eBay

lichtpriester · ‎07-23-2013

Hey, sellers! Why do some of you give a "best offer" option with your listings, when you seemingly have no intention of even WANTING a best offer to be made? If you're selling something for $100 for example, and the only best offer that you will take is $99, then what is the point? No potential buyer is going to make an offer on something that's 10 cents less (or whatever) than your asking price, so unless you're willing to knock a few dollars off (depending on the original price of course) why waste both your time and that of buyers? Best offers SHOULD be reasonable, but so should the best offer amount that you're willing to accept.

maceep · ‎10-20-2019

Hi eyeoftheguru,

I think some people set up the Offer feature wrong... that's one big problem.

Sellers can set
minimum offer
and they end up out of luck because people feel jerked around by the auto declines!

Best thing you can do is come to my store and enjoy the quality products and service I offer. 😉

pumpernickelpicks · ‎11-02-2019

I feel like people don't understand haggling. When I make offers my sense is that it should go back and forth a couple times and should end up at place that is about 25% less than the initial price depending on variables e.g. very large starting price vs already a bargain etc...

dollplaza · ‎11-09-2019

There is a flaw in the premise. Best Offer is an ambiguous tool up to the user to make the most of. When used with auctions, it can be about not competing and getting the item immediately. I personally needed a part from a lot so I offered $12 on a Best Offer auction with a starting bid of $6. It was better than paying $60 or more for a complete set. I also sold a pony on auction where I started the bid at $10 but got a Best Offer of $30 and accepted it. It is not a tool for getting Sale or Clearance grade prices. If you want 40% off of 3 items that you buy together, we will certainly give that level discount if you take all three. But if you are asking 50% off of a listing not even 24 hours old, we will decline. Most of our Best Offers are set to auto-decline 50% off. We don't bother with counter offers because even when we reduced $5-10 at a time, the buyer would only come up a dollar. Most buyers we have encountered that have issue with Best Offers is they see how many dollars they want off while we are looking at what % is left on the item that will be profit (which is not the same as revenue). Our worst Best Offer was a $12 doll someone wanted to pay $8 and get free shipping. The dimensional weight of this doll was enough that $8 would not have even covered the shipping costs let alone our acquisition cost, the listing fees, the final value fee, the labor of our photographer, etc. The true crime and why we have been disabling Best Offer for the coming holiday is that only 1 out of 10 Best Offers we accept actually are paid. We cannot afford to have the listing down for so long for people who had no intention of spending the money no matter the price.

pairdriver · ‎12-13-2019

When I get a super low offer for an item I have listed, I usually reply, "Thank you for your offer. I am sure there are many other sellers on eBay who would be happy to accommodate your offer. Best regards." Polite, but.!

bae.game.hunters · ‎12-21-2019

As a part time reseller of thrifted goods I can tell you that waiting “hours” for me to respond might have nothing to do with your offer. I have a small child, a family I cook and clean for, and I have to sleep. I’m also pregnant and prone to falling asleep in the middle of the day. People tend to think I’m Amazon or Walmart and should be available to answer questions immediately or ship within hours. Just a few days ago a buyer sent me a question while I was doing grocery shopping and by the time I got home, put up my groceries, fed my child, and had time to look at my phone they had become irritated at my lack of response. Sorry I can respond to your message while driving or sleeping. Also, everyone’s business model is different and just because it’s a reasonable offer to you does not mean it is for everyone. I sell a lot of video games, I will not discount popular titles the day I list them or even before the first full weekend has passed because more than likely it will sell, I am however happy to discount if you want multiple titles which is why I always have the best offer option available. I also will accept offers of varying discount depending on the item. I sell a lot of unique or rare items that are sometimes hard to sell. I will price according to recent sales but will usually accept offers around 30% off if the item has been sitting for some time or if it’s large, has good profit margins, and want it out of my space. I’m less likely to accept offers on small items or popular items that were recently listed because I don’t want to short myself what I could have had by waiting a few days. It’s also not my responsibility to respond to every offer but if you leave a message with your offer or send me a message directly I will respond. As for auctions, I don’t do them because I find it never ends in my favor but I would imagine the initial starting price is the lowest they’re willing to accept. The best offer in that case is for you to try to negotiate an early end time for a fair price that may or may not be less than if you took your chances at auction. Nothing to get upset about being declined an offer less than starting. My business model also has much more wiggle room than others, it seems many people on here are mad about the mass Chinese sellers only wanting to discount something 10 cents but honestly they don’t have much motivation to discount anything at all really. If I sell 100 of something a day why would I discount to sell you 1 item? I would discount to sell you 100. They also probably have much tighter margins and could potentially only be making 30 cents on each unit sold. I agree there’s some unreasonable sellers out there but I don’t feel like it’s as common as this thread is making it seem. I think there’s more upset buyers who are angry they can’t get a deal.

sarah_jo_666_420 · ‎02-29-2020

Completely agree. Lately if I make an offer it just gets declined without a counter offer or an explanation or anything.

