eBay sneakily turning on "make an offer" option

[hbicupinhere2010]

I just listed a brand new phone as "buy now". I realised after the fact that eBay had automatically enabled "make an offer", with the minimum offer being a ninth of the phone's trending value. When I revised the listing to remove the option, I noticed the tick box was buried in a "see more" section so it wasn't visible as I was creating the listing. Very sneaky and pushy (in keeping with eBay's culture of course).

This may not seem like a big issue as I can ostensibly decline offers but I believe the "make an offer" box can tarnish the look of higher value listings and de-motivate to pay the asking price, plus it creates pointless screwing around for me.

This makes me question a mistake I thought I made last year, when a pair of new Converses I listed for a fixed price somehow sold for a quarter of that price. At the time I assumed I'd ticked the "accept minimum offer" option by mistake and I messaged the buyer to apologise -- I wasn't about to throw out limited edition high-tops for $40. The buyer left me negative feedback over the incident which I accepted, but from what I'm reading now it seems that eBay may have taken the liberty and auto-adjusted the listing as they saw fit.

I hope other sellers are aware of this sliminess. 

[sugar249]

wow thats a very broad brush,  now you are also blaming Ebay for something you did wrong last year.

Come on people take responsibility for your own actions.  I just created a new listing, the make an offer option is ticked, but it is easy to untick,  it is not hidden, it is not sneaky   And the auto accept options are both not highlighted, so if you accepted an offer of 10% of the original price, you either set the minimum, or you said yes I like that price.

Maybe think about looking at what you do rather then then tick the boxes,  I guess you don't read the T&C's when you sign up for anything either.  That way you can blame the world.

[curraone]

Just maybe you used your own listings to make a new listing - like "sell similar"?    I notice you have other items which have best offer, so if  you used sell similar those best offer options would have carried over.    

[*sons_and_daughters*]

Yes, ebay have been known to turn that option on.  They have also taken it upon themselves to set a minimum price that auto accepts. Often a fraction of the price. I never use make an offer, but have at times found it turned on. I always check when making a listing, that the box isn't ticked.

[cezm]

I've had ebay turn the best offer option on, with a low minimum auto accept, after the item had been listed for a few days. They did email and tell me so I could turn it off but if my communication settings had been set to avoid emails I would have been none the wiser.

I go through my listings regularly to check it's not turned on again

[jellybirddesigns]

I have noticed that Ebay sometimes "tweaks" things that I have set a certain way, without any type of notification. In the past, I have had my postage settings messed with, as well as having Guaranteed Delivery turned on, even though I disabled it as soon as it was implemented however many years ago.

I've also had Best Offer turned on for a listing that is based off a set template I have been using for 7 years. I have 300+ items and suddenly Ebay turned it on for one random listing which had already been active for more than 12 months and had had sales.

So yes,  it's entirely plausible that Ebay messes with a listing after a seller has already set it up as sellers have seen for themselves.

[digital*ghost]

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@sugar249 wrote:

Maybe think about looking at what you do rather then then tick the boxes,  I guess you don't read the T&C's when you sign up for anything either.  That way you can blame the world.

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No, ebay is very much to blame here.

I can't believe they are still doing this, it has been a good couple of years since they took it upon themselves to not only interfere with the features on a listing, but interfere with the price that an item would sell for - ebay has no right to set that and apply auto-accept to it, and if they do, if they take actions that affect the listing like that, that are opt out not opt in, that line about sellers assuming all responsibility for a listing becomes meaningless. (If you read reports from other sellers, you'll also know many sellers found after going in and switching it off, it would re-appear not long after, same as how they decided some of my listings are automatic payment required a couple of years ago - there is no function for me to turn it off permanently, only for about half an hour). 

I can't see how this kind of market interference can be legal, whether or not they have it in their T&Cs (besides which, they are known to have T&Cs that are legally questionable, that whole thing they did about members not being able to participate in class action lawsuits but have to go through arbitration instead - 100% completely and utterly unenforceable, and there are actually laws that govern the kinds of T&Cs a site can have; if you give up a right - like the right to set a firm price and not have it sell for less - there has to be something offered in compensation for that. I would be very surprised if deciding for members that an item can sell for a fraction of the seller's asking price is kocher in any way imaginable). 

[rookieyear1984]

Are you making listings with your phone? I noticed early last year that best offer would switch on, even if you turned it off, if you completed the entire listing on your phone. If I made the listing on the computer and only uploaded the photos, it would keep best offer option unchecked. Worth a shot trying the computer draft method if you’re exclusively listing by phone 🙂