topic Make An Offer in Buying

Make An Offer

hilux22r — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 20:36:22 GMT

Why do Ebay allow sellers to have , make an offer option if they do not respond to the offer, I have encountered this many times over a period with multiple different sellers and none of them even respond . Ebay should be actively stamping this behaviour out . In the meantime, while waiting for the offer to expire i sometimes will not buy from other sellers while waiting for an answer that never comes . I then go to bricks and mortar shops and will shop and purchase locally from those stores and give Ebay a miss for a few months costing other honest sellers a chance to sell items .

Why have / offer it and then ignore genuine buyers .

Re: Make An Offer

sandypebbles — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 21:14:44 GMT

Ask the seller why

Or ask eBay why

Sellers are not obligated to respond

Especially if it happens to be a low ball offer

eBay also have been known to insert offers without the seller's knowledge

eBay do not know or care if you buy elsewhere

There is a lot of behaviour eBay should 'stamp out'

100% up to you if you make the choice not to buy from someone else

If you are that unhappy with the seller not responding within the timeframe you want them to, why would you want to buy from them anyway? Buy from the other seller and if the best offer seller does respond, simply tell them they made you wait too long

Re: Make An Offer

shoppingbag* — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 21:57:07 GMT

If the offer was reasonable, then their loss for not responding. If the offer was insultingly low, then no wonder they didn't respond.

Re: Make An Offer

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 20:03:20 GMT

when you make an offer, what % of the original asking price is your first offer?

I used to sell Pentax K1000 film cameras. I had Buy-Now prices of around $450 on the good ones, with Make an Offer on some.

Some members would offer $50 on a $450 B-I-N listing.

Offering just 11% of my asking price would see that member placed on my Blocked Buyer List before I declined the offer.

Anything below 80% of the asking price would be considered lowballing by many sellers. On a $450 item, 80% would be $360.

So, again, what % have your ignored offers been?

Re: Make An Offer

springyzone — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 00:07:25 GMT

I understand exactly where you are coming from and agree.

If a seller has 'make an offer' on their items, then I don't accept the argument they should just 'ignore low ball offers'. In my opinion, they should actually have blocks in place, that would make a lot more sense.

That way, anyone who made a stupid offer would get an immediate rejection.

I think things are better than they used to be as I think at one stage, sellers had about 48 hours in which to get back to you, while these days (if I recall rightly) you can shorten the time frame.

But a seller who doesn't have their auto blocks in place should be prepared to respond yes or no to offers within 24 hours.

I agree, waiting around to find out if a seller accepts an offer or not can be a bit annoying. That's why I think most times, sellers should just put their auto responses in place. Buyers like to know where things are at asap. If I make an offer and don't get an immediate rejection, then I assume my offer is in the ballpark or close enough for consideration.

The sellers I dislike the most are ones where they have make an offer and you get an auto rejection even if you are only seeking 5% or less discount. I have had that happen in the past and I wondered-why even offer it in the first place?

I have to say I have not struck problems with make an offer in recent times, it has all been fast and smooth, but I do recall a few annoying instances from other years.

Re: Make An Offer

hilux22r — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:31:36 GMT

Hi and thanks for your reply. Yes, annoying but their loss will be my gain, I don't lowball with stupid offers as i know people have to make profits as i am in business myself, but a bit of decent curtesy and respect goes a long way

Re: Make An Offer

springyzone — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:55:55 GMT

I agree.

In my opinion, it would be better if ebay made all sellers set at least a minimum amount that could be submitted for consideration.

That way, offers that were too low would get an immediate rejection.

Ebay could even put a short note on the rejection such as offer rejected, it falls below the seller's minimum amount for consideration.

Just trying to recall the last time I made offers and from memory, I had a reply within hours and that's the way it should be, it comes across as far more professional.

Re: Make An Offer

v10let — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:43:58 GMT

Yes, I too am sick of this 'Make an Offer', and even after they refuse, I message them back asking if they will counteroffer, and what do I get, crickets! NOTHING.

Ebay needs to stop this or adjust that option pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Re: Make An Offer

springyzone — Wed, 06 May 2026 23:07:55 GMT

Probably the only way they could tweak it to make things more clear cut for buyers would be if sellers HAD to place a hidden reserve price and any offers under that were automatically rejected.

I'm not so sure how they could adjust the terms for offers above that though.

At the moment, I think sellers have the option to either auto accept at a certain level (which would be the sensible thing to leave as is) and then there is a grey area where sellers can consider an offer.

That is the area where sellers might leave buyers in limbo, so maybe ebay could direct sellers to either reject or make a counter offer within 24 hours or else the offer would automatically be rejected with an ebay message to the buyer.

But... if a seller has actually replied to you that they reject an offer, that doesn't mean they are obliged to make a counter offer. I think you get a chance to make 3 offers though, so use them. From my experience, you may get 5-10% off but lower offers are often rejected.

I am guessing that if you made a much lower offer, the seller may have decided he/she could not make a counter offer that was close enough that you would be likely to accept.

The make an offer ones I dislike most are those where you do make a reasonable offer (maybe 5% off) and still get rejected.

Re: Make An Offer

kh-federico — Thu, 07 May 2026 00:20:28 GMT

Hi everyone,

This topic has been locked because the thread has become a bit dated. If you’d like to keep the conversation going or have additional questions, we encourage you to start a new topic.

Thanks!
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