eBay

escuintla · ‎02-15-2019

Continuing with the sage or ridiculous offers, here it is, something I witnessed.

1990s, I am at this garage sale in Palo Alto CA. This guy, a cheap "I can't mention the word", well known by many of us garage sailing people, some Ebayers, me? a collector and gathering things to send back to my country of origin (for resale).

He gets earlier than us to this beautiful garage sale, very common those days, not anymore. He grabs this glass orb, something so beautiful, even if you didn't sell it, it would be a nice ornament on your mantle or desk.

The guy, finds the seller and ask for the price, the seller says $20. He yells What!? I will give you $5!

Seller replies: No way man! This is a rarity, my grandma had it before she got married.

Guy: It's not worth $20!...….we are waiting for him to drop the thing on the table, but he knows we are around.

Seller after 10 minutes of going back and forth with the price: Hey guy! Bring that thing here, and the guy obliges and hands him the glass thing.

Seller: How much did you say you wanted to pay?

Guy: $5 for that piece of sh...…..!

Seller: Grabs it, and slams it against the ground, the thing breaks in hundreds of pieces.

Guy: Deer eyes, jaw to the ground, he can't believe it.

Seller: OK, there you are, can I have my $5 now?

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If you haven't paid for your item, you're a winning bidder, not a buyer!
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castlemagicmemories · ‎02-18-2019

Way down in the wording it indicates "listings or offers may expire prior to seller response" in which case the offer is not binding.

And this says it all! You are told up front that the listing or offer may expire prior to seller response. Not surprising then, when it actually does.

When I make a Best Offer, I know to make it a Best Offer, and that the seller may or may not get back to me quickly, and that making the Best Offer is my choice. Someone could come along that has no problem with the listed price and buy it out from under me. Knowing all these things, I take them into consideration in making my decision as to whether or not I will make a Best Offer, and take responsibility for that decision.

I am not looking for favors, just a timely answer so I can move on.

Just making a Best Offer is asking someone to take less money for their listing, so that is a favor. The seller would prefer to get the listed price and to sell without haggling. You can move on by not making the Best Offer. No one is keeping you from moving on, that is your choice to make the Best Offer that may require you to wait. If you can't wait...

stumblebumble · ‎02-18-2019

I would have made the creep pay $20 since he broke it.

transamcc · ‎02-18-2019

I have since always purchased from his peers after his gracious counteroffer. I only discovered the extent of his disproportionate pricing by research after the fact and have not been back there again.

escuintla · ‎02-18-2019

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
That clock is gorgeous!

It's a Jauch clock I found out...…...too late!

_________________________________________________________
If you haven't paid for your item, you're a winning bidder, not a buyer!
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castlemagicmemories · ‎02-18-2019

@transamcc wrote:
I have since always purchased from his peers after his gracious counteroffer. I only discovered the extent of his disproportionate pricing by research after the fact and have not been back there again.

Your seller really wanted the price that he had it listed for. Ebay sometimes adds Best Offer to listings independent of the seller's choice.

It's your choice to buy from whomever you wish, and also the seller's choice to choose what price they want for their item. They also have the choice as to whether they will accept a Best Offer or not; if they never wanted one to start with, they may counter as this seller did with the gracious counteroffer.

You might want to search by price first before you make a Best Offer as you may not need to make one if you find a better deal without Best Offer. I would just try to find what works for you and not let what doesn't upset you. You have the choice of what to do but so do sellers.

Good Luck to you.

sandytexas1961 · ‎02-18-2019

The corollary to this from the seller standpoint is the best offer that comes in mere hours -- or minutes -- before an item ends. I have 250 items listed nearly all the time and no, I'm not sitting by the computer when every item ends. I've sometimes come back to my computer to find that a best offer has come and gone with no opportunity to respond because the item ended an hour after the offer was made. Once I was able to salvage the sale by messaging the person and telling her I was going to relist and would accept her offer if made again (it was a good best offer).

castlemagicmemories · ‎02-18-2019

I've sometimes come back to my computer to find that a best offer has come and gone with no opportunity to respond because the item ended an hour after the offer was made.

That's true, and buyer should realize that the listing might end before you can see, much less act on, their Best Offer. They can always contact you again or look for the relist.

Glad you salvaged that sale.

equid0x · ‎02-20-2019

@transamcc wrote:
I hope everyone who has replied in this thread has thoroughly enjoyed the saga of JERKs in commerce, as both buyers and sellers are about equally represented in that light very well. Unfortunately one encounters these examples of sub-human behavior in life way too frequently. What is wrong with letting me make an offer, and if it is lower than you expect, autodecline it, counteroffer me, send me a decline or something. To sit on a best offer for 48 hours intending only to let is expire or hoping for a better one from someone else is annoying and unduly prevents me from completing a timely purchase from someone else. Decline the offer and let me go on to the other guy who has the same price as yours but is a day or 2 slower delivery or has .2% lower feedback rating than yours. When it is all said and done if you make a profit from your ebay selling, every nickel you give ebay originated in a buyer's pocket.

All things considered... Seller has no obligation to respond to any offers at all.

If sellers are consistently not responding to your offers then you are probably low-balling.

I never sold OBO here but I have sold other places where offers might be expected and I will tell you straight up that if you sent me an offer that was less than 10-15% of asking I would ignore and block you unless you were a repeat customer.

I'm not sure why every buyer these days feels they're entitled to 30-90% discounts, particularly when they have no purchase history with a seller.

equid0x · ‎02-20-2019

@transamcc wrote:
I see your point. I then state that this goes back to the thread that a buyer should have an option to choose the duration of a best offer. Another thing ebay should do, even if this option is provided, is to give the seller a defect for every best offer that they fail to respond to. To ignore an offer until expiration with no response is rude at the very least. I am not looking for "favors" but placing realistic offers on what appear to be greedy prices in light of the current market value.

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Making lowball offers is rude, to say the very least. I think eBay should put a defect on the account of every buyer who makes ridiculously low offers.