Sending offers

[geeky-meeks]

I am just a little ebay seller, I don't have a shop, at the moment just selling unwanted items from home, trying to make some money.

My listings are usually Buy It Now/Make An Offer. 

I don't send offers because I figure if someone wants the item, they will make an offer.  Sending offers when you already accept offers doesn't make sense to me. If I see there are people watching, I might reduce the price. 

Am I not understanding the whole offer idea ? Am I going about it the wrong way ? 

Thoughts please.

[siddieswans]

There are reasons why people put items in their Watch List but have no interest in buying it – usually because they have something similar and want to see a) how long it takes to sell or b) what it sells for.

However there are many people who put things in their Watch List because they are momentarily interested in the item, but then they forget all about it. Also MANY potential buyers are hesitant to make an offer because they fear offering too high a price, when they could have secured it for less, if only they could have read the seller’s mind.

If you go to your Active Items in Seller Hub, eBay will tell you how many items you can send offers on – “Send Offer – Eligible”. Basically it is anyone who is watching an item, though there are other ways to qualify.  Any one item can only send 10 offers, so if you have more than 10 people watching any one item, eBay will only send your Offer to 10 – you can catch the rest next time around.

I have a sale twice a year and use eBay’s Automated Send Offers System – I put in my own message “Here's your chance to get this item at 25% off the listed price. If you are still interested please accept promptly as this offer only lasts for 48 hours and has been sent to others watching.” You have to make a decent % off IMO to attract interest, but obviously the % off you can decide for yourself.

I always find it a very useful exercise, providing you are prepared to let items go at the reduced price. It is also useful because if people get the offer and they are no longer interested in your item, they will (hopefully) take the item OFF their Watch List, which will give you a more realistic idea of how many potential buyers you have out there.  There is an option you can tick to allow eBay to Automatically Send the same offer to any new watcher  - they say they check every 48 hours. I don't tick this - it seems to me this is for Sellers with Multiples - I hope to sell the item with the initial offer.

Selling used items from around the home is an EXTREMELY competitive market, but good luck.

[sugar249]

I often send offers, and get a reasonable hit rate on them.   so why not do it,  it takes about 3.5 seconds,   and costs you zero dollars.  If you get one sale,  bonus.  If you don't you have lost 3.5 seconds of your life, which is less than the time it took you to write this post.

[springyzone]

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@geeky-meeks wrote:

I am just a little ebay seller, I don't have a shop, at the moment just selling unwanted items from home, trying to make some money.

My listings are usually Buy It Now/Make An Offer. 

I don't send offers because I figure if someone wants the item, they will make an offer.  Sending offers when you already accept offers doesn't make sense to me. If I see there are people watching, I might reduce the price. 

Am I not understanding the whole offer idea ? Am I going about it the wrong way ? 

Thoughts please.

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I like items that have Make an offer and I like receiving offers.

I have sometimes received offers on items that also have 'Make an offer' in their ad.

I think it can be worth it for a seller because (as a buyer) what it does is bring that item up for my attention again. I have a couple of pages of 'saved' items & they sort of fall off my radar a bit. 

The offer that sellers send through will usually get serious attention from me and quite often I will accept.

It's also good in that it gives me a glimpse of what offers the seller is willing to make.

Most of the time, offers I get are for 5-10% off. If I got an offer of 25% off, as someone mentioned, I'd probably be falling off my seat in my hurry to buy.

The only time offers have annoyed me was a couple of times a while back. I accepted the offer, paid, but noticed within the next week that the seller listed it at an even cheaper price. I don't know why they couldn't have offered it to me at that.

[frommetoyou_vintage]

Great answers, thank you! Could someone please show me where to find “Send Offer – Eligible”. I can't see it in My Seller Hub. Possibly because I don't have any items eligible but just wanted to doublecheck! Thank you 🙂

[siddieswans]

Seller Hub - Overview - Listings - Active Listings. You will see the message below above the listings, if you have any that are eligible. Just click on Send Offers and away you go. Good luck. 

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