What do you say with decline or counter to a best offer?

[mycheaperstuff]

What do you say in the message area when you decline or counter a best offer?  Anything?

I usually decline or counter based on prices of recently sold comparable items and I often say so in the message.  An example message with counter would be :

"TU4 UR offer. Excellent choice! My ask already less than avg price of recently sold similar. I offer 10% off my ask as a courtesy. Pls consider."

Do you say why or just state the price you want?

[southern*sweet*tea]

I don't say anything. I counter back with the price I want.

[emerald40]

I o not offer BO as a seller, but do use it as a buyer.

What the above poster said.  Sellers just counter offer with the minimum they are willing to accept.

[retrose1]

I do not use BO as a seller.  So if I get an offer - I block them.  I might tell them that the price is firm if they seem nice, but mostly I ignore the offer.

I also ignore sellers that do use BO since it tells me that they are deliberately overpriceing their items and I do not want to waste time playing guessing games with them.

[covetmodern]

My script is as follows: 

"Hello. Unfortunately, we cannot accept the offer you made. We consider a reasonable offer to be 10-15% below our asking price depending on how long we have had the item. We have sent you a counter offer we hope you will consider. Thanks"

I keep it in my iCloud Notes so that I can respond via computer, phone, tablet, etc.  My experience here is that most people respect this response and it has worked with them coming back with a far more reasonable offer.  

If their offer isn't reasonable, I hope this response gets them to realize that I'm serious.  If they counter with another slightly higher, but still unreasonable offer I simply decline it.

I offer free shipping and use my Best Offer range based on shipping cost.  For example, I sold something that shipping to California costs $25, while to Florida it costs $45.  I factor this into accepting or countering an offer.  Also, I may consider offers based on how long the item has been for sale, if sales are slower than normal, etc.  

I don't subscribe to items being overpriced if you use Best Offer if its done right.  Now, I have seen some people price an item worth $100 at $10,000 with Best Offer.  I'd avoid those listings as a buyer.  

[muttlymob]

What do you say in the message area when you decline or counter a best offer?  Anything?

Nothing.  In most cases the only response required is to decline, counter, or let it sit.

An example message with counter would be :

"TU4 UR offer. Excellent choice! My ask already less than avg price of recently sold similar. I offer 10% off my ask as a courtesy. Pls consider."

Is there a character limit in best offer responses?  If not, please consider using full words.  Real words.  Full sentences.  Coherent sentences.

[city*satins]

I don't say anything in the Comments section when I either reject or make a counter-offer.  

The only exception is if the buyer has asked for something unusual when making their offer - for example "Can you ship this by Fedex?"  or "Can you hold off shipping until next Wednesday?"  or "Is it okay if I pay for this on Friday?"

[chrysylys]

NEVER ever use TextSpeak in business communications under any circumstances.

I usually don't get any message at all if a seller has AutoDecline set.

[ed8108]

Yes, engage and briefly interact with your buyer, more likely to result in a positive outcome. IMO

[ed8108]

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@mycheaperstuffwrote:

"TU4 UR offer. My ask already less than avg price of recently sold similar. I offer 10% off my ask as a courtesy. Pls consider."

Perhaps some buyers might consider the wording ( not as educating as you intend ) lacking in sensitivity? 

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 My asking price is under the average price of recently sold similar items. I can offer you a 10% courtesy discount. Please consider

[7606dennis]

Since I don't use the BO option I usually just block anyone making an offer.  However, should I have the BO option active on a listing, I'd check their feedback left and retraction record and if I decided to decline I'd simply decline with no other comment or if I wished to counter offer simply counter the offer without further comment.

[gracieallen01]

I appreciate your generous offer, but I will pass, thank you.

[bpr103]

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@retrose1wrote:

 I also ignore sellers that do use BO since it tells me that they are deliberately overpriceing their items and I do not want to waste time playing guessing games with them.

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That's interesting. Some of the best deals I've gotten on eBay as a buyer have been BO. As a seller, when I use free shipping, there could be a 100% difference in my costs if a buyer's on the opposite coast, so I will cut a break for someone nearby.

If you want to determine if something is overpriced, just use the sold items search function.

[femmefan1946]

"TU4 UR offer. Excellent choice! My ask already less than avg price of recently sold similar. I offer 10% off my ask as a courtesy. Pls consider."

The textspeak and even "pls" as an abbreviation for "please" can be taken as quite offensive.

Be polite enough to write out what you are saying.

Besides the old bats like me, some of your customers may have English as a second or third language, and Google Translate would be baffled by the grammar of the second sentence.

And  while we are muttering about grammar "ask " is a verb,not a noun.

Nor would I explain my reasoning in any detail.

Try:

Thank you for your offer of $50 on my Purple Doohickey NWOT listed at $100 plus shipping of $8.95 within in mainland US. I would accept $90.00 plus the advertised shipping.

[tealt]

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@mycheaperstuffwrote:

What do you say in the message area when you decline or counter a best offer?  Anything?

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I don't send messages.

Occasionaly I use Best Offer and set auto-decline for the least I am willing to accept for the item.

If an offer comes through that is more than my auto-decline, I accept the offer without comment (unless there are conditions attached--which I've never had happen).