What is the benefit to having Best Offer if you decline all Offers?

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Is there a supposed search ranking benefit?  I know I should know this, but I don't use BO.  

I just put my buyer hat on to purchase an item that is 10.88 each if I buy 3.  Seller has BO on their listing.  No way they accidentally have BO on their listing, as the listing has MQ & is set up for quantity discounts, so this is a seller that has spent a lot of time on the listing & 99% chance put BO on it, intentionally.   

Of course since they have BO, I made an offer, making it clear I wanted 3.  First offer $10/each.  Declined.  2nd offer $10.50/each.  Declined.   That's only 38 cents difference!  Why intentionally have BO if you're going to decline a 38 cent off offer?   

I'm genuinely asking, as it seems very odd to me.  I mean, why would you even bother having BO?  They didn't even counter, declined both.   I'm going to go buy the item on a large river, was just hoping to get some insight.  I gotta say, as a buyer, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Combined with the weird search results I posted before, I can understand how buyers get turned off 😞 

[katzrul15]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

Is there a supposed search ranking benefit?  I know I should know this, but I don't use BO.  

I just put my buyer hat on to purchase an item that is 10.88 each if I buy 3.  Seller has BO on their listing.  No way they accidentally have BO on their listing, as the listing has MQ & is set up for quantity discounts, so this is a seller that has spent a lot of time on the listing & 99% chance put BO on it, intentionally.   

Of course since they have BO, I made an offer, making it clear I wanted 3.  First offer $10/each.  Declined.  2nd offer $10.50/each.  Declined.   That's only 38 cents difference!  Why intentionally have BO if you're going to decline a 38 cent off offer?   

I'm genuinely asking, as it seems very odd to me.  I mean, why would you even bother having BO?  They didn't even counter, declined both.   I'm going to go buy the item on a large river, was just hoping to get some insight.  I gotta say, as a buyer, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Combined with the weird search results I posted before, I can understand how buyers get turned off 😞 

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E-Bay does add Best Offer where the Seller had none.  I know, because it has happened to my listings and I did not have Best Offer on the listing, yet.....there it was.  Others have posted about the same thing - e-Bay "thinks" Best Offer would work well on a listing and puts it there.

In your case, yes, it makes no sense what-so-ever, as it appears it was not an "automatic" (i.e. they had set a threshold to decline?)  

Is the item already on-Sale?  Sometimes I see that and there is a Best Offer, but also a "sale" running (% off) and the Seller does not intend to offer "both" and no way to "suspend" the Best Offer feature during a markdown sale, unfortunately.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I'd guess seller had this listed at the basic price with Best Offer. He later added the Buy 3, get the discounted price, probably assuming the discount would be sufficient, and forgetting that he also had Best Offer on the listing. I know I've run Markdown Manager sales and regretted not first removing Best Offer, because, no matter how much the markdown is, there will always be someone who wants the item even cheaper. Now, I try to remember to bulk edit to remove Best Offer before I do a promo.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I know what you're saying @katzrul15 & I have seen it too.  But I *really* don't think that's the case here, as they have several other features that indicate they want to make a deal.   You bring up a good point though about the automated threshold, that probably is what's happening.   

The item is not on sale, per se, but there is a seller created discount for bulk purchases & the prices decreases if you buy 2/3/4 or more.   So yeah, maybe they felt I was already getting a discount for buying 3.  But then don't have BO, kwim?  It's kind of insulting to be turned down for a .38 CENT discount LOL.   My buyers  ASQers get mad at me for not taking $10 off LOL. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@simply-the-best-for-you "It's kind of insulting to be turned down for a .38 CENT discount LOL. "

The other side of the coin is: It's kind of insulting to provide a bulk discount and have someone try to get you down another 38 CENTS LOL

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

I'd guess seller had this listed at the basic price with Best Offer. He later added the Buy 3, get the discounted price, probably assuming the discount would be sufficient, and forgetting that he also had Best Offer on the listing. I know I've run Markdown Manager sales and regretted not first removing Best Offer, because, no matter how much the markdown is, there will always be someone who wants the item even cheaper. Now, I try to remember to bulk edit to remove Best Offer before I do a promo.

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You're probably right.  It's not so much that I want it cheaper, but to me, if you have BO on the listing, that's a giant flag saying "I'm willing to take less".   Their price is actually good, but if they are advertising that they're willing to take less, why shouldn't I take them up on it.  

That's why I wondered if there was a Search ranking boost?  It seems they have no intention of taking any BO's, but maybe if I were only buying 1, they would.  Somehow I don't get that warm fuzzy feeling that that's what would happen LOL. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@simply-the-best-for-you "It's kind of insulting to be turned down for a .38 CENT discount LOL. "

The other side of the coin is: It's kind of insulting to provide a bulk discount and have someone try to get you down another 38 CENTS LOL

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I'm a seller & I disagree.  If you have BO, that's a giant waving flag saying they are willing to take less.  I would never pay full price when someone has BO & I say that as a seller.  A seller who doesn't use BO LOL.   

ETA:  The .38 cents was more a curiousity b/c they turned down my first offer.  I was curious what they WOULD accept, since I thought my first offer was quite reasonable. 

[glgenterprise · Accepted solution]

Or it could be that the seller didn't really think through the bulk discount vs the b/o and didn't consider both would should up on the listing. I know I don't do a preview of my listing before making it live, so I could miss something like that.

Maybe if you were just buying one they would be willing to entertain a b/o, but with the baked in discount with the buy more they are not?

What is the single item price and is there a shipping charge to the buyer?

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@glgenterprise wrote:

Or it could be that the seller didn't really think through the bulk discount vs the b/o and didn't consider both would should up on the listing. I know I don't do a preview of my listing before making it live, so I could miss something like that.

Maybe if you were just buying one they would be willing to entertain a b/o, but with the baked in discount with the buy more they are not?

What is the single item price and is there a shipping charge to the buyer?

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No shipping charge & 11.57 for one.  Most sellers both here & on the big river don't have a shipping charge for it.   You're probably right, they'd probably entertain for 1, but not for multiples.   

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@simply-the-best-for-you  As far as I know, there's no search boost from having Best Offer, but I suppose it could be a factor....I don't think it's enough of a factor to influence sellers to use Best Offer though.

[ten_o_nine]

Sometimes when you do bulk editing and add a BO, you miss some listings that shouldn't have a BO.

[pburn]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

I'm going to go buy the item on a large river, was just hoping to get some insight. 

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How does the total price on Amazon* stack up with the price you were looking at on eBay--with and/or without the discount?

*Assuming "a large river" is a reference to Amazon . . . 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@pburn wrote:

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

I'm going to go buy the item on a large river, was just hoping to get some insight. 

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How does the total price on Amazon* stack up with the price you were looking at on eBay--with and/or without the discount?

*Assuming "a large river" is a reference to Amazon . . . 

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A bit higher, still FS.   Surprisingly, I'm not a 'price' shopper, so I'm ok paying a bit more.  

[pburn]

@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

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A bit higher, still FS.   Surprisingly, I'm not a 'price' shopper, so I'm ok paying a bit more.  

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Same here. Price is certainly one of the factors I consider when making a purchase, but not the only one, and sometimes not even the most important one.

[farmalljr]

When you get offers, it boosts the item ranking and is shown more often (since there is interest in it). 

Some sellers MAY  add best offer for the ranking only, and refuse all offers. Though I am sure eBay catches on at some point if you never accept any offers.  I've run into seller "accepting" offers and refusing ALL offers, more than I care to count. It happens quite often.