your actual question, i have no clue, because I haven't faced that problem yet. It seems to me that my items re-appear as send offer eligible the moment offers expire or are declined. There is an item that ive had sitting for a while, garners a lot of attention, and i send offers on frequently (a whole other issue. Tons of views/watchers, no sale -- problem for a different thread). So I'm very aware of when i send offers and how long its been and when it should reappear next (assuming it doesnt sell -- lol -- of course it wont sell). So yeah, I'm pretty sure I haven't faced your issue and I feel yours is a glitch and not a policy or standard process.
But i dont know. (Obviously) Lol
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy Not a problem, that's what I figured but the explanation of how it works will help others who read this thread. Now, BINGO!! in red ... that is what I recall, items with expired offers were available almost immediately AND no longer on that list of Sent offers ... I am looking at slightly over a 2 day delay in the process and am sure I lost the opportunity to sell the items to the one Buyer ... I don't want to simply drop prices on the listings in question.
@mr_lincoln @ajs_coins_and_alchemy Reading a little futher. I have NOT experienced what is bolded in red here to be true. I have NEVER had to wait for the first offer to be 'completed' before I can send another offer on that item. Sometimes when I have a newly listed popular item, I may send out 8 different offers, within a few hours time. The item becomes eligible again, almost immediately.
Also, just as an aside, the Active Offers list, I believe is INTENDED to be what @ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote, but in reality, it has always been flaky for me. Most of them have been current offers, but oftentimes there are a couple of really old ones still there (like months old), so I really don't rely on that for much, since it's been glitchy from day 1.
Thanks for that post @simply-the-best-for-you , I just checked my Watch list and the two items that a Buyer wanted from the Offers I sent are still being Watched. However, those two items are not on my Send offers eligible list several days after those Offers expired. I suspect there is some type of a glitch ... I checked this on different browsers which usually points to an issue outside my system.
I am not debating anything anyone else is seeing on their accounts ... for example you have not seen the issue I have but my issue can be seen in my screen shot, expired offers not dropping off the Sent list and becoming available again. For whatever reason eBay glitches are not always global so hopefully the eBay folks looped in on this thread can help get my account issues resolved ...
@mr_lincoln While I'm not ruling out the possibility that you have an unusual glitch, I don't think that's what's happening here. What you are describing is normal behavior. The Watched item does not become unwatched b/c you sent an offer. So, looking at your list of watchers, it may be the initial watcher (the one you already sent an offer to) or it may be a watcher that you're not allowed to send an offer to (there are a number of reasons that preclude you from sending offers to certain watchers) or it may be a new watcher. Watching an item is not the only criteria for sending offers, it's only one of the possibilities.
Keep in mind you may have 10 watchers on an item & if they have all opted out from marketing messages, you may not be able to send offers to any of them.
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:Yeah, I've definitely never experienced sending multiple offers while offers are pending. Say i list an item, i get 1 or 2 watchers, i send an offer, then hours later i see i have 5 or 6 watchers, i am not even able to send an offer til the 48hrs go by and the offers expired or got declined. I've been keenly aware because I get so irritated, i list something, I 'bite' on the first watcher by sending the offer then kick myself in the rear for 48hrs because 7 or 8 people watched it and i missed out on sending them offers for a couple days and they may have moved on and bought something else in the mean time.
Flip side, when i send an offer out, and am able to send an offer again within hours (or very obviously less than 48hrs) i immediately go check and see that someone declined my offer. I make note because so rarely do people outright decline my offers, they usually let them expire. I keep track of this more than I probably should because I'm weird 🤷♂️ not going to suggest the more apparent answers/reasons for this.
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy While I won't rule out that I just haven't noticed it, I'm going to BOLO for proof. I'm certain I've sent repeated offers on the same item within hours. But I will watch for proof 🙂
Keep in mind that NOT all watchers are eligible for offers. Sometimes NONE of them may be eligible. So the fact that you have 5 new watchers, doesn't necessarily mean anything. They may not be allowed to receive an offer for that item (for a variety of reasons). Let me ask you this...if it works the way you say you've observed, then why are we allowed to send an offer to 8 or 11 users at once? I do that all the time! If the system works as you believe & you have to wait for an offer to 'end', why would it even allow you to send 8 offers at one time on a particular item?
