how do you make an offer

[agia2692]

Hi all,

I am interested in an item and it has the "make offer" button.  The item is rather expensive and I want to make an offer but don't want to be offensive. How do you make a reasonable offer and not be ridiculous or offend the seller.

I realise this may seem naive and dorky but I believe in honesty and fairness.  

Does anyone have any advice?

[gutterpunkz05]

Only you can decide what you consider to be a reasonable offer.  Be aware if a seller does not like your offer, or thinks you are just a waste of time, then they can block you from buying anything from them.

[sandypebbles]

If you were selling something for x amount, below what amount would you consider as offensive for a buyer to offer for it instead ?

[lyndal1838]

All you can do is make an offer of an amount that you consider to be reasonable and what you think the item is worth.

The seller may have set the auto accept/decline and you will know immediately if your offer is accepted.  They can also make a counter offer for you to accept or decline.

You can make 3 offers before it times out.

[springyzone]

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@agia2692 wrote:

Hi all,

I am interested in an item and it has the "make offer" button.  The item is rather expensive and I want to make an offer but don't want to be offensive. How do you make a reasonable offer and not be ridiculous or offend the seller.

I realise this may seem naive and dorky but I believe in honesty and fairness.  

Does anyone have any advice?

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Click on the make an offer button.

Type in your offer. It is hard to say what is acceptable as sellers will vary. Some will come down quite a bit, some hardly at all.

You can't know till you have a go.

You get 3 chances to make an offer on any particular item. After that, if you want it, you'd have to pay full price.

My advice would be to think about how much you want the item and bid accordingly.

My own experience is most Make an offers will accept somewhere between 5-10% off the item price.

Some sellers may go down more but if you really want it, I personally would not ask for over 20% off max.

If you go offering eg 50%, you risk insulting the seller. Some will barter, some might block you.

PS If a message comes through immediately that the offer was declined, then that is an auto message and will indicate to you that you are below the acceptable range.

If the message says the offer has been sent to the seller, then you may be in no man's land ie not clearly out of the question but not clearly in either, seller will decide. Not all sellers have auto replies set though.

[padi*0409]

Have you done a Google search for the item to see what it sells for ? eBay is not always the cheapest way to buy items.

[glenbankloel]

Do some research to check if for sale anywhere else, and then you might get a feel for the going price, if not available, then you know that you will probably need to offer something reasonable.

Perhaps start around 20% off and go from there. You do have a couple of more opportunities if they reject the first offer.

But don't take it personally if they reject your offer, they may just not have enough buffer to accept anything too low.

Good Luck.

[agia2692]

Thank you so much. I actually understood your response.  Very much appreciated.

[michellebartley]

Ask seller via a message to them what would be the minimum amount that they would accept for the item.

[lyndal1838]

That is not a good idea Michelle....ebay may interpret that as trying to trade off ebay and both the buyer and seller may face sanctions.

Better to keep it within the Make an Offer function.