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.

[collect247]

100% correct and it will be 60 days before a blocked buyer won't be able to message a seller again when they're in a transaction.

[davidc4430]

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

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@davidc4430 wrote:

ok, found it.

fixed it.

thank you to all who have left replies.

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david, now that that is sorted, can I interest you in a book?

Spoiler

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Check-This-Box-If-You-Are-Blind-A-Brother-a-Sister-a-True-Story-By-Susan...

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https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Now-You-Know-The-Book-of-Answers-By-Doug-Lennox/382237845834?epid=104461...

this one might come in handy?

[123456rosy]

I have also received low offers on my items since eBay started adding the Best Offers by default.  I start my auctions at low prices anyway, so I dread having to reply to the 'offeree' to decline.  I feel that in doing so, I am going to 1) annoy the person because I have rejected their offer 2) annoy them even more because they are wondering why I have Best Offers on my listing if I am not open to offers!

I absolutely detest this new enforced Best Offer button.  I tried removing it, but it seems that it is not possible to remove the option from free listings as a business seller (I have another account as a small business seller - I am posting here from my personal account).  

I see that eBay has now added a button that allows buyers to filter listings to see only those sellers taking best offers.  This is actually going to lose me business - for the reasons listed above - and because if you have a best offer button on your listing it makes the buyer suspicious that your start price may be too high (my prices are pretty low to start with). This is one of the worst ideas that eBay has ever introduced.

Even more worryingly, I just read another post on here (from a few years ago) from a seller who politely declined a buyer's offer on his item, but found that the same (disgruntled) buyer then purchased the item at the asking price and spitefully left bad feedback as 'punishment' because they had an axe to grind.  I know that such buyers are rare and we cannot completely safeguard ourselves against buyers with grudges, but having this Best Offer option that leaves us no option but to decline silly offers is definitely going to increase the odds of having this sort of thing happen.  Another way to potentially kill sales. 

[springyzone]

I understand how you must feel to have 'best offer' put on some of your items against your wishes. That isn't fair at all that ebay does that to some sellers.

With regard to 'silly' offers though-I would think many buyers who make ridiculous offers eg 25%-50% of asking price, must expect that they will probably be knocked back. They're just having a go in case you're desperate to sell.

The ones who will feel slightly disgruntled or annoyed are those who offer very close to the asking price. I can recall a couple of years back offering within the dollar on a $20 item and having the offer declined. That does make buyers scratch their head and and think-well, why have best offer on an item, then?

There are some sellers here who have explained they have it only for those who buy multiples of the item, but that is not what it comes across as in the ads. I'd say most buyers who see best offer on an item are going to assume it is... open to a reasonable offer.

If it is cheaper for 2 or 4 or whatever, I'd expect the ad to make that clear.

I don't think there would be many buyers who would buy at full price deliberately to give a neg but if I were a seller, what would worry me is the buyers who do get an offer refused then pay full price might be extra fussy about their item. It better be perfect because they didn't get any discount on it etc

[davidc4430]

i usually give offer makers 1 chance, make a silly offer i will reply letting them know i wont drop my price that low.

they make a second silly offer they get blocked straight away without a reply.

[ozstockman]

It really depends on a situation. What you as a seller think may be a fair price is not really a far price at all.

There was a product listed on eBay for $1100 auction and buy it now for $1300 plus shipping cost. RRP price directly from manufacturer website and some sellers on eBay was $1199 and free shipping. And you can get a brand new from Japan for less than $1000. The product listed was not even brand new and was listed as in used condition. 

I like the product and I know all the offers on eBay and outside of it. I have been checking its price for a long time. Once its new model hit the market this model price started to drop online.

There was one sold sold on eBay 2 months ago for $750 in used condition so I emailed the seller and explained all this and offered them from 700-750 in case they could not sell it. They thanked me and said they would think about my offer. Then went through three  relistings it as an auction lowering their starting bid by $100 every time but kept the same price for Buy it Now.

After the second relist I contacted them and with their starting bid being lowered to $900 I offered them $760 with shipping cost included.

Their item was under eBay promotion(10% discount) so I was hopping to get it for slightly less than $700 with the ebay discount. However even though the seller agreed to accept it they wanted to save on eBay fees and sell it outside of eBay.   I declined as it is against ebay policy and also explained that I was hopping to get it partially funded by the eBay discount. I asked them to realist so I could buy it but they decided not to go ahead. Now their item ends with 1 bid at $800 and I am sure they will be no other bids at all.

As you can this that seller either had no idea how much something like this would cost today or simply wanted more than it really costs. Was my offer silly offering $760 instead of initial $1100 minimum bid and $1300 Buy it now? I do not think so as I was referring to the last sale for the same product in the same condition. BTW that one was sold with one bid too because there was no competition even for that price.

Now this seller gets extra $40 over my offer if the bidder pays but they have waited for more than  20 days to sell it.

[ozstockman]

BTW I do get silly offers myself but my products are all made by me. The most popular ones that are getting silly offers cost less than $10. Sometimes it looks silly and time consuming when somebody starts offering me $3 for $6 products. I used to write that this button is not for playing and it is there only for bulk order discounts, now I just decline.

[rookieyear1984]

My favourite move after a second lowball offer (I always see if they’re willing to come up and meet me) is to go back with a 1 cent discount. They usually get the picture, I receive a declined offer and everyone moves on. I think going back with a joke offer sort of reminds people that there is a human at the other end too.

[davidc4430]

heres my latest,

this morning got a message asking if id be open for an offer on an item i have listed for $75.

i replied 'sure as long as its not silly'

so a couple of hours later got his offer of $50, too low but he added he was interested in another of my items i have listed for $145.

so i replied his $50 offer was too low but id do the 2 items for $175 with free postage, a pretty reasonable saving i thought.

a while later he sends me an offer of $130 for both!

well, the way i see it he wants the $145 item for $15 off, the $75 item thrown in for free and free postage!

i replied 'remember my first reply about silly offers, consider yourself a guy who makes silly offers' and promptly added him to my BBL

id rather not risk it.

[davewil1964]

I have very few items with make an offer enabled.

As far as I'm concerned, given I actually research my prices, any offer is a silly offer. For a start they are unsolicited. The last one I had, the offer was for about 70% when postage was taken into consideration. He bought it a few weeks later at listed price. (I was the cheapest for this item (set of 3) anyway, so he didn't really miss out).