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
velvet@ebay, devon@ebay , elizabeth@ebay
I have a list of items that I sent Offers out on last week and the offers expired on August 13, 2022. However, those items have NOT been put back on my list of items available to Send offers for again. I had one Buyer interested in two items he got Offers on but he missed the deadline and the Offers expired ... now I can't Send out Offers again ...
I need the details on how that feature works, what happens to listings after offers expire and how to get them back on the list so Offers can be sent again????? What happens if we delete Expired listings from the Offers Sent list???
Thank you,
Mr. L
Good Morning, @mr_lincoln! For sending offers, someone must have the item in their cart or watching it and must have turned on accepting offers within their account for the option to be available and only one offer can be sent per buyer. As a workaround you can reach out to the buyer via messaging to present the new offer, and if they're interested you can create a new listing tailored to them as you suggested.
elizabeth@ebay Actually your last sentence is only true if you have Counteroffers turned on. As I spelled out in a prior post. If counteroffers are off, then we have no way to link back to the user, even if they have sent us a note through the offer.
Hi, @simply-the-best-for-you. Apologies for any confusion. When I stated what I did, I was inferring that if they are communicating through messaging, such as through a prior purchase, and both parties agreed to an offer amount, a new listing could be created with that new amount, and the item number could be sent to the buyer so they could purchase that new item. However, if no interactions have occurred before, a seller wouldn't be able to proactively reach out to a buyer.
Elizabeth,
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:Ahh, gotcha. I was confused by your question, at first, because I figured you should already know the stuff I explained since you're experienced, but I didnt want to assume you knew and I thought that was what you were asking.
Clearly you knew 🤣as to your actual question, i have no clue, because I haven't faced that problem yet. It seems to me that my items re-appear as send offer eligible the moment offers expire or are declined. There is an item that ive had sitting for a while, garners a lot of attention, and i send offers on frequently (a whole other issue. Tons of views/watchers, no sale -- problem for a different thread). So I'm very aware of when i send offers and how long its been and when it should reappear next (assuming it doesnt sell -- lol -- of course it wont sell). So yeah, I'm pretty sure I haven't faced your issue and I feel yours is a glitch and not a policy or standard process.
But i dont know. (Obviously) Lol
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy Not a problem, that's what I figured but the explanation of how it works will help others who read this thread. Now, BINGO!! in red ... that is what I recall, items with expired offers were available almost immediately AND no longer on that list of Sent offers ... I am looking at slightly over a 2 day delay in the process and am sure I lost the opportunity to sell the items to the one Buyer ... I don't want to simply drop prices on the listings in question.
@mr_lincoln @ajs_coins_and_alchemy Reading a little futher. I have NOT experienced what is bolded in red here to be true. I have NEVER had to wait for the first offer to be 'completed' before I can send another offer on that item. Sometimes when I have a newly listed popular item, I may send out 8 different offers, within a few hours time. The item becomes eligible again, almost immediately.
Also, just as an aside, the Active Offers list, I believe is INTENDED to be what @ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote, but in reality, it has always been flaky for me. Most of them have been current offers, but oftentimes there are a couple of really old ones still there (like months old), so I really don't rely on that for much, since it's been glitchy from day 1.
Thanks for that post @simply-the-best-for-you , I just checked my Watch list and the two items that a Buyer wanted from the Offers I sent are still being Watched. However, those two items are not on my Send offers eligible list several days after those Offers expired. I suspect there is some type of a glitch ... I checked this on different browsers which usually points to an issue outside my system.
I am not debating anything anyone else is seeing on their accounts ... for example you have not seen the issue I have but my issue can be seen in my screen shot, expired offers not dropping off the Sent list and becoming available again. For whatever reason eBay glitches are not always global so hopefully the eBay folks looped in on this thread can help get my account issues resolved ...
@mr_lincoln While I'm not ruling out the possibility that you have an unusual glitch, I don't think that's what's happening here. What you are describing is normal behavior. The Watched item does not become unwatched b/c you sent an offer. So, looking at your list of watchers, it may be the initial watcher (the one you already sent an offer to) or it may be a watcher that you're not allowed to send an offer to (there are a number of reasons that preclude you from sending offers to certain watchers) or it may be a new watcher. Watching an item is not the only criteria for sending offers, it's only one of the possibilities.
