Sending offers

[debvor]

I have sent 53 offers to potential buyers in the week or so. This was done through Ebay's offer process. Of the 53 exactly 1 was accepted. Absolutely no counter offers. When I do this I usually discount the item by half and  some by 40%. Statistically that does not compute. What could possibly the reason that more people aren't accepting these offers? Bad economy? I don't think so because why would they be watching an item unless they were interested?  I have had potential buyers in the past message me and say that when they tried to accept my offer Ebay told them that I don't ship to their area. These were all in the United States. I, of course, ship every where in the US and most place worldwide through Global Shipping program. What are other potential reasons that these offers not being accepted? Ebay has gotten the nick name "Glitch Bay" because of the numerous glitches on the site. Maybe people aren't even getting the offers. Maybe when they try to accept Ebay won't let them. You know the old pop up message "Oops it's not you it's us". I have looked at similar items that I have listed and there seems to be a whole lot of ridiculously low prices for items that were selling for hundreds of dollars. Why is that? Could it be the economy? The price of goods at Walmart hasn't gone down but in fact they have gone up. Maybe it's those stupid sites Ebay offer to research pricing. Are they suggesting people sell for stupid prices???? Maybe it's Ebay's horrible search engine. I have searched for old collectibles and gotten a majority of new items most unrelated to my search. I don't know what the answer is but I do know Ebay doesn't have the answer. 

[brightlightbookseller]

We have moderate success with seller-initiated offers, probably a 10-20% response rate depending on the day, but we only send offers on older stuff we want to move anyways, and only about 10% off usually.  I just don't take much time doing it (I send in bulk at 5% or 10% off depending on price and age), and don't stress about it.  Sometimes things sell at full price after sending someone an offer, I think it might give it a boost in the search results or something.

[tinsoldierunderground]

@southern*sweet*tea 

Maybe I'm in another one of those wonderful ebay test groups, but whenever a seller sends an offer it shows up in my email, which I check daily.  ????? 

[reallynicestamps]

As good a place as any to ask.

I want to send Offers on older material that has had recent Views. But I don't seem to be able to do that.

Is the Offer option only allowed for Watchers? Because those could be months old while Views are within the last 30 days.

[tinsoldierunderground]

*I only have one email account, missed that.

[brightlightbookseller]

Supposedly, yes, though there have been reports of people claiming they just looked and didn't watch an item but still got a seller offer.  I'm dubious, but they could be testing something like that.  I would assume in general only Watchers will be eligible for offers, though, and it's not unusual to not have the option to send offers even if you have recent views. Right now, less than 20% of our items currently are eligible for offers, though I sent out some earlier today so that removed some from that pool.

[onefootflipper1]

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@keziak wrote:

I thought that many watchers are actually other sellers watching to see how one's listings are doing. 

I was having pretty good success with sending offers but only for, at most, a few dollars off. It ebbed off though and I don't get around to sending offers very often.

I was not aware the offers only lasted 24 hours. 

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I don't think most sellers have time for that sort of thing. I just can't see what it would help, and how many thousands of things would one be watching.

Only reason I ever watch an item from a seller perspective is so that I can hit sell similar on it later.

[redlinear]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

As good a place as any to ask.

I want to send Offers on older material that has had recent Views. But I don't seem to be able to do that.

Is the Offer option only allowed for Watchers? Because those could be months old while Views are within the last 30 days.

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Your eBay, Active Listings, sort oldest listings 1st,  then find the oval that says you can send this many offers, click it.
You'll then have the offers you can send, from top to bottom, sorted by listing date.
  Is that what ya meant?

[redlinear]

I watch items in order to go back to my watch list and decide which of the few I want to purchase (sort of compare).  
Then I wait a few days to purchase, if possible, to see if an offer shows up.
I'll also forget to order something, and an offer will show up. 
Sort of a nice reminder.
   I think that happens a lot!

[turtles-trading-post]

When I first discovered Send Offers I raised my prices by the 10% I offer. Funny, it didn’t hurt regular sales a bit.  I send all the offers eBay allows. As said the return, no doubt depends on category and initial asking price, is 20-25%, which are sales I didn’t have.

My main goal is to attract hobby buyers to watch my store and become regulars. 

[kh-jean]

Hi everyone,



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Thank you for understanding.