Would like to hear some opinions/advice in responding to this particular buyer.....

[designs2sell]

Hello! I am hoping to get some advice from exp. Ebay sellers to consider prioir to responding to this "Offer".

I am neither new to retail, reataruant and service, been in one of them my entire life, I've dealt with enough "difficult" people that I know when my "spidey senses" tingle, I should do a little checking, but first, background...

While I have bought on Ebay,a great many years,  I haven't sold~ I was always turned offf by what I read about Ebay's policies & sellers. So, it took me a while to finally take the plunge. When I was focusing on buying, very few purchases were emotional~ save for some very hard to find antique lamp covers that fit my heirloom & beloved family treasured ceiling lamps & sconces. I mean, I spent years, decades, looking, buying & keeping track of the invetory out there ~ I had a real bad luck run for some years of these shades getting broken, so I was always in the look for the exact ones~ they don't come up often.. I lucked out a few times with just the right design & color at the right price & other times spending way more than I wanted, found the right design but wrong color and in my initial naitivity I bought the ones that were beautifully different  but wrong fit. I saved those, thinking I'd find the right bas but now I thought I'd sell them. Of course, I am selling high,( they are ornate, a rarer color and I found no matches) because well that's what we do as sellers and you can't reprice something high after the fact. After listing them with best offer option, in less than 2 hours I got and offer for  40 % less than what I was asking. I know there will be low ball offers always and I am more than ok, but this seller /buyer whated to somewhat rudely ( I felt) "school" me about my items. Their price was much more realistic, "mutually fair" (hah!), hate to bring the bad news but they've never sold for that price & then what price they made up about it, blah, blah, blah.. 

This buyer is totally wrong, his offer is less than what I paid for them and again...good luck finding these~ anywhere, including resotoration places~ I couldn't. Obviously buyer wants them ~but their offer is a joke!

I couldn't help it, I got a little bit offended. I know to remove emotion from sales,  and my partner reminded me that it 's not worth that emotion. He's right and I know it, but I think this is one of the few items I can get emotional about., after all those decades of searching made me extremely knowledagable.

SO I did some checking on buyer.....

Every other purchase says "Best offer accepted" Ok, so I know that they do this bullying tactic often . And every other time, it seems to work for them

but I looked at feedback left for others... a pattern emerges and I know I think this person is a bottom feeder. 

"Item not as described" "Seller is a liar" Seller is rude, obxious" "Says new but is not" Seller is foulmouthed" and my personal fav "AVOID THIS SELLER! A complete whack job, thoroughly nasty and sick in the head.".

Run..., right?

After perusing the boards all night I think my options are either ignore the offer, auto decline and place on BBL, respond kindly but no thank you and see what happens (some say this could be a future customer .....or I could get ripped off  as I am apprehensive that this person  my turn with some nonsense once bought/received...

Honestly, that emotional side wants to school them back with all my knowledge and pricing info, tell them their tactics won't work on me and that if they are running a scam/price bullying, they are the worst type of people and what is wrong in the world and stick their offer straight up  *$%#$^(*.

Thank you , I got that out of my system!

Now I am curious what you all with think! Thank you for any advice!

Happy Halloween 😉 !!!

[creativecrisis]

Something tells me you already know what you should do.

I would decline the offer and place the individual on my BBL.

Best wishes to you.

[turquoisetulips]

---

@designs2sell wrote:

Hello! I am hoping to get some advice from exp. Ebay sellers to consider prioir to responding to this "Offer".

I am neither new to retail, reataruant and service, been in one of them my entire life, I've dealt with enough "difficult" people that I know when my "spidey senses" tingle, I should do a little checking, but first, background...

