Topics for contacting a seller

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

When a customer wants to contact a seller they are given a few different topics to choose from...shipping, item details, payment, returns etc.   And now as of somewhat recently they can now select "make an offer" as a reason for wanting to contact a seller.

If I wanted to have offers available I would choose "or best offer" feature when listing the item.  eBay is planting the seed in buyers minds that sellers are open to offers.   Maybe some are,  but I'm not; again if I were then I would use that feature when listing the item.   So eBay is setting buyers up for disappointment while upsetting sellers because now I have to field insulting offers from buyers  where I may have an item regularly $95, on sale for $60,  and now I now have to respond to asinine offers along the likes of "How about $12?"

ALSO, for the past several years eBay has been telling sellers they want to move the company perception away from being that of the world's largest garage sale towards a more traditional online retail environment where buyers can expect a similar experience as they would from shopping at a retailer like Banana Republic's website for example.   They have made sellers jump thru many, many, many hoops when listing items, regarding shipping and returns policy and countless other ways.  eBay is talking out of both sides of your mouth when they say they want to move away from the "world's largest garage sale" perception but having the make an offer feature available for buyers when contacting sellers as that "world's largest garage sale" perception is PRECISELY what they are fostering by doing so.

If this makes any since to you then next time you talk to eBay for whatever reason, ask them to remove it ASAP or at the very least permit sellers to opt out of that being one of the topics that buyers see for their reason for contacting us.  Again, this is planting the seed in their mind that we sellers may be open to offers when many of us are not and are setting buyers up for disappointment.  Again, if I wanted to take offers I would have that feature available in the pricing when I list my items.   

[dhbookds]

You wouldn't take an offer of $145 for a $150 item?  How many sellers do you think would take it? 

Point being, even a seller who decries make an offer may take a decent one.......   Ebay has the metrics on this......if it didn't work, they wouldn't continue to allow it.....

Certainly we all get the low ball offers-at least half the time, I can get the lowballs up to an acceptable compromise........... so not all lowballs are useless, at least for me..........

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

If it is a decent offer, yes I would accept. HOWEVER, the point is eBay should not be planting the seed in buyer's minds that we may be open to offers in the first place by placing that "make an offer" as a topic for wanting to contact the seller in the first place. If a buyer clicked on "other" as a reason for wanting to contact the seller and said "Hey...would you take $145?" Then I wouldn't have an issue. But there is absolutely no reason to plant that proverbial seed in the first place and certainly not at the same time they are telling sellers "We want to change the perception of us being the world's largest garage sale."

[tunicaslot]

Ebay really doesn't talk to us - we are a group of other buyers and sellers than man the forum - for free - in order to help others out. Many are upset about the make offer selection - but a seller does not have to reply to those offers - just delete them.

Your best bet for voicing your concerns about Ebay is to either join one of the many Ebay groups on Social Media where many of the group leaders do know people inside of Ebay or go to Ebay Open and voice your concerns.

[jason_incognito]

The reality is that if you don't take offers, the next guy will.

As your stuff doesn't sell, it will fall lower on best match and then you too can join the chorus of "eBay is throttling me"

It's eBay's site. Deal with their rules and how they run things or go create your own site, but expecting eBay to do what you want is a ridiculous plan.

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

And to use your same logic against you, how many buyers would really say "I'll pay $145 for your item that you have listed for $150 but not a penny more!" If they want it, they will pay the full price. Just as if I wanted to take offers I would list my item with a price or best offer feature available.

[jason_incognito]

Here's the thing.

Yours is listed at $150.

Mine is $175 with best offer. The buyer offers me $100. With a little back and forth i can get them up, and sell mine for $150.

I also recently got an offer on something that i had bare boned the price down to $125. When I saw that there was an offer i braced for somewhere around $60. the offer? $117.

I couldn't hit accept fast enough.

[jason_incognito]

I think you'd be surprised how many people make solid offers.

$10 listing. offer $9.50.......

$125 listing. offer $117.....

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

I'll take a look at the other groups on social media. 

You are absolutely right, I do not need to reply.  But again, they are pointlessly setting up buyers for a disappointing experience in the first place.  Why not permit sellers to opt in/out of the feature that lists "make an offer" under the topics for why the buyer wants to contact a seller?  That way the seed is never planted in the buyer's mind that I may be open to offers in the first place when I am not.

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

I'm glad to hear that you have had a good experience with offers.  I've used them in the past and while there were some solid reasonable offers coming in,  my overall experience was negative.   Hence, I don't use them any longer. 

I simply feel we should have the capacity to opt in or out of the current feature that lists "make an offer" as a topic for why a buyer would want to contact a seller as there is absolutely no reason to plant that seed in the buyer's mind in the first place when a particular seller like myself does not want to entertain them in the first place .   Again, glad to hear your experience was positive. 

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

On a different note, when I did try out the offer feature there was something I did not understand. I could not use the or best offer feature on an item with different variations. For example, we sell wetsuits. If I had a listing with the same model but in sizes small thru XXL, I could not include the "or best offer" feature. I would have to make a new listing for each particular size (ie one with no variations for size or anything else) THEN include the best offer feature. Are there any work arounds to this or any explanation as to why this is the case?

[turquoisetulips]

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@jason_incognito wrote:

I think you'd be surprised how many people make solid offers.

$10 listing. offer $9.50.......

$125 listing. offer $117.....

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I accept  best offers on most of my listings . I can usually tell when an offer is coming from a reseller on a tight budget .  It's when the offers range from one dollar to five dollars  on a 15 to 16 dollar item . Even though I  think these low ball  offers are a bit annoying  at times  I still  keep the best offer option  open . I think one of the reasons I do   is based on my own curiosity .  Even though it might be a reseller  it's still kind of nice to know they think well  enough of my  stuff to believe they could make a profit  on it  themselves  if the price was right . Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

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@charlotte.beauregard.inc wrote:

I'll take a look at the other groups on social media. 

You are absolutely right, I do not need to reply.  But again, they are pointlessly setting up buyers for a disappointing experience in the first place.  Why not permit sellers to opt in/out of the feature that lists "make an offer" under the topics for why the buyer wants to contact a seller?  That way the seed is never planted in the buyer's mind that I may be open to offers in the first place when I am not.

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You could try tacking on a polite but  brief message in your listings . shrug  .. Tulips 

[tellmemama]

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@jason_incognito wrote:

Here's the thing.

Yours is listed at $150.

Mine is $175 with best offer. The buyer offers me $100. With a little back and forth i can get them up, and sell mine for $150.

I also recently got an offer on something that i had bare boned the price down to $125. When I saw that there was an offer i braced for somewhere around $60. the offer? $117.

I couldn't hit accept fast enough.

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Which is all well and good because you choose  to use best offer.  Believe it or not, there are some sellers here who do not want it in any form including this new back door route through contacting the seller.  Oh and before you ask, I'm still doing six figures annually in sales. 

I guess my listings are being seen just fine.

[charlotte.beauregard.inc]

"Oh and before you ask, I'm still doing six figures annually in sales.
I guess my listings are being seen just fine."

I completely agree. I'm doing around $250k a year in sales combined among the 3 accounts I manage; it is funny that almost every time someone in these forums complains about eBay policy, there is an assumption from some that they must be a rube with poor sales who doesn't know what they are doing. I'm admittedly not happy with my sales as I thought I'd be doing $350-400k a year by now. So there are certainly things I could/should be doing better. But I am doing $250k or so a year so I think the presumptions and preconceived notions that some posters here appear to operate under are more then a little off-base.