Keep in mind you may have 10 watchers on an item & if they have all opted out from marketing messages, you may not be able to send offers to any of them.
@simply-the-best-for-you Yes, thank you, this has been really beneficial for me on this thread and I sincerely appreciate your information. Never to old to learn ... ahhh, but in my case the challenge will be remembering what I learned LOL!
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:velvet@ebay, devon@ebay , elizabeth@ebay
I have a list of items that I sent Offers out on last week and the offers expired on August 13, 2022. However, those items have NOT been put back on my list of items available to Send offers for again. I had one Buyer interested in two items he got Offers on but he missed the deadline and the Offers expired ... now I can't Send out Offers again ...
I need the details on how that feature works, what happens to listings after offers expire and how to get them back on the list so Offers can be sent again????? What happens if we delete Expired listings from the Offers Sent list???
Thank you,
Mr. L
Good Morning, @mr_lincoln! For sending offers, someone must have the item in their cart or watching it and must have turned on accepting offers within their account for the option to be available and only one offer can be sent per buyer. As a workaround you can reach out to the buyer via messaging to present the new offer, and if they're interested you can create a new listing tailored to them as you suggested.
elizabeth@ebay My sincere thanks for the follow up. Would you be able to shed some light on the highlighted section below (red) and further explain the details of that statement?
2. Select Send offer beside the eligible item (or Eligible to send offers, if you're using Seller Hub).
- Not all listings are eligible. Eligibility is determined by a number of factors, including age of listing, listing format, and rules that manage the number of offers buyers receive
- Items must be in the buyer's cart for at least 2 days to send an offer"
Additionally, I believe it was @luckythewinner on this thread who mentioned the possibility that once an offer is sent to a Buyer on a specific item another one, regardless of the Offer method, cannot be sent to that Buyer on that item ever again?!? And is that what you meant on the 2nd half of your post, " ... and only one offer can be sent per buyer. ..."?
Regards,
Mr. L
Hey, @mr_lincoln. We unfortunately wouldn't have more specific details that we're able to share, for the portion in red that you highlighted but I'd love to call out our Seller Center video here on sending offers as it does touch base on qualifications for sending offers in the FAQ section. And you are correct, I apologize for my statement, as it wasn't the clearest. If an offer expires for a specific watcher, then you won't be able to send another offer to them due to the concern of spamming (I hope that's much more clear). @luckythewinner did have some great call outs for work arounds though, so that's awesome!
elizabeth@ebay Thank you again for the follow up ... this has been extremely enlightening for me and the posts that @ajs_coins_and_alchemy , @simply-the-best-for-you and @luckythewinner have helped to round out my understanding of what I am seeing on my end.
The reason those items were not back on my Send offers Eligible list is because the Watchers were the sames ones I had sent the Offers to in the first place. If new Watchers are added to those listings it would become available to send Offers on again to the new Watchers.
@dhbookds wrote:IF I'm understanding correctly......fairly easy to test
Send me a link to an item, I'll put a watch on it.
I will decline, you end the listing.
Relist, send me a link, I'll put a watch on it
Send me an offer (think it has to be up 2 days)........and see if I get it.....
@dhbookds Here is an item number that currently has NO Watchers. 334368349552
@mr_lincoln wrote:
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:velvet@ebay, devon@ebay , elizabeth@ebay
I have a list of items that I sent Offers out on last week and the offers expired on August 13, 2022. However, those items have NOT been put back on my list of items available to Send offers for again. I had one Buyer interested in two items he got Offers on but he missed the deadline and the Offers expired ... now I can't Send out Offers again ...
I need the details on how that feature works, what happens to listings after offers expire and how to get them back on the list so Offers can be sent again????? What happens if we delete Expired listings from the Offers Sent list???