While I have bought on Ebay,a great many years,  I haven't sold~ I was always turned offf by what I read about Ebay's policies & sellers. So, it took me a while to finally take the plunge. When I was focusing on buying, very few purchases were emotional~ save for some very hard to find antique lamp covers that fit my heirloom & beloved family treasured ceiling lamps & sconces. I mean, I spent years, decades, looking, buying & keeping track of the invetory out there ~ I had a real bad luck run for some years of these shades getting broken, so I was always in the look for the exact ones~ they don't come up often.. I lucked out a few times with just the right design & color at the right price & other times spending way more than I wanted, found the right design but wrong color and in my initial naitivity I bought the ones that were beautifully different  but wrong fit. I saved those, thinking I'd find the right bas but now I thought I'd sell them. Of course, I am selling high,( they are ornate, a rarer color and I found no matches) because well that's what we do as sellers and you can't reprice something high after the fact. After listing them with best offer option, in less than 2 hours I got and offer for  40 % less than what I was asking. I know there will be low ball offers always and I am more than ok, but this seller /buyer whated to somewhat rudely ( I felt) "school" me about my items. Their price was much more realistic, "mutually fair" (hah!), hate to bring the bad news but they've never sold for that price & then what price they made up about it, blah, blah, blah.. 

This buyer is totally wrong, his offer is less than what I paid for them and again...good luck finding these~ anywhere, including resotoration places~ I couldn't. Obviously buyer wants them ~but their offer is a joke!

I couldn't help it, I got a little bit offended. I know to remove emotion from sales,  and my partner reminded me that it 's not worth that emotion. He's right and I know it, but I think this is one of the few items I can get emotional about., after all those decades of searching made me extremely knowledagable.

SO I did some checking on buyer.....

Every other purchase says "Best offer accepted" Ok, so I know that they do this bullying tactic often . And every other time, it seems to work for them

but I looked at feedback left for others... a pattern emerges and I know I think this person is a bottom feeder. 

"Item not as described" "Seller is a liar" Seller is rude, obxious" "Says new but is not" Seller is foulmouthed" and my personal fav "AVOID THIS SELLER! A complete whack job, thoroughly nasty and sick in the head.".

Run..., right?

After perusing the boards all night I think my options are either ignore the offer, auto decline and place on BBL, respond kindly but no thank you and see what happens (some say this could be a future customer .....or I could get ripped off  as I am apprehensive that this person  my turn with some nonsense once bought/received...

Honestly, that emotional side wants to school them back with all my knowledge and pricing info, tell them their tactics won't work on me and that if they are running a scam/price bullying, they are the worst type of people and what is wrong in the world and stick their offer straight up  *$%#$^(*.

Thank you , I got that out of my system!

Now I am curious what you all with think! Thank you for any advice!

Happy Halloween 😉 !!!

---

This buyer sounds like he's trying to bully you as well . Don't take it personal because to him its just  business and he's doing everything in his power to get the cheapest rate . Just politely decline his offer . It's up to you if you will need to block him after that . Tulips 

[southern*sweet*tea]

Remove all emotion from the equation.

The buyer doesn't know or care about the circumstances of the item. They don't know or care how much you paid for them. They don't know or care how much the items mean to you. They want the item at a cost that is lower than you want to consider.  That's all that matters.

Go with your gut, but do NOT take anything personally. Decline the offer.  This is business. If the buyer seems like they are a difficult type, feel free to block. You don't have to do business with bullies when you see them coming, which is the great thing about best offer.

[fern*wood]

I tend to view rudeness as a cry for attention and choose to give them none.  It is much better for your blood pressure to ignore or respond only by declining the offer.  Nothing good ever comes from trying to school others on ebay.

[ohnojoey]

You start high, they start low. It's just a game. If you feel they are rude, condescending, nasty, sick, then set your price, auto decline, and ignore them. Your partner is right, imo. Why respond at all?  There is no need to engage such people at the expense of your peace of mind. Or even give them a second thought. Otherwise to engage them repeatedly is an invitation for them to play you. Block them if you are uncomfortable. The ego is a lousy master.

[dhbookds]

wants to school them back with all my knowledge

You want to prove yourself right and that won't work with many......this guy is presenting his "opinion" for the purpose of beating you down on price......why would he want to be "schooled" to pay more? 

