eBay

turquoisetulips · ‎09-28-2018

Not really looking for advice ,, I just thought this was too humorous not to share . I have a living memory locket for sale[ one of many ] for 15.65 or best offer - free shipping . Basically the same as most of my inventory . Today I got an offer of one dollar on it . Of course I politely declined ,, but it had me wondering what this person was thinking . I guess its true what has been said that a lot of people don't understand shipping charges or have any idea what they cost . I guess they never purchase postage stamps or ship a package so they would have at least some idea . I can't rightfully call this person a '' buyer '',, not just because I declined his one dollar offer .Mainly because it would have cost me more than twice the amount he offered just for the shipping alone [never mind the cost of the locket itself ] which in turn would have made me the buyer lol . This is what I find so funny and now I'm curious . Anybody else have a story ? Tulips

genv · ‎09-29-2018

@turquoisetulips

This is the result of a site filled w/ 99 cent / free shipping items on eBay.

rt_21_trading_co · ‎09-29-2018

I got the mother of 2 low balls yesterday myself.

One wants me to drop the shipping on a 10 pound package, says it is to much for the item. I was selling it for $ 39 under EVERY other seller on ebay. What he wanted off would pay the ebay fees and half the shipping. I just raised the price to match every other seller and told him I could give him the discount now.

Another wanted me to drop the shipping to half on a 10 oz 1st Class pkg because he just got 3 remote oil filter mounts shipped for "only $ 2 more in shipping". The oil filter mounts sell for over $ 45 each. The petcock he was sniveling about is an $ 8 item and $ 6 shipping. The petcock sells on ebay, amazon and several other site for 4 times what I sell it for. Emailed me so many times I block him and I let him have it in words also. I started out with cheapskate and it deteriorated quickly from there. I won't be harassed.

I don't need customers like that. ID is just a buyer, never sold anything and didn't believe that ebay even charged fees at all. I even provided him links to ebay fees.

I think buying on ebay should require COMPLETE transparency about what they charge sellers so buyers know we don't get a free ride. Along with sensibility training so they don't constantly make fools of themselves and interrupt ebay flow.

They hurt the whole system. When some poor sellers is setting there spending hours emailing someone that will NEVER understand because their brain is oriented around FREE, that seller is losing time they could be shipping purchases, listing items, helping real buyers, eating, sleeping, etc.

labs118 · ‎09-29-2018

Here is my latest lowball offer
I don't write anything I just decline on something this low
They never came back with a higher offer
If it is reasonable offer I accept , if it is a an offer worth taking the time to counter I do it .

keziak · ‎09-29-2018

@turquoisetulips wrote:
Not really looking for advice ,, I just thought this was too humorous not to share . I have a living memory locket for sale[ one of many ] for 15.65 or best offer - free shipping . Basically the same as most of my inventory . Today I got an offer of one dollar on it . Of course I politely declined ,, but it had me wondering what this person was thinking . I guess its true what has been said that a lot of people don't understand shipping charges or have any idea what they cost . I guess they never purchase postage stamps or ship a package so they would have at least some idea . I can't rightfully call this person a '' buyer '',, not just because I declined his one dollar offer .Mainly because it would have cost me more than twice the amount he offered just for the shipping alone [never mind the cost of the locket itself ] which in turn would have made me the buyer lol . This is what I find so funny and now I'm curious . Anybody else have a story ? Tulips

Nothing to offer to your responses except to say kudos to you for having a sense of humor about it. My auto decline is set low but at least I'm spared $1 and $2 offers. Occasionally when I get an offer I'll see that they originally offered that low. Guess it doesn't hurt to try but at least for now I'm not that desperate.

dirk12955 · ‎09-29-2018

Rule #1

Don't apologize,

Rule #2

Don't explain

dubiousgain · ‎09-29-2018

Oh, yes.... Been there, done that. IMO, for many, [sellers AND bidders] ebay has become some-what of a joke; Many no longer take it seriously. I would wager that your WBB, had no real intentions of owning your item, and you are not likely his only victim.

luckythewinner · ‎09-29-2018

A seller I know once got an offer of $90 on an item listed for $500.