So I put in a reasonable offer recently, and politely asked if instead of just declining if seller didn't like my offer, please counter offer. I got a rude response with a counter offer for the exact BIN price saying that he doesn't need to lower the price, he has no problem selling them, and "thanks for the advice" but he'll be taking off the make an offer feature now. Just for the info, my offer was 6% off asking. I don't think that's anywhere near lowballing.

So WHY bother making it a make an offer listing in the first place?! Just because you like to be a d-bag to people?

I sell, too and I've NEVER made a make an offer listing and not at least sent a counter offer. I think I've actually just accepted every offer I've gotten because they were reasonable. And eBay doesn't force me to put make an offer on any of my listings, or bug me about lowering the price, etc, even though some have been up forever, because if you go into the settings you can TURN IT OFF! Or, click the button not to ask again if they send an offer to put your listing in one of their automated pricing things.

I've been on eBay since 2001, this seller only since 2017. It REALLY offends me that some seller with 2 items for sale and only 3 years experience vs my 19 years thinks they can talk to me like I'm some idiot who doesn't know how to use eBay. Other way around, "buddy".

I don't know if I'm allowed to name seller names, but I will say it's a REALLY ironic one since it literally says "help others" in it. Yeah, right.

sarah_jo_666_420 · ‎03-02-2020

Just a quick update, seller's "hotcakes" still hasn't sold. The last person who declined my reasonable offer is still trying to sell that item and the price has been dropped so that now it's even lower than my offer was! Bet he wishes he'd taken my offer!

pengx683 · ‎03-25-2020

Let me tell you something even funnier. I made a best offer yesterday which was only about 10% less than its BIN price. The seller sent me a counter offer that was exactly the same price as the BIN price! I'm honestly speechless. WHAT IS THE POINT THEN?!

milspec42 · ‎04-10-2020

I've made a best offer twice, the absolute most I can afford. Seven dollars less that the BIN amount on the listing. I can't understand why the seller will not even to reply, even to reject, counteroffer, or just to say "i cant sell for any less than my BIN price". These are difficult times, wage cuts, layoffs, people dying. Why would a seller not reply, even to say no. They just let the listing expire (twice) without a reply. I'm confused!

middl_brian · ‎04-13-2020

I just had a seller turn down two offers ($9 and $9.50) on a $10 item. Do you know why they declined? They told me because it would cost them $7 to ship.

How is that my issue?! Im not the one who set the price to not include shipping.

bigbroda1 · ‎04-19-2020

This exact thing just happened to me...AGAIN! But item was for $1190OBO. i offered $1000 thinking that is pretty reasonable but willing to haggle a bit. I didn’t even know it was auto declined. I was willing to haggle, so I offered $1050, auto decline again. I stopped because I know his final price will be $1189. Honestly, what is the effing point of wasting both our time if you aren’t willing to even consider the art of a true haggle. Just ignore the obvious low ballers, but don’t insult a potential buyer with this kind of stupidity!

ltmoir · ‎05-11-2020

So mad about this right now. Seller has a shirt for $17 OBO. I started with $13 figuring he’d come back with $15. I would have even paid the $17 if he didn’t have the OBO! Guy declines $13 and then $15 with no counteroffer. I told him I don’t understand why you’d be that rude and he tells me “your ridiculous garbage offers are rude.” Going to buy it now and look forward to leaving him a negative for being a piece of **bleep** jerk.

lab16 · ‎09-01-2020

What are people's thoughts on a buyer contacting you to ask, What is your best price? when an item is offered with a "best Offer" option. Doesn't that just defeat the entire purpose? I list my items at what I feel is a very fair price. Isn't it up to the buyer to offer their best price?

partsguynow · ‎10-30-2020

Most of my listings for auto parts selling for over $10.00 have the best offer feature, under that amount I turn it off but still offer free shipping in most cases. For items that I have sold with best offer, most of the buyers have offered me a fair price and I usually accept most of them. I havnt really had anyone offer a ridiculous $ but when they did I countered and they bought. Just lucky I guess.