When you ask me for a discounted price, and I agree, please don't insult me by trying to go lower.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

Ok, this has happened a couple times now and just happened again.

Usually it goes like this...

Buyer: Hey! I got an offer from you last week, can I still get it for that price/is that offer still good?.

(As any seller knows, I can't send a 2nd offer to the buyer if the first one was one of the anonymous watcher offers)

Me: Sure! Unfortunately I can't send you it again, as EBay limits us to sending one offer per buyer, so I'm opening "Make Offer" feature on the listing, please submit it and we'll get it taken care of. (Usually, but not always, I clearly state the price. Sometimes I don't if the buyer already mentioned the price.)

Later, I get an offer from the buyer for a buck or couple bucks less than the agreed upon price. I'm nice and I send back the counter offer and put in the message a reference to how this was already the agreed upon price... when I almost rather decline and block over the shenanigans.

You passed up the discount before. You're coming back asking for it again. I could just say no. I say yes and you disrespect me by trying to skim a buck or couple bucks off. Seriously?

Also, i know some will say, instead of making "Best Offer" feature, just drop the Buy It Now price and have then BIN it, and I've done that before, but I usually only do that when I know the person is going to do it right away. Too often I have buyers wait 24 hrs or so and sometimes never come back, I rather not drop BIN price and forget about it if buyer doesnt come back

[4pawsup*]

It does not bother me at all. Buyers are always trying to pay the lowest they can. I laugh as i sell at my price so how they get there is fine with me. I am never going to meet them. I just want them to keep coming back.

[cardsforauction]

You can set a minimum offer price.  I think $13 is a ridiculous, insulting offer,  but why not put a minimum  offer price?

[dbfolks166mt]

     One of the multitude of reasons I quit using OBO a long time ago. I still get unsolicited offers on occasion but generally ignore them. 

[chariot_badges]

Business must be booming if you leap to block over a perceived slight by a potential buyer you know nothing about.

MY motto is:  "Block early, block often."

Wasting my time is not something I tolerate well.   

Quibbling over a buck or two via 'make offer' = block.  

Asking a lot of questions about condition, shipping time, etc = block.

I don't sell high-dollar stuff, mostly around $15.  By the time it's listed, I've invested just about all the time I can afford. 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

The ones I hate to deal with are the "now you gave me a discounted price, can I get FS as well?" users.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

To me it's the same as getting a flyer in the mail for a discounted price for a limited time then trying to get the same deal a week outside the offer window.

You snooze, you lose.

[12345jamesstamps]

I had the same this week and last week. LOL

I just tell them I'll look into it. And forget about it.

I offer free shipping...compared to other sellers.

[b86fiero]

Like you, I consider it an insult when a potential buyer repeatedly tries to get a seller to lower their price more than once for the same item. 

Many sellers, myself included, already offer the lowest price they can and still make a small profit.

Just yesterday I had one of those people ask a lot of questions about an item where the info was already stated in the item specifics and in the item description and most of it in the item title. She wanted me to sell it to her for half price. (I offer free shipping on every item). I politely declined her offer and explained that I would actually lose money if I accepted her offer.

Awhile later she came back with a list of 4 items she wanted me to sell her for $15 with the free shipping.  She is in CA and due to the combined weight I would have to ship via Priority mail. It would cost more than $15 in postage alone. Again I politely declined and got an immediate reply before I could add her to my blocked list. She claims most sellers take her offers as "everybody is desperate to sell stuff and nobody has money to buy stuff" so I should send her the stuff. (Who are these people??)

I understand everybody loves a good deal and in some cultures haggling is expected. I don't haggle. My items are priced below or at the average of comparable items, I hold sales and give discounts for some multi item purchases. 

As a seller, I am entitled to make a profit.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

There are Ebay sellers who need to turn their merchandise at any price which generates any profit in a short time, and there are Ebay sellers who can afford to wait for an adequate profit, since obtaining quality merchandise is more effort than they can manage, and they are less hungry.

This sort of game playing appeals to some buyers and is tolerated by sellers who need the cash flow.

Some buyers assume all Ebay sellers are the same lower life form, and this is one of many manifestations of their disrespect.

Blocking buyers who offend you is permitted and appropriate.

I have a good friend who has sold continuously on Ebay since its beginning. I was heartened when his DOD pension kicked in and he stopped selling product for any price he could get. His needs changed.

It was particularly difficult because he had similar inventory preferences to mine, and often devalued products in the eyes of Ebay buyers.

Nowadays, nothing has a value, or a typical sales price other than mass market items, and the margins on those items require sales quantities many of us would hate to have to deal with.

[ed8108]

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@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:

Ok, this has happened a couple times now and just happened again.

Usually it goes like this...

Buyer: Hey! I got an offer from you last week, can I still get it for that price/is that offer still good?.

---

You could advise the buyer yes , & that $___ is a firm price

[farmalljr]

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@b86fiero wrote:

As a seller, I am entitled to make a profit.

---

You are not entitled to make a profit. You earn profits, you are not entitled to them. If that were the case, NO ONE would ever go out of business. 

There are not many businesses that make a profit on every single sale. Ever see a clearance section? Ever see close outs? You think they are making profits? You ever hear of loss leaders for store?

NO ONE is entitled to make a profit. You just have to be savvy enough to make them. Had you been savvy, you could have made suggestions to them that would have allowed them to get a deal on that item, but allowed profit on additional items that they would have needed to purchase. 

