What ever happened to common courtesy?

[jessojoj2005]

What has happened to common courtesy , I put a bid in for an item a counter bid was sent back to me which I replied too , the auction ended and the Item was re-listed with no word from the seller , I have since put a new bid on the re- listed item and have still not heard back from the seller . Call me old fashioned but a quick reply from the seller thanking me for the bid but saying it's too low is to me simply courtesy and is bordering on being plain rude . Because there was no transaction I could not give feedback against the seller .

[sprinklespowerpuff]

Good advice from Crow, Jess and if the replies you get from some posters at times seem to be very blunt don't take that to heart either. All the best to you.

[springyzone]

I must say i do find it strange you didn't get any sort of reply.

I haven't used the make an offer function all that often but when I have, I have usually found the seller has things set up  automatically as PJ described. 

 Sensible sellers have their listings set to auto accept or reject bids above or below the price range they will accept, they wouldn't even know you had made an offer if it was too low

You'll know if it is an auto reply because it will bounce back to you immediately, either yea or nay.

On the other hand if you get no reply, I assume the price range is one where the seller will decide and send a manual reply.

It doesn't have to be a personal reply, I am assuming there is some button sellers can push or box they can tick that says offer has or has not been accepted.

I would have expected that if you didn't get an auto decline then they could have declined it manually.

I don't know about polite, but it would be the professional thing to do.

But if they have relisted it, obviously your offer didn't cut the mustard. You can make 3 offers in the life of the ad and as it is a .new' ad, there is nothing to stop you making a slightly higher offer if you want the item.

[lyndal1838]

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@jessojoj2005 wrote:
Yes I made a counter offer , I wasn't expecting to see the item re- listed before hearing back from the seller . Thanks for telling me how it is on EBay .

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How close to the end of the listing did you make the counter offer?

An offer/counter offer only lasts while the listing is acitve.  If the listing ends all offers expire.  If the seller relists the item you are free to make another offer.  You can only make 3 offers during the life of the listing.

[fixnwear]

jessojoj2005,

dunno why are you so surprised at the lack of "common courtesy"

You would have encountered it everywhere, in all the stores that sell cheap, mass produced stuff, as well as the sumpermarkets.

I certainly have.

You can't even find anyone to talk to  when you need some info or help, let alone saying thatn you!

Or - worse - they look straight at you (read through you).

So why would the seller waste their time on a low offer - one girl told me that sellers are almost afraid these days to continue with a buyer who is continually trying to beat them on the price - because if that results in a sale they get less than favourable f/back - as the buyer "didn't get their way"

This is a very different treatment from the one you get at  high class stores - they REALLY talk to you, you get a drink, coffe, champagne, mineral water - whatever - as you spend more and they can afford to invest the time.

People who have very little to gain from the cheap sales usually don't bother - as time is money.

In the future - best not to offer sellers even less than their counter offer was, it very seldom works out, more often it results in seller getting angry - and quite right too!

[jessojoj2005]

Thank you

[jessojoj2005]

Thanks , I did make a higher offer when the Item was re-listed .

[jessojoj2005]

Thanks for your advise , you make a good point .

[springyzone]

Fixnwear, I can understand no seller wants to be bothered by stupid offers but wouldn't you think a seller would just set the auto decline button for those sorts of things. That way the buyer gets the message with no action required by the seller.

That's what i would do if I were the seller, anyway.

[fixnwear]

Hi springyzone,

to answer your question:

Yes, you would think the seller would set the offers on auto to make their life easier.

But, maybe some of them are curious to see what (or how low) some people will go to.

What I have found over the time - when making offers on a very rare occasions, is:

If it looks like the seller is only a hobby seller and obviously have other means to earn a living - offers are almost always knocked back, or reduced price for a dollar! They don't have to agree to anything, almost always don't care if their item sells in a hurry or not, if at all.

And the sellers with tons of items, usually lower priced ones, I NEVER make an offer even if it's in the listing - as these people obviously depend on that money to survive.

They would probably be the ones to agree to an offer price out of desperation - but that would be called taking advantage.

For a few miserable dollars that I might save - it's not worth sitting on my concience - it would be bugging me no end!

That is why I said to OP it's best not to make any offers, especially on counteroffers - she won't get any poorer by paying the offer price if she really wants that item - and being considerate to the seller at the same time.

I'm sure they all have to work hard to create their listings.

[sprinklespowerpuff]

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@jessojoj2005 wrote:
Thank you

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