Thank you,
Mr. L
Good Morning, @mr_lincoln! For sending offers, someone must have the item in their cart or watching it and must have turned on accepting offers within their account for the option to be available and only one offer can be sent per buyer. As a workaround you can reach out to the buyer via messaging to present the new offer, and if they're interested you can create a new listing tailored to them as you suggested.
elizabeth@ebay My sincere thanks for the follow up. Would you be able to shed some light on the highlighted section below (red) and further explain the details of that statement?
2. Select Send offer beside the eligible item (or Eligible to send offers, if you're using Seller Hub).
- Not all listings are eligible. Eligibility is determined by a number of factors, including age of listing, listing format, and rules that manage the number of offers buyers receive
- Items must be in the buyer's cart for at least 2 days to send an offer"
Additionally, I believe it was @luckythewinner on this thread who mentioned the possibility that once an offer is sent to a Buyer on a specific item another one, regardless of the Offer method, cannot be sent to that Buyer on that item ever again?!? And is that what you meant on the 2nd half of your post, " ... and only one offer can be sent per buyer. ..."?
Regards,
Mr. L
Hey, @mr_lincoln. We unfortunately wouldn't have more specific details that we're able to share, for the portion in red that you highlighted but I'd love to call out our Seller Center video here on sending offers as it does touch base on qualifications for sending offers in the FAQ section. And you are correct, I apologize for my statement, as it wasn't the clearest. If an offer expires for a specific watcher, then you won't be able to send another offer to them due to the concern of spamming (I hope that's much more clear). @luckythewinner did have some great call outs for work arounds though, so that's awesome!
elizabeth@ebay Thank you again for the follow up ... this has been extremely enlightening for me and the posts that @ajs_coins_and_alchemy , @simply-the-best-for-you and @luckythewinner have helped to round out my understanding of what I am seeing on my end.
The reason those items were not back on my Send offers Eligible list is because the Watchers were the sames ones I had sent the Offers to in the first place. If new Watchers are added to those listings it would become available to send Offers on again to the new Watchers.
Just one clarification @mr_lincoln on your final sentence, that I bolded. Maybe. Maybe not. Just b/c there is a new watcher watching the item, does NOT mean that they will be eligible for you to send an offer to. They may be, they may not be. There are a variety of circumstances that are used to determine eligibility & not every watcher is eligible. Indeed, many savvy users block the ability to have offers sent.
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:velvet@ebay, devon@ebay , elizabeth@ebay
I have a list of items that I sent Offers out on last week and the offers expired on August 13, 2022. However, those items have NOT been put back on my list of items available to Send offers for again. I had one Buyer interested in two items he got Offers on but he missed the deadline and the Offers expired ... now I can't Send out Offers again ...
I need the details on how that feature works, what happens to listings after offers expire and how to get them back on the list so Offers can be sent again????? What happens if we delete Expired listings from the Offers Sent list???
Thank you,
Mr. L
Good Morning, @mr_lincoln! For sending offers, someone must have the item in their cart or watching it and must have turned on accepting offers within their account for the option to be available and only one offer can be sent per buyer. As a workaround you can reach out to the buyer via messaging to present the new offer, and if they're interested you can create a new listing tailored to them as you suggested.
elizabeth@ebay My sincere thanks for the follow up. Would you be able to shed some light on the highlighted section below (red) and further explain the details of that statement?
2. Select Send offer beside the eligible item (or Eligible to send offers, if you're using Seller Hub).
- Not all listings are eligible. Eligibility is determined by a number of factors, including age of listing, listing format, and rules that manage the number of offers buyers receive
- Items must be in the buyer's cart for at least 2 days to send an offer"
Additionally, I believe it was @luckythewinner on this thread who mentioned the possibility that once an offer is sent to a Buyer on a specific item another one, regardless of the Offer method, cannot be sent to that Buyer on that item ever again?!? And is that what you meant on the 2nd half of your post, " ... and only one offer can be sent per buyer. ..."?
Regards,
Mr. L
Hey, @mr_lincoln. We unfortunately wouldn't have more specific details that we're able to share, for the portion in red that you highlighted but I'd love to call out our Seller Center video here on sending offers as it does touch base on qualifications for sending offers in the FAQ section. And you are correct, I apologize for my statement, as it wasn't the clearest. If an offer expires for a specific watcher, then you won't be able to send another offer to them due to the concern of spamming (I hope that's much more clear). @luckythewinner did have some great call outs for work arounds though, so that's awesome!
elizabeth@ebay Thank you again for the follow up ... this has been extremely enlightening for me and the posts that @ajs_coins_and_alchemy , @simply-the-best-for-you and @luckythewinner have helped to round out my understanding of what I am seeing on my end.
