Up to 90% of offers now declined or left to expire :(

[maxretro76]

I am growing concerned with this new trend of sellers choosing to ignore sales opportunities!! Recently i had my final offer of 50c less for a dvd player from the uk quickly declined. Royal mail would have been screaming for the missed opportunity of $50 postage. Also a chinese item for 20c less was instantly declined by ebay auto feature. Many are also left to expire with no counter-offers or response from sellers. What is the point of having a best offer feature then? It seems that many people would rather watch their items gather dust or be stuck on storage shelves. The only other thing i can think of is maybe they are testing the market?? Rather than roll coins down a hill in protest, could someone tell me what the hell is really going on ???

[digital*ghost]

Some sellers misunderstand what the best offer function is for (eg there's been a few who thought it meant higher offers), some sellers use it to entice buyers without actually offering or accepting any discounts (not really sure of the logic behind that one, but it happens), some sellers use it to provide discounts only on volume purchases, some sellers may be more inclined to be generous in more prosperous times, some sellers have decided to no longer provide best offer discounts - the feature can't be removed from a listing if there have been sales, and sales history improves search rankings, so they can be reluctant to create a new listing, especially in competitive categories. 

[collect247]

I can understand offering $50 or $20 less and not responding but 50c and 20c less, well those sellers are bonkers I say.

Or probably don't even realize they have an offer on them lol.

[lyndal1838]

There are some reports on the boards of the Best Offer feature being automatically activated and the sellers have no idea that it it on their listings until they get an offer.  As far as they know the potential buyer is just being cheeky.

[sarahs_preloved_booksnbits]

This trend of letting offers expire or declining them (assuming a reasonable price) amazes me.  The general complaint i have heard about on the seller message boards of late, is that sale levels are right down. 

Even when i receive a ridiculous offer - I have countered with something more reasonable.  In some instances, the person just isn't really interested,  but in others, they just don't want to pay any more than the absolute mininum the seller will sell at. 

Finally - as a seller i have noticed that, if I post an item for sale, with the 'Best Offer' option, on the next item I list that box will automatically be selected.  So it's possible that the seller may have inadvertantly listed with that option. 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@maxretro76 wrote:
I am growing concerned with this new trend of sellers choosing to ignore sales opportunities!! Recently i had my final offer of 50c less for a dvd player from the uk quickly declined. Royal mail would have been screaming for the missed opportunity of $50 postage. Also a chinese item for 20c less was instantly declined by ebay auto feature. Many are also left to expire with no counter-offers or response from sellers. What is the point of having a best offer feature then? It seems that many people would rather watch their items gather dust or be stuck on storage shelves. The only other thing i can think of is maybe they are testing the market?? Rather than roll coins down a hill in protest, could someone tell me what the hell is really going on ???

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while I understand you being puzzled by sellers declining or ignoring offers that are only a matter of 50c or 20c below their BIN price, the question I will ask is why are you even bothering to offer 50c or 20c less than the BIN price? . . . . . . unless you are only doing so to test their willingness to actually accept such an offer.

You ask:

What is the point of having a best offer feature then?

. . . . . to which I would counter with:

why would anyone who genuinely wanted an item use their last of three offers to offer 50c less than BIN rather than just buying at the BIN price?

[collect247]

slr sales perhaps the BIN price was 55c and OP offered 50c off and wanted to buy it for 5c 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

@ eezipeezi

55c DVD player from the UK with $50 postage !!!!!!!!!! No wonder they wanted to save a little with their offer of 5c !!!!!!!

Just kidding maxretro, we know that your offer was not for just 5c, we are just being silly (as we can so often be   )

[digital*ghost]

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

55c DVD player from the UK with $50 postage !!!!!!!!!! No wonder they wanted to save a little with their offer of 5c !!!!!!!

Just kidding maxretro, we know that your offer was not for just 5c, ....

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That's 'cos the minimum price of a buy it now item - after all discounts have been applied - is $1 😉

Spoiler

Technically Correct Guy Girl Strikes Again 

[maxretro76]

Thanks for the replies folks😀 I hadnt thought of some of those issues. To sir-sales i would like to say that like most shoppers i also like to shop around for bargains and look to save on overpriced items and high postage costs wherever possible. Personally, i find it annoying that after making a 2nd or 3rd & final offer that a seller has made no effort to do business with me. Whatever happened to customer service?? I hardly ever go back to the same seller after a final offer fails & purchase the same item from a competitor instead usually at a higher rate. Perhaps i should make my final offer at the minimum BIN or ' buy it now price ' to avoid disappointment, but i dont know if i'll die wondering if i could have saved a dollar here or 50c there...it all adds up you know....😂Lol