Why oh why did ebay bring back variable time limit offers? I thought we banished this 4 years ago?

[netherworldgames]

Seriously. eBay. You tried this 4 years ago.

It made it impossible for sellers to keep up with offers, and created (sigh, even MORE,) unrealistic buyer expectations.

All of this was covered here:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Selling/Yes-eBay-modified-Best-Offer-system-Yes-it-is-terrible...

But most notably, ebay, why did you AGAIN make this change without notifying sellers, or even your own reps? When I called in to ask about it, none of the MSO reps knew about it.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

It seems to me that if so many sellers hadn't used this as a control issue and marketing opportunity, this wouldn't have been necessary. How often have you read on the boards to just let an offer time out because offers showed interest in your item and maybe raised the search standing?

I think it's a great change and will encourage more buyers to use Best Offer. If the seller doesn't see the offer in time, no harm, no foul. If Ebay hadn't run the numbers they wouldn't have made the change.

OH and BTW, sellers who are complaining think about theirs being the BO. What about the buyer who cannot buy things from OTHER sellers (maybe YOU), because the BO seller is holding out and making the buyer wait. What about THOSE sellers?

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

"You can now select how long your offer remains valid for. If you’re in a rush, select a shorter time to get an answer faster!"

The implication there is very clear. eBay is training buyers to be impatient and unrealistic. They're explicitly telling buyers that the shorter their offer is, the faster the seller will reply. That's just not reality, and will lead to a bad buyer experience. 

I don't think that is training buyers to be impatient anymore than the returns button entices buyers into returning.  If they are satisfied with their item, they aren't going to be enticed into returning it just because a blue button suggests that to them, and in these instances, it is only natural that someone is going to want to hear whether their offer is accepted or declined as soon as possible.   Human nature.

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I work nights, so I'm often asleep at those times buyers are awake and send offers., so their choosing a faster response time ain't gonna make that happen.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

"You can now select how long your offer remains valid for. If you’re in a rush, select a shorter time to get an answer faster!"

The implication there is very clear. eBay is training buyers to be impatient and unrealistic. They're explicitly telling buyers that the shorter their offer is, the faster the seller will reply. That's just not reality, and will lead to a bad buyer experience. 

I don't think that is training buyers to be impatient anymore than the returns button entices buyers into returning.  If they are satisfied with their item, they aren't going to be enticed into returning it just because a blue button suggests that to them, and in these instances, it is only natural that someone is going to want to hear whether their offer is accepted or declined as soon as possible.   Human nature.

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I work nights, so I'm often asleep at those times buyers are awake and send offers., so their choosing a faster response time ain't gonna make that happen.

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I understand.  You could always choose auto accept/decline, though.  Of course, your call, but that may be where all this is headed.

[nkpina2014]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

OH and BTW, sellers who are complaining think about theirs being the BO. What about the buyer who cannot buy things from OTHER sellers (maybe YOU), because the BO seller is holding out and making the buyer wait. What about THOSE sellers?

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A buyer never has a commitment to purchasing an item, even if the seller accepts their offer. The buyer can simply request to cancel the transaction or not pay.

"But... b..but! What about buyer strikes?"

Those are meaningless. A buyer can simply use a Guest Account. Or make an entirely new account. There's no restrictions on doing that.

[greg5000]

Great Post!

I'm a Buyer and I don't think this is a good process.  I almost never used the Best Offer option when there, but I can see how setting a short duration response time will cause problems.

[gracieallen01]

Well, seeing this back again, I would guess that Elliott, et al, just love this idea, too, just like GTC. 

I can hardly wait for the Spring Update! 

[gracieallen01]

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@transamcc wrote:

Your statement about buyers can retract at any time for any reason is somewhat inaccurate (totally), if buyers abide by ebay's rules. There are very specific reasons a buyer can retract a bid or an offer, with the offer retraction being more stringent than bidding with ebay only providing 3 reasons and none of them "seller ignoring me".   As a buyer, I think 48 hours is too long to wait for the majority of sellers who just let offers expire, which they do all of the time.  To enforce a seller action in a shorter time frame is a needed ebay response to this situation, which could be done by either: 1. shortening the duration of offers (1 hour is too short) before expiration. or 2: Making auto accept/auto decline thresholds mandatory of sellers in those listings, or 3. Make expired (ignored) offers a seller metric and monitor it closely for performance.  Ebay should remain a buyer-centric platform, since it is buyer money and outside advertising financing the entire operation.

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This is quite true, but there would be no buyer money or outside financing if there were no sellers providing anything for said buyer to buy or advertiser to advertise.

Walmart is just a click away - or, just down a few blocks, for many shoppers.

[greg5000]

Re. your statement;

"Ebay should remain a buyer-centric platform, since it is buyer money and outside advertising financing the entire operation."

It's actually the Seller's money that is financing the eBay operation. 

eBay takes money from Sellers, not Buyers.  Buyers are not paying eBay anything, they are paying the eBay Seller and are only in contract with the Seller.

[castlemagicmemories]

Sellers pass their costs on to their buyers through their pricing, so the buyer's money goes to the sellers, who use part of those funds to pay their fees.  

Of course if nothing sells, the seller foots those costs, so in that respect, you are correct.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

If the buyer is not paying all the expenses of the seller, the seller is doing something wrong. The buyers bring the money to the table AND the buyers are the group in short supply.

Both buyers and sellers are critical to Ebay sucess

[transamcc]

As I stated...the money YOU give ebay originally came out of my and other buyers pockets. BUYERS finance the operation. Unless sellers are losing their %%&'s they have no investment in the operation except their time and finding product to consign.

[greg5000]

I pay the Seller and give my money to them.  eBay takes their fees (and revenue stream) from the Seller.

Of course Buyers are the source of the funds, but it's the business model that's important and my point.

It's all semantics ...  we can agree to disagree. 

[greg5000]

Re. @the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth post;

"If the buyer is not paying all the expenses of the seller, the seller is doing something wrong. The buyers bring the money to the table AND the buyers are the group in short supply.

Both buyers and sellers are critical to Ebay success"

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I Agree 100%!

I'm upset with eBay for numerous recent issues on the Buyers side too, and standing together with Sellers on the GTC issue.  I've lost any interest to Buy or Sell (which I was just about to do for the first time). 

The only solution to the problem is for eBay to listen to it's Customers and treat them better. 

[gracieallen01]

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@greg5000 wrote:

I pay the Seller and give my money to them.  eBay takes their fees (and revenue stream) from the Seller.

Of course Buyers are the source of the funds, but it's the business model that's important and my point.

It's all semantics ...  we can agree to disagree. 

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Hmmmmm, I wonder which came first - the chicken or the egg?  And, which is more important?

(is ebay just the hen-house?)

[buyselljack2016]

or, eBay is the fox in the hen-house