confusion

[birdversion67]

I am very new to ebay and find it all a bit confusing to use. I listed an item and someone messaged me an offer. I messaged back saying I have to check the postage real cost and said in the mesage I'd be happy to accept if they were ok with me checking postage first. I didn't hear anything back and in the following 24 hours the item sold at the original price to another person. Help! I don't know what to do. Will this give me a bad rep on ebay? What should I do???

[lane-ends]

Only person who can give you feedback is the one whpo purchased from you.

Use AP website to calculate postage rather than waste time going to Post office.

Dont promise to sell or not until you have considered everything and made a decison

[bullitprooftools2016]

If you can, never be specific!  Never rely on APO or carriers to deliver in the time frame they quote.  Never make promises.

Ok, you may have to be specific about an item description.....but that's all!

[book-of-hezekiah · Accepted solution]

hi birdversion67

welcome to the boards and welcome to selling. There are heaps of great people here. We're all members like you, sellers and/or buyers. Just in case you don't know, eBay doesn't read these boards, we are all members of the public.

I'm still learning the ropes of selling, too. There is so much to learn! Even long-standing members will come to ask for help in clarifying something or ask for a fresh perspective. We learn together.

(Beware of trolls: just ignore them, as difficult as that may be!)

So, back to your actual comment: This has happened before and is a trap for young players, both sellers and buyers. The thing to do now is message the person who made the enquiry and say something like "Thank you for your enquiry. This product is now longer available. This listing was still live during our negotiations and has subsequently been sold. I am sorry for the inconvenience." If you have another of the exact item available for sale you could offer that, and offer to make a special listing. We can discuss that later if necessary.

As was previously mentioned, this enquirer can not leave any feedback as they didn't make the purchase. I'm not sure exactly how the policy is worded but basically the other person who bought the item is the one to whom the sale now belongs. You shouldn't get a bad rep, plenty of experienced buyers understand new sellers need more patience and understanding and are happy to work with you. It's the other buyers who don't care of the seller's experience that can make it tricky. As long as you are open to learning and growing your customers will be pulled along with you. It's the sellers who refuse to grow and learn who soon lose their business.

Did you have a "best offer" option on your listing? If not, it can be a bit cheeky to make a private offer. If you did, well, that is the nature of the game. I am also in the middle of a best offer negotiation and I now realise I was foolish in my counter-offer response - I said "I would like to accept your offer on these conditions..." and neglected to remind the buyer another buyer may jump in with Buy It Now and miss out. I do not have another item the same to offer.

That is all I have to offer for the moment. Always come back to the boards for help. We are happy to help people who are willing to learn.

[phorum_junkie*]

If you have the Best Offer available then the only way a member should be sending an offer is through that system and you have up to 48 hours to accept or not. No need to send any message. If they messaged you direct with an offer not going through Best Offer then you should have ignored them or have told them to use the make an offer option. When they make an offer ebay tell them that the item is still for sale and may be sold before they get a response.

A good way of stopping any confusion is to tick the box for auto accepting and refusing offers, if you do that then it all happens without you having to do anything until the item shows up in your sold list.

Just a an aside with the two items you have listed at the moment I would not emphasise the fact the bag was made in Hong Kong, of course you don't tell any lies but as you don't have to mention where it was made keep that little gem to yourself.

With the pants you should not be describing them as vintage, that means at least over 30 years old, purists will say 50. You should also give at least basic measurements. For pants I give waist, hips, inside leg length and outside leg length.

[birdversion67]

Thank you so much! Everyone has been so helpful. I'm taking your advice. 

[birdversion67]

Thank you!

[birdversion67]

thanks so much! it's great having this community. phew!

[birdversion67]

thanks! feel so supported.

[springyzone]

If someone sent you a private message with an offer, they may be going against ebay rules, trying to negotiate outside ebay.

Personally in that situation, I would reply that I would allow the auction to run its course and if it did not sell, then I would consider relisting.

I get the sense this other person may have been offering you less than your asking price. If that is the case, never fall for it. It's easy to undervalue your own goods, especially when you have it up on auction for eg 6 days & not a single bid.

But what happens on ebay a lot is people tend to bid at the last moment or at least on the last day or so. I think that is what happened to you.

And even if you had not had a bid this time round, that isn't to say you would not have one next week for your set price if you relisted.

My gut feeling is that anyone who is sending through a lower offer (unless it is through the official make an offer format) is probably just testing the waters, not all that keen or committed, which is why you haven't heard back. They're just not that interested. Another reason to ignore those types. People who are very interested make a bid.

Don't worry about your reputation. The only ones who can give you feedback are official buyers