eBay

hughs_small_shop · ‎04-23-2019

A couple questions. The most pressing one is a mechanic of the option. I usually send offers if I have multiple people watching an item. I've recently noticed that when I send a 'send offer', it will only have sent it to one buyer despite there being more than one. This was weird because in previous times it has sent to multiple watchers, but a recent one had 4 watchers and the offer was only sent to 1. Is this a common occurence?

Also I wanted thoughts of other sellers about this option. In my opinion, I think it's a good way to encourage buyers to make a quicker purchase by offering enticing lower prices. However how much is too much? For items that don't sell quickly, it'll be easy to send offers multiple times, probably to the same watchers. I feel this will have the adverse effect because if buyers are getting pestered with 'sender offered this price' notifications, they may just be turned off to buying the item period. As a buyer I rarely get these notifications from sellers, and when I do it's usually tiny sales (like 2-3 dollar discounts). I try to offer 10-30 dollar discounts as my items are expensive but sold at competitive prices, but it usually isn't that successful.

So is this option a go or a no-go? Does it entice buyers or turn them away? Please share your thoughts!

etcism · ‎04-23-2019

I think, and I could be wrong, so hopefully someone else will chime in, that you can only send an offer to someone once, that is why your one with 4 watchers, perhaps you had already sent the first 3 watchers an offer and it only submitted your new offer to the newest watcher?

Also, I like the idea of it - it hasn't rolled out on my listings yet, but I had a seller submit me an offer about a month ago and I jumped on it. It was a good deal.

I've read on the boards from some people who absolutely hate it and say it will stop them from watching things and I've read from others, like me, who are all for it as both a buyer and a seller.

As for price, yes a bigger discount is a bigger enticement. I think there are multiple reasons why a watcher wouldn't jump on a great deal ... things like they aren't really watching to purchase - for example they are another seller, or they don't have the money quite yet to purchase no matter how good the offer ... things like that.

dhbookds · ‎04-23-2019

Ebay limits the offers sent........so some of the watchers may have opted out of receiving them or had too many (not necessarily yours) offers sent or they been eliminated based on some other criteria.......

Certainly think it's a good sales tool to try.........

@etcism For those that don't have it yet in seller hub, try this link:

https://www.ebay.com/mys/active?ssPageName=STRK:ME:LNLK:MESEX

You have to scroll thru all the listing to see where you can send offers, but you can find them there.

rdj831 · ‎04-23-2019

EBay started this because another selling site is has used it for years.

I have tried it on the other site and have not had much luck with it. I also feel like it will train buyers not to buy right away if they think a discount is coming. I actually do that myself when buying from some sellers who use it regularly as a business model. You know, the-list-it-high then mark-it-down-til-it-sells-crowd.

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-23-2019

I've received multiple offers for the same item, from the same seller, so I don't think you can't send the buyer an offer if you have sent them one before.