Why does eBay make sending offers so difficult?

[feltfootball]

Isn't the goal here to sell things?  Limiting the seller's ability send offers just makes no sense.  If I send an offer and nobody bites, I'm not allowed to send another offer?  

Make it make sense.

[kensgiftshop]

If no one bites, what makes you think they will on another offer?

Maybe they are not interested in buying, just watching.

[dy60609]

eBay does not want the buyer's to be "spammed" by you with offers

They reserve the right to do that themselves.

[candd205]

You can allow the buyer to make a counter-offer when you send an offer. Same effect, if the buyer is interested in the deal, they know how to get a hold of you.

[grandmasjewelry123]

That is one of the things that makes no sense about offers. If I land on a page, I get offers galore but if somebody is watching the item its hit or miss if they get an offer. It also seems like I can't revise a listing after I send an offer. I want to add a better photo, after giving an offer. No can't do that.

I have had little luck with offers for the most part.Someexceptions.

I had a customer yesterday with a feedback of about 100, so a relatively new EBayer try to buy two items to get the sale price for buying a second item. She didn't understand how to add it to the cart. Ebay wouldn't let me communicate with her because ebay assumed that she was trying to buy it outside of ebay which she wasn't. I shipped one item when she wanted two.After it was shipped, ebay let me communicate with her. How does this make sense?

I complained about no traffic no sales, so I guess ebay refreshed the page so several sales came in, so ebay can control traffic to a seller. If ebay don't go back to whatever they were doing before 2022, I don't think its going to last. I think it will have the same fate as the malls.

I hope you continue to the refresh the page, because its Mothers day and I have the product for mothers, and so if I can't get sales during this heightened sales peak for my product on ebay I would say its time to ease out of this platform. And I have been here since before ebay was a public company.

[feltfootball]

If they're not interested, why are they watching the item?

If I lower the price enough, they'll bite. 

[feltfootball]

Why would an auction site be against what essentially amounts to a reverse auction?

I guess eBay thinks it's better to have the same items sit unsold in the eBay museum FOR YEARS.  

[gator08041971]

To minimize the pestering of potential buyers, I have automatically send offers disabled.

Then, about once a month or so, give or take a week, I go through and send out offers on select items. I also include a note so the prospective buyer knows its not an "automated" offer.

Sometimes I get a sale from that, sometimes I don't.

A lot of my items have "Make an offer" enabled, and I set those to auto deny/auto accept and require no interaction on my part unless the buyer includes a note.  (Yeah, apparently the auto part can't auto the offer if there is a note attached)

For me it works.  Its surprising how often buyers just click buy and don't make an offer when they could.  But I also get a decent amount of those that make an offer get a deal and purchase too.

For me it works the way I use it.  I'm not a huge volume seller, and I run a small amount of listings.  Not every seller may feel the same way though.

[dy60609]

Many of my listings have "watchers".

They are other sellers watching the competition.

[gator08041971]

@feltfootball 

It also seems like I can't revise a listing after I send an offer. I want to add a better photo, after giving an offer. No can't do that.

Think of that being the same thing as an auction where once someone has placed a bid, you can no longer edit the listing.

You have a potential transaction pending, so any changes to the item (additions etc) change the terms of the sale that you made an offer on.  So its locked till that offer is accepted, denied, or times out.

@feltfootball 

so a relatively new EBayer try to buy two items to get the sale price for buying a second item. She didn't understand how to add it to the cart. Ebay wouldn't let me communicate with her because ebay assumed that she was trying to buy it outside of ebay which she wasn't. I shipped one item when she wanted two.After it was shipped, ebay let me communicate with her. How does this make sense?

I'm not sure why that was an issue.  I have had to answer questions like that in the past and never had issues pre-sale.  eBay had actually blocked you?  You might have used words that flag it maybe?

[feltfootball]

Appreciate the reply.  In my opinion eBay has really over thought this.  Worrying about "pestering people with offers" really couldn't make less sense on a site devoted to commerce.   And does anyone really care about their ebay inbox?   90% of the messages in there are spam from eBay.  It's not like these offers go to your personal email.

Dumb dumb dumb policy

[gator08041971]

@feltfootball 

Maybe not, but for me personally, as a buyer, I don't want to be pestered with an offer on an item I merely looked at just 5 minutes ago....

I find that to be annoying.  And I'm quite sure I'm not the only one.  Hence why I disabled the automatic portion and only do them manually and infrequently.

I have also disabled receiving automatic offers from looking at items. Thankfully there is a setting for that part.

[tarotfindsandmore]

Keep in mind that your watchers may be other sellers, as has been mentioned by others.  They're never gonna bite.  They're just waiting to see what your items end up selling for so they can price their own items accordingly.  

[feltfootball]

So what?  The buyers watching can't get offers because there are sellers in my watch list?  

Make it make sense.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@feltfootball wrote:

   And does anyone really care about their ebay inbox?   90% of the messages in there are spam from eBay.  It's not like these offers go to your personal email.

Dumb dumb dumb policy

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@feltfootball 

All of my eBay messages DO come to my personal email.

Some sellers would send 3 to 10 offers for the same one item if eBay allowed them to. The idea behind the Send Offers option is that you the seller send your very best offer the first time and one time.  

As other sellers have said you can add Best Offer to your listings and buyers are generally smart enough to figure out that if they miss the window of one of your seller iniated offers that they can just come back at a later date and make you a Best Offer themselves, if they so choose to.