topic Re: silly offers in Selling

silly offers

davidc4430 — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 21:25:33 GMT

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.

Re: silly offers

melbourneclearance — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 21:50:20 GMT

Ignore them and move on.

People send low offers all the time. If the offer is for a good item I ignore it, no reply is necessary. If the offer is for some rubbish I want to get rid of, I'm happy to entertain it.

Re: silly offers

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 22:24:21 GMT

I had a joker once, year before last I think it was.......

My item had been bid to just over $200 and 2 days to go on the auction

I get a message................

I'll buy it for $80 and come pick it up tomorrow

Um, no,you won't

I just deleted and put them on the bbl

Some people are just fools, others just greedy, others just greedy fools

Re: silly offers

glenbankloel — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 22:38:16 GMT

We get them too, mostly I just burst out laughing and yell "tell em ther'e dreaming" (or words to that effect) at the screen.

Then I walk away and go and water the garden or make a coffee etc etc........

After calming down, I come back and send off a polite reply with a price that we would accept and so leave it up to them to come back.

Sometimes they do, and then I will go in and change the listing to accomodate.

We view low offers as the buyer trying to suss out our lowest price that we would accept, so quite often they do turn into sales. I usually just ignore the ridiculous offer, thank them for their interest and then advise our terms/price.

Find that if you are polite and courteous usually no problem, if they do send through some info we accept with good grace and thank them, check it out, then advise what you can/will do for them. If they have gone to that much trouble they obviously have a big interest in the item.

Very hard sometimes to not be offended but they don't know your circumstances, and are only trying to "do a deal", and yes some people are very "cheeky".

But you are the one in control not them, and you don't have to sell to them if they are really obnoxious so would back you up there for sure.

Up to you how you proceed.

Best Wishes.

Re: silly offers

digital*ghost — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 22:59:13 GMT

@davidc4430 wrote:
i recieved a detailed message explaining my prices are way too high,

Not to the people who buy them, would have been my immediate response.

I suspect the other lowball offer was - in their mind - an attempt to "prove" that your prices are too high, because obviously if more than one person (lol) thinks so, it must be true.

When I had best offer on listings and a low one came through, I'd just decline it and say unfortunately, I'm not able to meet that price. I wouldn't counter offer because I can't take ridiculous offers (and the people who make them) seriously, regardless of the intention behind them.

I no longer use best offer, so now when people ask about discounts, unless they're talking about bulk purchases, I just say that I'm not running any specials at the moment, but they're welcome to subscribe to my store so that they can be advised of any promotions I run in the future.

Re: silly offers

springyzone — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 23:01:09 GMT

@davidc4430 wrote:
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.

I was reading along ok till i got to this part-None of my items has 'make an offer' and just burst out laughing.

What a cheek.

My advice was going to be to set your make an offer limits automatically so you didn't have to view the low ones. But it's even worse than that, they're making unsolicited offers.

I know how you would be fuming. Like when I got gumtree offer of $20 on an $80 item with the message they would pick up that morning. Not even a 'if it is convenient'. Like they were doing me some sort of favour.

I just wrote back with sorry, no. But I wasn't really sorry.

I'd be inclined to ignore such messages on ebay unless you're selling a really big item. But even then, if someone is offering you less than half I have my doubts they'll move up to a close offer. On 'Make an offer' they might, as they're trying to suss the lowest a seller will accept. But if they're making rude offers underhand in messages on a normal auction item, they're not worth too much time & bother.

Re: silly offers

davidc4430 — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 23:03:46 GMT

well put, i'll take on board your advice for future offers.

i guess i just place my own standards on contacting other sellers to make an offer, id never offer something i knew was 'silly'

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

ive allways felt nothing is so rare on ebay (well nothing id be wanting) that there wont be another at a better price sooner or later.

if i see something id like but its too expensive i move on, not going to get into telling a seller he/she has it all wrong and they should lower their price to my level and make me happy.

as to sending abusive messages, thats just not on.

ok i said 'he knew where he could put his advice'

but i dint use abusive words, i could easily have ment 'keep it to yourself'

obviously he was interested in my item (s) enough to make contact but did he really think id drop my price from $125 to $55 just because he feels my price is too high?

and to them lecture me that these items never fetch more that what hes offering and only idiots would buy at my price.

he may well be right but its my item and i decide what i'll accept for it!

maybe only an idiot will pay my price, well i only need 1 idiot dont i? there are millions of idiots who use ebay.

if someone wants it and mine is the only one listed then it may well sell for my price.

Re: silly offers

collect247 — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 23:23:20 GMT

Why don't you set an offer limit so then you won't have to deal or see silly offers as they won't go through?

Re: silly offers

rocket2retro — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 23:44:00 GMT

I recently had one like this who accused me of having 'ridiculous' prices.

I replied words to the effect of... I'm sorry you feel like this, however my other XX,000 buyers who've spent $XXX,000 with me over the past 14 years would disagree.

Of course I blocked them after that and never heard back.

Re: silly offers

the4masters2013 — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 00:10:05 GMT

Apart from blocking them (which I have done), another way to move them on is to answer them with the reason you decline their offer, then put the question and the oh so very polite answer up on the item so others can see it.
I've done it once before, never heard back from them. I feel others may have added the buyer to their party list for being a smarty pants!!

Re: silly offers

davewil1964 — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 00:45:39 GMT

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

Re: silly offers

melbourneclearance — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 01:23:50 GMT

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.

Re: silly offers

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 01:30:04 GMT

@davidc4430 wrote:

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

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.

Re: silly offers

springyzone — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 01:57:16 GMT

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.

Re: silly offers

davidc4430 — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 02:23:25 GMT

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.

Re: silly offers

jellybirddesigns — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 04:36:02 GMT

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.

Re: silly offers

davidc4430 — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 04:46:07 GMT

@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.

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.

Re: silly offers

jellybirddesigns — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 04:58:22 GMT

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.

Re: silly offers

chameleon54 — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 05:00:09 GMT

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 !!!!

Re: silly offers

davidc4430 — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 05:04:40 GMT

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.