silly offers

[davidc4430]

what do you do with 'silly' offers

yesterday i got am offer on an item, less than hlaf the asking price.

after i declined the offer i recieved a detailed message explaining my prices are way too high, must have taken him a while to type it all up.

i replied with 'you know what you can do with your advice'

i then added him to my blocked buyer list.

i then got 2 messages including bad language.

i left it at that

now today i wake up to another silly offer from a different person

$40 including postage to the USA for an item i have listed for $250

i guess guy 1 has a mate.

none of my items has 'make an offer'

cheers for your input guys.

[davewil1964]

OP has already stated he doesn't have 'best offer' enabled, so that is not going to stop unsolicited offers, ridiculous or not.

[melbourneclearance]

People really do send silly messages all the time. I even get lowballs for $6 items with no Best Offer,

I once received a message for an item which I have sold over 160 of in 1.5 years. The price was $100, no Best Offer and Brand New in Item Conditon, the message was "I am willing to give you $35 for this item if you can guarantee that it is brand new and will work in my house."

Such messages do not merit a reply. There are others who send messages with offers and saying that they can buy the items from such and such for half the price. I even have had a couple of buyers who actually bought the items, then said they could get them cheaper down the road and demanded a discount (after they have received the items, of course).

The point is, people will try anything to save a buck because all sellers are obviously millionaires, right?  

In this business we've got to be thick-skinned. I'd be long in a straight jacket if I take everything to heart.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

in fact if a seller isnt asking for offers i wouldnt make one.

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it used to be against eBay policy to make an offer on a listing that wasn’t set up for offers.  Not sure if it is still a breach of policy, and I feel eBay wouldn’t do anything about it if it were.

I once had a guy send me an offer 2 minutes before a listing was due to end.  They offered $20 on a $200 buy-now with best-offer.  With only 2 minutes to go on the listing I just ignored the offer.  Some minutes after the listing ended I get a terse message from that member asking if theirs was the highest offer.  They were under the impression that “Best Offer” meant I was obliged to accept the highest offer made during a listing.  This was in the day when listings showed if any offers had been made/declined.

Needless to say they went onto my BBL.

[springyzone]

I'm surprised it isn't against some ebay regulation as really, it is trying to make a deal outside the terms of the ad.

Apart from being rude, it's a bit unfair on other ebay buyers who wouldn't dream of making unsolicited offers.

I'm not sure why some lookers think anyone would sell something they value at $200 for $20. It's a bit like a vulture, really.

[davidc4430]

thats pretty much why i dont add the 'make an offer' as i figure as soon as some buyers see that they feel its ok to start making silly offers.

i have had buyers ask me if i can do a better price without saying what they want it to be, thats fine.

also had buyers wanting a price on more than 1 item combined, which i'm cool with as i usually can drop single item prices a bit and cover a bit of postage for the sale.

my ads are set price, no offers, if the item fails to sell in 30 days i then might lower the price or let it run again same price.

but thats my choice.

or i might remove it from sale.

save it for a while then relist it in a few months.

as i said, i only need 1 buyer per item who is prepared to pay my price.

i do search ebay prior to listing items for others similar to help guide my price.

most of my items are close to the lowest price on ebay if not the lowest for the same item.

i have listed items and a few days later seen that someone else has listed at a lower price as they are free to do, the same thing.

thats how i think ebay works

i dont list at a loss.

[jellybirddesigns]

My items are all handmade with BIN for everything and I don't have Best Offers enabled.

However, some people seem to think that  I MUST lower my price just because they want more than 1 item. I gently point out that my items are handmade, and are priced reasonably for the work and time involved.

If I get a message that literally just says "How much for 6 of these" I can already tell by previous experience that the person is not going to like any answer I give them.

Some people message to say "I love these items and need 3 of them, but my budget is only $40". If the items are valued at $25 each, I guess that's too bad for the buyer. I don't work for free and I don't work at a loss.

A lot depends on how a buyer approaches me and the tone of the message.

[davidc4430]

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@cushioncovers wrote:

My items are all handmade with BIN for everything and I don't have Best Offers enabled.

However, some people seem to think that  I MUST lower my price just because they want more than 1 item. I gently point out that my items are handmade, and are priced reasonably for the work and time involved.

If I get a message that literally just says "How much for 6 of these" I can already tell by previous experience that the person is not going to like any answer I give them.

Some people message to say "I love these items and need 3 of them, but my budget is only $40". If the items are valued at $25 each, I guess that's too bad for the buyer. I don't work for free and I don't work at a loss.

A lot depends on how a buyer approaches me and the tone of the message.

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exactly, this guy yesterday,

send short message 'will i take $55 for my item'

items listed price is $125

so i message back, 'that would be no'

to which i recieve his 'friendly advice' listing reasons my item is way over priced and no one in the 'vintage radio control' game would ever pay such a high price. going on to give past examples of items he claimed to have bought on ebay.

i really didnt read much past the 'heres some friendly advice' line.

i messaged back he knows what to do with his advice' and i had added him to my blocked buyer list.

to which i got 2 nasty replies.

then this morning i get another silly offer on another of my items.

this time i ignored it and added the sender to my BB list.

so far no more silly offers today but maybe i'll have some by tomorrow morning.

i just hope none of these guys buys something just to trash my account later claiming some carp about it.

[jellybirddesigns]

A lot of folks who offer such low prices are often Ebay dealers themselves and are looking to get your items at the lowest possible price so they can sell it themselves in their store with the best markup.

[chameleon54 · Accepted solution]

What do I do with silly offers ?

Depends on my mood. If the message is reasonable I may send a brief message back stating all prices firm, or counter offer. If I,m grumpy ( most of the time these days....   ) they just go straight to my BBL which is set to not recieve messages from blocked buyers. With all of ebays silly rules I,m getting a lot more trigger happy with the BBL. The first sniff of trouble and its Party List time. Sure I miss out on the odd sale because of it, but I just dont need any hassles.

Just finished adding some-one else to my party list a few minutes ago.

Non verified, zero feedback buyer. I sent a message saying I would exempt them from my blocks, thinking I,m helping a newby. Get another message back saying they had another buying account but had "forgotton"  the password. Oh. and by the way is it OK if she pays in a weeks time ?  My guess is she has more than 2 non payment strikes, so started a new account to get around my non payment blocks. Could be wrong, but either way, PARTY TIME !!!!

[davidc4430]

how do i make it so blocked buyers cant message me?

i may allready have it set that way as ive not heard back from either of these guys as yet, but i wanna make sure.