[stephenmorgan]

I had two auctions one at $65 and one at $85, about 75% of market value.  Someone message me and asked if I would sell item #xxx and item #xxx for $100?  I messaged back and asked, I am not sure what you mean.  So you want me to end the auctions early and in consideration of ending early you will give me $100 each?

I must to have misunderstood them because they were no longer interested and did not buy the items.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@broto_64 wrote:

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See, the title of this thread is misleading, it states:
When YOU ask ME for a discounted price (and I agree etc)

But then in the post you state the buyer mentions that they got an offer from you!

So which is it, did the buyer come up and ask you...
Or did you send an unsolicited offer?

In most cases the unsolicited offer is an automatic email message sent out by the seller's pre-formatted store seller settings... 

But hard to say, again did you (or your store) send the offer or did the buyer ask you?

---

@broto_64 

My offers aren't "automatic" but that's honestly irrelevant. Whether they are manually done or automatically done, makes no difference.

Yes, the buyer originally received an offer from me.  .... here is the part you may be missing?... TWO WEEKS LATER (or some period of time later, one instance was 2 weeks) AFTER THE OFFER ALREADY EXPIRED the buyer contacts me.

At this time they are then asking for a discounted price, the discounted price they originally received in an offer. They are faced with a full asking BIN price. They are coming to me now asking for a discount, with the specific price ...being the price they received in the previous offer. 

So yes, they are ASKING ME for a discount. It was a timed discount offer that is long gone. If you want to be a stickler about it, the offer is long gone and I'm under no obligation to honor it. (Of course I will honor it). But the buyer has initiated dialogue at this point, asking for the original offer price to be honored. They asked for a discount, they set their price. They could easily ask for a lower price, they asked for THAT price.

I don't see what difference it makes in this case anyway???

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@farmalljr wrote:

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@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:

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@soh.maryl wrote:

You have a valid point, of course.  But probably there are some buyers who figure, "he dropped it lower once", maybe he will go lower yet".  Please do not consider it an insult, just respond in whatever way you wish. 

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If you come to me and ask me "Will you still sell it to me for $32.95?" and I say yes .... if you try to then pay $30 or $31 or $32... (anything other than $32.95) it's a bit insulting.

It's just disrespectful in terms of business practice. I mean, there is an agreed upon price and now you try to drop it lower... it's just especially disrespectful as they are the ones who came to me asking for me to sell it to them at X price and then after that, tried to go lower.

I don't block them, I give them a chance. But I usually block those who pull shenanigans, they don't get second chances...they're actually lucky if they get a first chance.

---

By even taking offers or making offers, you the "merchant" are signaling buyers you will take LESS than the stated price. eBay is a flea market and a yard sale. If you don't want to entertain haggling, then sell on those massive ecommerce sites that do not allow offers, just the stated price. You are free to have all of your listings done with BIN only and NO offers accepted. 

You already demonstrated you will take less. The buyer wants to know if you will take less than that. You also have an OPTION when you do offers, to set the lowest price you would even entertain on offers. If you are not using that option when taking offers, you have no grounds to be upset about lowball offers. You are telling eBay AND buyers you will entertain ANY offer when you do not set a floor on offers. So you being upset is your own doing and all your own fault, not that of the buyer who you think lowballed you. It's not the byers fault they want  a better deal. 

After all, if the items in question were such a good deal to begin with and the items so desirable, there would be no need to take offers. It would have been sold already. Are you wanting to just warehouse items, or do you want to move it?

---

I understand what you're saying, but honestly you're missing some info here and making some assumptions.

The items in question were listed as Buy It Now Only. If you consider sending out Discount offers of 5-10% off on BIN w/o Make Offer and the unsolicited offer has NO COUNTEROFFERS ENABLED, being open to haggle and me opening the door and my fault, then we disagree and thats fine. That's like having a BIN and sending out store coupons. That's not inviting haggling.

In the original post I specify I only opened "Make Offer" feature on the listing specifically to enable that buyer to submit the offer price. They asked me if I would accept X price (my original discount offer) in messages. I say Yes. I can't send an offer as I already sent them one. So i ask them to submit it themselves. I also generally specify the price we agreed to, or I say, submit THAT offer. 

So no, Make Offer isn't enabled in general. I don't use it for most items. My BIN seller initiated offers are generally 5-10%. I'm going to disagree on the premise that I need to set auto-decline minimum when I opened it for that reason. I'm expecting a specific buyer to submit a specific price. Whether or not auto-decline is set, I'd still be here thinking its wrong for a buyer to ask for a specific price in messages that is agreed to and then try to offer a lower price than that.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Buyers are just buyers............they aren't "business people"...........they don't/can't know your "rules" or expectations.  Some do treat it like a game and want to win......  Personally, I'll take a buck or two less on most stuff if it makes the sale.....and makes them happy to buy something. 

---

I will take a buck or two less, yes, I agree. I will not take a buck or two less after I already took a buck or two less.

Me: Hey dhbookds, you're item is listed for $15, will you take $13?

You: Yes, I will.

Me: Cool, so now the price is $13, will you take $11?

You: Uhh, ya, I'm happy to take a buck or two less to make the sale, sure.

Me: Cool! So since the price is now $11, you're willing to take $10?

Do you see where this is going?