Using "Reply with Offer" aka Private Offer effectively

[jmb344]

Hi sellers,

The private offer feature, aka Private Offer, has been live on the site for a few years. This is the feature that allows you to respond to buyers' messages with the "Reply with Offer" button. It is NOT Best Offer. It shows up in the member-to-member conversations. As far as I can tell there is no effective way to track the offers you send on an account basis. You must go into every listing individually to see the offers you've sent and the offers accepted (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ManageBestOffers&itemid=(item id). 

Have any of you found a way to use this tool effectively to send and track the completion of orders made through this feature? Thank you in advance for all of your feedback!

Josh

[dhbookds]

I've used it and pretty sure when the buyer accepted, they paid, and it was like any other sold order.......so not sure what you are talking about.......

[jmb344]

Thank you dhbookds for your quick response. Are you only using the feature to offer discounts? Some use it to bundle other items the buyer might be interested in buying. The tool allows for price increases as well. But it's often hard to keep track of all offers sent and then to track the ones buyers accept. Assuming you are doing something other than price discounts on the 1 item in question, is there a way you have used it to track and verify who has accepted your offers?

[dhbookds]

I''m sure I'm not the only one........lol, others may be at lunch.......

I've not used it as much as you have......frankly, if they buy, the little 1 shows up on the bell and it ends up on my sold page.......so I don't go chasing the offer to find out what happened......  if they counteroffer...we go that route and the notifications come.  I haven't done it on multiple items at the same time.....at least lately.....  On those, we would "make the deal" in emails and then I'd throw up a listing to cover the deal......which they would buy........

[dtexley3]

I've not seen any way to differentiate these from a best offer acceptance.  If you want to track these you'll most likely need to do it yourself outside eBay.

[jmb344]

I see. This feature doesn't allow for counteroffers. If you are doing counteroffers it must be through the Best Offer feature. Private Offer only shows up through M2M messaging. You aren't advertising, like Best Offer, that you are willing to sell the item for a lower price. You just start communicating through M2M messaging about needs and then offer a price to match the request. For instance, if you are selling car rotors for $100 and the buyer asks if you sell brake pads, instead of telling them to add the separate items to their cart, or create a new listing selling both together, you can just add $20 to the $100 listing and send them a private offer for $120. Or bundle anything else that you might want to include to the price the buyer requests (longer warranty, expedited shipping, etc). No need to create new listings or have the buyer do anything else on their end to agree to the price (cart additions, etc). Just send them the price for the new bundle and have them accept.

[jmb344]

Essentially it is a way to upsell anything within your conversations and check out immediately.

[fern*wood]

Interesting...I've used the email offers many times but never added any other items to the offers.  I always thought it had to involve only the item in question plus I assumed a buyer would not want to agree to paying for other items without having them featured in the listing itself.

[jmb344]

fern*wood, you never really know what a buyer might want. At least this way you can include whatever else the buyer might want/need to complement their purchase. If you sell DVD's, but have a digital copy version available, say it's only $5 more. You save on shipping by including more items in an order. So offer whatever else you think they might want. Even if it's not listed on eBay yet, you can still sell it without needing to create a listing for it.

[7606dennis]

Frankly, I'm not fond of haggling so if I haven't included the Best Offer feature in a listing, I would advise people not to send me one.  While eBay may have done a 180 on their policy, I still consider making an offer when the Best Offer option isn't present to be a quick way to my BBL.  If I were willing to entertain offers I would have included a BO option.  End of story.

[jmb344]

Thanks for your thoughts dennis. Use it or not, no problem either way. The idea is that since you have to have conversations with members anyway, if you can make that time more profitable, then I say all the more power to you!

[Anonymous]

@jmb344

I recently tried using 'reply with offer' for two buyers.  Unfortunately, no luck in either case.  I wonder if there's some technical reason it didn't work?  I sell all buy-it-now items and require immediate payment.  Perhaps because the 'reply with offer' feature does NOT require immediate payment, that prevented the offer from proceeding normally?   Heres's more detail of the scenarios:

1.  Buyer #1:  I sell an item that comes in a lot of 2 pieces.  The buyer wanted to know if I offered the same item in a pack of 3 pieces.  I didn't have a listing for a pack of 3, but it's something that I have multiples of, so selling a pack of 3 would be a cinch.  The pack of 2 was $4.99, and I offered the pack of 3 for $6.49 (free shipping via First Class Mail).   But, I never heard back from the buyer.

2.  Buyer #2:   He was desperately looking for a hard to find part.  He went into great detail and shared photos of his old part.   I did some research, found what he needed, and messaged the good news with details and several photos, using the 'reply with offer' feature.   I thought he'd be thrilled to bits, and would surely purchase right away.   The item was under $20, including free shipping.  But I heard radio silence. 

In the past, I'd normally create a new custom listing for the buyer, and they'd always purchase instantly.  They'd also message back with a sincere thanks for helping them with a special request.

It is strange that I haven't had any luck since using the "reply with offer" feature, so I'm wondering if there's a technical issue, or if my "immediate payment required" setting has something to do with it?

I think what I'll do now is create a new listing for that hard-to-find part, and let the buyer know there's now a specific listing for it, so he may purchase if so desired.  I'll see what happens.  

[Anonymous]

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@jmb344 wrote:
fern*wood, you never really know what a buyer might want. At least this way you can include whatever else the buyer might want/need to complement their purchase. If you sell DVD's, but have a digital copy version available, say it's only $5 more. You save on shipping by including more items in an order. So offer whatever else you think they might want. Even if it's not listed on eBay yet, you can still sell it without needing to create a listing for it.

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I figured it would be a convenience for both parties, if the buyer could purchase immediately, while the seller saves time by bypassing the need to create a new listing.   The item would still sell through eBay.  I'm wondering if my buyers aren't purchasing through the 'reply with offer' feature because they feel more confident seeing a specific listing detailing quantity, showing photos of exactly what they're getting, etc. 

[jmb344]

All,

I wanted to let you know that we were able to update the HELP page on how to send custom/private offers. Please review if you have any questions: 

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now/adding-best-offer-listing?id=4144#section....

[siayan]

If someone asks a question on an item I really want to get rid of I will "reply with offer". Also if some sends an offer on an item through a message that I don't have best offer selected I send them a offer with a reply. 

Works about 50% of the time (studies show).