eBay

saintcharlesplaceantiques · ‎10-09-2017

Hey everyone.

Has anyone else had the "best offer" option start showing up on auctions?

I typically use the "best offer" option on my BIN fixed price listings, but I've never heard of it showing up at auction before. I didn't even think it was possible to have an offer feature on an auction, but it's showing up on everything I list today. Obviously, when I list an item at auction, the minimum bid is the lowest I'll accept, so I don't even see why eBay would consider making this an option. I already get plenty of lowball offers & the last thing I need is offers below my minimum bid, and there's not even a BIN price on these listings.

I list several items a week for auction, and I didn't do anything different this time, so I'm wondering why it's showing up, or if there's something in my default settings that was somehow changed?

Is it visible on a page that's not my account?

I called eBay CS, but all they could really tell me was that it SHOULDN'T be an option, and ask me to decline any offers I recieve while the auction is running.

Anybody else running into this??

tev4all · ‎10-11-2017

@readabouthorses wrote:
I've been seeing it on various sellers' auctions since October 9 but haven't seen any earlier than that.

Okay, 1 day earlier, the 9th. Still doesn't match up with the referenced poster's sold listings. That poster seems to not know the difference between FP/w BO and Auctions w/BO.

dhbookds · ‎10-11-2017

Still doesn't match up with the referenced poster's sold listings. That poster seems to not know the difference between FP/w BO and Auctions w/BO.

OR we don't understand how the sold "original listing" will look in solds.....will it show an auction with b/o or will it show simply as a f/p sold?

lookng2015 · ‎10-11-2017

Which is what bubble was trying to determine.

I also think it's just a bluff.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-11-2017

@tev4all wrote:
@lookng2015 wrote:
Try looking at the poster of message 139 - I see a couple of items with BO accepted.

christiandrew_7
Re: "Best Offer" showing up on auctions??
in reply to saintcharlesplaceantiques 10-11-2017 10:11:52 AM

I have this on my auction listings as well. I like it. I hope it stays. I sold an item for more than I would have gotten by the end of the auction because the customer wanted the item now.
Being as this disruptive innovation first appeared yesterday the 10th, I find IT hard to believe the poster you are referencing actually has accepted any BO on their Auctions. Look a little harder at the ending dates and starting formats, you might agree.

I don't know that you can rely on the ending dates, though. I bought something a couple of days ago and it did not show up until a day or so later as sold, which I thought was rather strange. It was in my Purchase History but not in solds for that seller, nor was it in solds for that item in a general search.

It was a fixed price listing with Best Offer, I made a Best Offer of just a little bit less, and it was quickly accepted.

bubbleman2010 · ‎10-11-2017

Sorry I was mistaken my item got sticky on the 9th not the 10th. It started life as a penny auction with free shipping and once active and it didn't disappear within the first half hour like the ones earlier had I converted it into a backfire listing,but the listing has went dormant no views whatsoever...

bubbleman2010 · ‎10-11-2017

Now ebay just needs to dip into the slush funds and make some insane offers so we testies can sell our wares and come and sing the phases of what a great new feature it is and folks will fall all over themselves hoping for a auto insert from ebay...

jaaron7 · ‎10-11-2017

I posted this on a couple other threads as well with the Best Offer topic.....

When I list an item for auction and I recieve an unsolicited offer thorugh ebay messages, I never accept the offer as it generally is too low.

Case in point, listed item no. 362120965604 which is a script that I listed with an opening bid of $100. Within a day, I received an offer thorugh ebay for me to sell it to them for $150. Their first ebay message to me was "I will pay $150 as a buy it now if you can add the buy it now option. I'm ready to pay now. Thanks." Their second message to me a few minutes later was "Hi, I'm ready to pay now please add a buy it now. Thanks." Thier third message to me a few minutes later was "I'm still ready to pay when you're ready. Please let me know. Thanks.". After the third message, I wrote to them that "I do not end auctions early and let them run their course to the end." He then responded "No problem. I generally pay the most money for scripts on ebay, I''m a collector. Please let me know if you decide to sell it for $150."

