I've a couple of times recently received low offers from buyers, who have indicated that if I accept that they will leave me excellent feedback.
No that didn't induce me. But I do wonder about the ethics.
It would appear that instead of there being a simple contract of goods in exchange for moeny, there is now an additional element being invoked by the buyer. This would seem unfair.
I’d go so far as removing ‘or best offer’ from the listing just to send them a message.
Those two things are irrelevant to someone angling for a lower price on the promise of good feedback - i.e. it doesn't matter if it appears the price is negotiable, because feedback is not supposed to be a negotiating tool no matter what.
If you're making an offer, for whatever reason, there is no need to introduce feedback into the equation, unless you think it will sweeten the deal for the seller, or otherwise coerce them, and the only reason a buyer would think it would sweeten the deal, is if they also think their feedback (and green dots in general) is worth something.
I mean, it's such a dumb thing to do, because all it does is immediately tell a seller "this buyer is willing to use feedback as a bargaining tool".
I know that if I were a seller, that if anyone offered me a low price in exchange for good feedback, it would enrage me.
Feedback extortion is against ebay policy but even if we put that aside for the moment, it would leave me wondering what sort of slimy opportunist I was dealing with. In fact I would not want to deal with them. I am constantly surprised by how cheeky some 'buyers' are when they make 'offers', I strongly suspect they are looking for sellers who are desperate.
The aim of a buyer when they make an offer would usually (or so I presume) be to see if they could buy the item at a slightly lower price. A serious buyer won't go offering eg a quarter of the price as they would know that is unlikely to be accepted and it is insulting. And you wouldn't want to put the seller offside, not if you are genuinely trying to buy.
So I would question how serious these 'offers' are. They sound like opportunists, not seriously interested buyers. Oh & if they did buy cheap, forget their promises, if they found (or could manufacture) the slightest fault, you can bet they would open an item not as described etc & hope you might give a further discount.
This is my view (bearing in mind that I'm not an eBay seller).
Selling on eBay is a business. A seller needs to be making enough money to make selling on eBay worthwhile. Concomitant with that is ensuring that you, the seller, have the least amount of trouble associated with the selling process. Presumably you want job satisfaction, as few hassles as possible, ensuring you are working with eBay policies in the best way for you and your business to flourish, of course making sure you are working within the law, and with the best profit margin possible bearing those things in mind.
That means that you as the seller should have your own policies in place.
Many policies will be the result of your own risk assessment. Some will be the result of your personal business style and personality. Some will be as a result of changing eBay policies. Some will be absolutely required of you as a result of amendments to law. Some you will update or add as a result of your experiences with buyers or other sellers. Primarily your policies will be there to give you clear unemotional guidelines that don't require your reactive input or cause you stress when certain circumstances arise.
Having your own policies means that you don't have to spend much time thinking about how to respond to certain situations or behaviours of buyers. Why should you get upset about bad behaviour? It would only cause stress, and that's a primary factor in some diseases.
With that in mind, I'm with davewill on this, but I know that some sellers will have a different way of dealing with offers that suits their business.
Someone who messaged me (were I a seller) with ludicrously low offers and accompanied that by saying he/she would leave excellent feedback would be seemingly saying that positive feedback is an inducement to sell at a price that would lose me money. Such a buyer is indicating he/she is trouble. Straight onto the blocked bidder/buyer list.
A seller who lists many items and is already time-poor should prioritise his/her time well. It's a waste of time negotiating in painful increments with a buyer who is not only unwilling to pay full price but isn't even willing to make an offer that is reasonable. For this sort of seller, auto-decline and auto-acceptance would be the way to go in most cases (if they have Best Offer enabled).
A seller who is a very occasional seller and hasn't a very good notion of what his/her item is worth, even after a bit of research, may want the negotiating room of offers and counter-offers.
My very strong view is that sellers should know before they list what their absolute bottom price would be; that means knowing all the FVFs (including postage), cost of postage, cost of packaging, and so on. If a buyer makes an offer and includes additional terms, you'd know within seconds whether such an offer is worth considering.
I don't believe sellers should agonise over an offer. Method! Method is all, mon ami! Zhe little grey cells, zhey should not be disarranged by zhe process.
Extract from Policy Guidelines - Selling as [userid]. This is a work of fiction and all characters and events refered to herein reside solely in the author's imagination.
⒜ Buyers making an inducement of good feedback when making an offer shall have their offer refused (refer to Template replies, 34) and be blocked.
⒝ Buyers making offers that are lower than 50% of item price shall have their offer refused. (Refer to Template replies, 29.)
i. A second offer from such a buyer that is lower than 70% of item price shall have their offer refused and be blocked. (Refer to Template replies, 30.)
⒞ Buyers making offers than are lower than 70% of item price shall have their offer refused and a counter-offer (90% of item price) made. (Refer to Template replies, 31.)
⒟ Buyers making offers that are lower than 80% of item price shall have their offer refused and a counter-offer (92% of item price) made. (Refer to Template replies, 31.)
⒠ Buyers making offers that are higher than 80% but lower than 90% of item price shall have their offer considered. If accepted, refer to Template replies, 32. If refused with counter-offer made, refer to Template replies, 31.
⒡ Buyers making offers that are 90% or higher shall have their offer accepted. (Refer to Template replies, 32.)
⒢ Buyers requesting free postage while also making an offer of a lower price on an item shall have their offer refused (refer to Template replies, 33) and be blocked.
⒣ Buyers saying that my mother is a hamster shall be instantly blocked. (Refer to Template replies, 109 and execute Courier Large Wooden Animal Protocol 5.)
You are absolutely right. A seller is on ebay to make a profit & how each seller does that will differ. Some may be willing to sell some items at cost if it means it usually leads to other sales.
But on the whole, sellers would be looking for fairly straight forward, hassle free transactions that leave them with a margin of profit.
With items listed with best offer, it probably pays for sellers to have an idea before listing of the minimum acceptable and have their auto decline etc turned on for all offers below that.
I have found (as a buyer) that if I make an offer that is automatically declined, that is very convenient as I instantly know the result. It also makes me consider very carefully what my second offer will be as I only get 3 chances (or that used to be the case). Serious buyers won't usually waste all (or any of) their offers in the 20-60% range.
Love it, countessa.
