Just venting...

[powersports57]

Hi all, has anyone else felt the need to justify the price of an item after recieving a buyer's offer?

I have an item listed at 39.99. plus post. 

I was offered $20 for the item, posted in a tube at my cost. The guy says he can buy the item for $6US plus postage - and offered me the $20 deal...I thought about it for a while and did some figures. The item at todays price would owe me $6US plus say $20 post (easy) so right there is $35Aussie (Cost /.73c) roughly. If I was to add the 10.90 post plus say 3.50 for a tube I would be in it for 50.01, then I have eBay and Paypal fees to include. I know buyers have to offer and I have the right to yes or no etc and thats OK, it just makes you think a little harder about what the costs of items really are. Just venting...I know someone will understand..Cheers, Dave

[kopenhagen5]

Less than half price, that's low.

Personally I would counter with perhaps 30 plus post.

That's still a good discount.

But if it's an item you are happy to just get rid of then maybe counter with yes 20 is ok but you need 5 for postage.

I know many sellers offer free post these days but if someone is not prepared to pay for postage then I wouldn't be keen to deal with them.

I send more for postage if I see a seller has paid more than he initially thought postage would cost.

Sellers are always surprised and comment on how that's the way it used to be.

[gutterpunkz05]

If buyers try to tell me what something is worth, I tell them to go and buy retail.  Had one the other day telling me postage for 500g

is only  $7.50.   Checked his own listings and his postage prices were on par with mine, some even higher.    He offered   80%

of purchase price but also wanted free post, which made his offer actually about  60% in total.

[powersports57]

I guess buyers have to try, shows like American Pickers etc have created the environment where the back and forth price hagling  junk gets just silly. If it was cash in the hand maybe deals are OK, but not when eBay slugs a % of the sale price and postage cost ontop.

[digital*ghost]

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@powersports57 wrote:

Hi all, has anyone else felt the need to justify the price of an item after recieving a buyer's offer?

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To be honest, no - actually... I have kind of been asked to justify the prices of some of my items, but the people who have queried them practice the same craft  I do and ask me why my prices are so low (I find this much more difficult to respond to than people who are implying my prices are too high  ). 

I used best offer for a while years ago, and any time I received a lowball offer, I would simply decline it with the line: "Thank you for your interest, unfortunately, I am not able to meet that price". and honestly felt no compulsion to qualify the statement with a "...because". 

If someone messages a seller with "I can get this item elsewhere cheaper", my first and only reaction is "why haven't you bought it from there already, then?"

The answer is obvious, though - they have a preference for buying from the seller they have messaged because they see additional benefit or value with buying from that particular seller, but refuse to literally value those benefit(s). Personally, I don't need buyers like that. 😉 

[kopenhagen5]

If someone messages a seller with "I can get this item elsewhere cheaper", my first and only reaction is "why haven't you bought it from there already, then?"

We have customers come into our retail business saying the same. 

I usually respond with "If you can get it for that price then I will pay you to get me 10 boxes of them"

Umms and arrs usually follow as they are caught in the untruth.

[powersports57]

great advice there, appreciated. Thanks, Dave

[the_2nd_zoo]

I don't want offers but deal with themon a case by case basis.

What I hate is the bull stories they give to try and justify wanting a cheaper price.

"I am buying this for my grandmother"  so am offering 1/2 what you are asking.

"I am a pensioner" this one guy early on in my career kept nagging me to go to cost price - then turned up in a Lexus.

[springyzone]

Personally, I think if someone came to me saying how cheap they can get it elsewhere and offering half price, I'd probably just say no, that they had better go with the other offer.

I wouldn't necessarily feel a need to justify my price either.

Bottom line here is there's no point listing something on ebay unless there is at least a small profit in it for you. After all, you'll be spending time making a listing, then packaging & posting. Plus there is a slight element of risk as you never know if a buyer will make an ebay claim of some sort & leave you out of pocket.

So if there's no profit margin, just say no. 

I'd say your potential buyer sounds like some people I have known (not necessarily on ebay), who might downplay the value of someone else's things but it's amazing how much they charge when it comes to their own things.

[justkidzbiz]

Slightly off topic, but I had someone begging me to split 2 items I was selling together on FB, a desk and side drawers. At first I said no, sorry, but then someone else wanted just the desk. So I messaged the other person all within 10 minutes of her first message - no response whatsoever.

Then you always get the "is this available", despite in listings I state, "if you can read this post it's available" and that's always at the top of my posts.  Just goes to show people don't read! Same goes on eBay. 

And then the ones that tell you, "I can get it cheaper......". Be my guest!