Well, here's a guy who says he generally pays the most money for scripts on ebay and offered me $150. The script ended up selling for $436 with two bidders. Who was the back bidder at $431? the same guy who told me he generally pays the most for scripts on ebay....implying that his $150 was good!

alvisinwales · ‎10-12-2017

Greetings from England.

I've just found out about this today from Tamebay.

It's not a bug - it is referred to in the Trading API documentation which is the place to find the truth. See https://developer.ebay.com/devzone/XML/docs/Reference/eBay/AddItem.html. It would seem to be an optional feature - I sure hope so because I don't want it on my auctions.

Note: Historically, the Best Offer feature has not been available for auction listings, but beginning with Version 1027, sellers in the US, UK, and DE sites will be able to offer the Best Offer feature in auction listings. The seller can offer Buy It Now or Best Offer in an auction listing, but not both features.

thatsallfolks · ‎10-12-2017

@alvisinwales wrote:
Greetings from England.

I've just found out about this today from Tamebay.

It's not a bug - it is referred to in the Trading API documentation which is the place to find the truth. See https://developer.ebay.com/devzone/XML/docs/Reference/eBay/AddItem.html. It would seem to be an optional feature - I sure hope so because I don't want it on my auctions.

Note: Historically, the Best Offer feature has not been available for auction listings, but beginning with Version 1027, sellers in the US, UK, and DE sites will be able to offer the Best Offer feature in auction listings. The seller can offer Buy It Now or Best Offer in an auction listing, but not both features.

That clearly says it’s the seller’s choice. That’s not what was implemented here.

alvisinwales · ‎10-12-2017

I've just tried using the API to list on the UK site and it won't allow me to put BO on an auction. I guess it hasn't arrived here yet and I've not seen in mentioned on our boards.

I get this warning:

<Ack>Warning</Ack>
<Errors>
<ShortMessage>Best offer feature disabled.</ShortMessage>
<LongMessage>Best offer feature is unavailable or disabled for the specified category or listing type.</LongMessage>
<ErrorCode>20135</ErrorCode>
<SeverityCode>Warning</SeverityCode>
<ErrorClassification>RequestError</ErrorClassification>
</Errors>
<Version>1035</Version>

stoneledge · ‎10-12-2017

@alvisinwales wrote:
I've just tried using the API to list on the UK site and it won't allow me to put BO on an auction. I guess it hasn't arrived here yet and I've not seen in mentioned on our boards.

I get this warning:
<Ack>Warning</Ack>
<Errors>
<ShortMessage>Best offer feature disabled.</ShortMessage>
<LongMessage>Best offer feature is unavailable or disabled for the specified category or listing type.</LongMessage>
<ErrorCode>20135</ErrorCode>
<SeverityCode>Warning</SeverityCode>
<ErrorClassification>RequestError</ErrorClassification>
</Errors>
<Version>1035</Version>

Sorry you have that problem.

It's off topic. I suggest you take your posts and copy them over to an new post in the Technical Issuues discussion in order to get help with your technical problem.

Typos courtesy of Lithium.

lookng2015 · ‎10-12-2017

Good grief.

The post is NOT off topic at all.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

lookng2015 · ‎10-12-2017

@alvisinwales

I guess they're rolling it out to US sellers first (except that THEY are putting it on the listings rather than making a seller chosen option)

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

threshold.sales.group · ‎10-12-2017

IMO, the feature would be useful for some sellers and I'm sure some would choose it and love it. The whole isssue is notifcation. Not even a quick heads-up so far and it's a very signicant change in the way auctions are sold on the site (imo). There will be plenty of surpised sellers getting best offers on their auction items and they'll likely think it's a site glitch or worse a scam and respond accordingly. Leads to bad buying and selling experience - just the opposite of the goal.