Best Offer???

[Anonymous]

Is it just me or have other people had in the last couple of weeks absolutely ridiculous best offers for their items?  I research all my items and look at prices for which similar items have sold for, so I know they are not too expensive.

In the last two weeks I have had 5 "best offers" all of which have been below 50% of the "Buy it Now" price.  Instead of declining the offer I send a nice message with a counteroffer.  I never here from these people ever again.

Is this happening to other sellers too?

[davewil1964]

Why?

Surely the minimum bid should be the reserve?

Why would you start an 'auction' at less than you are prepared to accept?

Are 'auctions' that normal these days?

I sell books. There are about 30k auctions out of several million book listings. And if I was to do an 'auction' it would be unlikely to be less than the BIN price. Or my acceptable 'Best' Offer for those I would contemplate BO for.

Plus it costs me 5c for a GTC BIN with BO. It would cost me $1.50 for a 10 day 'auction'. Which would mean I need to have a book listed, unsold, for 30 months to equal the fee for one 10 day auction. My auction start would be significantly higher than my BIN. And if nobody bought it in 2 1/2 years there is a fair bet it wouldn't sell for a reasonable price at auction.

For non-media, it is still 7 1/2 times more expensive for a 10 day 'auction' than it is for a 30 day BIN.

[billexploited]

Your best offer can be your reserve price should you wish to choose. Unfornualy for me I have had auctions started at 99 cents and sold for 99 cents or less! I wish real estate was at 99 cents!

[davewil1964]

Simple. Don't start auctions at 99c.

Probably every newbie gets sucked into that. Most quickly learn not to.

[bjmonty28]

I think a lot of these " tyre kickers " run amock with crazy low offers in the hope that one, just one seller will click " accept " by mistake.

[lane-ends]

I got one the othe day on a $45 item. It was submitted at $18, immediatly retracted as wrong amount and re netered as $8. I declined and they reoffered at $6. This on free post items that are going to cost $7 to post.I blocked them.

Aything 50% or less I decline without counter. Anything under 20% I often just block them, if I can be bothered.

[bjmonty28]

LOL
Crazy isnt it.
Retracted a 65% reduction offer and then submitted a 80% reduction offer.

I too block bidders in these instances.
Some people really are a worry arent they.

[sales3_reddomino]

i think you have to have a safety net. i always work on my absolute lowest profit margin for best offer. if buyers want to try lower than

that..it gets rejected.without it, i would have sold my items for a quarter of what they were worth.

[lane-ends]

I have a set amount I will discount.  They offer X which is either above my set minimum (which is the same for all items) in which case it is auto accepted. If below I counter with this standrad discount, I dont even check to see what the item is as the discount is the same for all. That way I dont get tempted to keep lowering my minimums, as there is no considering involved

Ridiculous offers as per previous post

[hsvcc64]

I completely agree! I sell my items as buy it now or make an offer. Generally i have limits set to automatically decline or accept the offer as i get people offering ridiculous amounts. E.G. $15 buy it now, $2.50 offer.... Really? Seriously!

[davewil1964]

I really don't understand why people would have best offer on all their listings.

Seems to negate the point of a BIN.

I have best offer on a few, more valuable, books, where I am prepared to accept a bit less than market value in order to move them. But I can also relist them at 5c per month for several decades before they seriously impact on my profit. And short print run first editions get scarcer over time.