Sending "Offers" no longer generates sales... is it just me?

[the_backyard_bear]

In past years, sending "offers" to interested buyers was generating a significant number of sales.  For most of this year... they seem to generate next to nothing.  

The number of potential buyers seems to actually have gone up... but the response has gone down.  I have had multiple occasions where 50-100 offers are sent... to potential buyers who have indicated interest very recently... for 10% discount... and no takers.   

It just seems unusual to me, as buyers have become conditioned to seek discounts this way... and when none take the offer, I get confused and frustrated.

Just wondering if this is a personal experience... or others have noticed the same trend?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I would guess part of the reason is because we are no longer sending only to people who have put the item in their cart or on their watch list... Offers are being sent to people who simply looked at the item a few times. Many of these people are sellers like me doing research, but I have no interest in purchasing the item, whether discounted substantially or not. Yet I am sent the offers, which I generally ignore.

[funfactorychannel]

because send offers become spam..

I hate getting spam by my 2nd selling account all the time.(cause i used this account to search prices)

[ed8108]

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@the_backyard_bear wrote:

In past years, sending "offers" to interested buyers was generating a significant number of sales.  

... and when none take the offer, I get confused and frustrated.

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Not confusing:   There is fierce competition for a buyer's money

[chapeau-noir]

I only send offers to people who are actual watchers, not to those who have "touched", "fondled" or otherwise simply viewed a listing, as I consider that spam. I do  pretty well with them, usually sending them out on the second go-round of the item.

[mam98031]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

I would guess part of the reason is because we are no longer sending only to people who have put the item in their cart or on their watch list... Offers are being sent to people who simply looked at the item a few times. Many of these people are sellers like me doing research, but I have no interest in purchasing the item, whether discounted substantially or not. Yet I am sent the offers, which I generally ignore.

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I only send offers to those that are watching my items, about once a month or so.  

I don't like those that are getting sent to me just because I viewed something.  That I find very annoying.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir 

"I only send offers to people who are actual watchers, not to those who have "touched", "fondled" or otherwise simply viewed a listing, as I consider that spam. I do  pretty well with them, usually sending them out on the second go-round of the item."

I've never noticed a way to know for certain that my seller initiated offers are ONLY going to watchers. Can you explain how you do this?

[hartungcards]

Because buyers who get sent offers no longer have the option to "Accept Offer" and put the item in their cart.  Now they can only "Go to Checkout" and have to pay for every offer separately.  Buyers don't want to deal with this nuisance, and it's costing sellers who offer combined shipping on multiple offers big time.

[dirk12955]

Whatever the reason is,   I've also seen a drop 

in actual sales from me sending a potential buyer an offer.

The results in sales have dropped to almost zero.  

[castleberrylane]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@chapeau-noir 

"I only send offers to people who are actual watchers, not to those who have "touched", "fondled" or otherwise simply viewed a listing, as I consider that spam. I do  pretty well with them, usually sending them out on the second go-round of the item."

I've never noticed a way to know for certain that my seller initiated offers are ONLY going to watchers. Can you explain how you do this?

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I would like to know this too.  I thought "watchers" were only people who actually put the item on their watch list?  

[chapeau-noir]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@chapeau-noir 

"I only send offers to people who are actual watchers, not to those who have "touched", "fondled" or otherwise simply viewed a listing, as I consider that spam. I do  pretty well with them, usually sending them out on the second go-round of the item."

I've never noticed a way to know for certain that my seller initiated offers are ONLY going to watchers. Can you explain how you do this?

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques  The only way I know how to do it is to not send offers on my offer eligible listings that have "0" watchers.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir Ah, thanks! That probably does eliminate some, but of course if you have 2 watchers and when you go to send the offer, it says it will be sent to 3 or 4 people, I'm guessing 1 or 2 are either people with the item in their cart or people who just looked at the item a few times. So, I agree, what you are doing probably reduces such offers, but I'm guessing some slip through the cracks. it would be nice if ebay gave us a choice, a way to set up a preference to exclude non watchers, but I doubt that will happen.

[chapeau-noir]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@chapeau-noir Ah, thanks! That probably does eliminate some, but of course if you have 2 watchers and when you go to send the offer, it says it will be sent to 3 or 4 people, I'm guessing 1 or 2 are either people with the item in their cart or people who just looked at the item a few times. So, I agree, what you are doing probably reduces such offers, but I'm guessing some slip through the cracks. it would be nice if ebay gave us a choice, a way to set up a preference to exclude non watchers, but I doubt that will happen.

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I hadn't thought it through that far, but I suspect you're right - I'll pay attention to how many offers are sent next time I do it and see how strong the correlation is, at least in my case.

[theteamsetguy]

@the_backyard_bear ,

I think your problem is offering just a 10% discount. If someone just offered  me a 10% discount I would just hit the delete button  ASAP. Buyers are conditioned on much higher discounts.  Most stores these days advertise 40 to 50 percent off.

Have you tried 50% off and I'm not joking? I'll bet your acceptance rate will increase assuming you don't jack the prices up before the sale.  No better way to increase sales than a good half off sale. Unfortunately it works too good for my girlfriend.

[keziak]

Not sure I understand. IF you send an offer why wouldn't they have the option to "Accept Offer"? Isn't that the point? I must be missing something.

I get a lot of combining. I'm  not sure if sending offers hurts that. 

But to answer the question, I am seeing a drop-off in sales from sending offers, and fewer offers to me.  Right now I am dialing back adding Best Offer on auctions, experimenting with dropping the price somewhat instead. Some of that results in sales, I bet because my prices are well below the competition or sold prices.