So called "best offer"

[chiccaloca]

I don't understand when sellers put the "best offer" option on their listing when they are only willing to accept an offer of $1 or less of their asking price.  What is the point?  Hardly a best offer option.

[twyngwyn]

it's a curse.....more often than not the DEFAULT button has already been ticked by eBay (for make an offer) & the seller has not noticed

[springyzone]

 have actually had people put in best offers of more than my Buy It Now price before, despite me having auto-accept turned on with best offers e.g. $7 for a $10 item; buyer "bids" $12 instead. eBay doesn't check for stupidity like that.

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I thought it was strange too when I read this but on thinking about it, I wonder if some buyers who may be new to ebay or who don't do a lot of buying think that 'best offer' works sort of like some house sales-offers above such and such.

The price of your item may say eg $10 but probably they think that instead of the usual auction, you're just open to offers and will take the highest one.

If that is the case and you accept a best offer of eg $12, then the buyer may happily pay. They are no more likely to be non payers than anyone at an ordinary auction.

If you're having it happen multiple times, then there is obviously some confusion out there about how the process works.

[lotzrgood]

Chiccaloca - absolutely agree!! I am in the same current situation. Sellers totally ignore best offers, or will only accept a price reduction of a $1. I wish there was some way way of rating sellers response to offers made - eg. of 100 best offers made, how many did they accept? And percentage reduction of best offers accepted? (Eg - 90% of offers were accepted with price drop of 5%).

I just cannot understand why sellers offer this service, but really have no intention of providing it. 

[davewil1964]

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@lotzrgood wrote:

Chiccaloca - absolutely agree!! I am in the same current situation. Sellers totally ignore best offers, or will only accept a price reduction of a $1. I wish there was some way way of rating sellers response to offers made - eg. of 100 best offers made, how many did they accept? And percentage reduction of best offers accepted? (Eg - 90% of offers were accepted with price drop of 5%).

I just cannot understand why sellers offer this service, but really have no intention of providing it. 

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Maybe you should read some of the responses to this thread, not just the original post, then.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@lotzrgood wrote:

Chiccaloca - absolutely agree!! I am in the same current situation. Sellers totally ignore best offers, or will only accept a price reduction of a $1. I wish there was some way way of rating sellers response to offers made - eg. of 100 best offers made, how many did they accept? And percentage reduction of best offers accepted? (Eg - 90% of offers were accepted with price drop of 5%).

I just cannot understand why sellers offer this service, but really have no intention of providing it. 

rating sellers on their response to offers!!!!!! Not a good idea.

There is a website that provides this service, but I would rather make a fair offer based on what I think is a fair price for both the seller and myself.  I usually find that this works for me without the need to know the offer acceptance history of the seller.