But he accepted my offer and sold it to me.

turquoisetulips · ‎09-29-2018

@dubiousgain wrote:
Oh, yes.... Been there, done that. IMO, for many, [sellers AND bidders] ebay has become some-what of a joke; Many no longer take it seriously. I would wager that your WBB, had no real intentions of owning your item, and you are not likely his only victim. -dubiousgain

That's probably true . Could be a person who just puts as many scant lines in the water as he can and hopes some fish comes along thats just desperate enough to bite on one 🙂 tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-29-2018

@luckythewinner wrote:

A seller I know once got an offer of $90 on an item listed for $500.

But he accepted my offer and sold it to me.

Kudos

myboardid · ‎09-29-2018

This happened a few days ago - Item listed at $27.50 with Best Offer. Offer is $30. What the heck, I took it, thinking I wouldn't get paid, but I had several more so at least the item would remain listed while I was going through the Unpaid Item process. We are now into the third day of the UPID. I'm betting on not getting paid.

----------------------------
Successful and experienced seller since 1997, over 70,000 feedback, boardie since the boards were begun.

soh.maryl · ‎09-29-2018

I agree with the others who feel that that person just thought, "What the heck -- he might just take this ridiculously low offer". It probably happens often enough to make it worth someone's while. And what does that person have to lose really? Have never done this intentionally, but some years ago, saw an item listed for $35 and thought I made an offer of $32, but turns out it was $23. When I was trying to figure out how to fix this, the seller accepted my offer.

When I messaged her and explained, she said, "OK, make it $26 and we have a deal". Maybe something like this happened to that person in the past.

keziak · ‎09-29-2018

@soh.maryl wrote:
I agree with the others who feel that that person just thought, "What the heck -- he might just take this ridiculously low offer". It probably happens often enough to make it worth someone's while. And what does that person have to lose really? Have never done this intentionally, but some years ago, saw an item listed for $35 and thought I made an offer of $32, but turns out it was $23. When I was trying to figure out how to fix this, the seller accepted my offer.
When I messaged her and explained, she said, "OK, make it $26 and we have a deal". Maybe something like this happened to that person in the past.

that rather sounds like a case of everyone being happy which is the ideal situation.

I just accepted a heavy discount on an item but was happy to sell it because it's the sort of thing that could easily sit in my store for many months with no takers.

ten_o_nine · ‎09-29-2018

@labs118 wrote:
Here is my latest lowball offer
I don't write anything I just decline on something this low
They never came back with a higher offer
If it is reasonable offer I accept , if it is a an offer worth taking the time to counter I do it .

Wow, that's the good news, wait till you hear the bad news with "SNAD return"?.

ifyouloveit · ‎09-30-2018

Most of the time I say nothing as you suggest, but every once in awhile-dang! I do just what parker sparrow does, I tell them if I sold it to them at that price, I would owe eBay money. Or them money. Or whomever money.

A couple of times these buyers have actually come back with a decent offer, sale was made and we went on to repeat sales. So it's not always a bad thing. Most of them are just playing the numbers though, knowing that they will find some sellers who take the offer for whatever reason. It's almost like a weird form of gambling 🙂 There are compulsive shoppers, why not compulsive low ballers? Their reward is a seller now and then takes the offer.

Maybe it's a game people play with others. See how many items online you can get for $1 or less. Or who scores the best deal. Maybe the first one to score a certain 'whatever widget' for $1 (or whatever beyond ridiculous offer it is for item) wins the game. People are strange, ask Jim Morrison.

getitright1234 · ‎09-30-2018

@pburn wrote:
Maybe the buyer lived in your neighborhood, and s/he thought you could just drop it off on your way to the grocery store.

What? So, with their offer of $1.00 (one dollar) that did not include additional terms, the seller was likely to receive a supplement request for personal delivery to the grocery store.

Now, I have heard some excuses for buyers, but this one is almost as offensive as the $1.00 offer: "Maybe the buyer lived in your neighborhood, and s/he thought you could just drop it off on your way to the grocery store." OMG