As others have said, just brush him off with something like "thanks for your interest, but price is firm."  and then just  ignore if he comes back with more guff....

[lintbrush*]

Trust your gut.

If it weren't for his feedback left for others, there might not be a reason to block, but there is a poor track record.

All of your items have Best Offer enabled, so he took a shot.  That part shouldn't bother you that much.   It's the emotional reaction to the strongarm tactics and the education he gave you.  That I understand.

Dear buyer,

Thank you for your interest, but we cannot accept your offer.  We're too far apart in price.

Then block.

If you don't want to entertain offers - remove them from your listings.  If you want to accept offers but have a bottom line, then set an auto-decline.  I never set auto-accept though, because I do want to take a look at the buyer's profile before I make a decision.

[bubbleman2010]

I'd counter offer 75.00 each if he's going to take all four,but if they are only after one I'd decline because that breaks up the set and someone needing four for their fixture won't look at just three. The market has gone way south since 010 if you purchased prior to that you bought at the high end of the market. Last set of four I sold in 09 brought $275.00 each you need to add bat wing in the title to increase the lookers...

[myboardid]

I agree with all the answers you got.  This guy is just playing a game with you, do NOT take it personally.  Do NOT argue back, because it means nothing to him.  I'd bet he already knows everything you could tell him, he's just trying to get you down on the price. 

Do NOT respond with anything other than one of the suggestions given in the posts above mine, or do NOT respond at all - leave him hanging. 

And with feedback like that, consider it a blessing that he didn't just buy it, and DEFINITELY block him. 

Add a minimum price below which you automatically decline offers.  That means you don't even have to look at any low-balls.  And be glad you got away from having to deal with this person. 

[designs2sell]

 Grateful for your input, truly!!!

~ I am confused as to what "bat wings" are. Would you mind giving me some more info on this? 

Thanks so much!

[softersilk]

HOORAY for you for doing your research, especially the FB left for others!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was unable to read your full post due to the very long paragraphs (please use line breaks) but clearly, you know what you are doing and you encounted a real weasel. I will add that in 20 years experience on this site, one thing is true: those who start off really aggressive and/or rude are to be avoided. It is a scare tactic and these are often outright scammers.

If it were me, I would first BBL.  Then I would end the listing for now.  An evil person like this, once thwarted, can simply sign up with another ID, buy your thing, then file SNAD for money back to meet their original price.  Perhaps in a week or so, relist it and maybe with a slightly higher price.

BTW - I see that you have 4 of that shade.  Are you willing to sell a few to one person? If so I would urge you to set up combined shipping for them.  I checked and quantity of 2 simply doubles. You can do this extremely easily with the shipping calculator.  Ours, for instances, uses weight and a handling fee.  The rule sets it to combine weights and use one handling fee.

You may wish to set it as regular priority and not one flat rate box.  If that were mine, I would pack the shade in a USPS box 4, and then put it inside a Box 7 with lots of packing materials.  

[bubbleman2010]

Bat wings are the high end buzzword used for that style of shade yours are a little more compressed,but fit in the bat wing family of shades. Once you add bat wing to the title they'll generate alot more interest and fair offers will be in the $75.00 to $100.00 each range unless someone with the fixure that needs four shades happens along,but the china junk sellers have began copying the style and like everything else copied it sent the market right into the basement...

[designs2sell]

I have gotten some great and knowledgable responses from you all to which I am truly truly grateful. While there may be always some buyers that are "difficult" etc, it is really re-assuring to know what a great & supportive selling community is here. Each response has been kind, thoughtful & spot on. If only everything went this way....:)

Thanks for the inecpensive therapy too~ lol.

I will def come to you all with any future concerns & questions. 

Have a lovely day! 

[m60driver]

Simple no comment low ball offers might get a counter offer from me unless they are below 50%.  Then they will get the same lack of response as any offer with attitude which would include "schooling".  One is never obligated to respond in the online world.