The reason those items were not back on my Send offers Eligible list is because the Watchers were the sames ones I had sent the Offers to in the first place. If new Watchers are added to those listings it would become available to send Offers on again to the new Watchers.
Just one clarification @mr_lincoln on your final sentence, that I bolded. Maybe. Maybe not. Just b/c there is a new watcher watching the item, does NOT mean that they will be eligible for you to send an offer to. They may be, they may not be. There are a variety of circumstances that are used to determine eligibility & not every watcher is eligible. Indeed, many savvy users block the ability to have offers sent.
@simply-the-best-for-you Yes, I should have clarified that my post assumed all other criteria that Sellers are not privy to that would prevent an offer being sent were met AND the new Watchers were all able to receive Offers via the Send offers eligible list ... phew, that's a mouth full. Can I get an Amen?!?
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:@simply-the-best-for-you Very good question. Now you're poking holes in my argument LOL
My response to you would be that the offer you send to 1 or more buyers is the SAME offer. You can't pick and choose the offer sending offer A to buyer A and offer B to buyer B at the same time. So I would say you are only allowed to send one ROUND of offers at a time.
I understand not all are eligibile.
Say i have a watcher, send the offer to that watcher. Couple hours later now i have a total of 8 watchers. By the time that offer ends (48hrs cuz the buyer let it expire) i have the ability to send an offer to 7 watchers while I have 8 (i assume because the 1st of 8 is the one that received the original offer and now other 7 new ones are receiving 2nd round of offers).
I mean -- I have no 100% definitive proof, but I'm not pulling numbers or guesses out of thin air, this has just been my experience and I've been observing it and pondering it so I've taken note. Anyone can argue their own experiences but I've been trying to study it on my end to better understand and utilize it.
Also, i completely agree you can send multiple offers within hours of each other but in my experience it has been because someone declined my offers and those offers thus ended.
Ive just never been able to send out an (unsolicited) offer while an (unsolicitied) offer ive already sent is still pending.
@ajs_coins_and_alchemy Well, you got me...us software/coding types like to poke holes in theories, but mainly just to get at the truth, not as any sort of attack 🙂
You are of course correct that when I send an offer to 8 prospects at once (I'm not going to call them watchers b/c they don't necessarily have to be watchers), that offer is the same to all. From a coding & system design standpoint, it makes no sense to allow this & not allow additional offers to be sent until others have either timed out or been declined. That said, it's certainly not beyond eBay to code things in a way that make no sense, so it *could be* true.
I swear I've done it a million times though, BUT I could be misremembering. I do not follow my watchers at all, b/c they don't equate to offer opportunities directly, so it's a false equivalency. What I'm going to do, just b/c I want to know (it's not about poking holes in your theory), is pay special attn to this going fwd. Esp when I list items I know will have a great deal of interest & will gain a ton of watchers, to see if I can prove what I think I've experienced many times. Or not. Maybe I'll prove it works the way you think. I would just like to know for sure b/c you've got me really curious now 🙂
BTW, I too send a note with virtually every offer. I also experimented for awhile with adding to that note something like "Offer being sent to 6 people" b/c I thought it may add some urgency. I only tried it for a few weeks, but I didn't notice any correlation to sales.
@mr_lincoln @ajs_coins_and_alchemy
Well, I'm not religious, but ok...Amen 😁
BTW, to all interested in this topic. Just an FYI for those of you who are trying to correlate watchers to offers. As we've established, it's a somewhat false equivalency. BUT, also keep in mind that offers can go out to people who are NOT WATCHING the item at all.
There is criteria in place for offers to go to those who have looked at a listing with a certain frequency &/or duration. Those prospects DO NOT have to be watching at all. It happens to many of us sellers, when we are researching & our research causes us to simply look at an item multiple times (or for a certain duration or both). IDK the criteria, I thought they used to publish it, but lately I have not been able to find it.
