Why do buyers make $2 and $3 offers on items that are only listed for $10 or $5 Free Post

[bjlcr]

Ive had offers recently on small priced items $5 to $12 ,With free postage ,,The offers range from $2 to $3 

discount,

When they are declined,,Sometime the user has been upset,

I had another offer a few days ago with an $18 offer on an $18 item, I accepted and thought buyer would buy it ,But they didnt.

Are these users, scammers or just, stupid.

I had one buyer recently saying they thought that ebay and buying was a game,and they didnt really have to pay .

 Just crazy people

[springyzone]

If I were you, I'd have auto limits set so people get an immediate rejection of any low ball offers. That's if you have 'make an offer' on your ads.

If you don't have 'make an offer' showing, then they are plain rude, although i blame ebay to some extent as I think they have a suggestion to make an offer on items when you go to bid.

All the same, to ask for $3 off a $5 item that includes postage is pretty ridiculous. If you must reply, just reply with a rejection and don't get into discussion.

Let me just say, if an ad shows a choice such as buy now or make an offer, I always make an offer. That's what it is there for. On a $12 item, I guess some customers might hope to get it for $10, although $11 would be more realistic.

However, a customer who offers $2 for  $5 item when no  'make an offer' was even in the ad, is not genuine, in my opinion. They don't really want the item that much, they're just seeing if they can get it for a steal and then they 'might' consider it. Or maybe not.

As you mentioned, I think some consider it a game. Block those who are rude to you or who make really stupid offers, you can do without their custom.

[mytreechange]

We don't usually have make an offer enabled, but still get messages "Hey mate, what can you do for this?'.

Firstly - I'm not your mate.

Secondly - The listed price is firm.  If it wasn't, we'd have make an offer enabled.

Buy or not, just don't waste our time.

[the4masters2013]

I don't have make an offer enabled.

Needless to say, people ask what my best offer is.

The best one was, "Would you accept $15?" It was on a book for $25 free postage. ... sigh!

Obviously the answer was a very polite Thanks but no thanks..

[sandypebbles]

Yep, I had one on my selling account (back when I was selling) that they 'won' the auction and so they didn't have to pay because it was like 'winning a competition' and 'winning means free'

No idea if they were actually serious or just having a time wasting lend to amuse themselves 

Needless to say I cancelled and blocked the fool

[twyngwyn]

School holidays are the worst! It’s like a right of passage to wreck your parent’s account….🙄

[shoppingbag*]

Now you are learning what I learnt years ago "the world if full of idiots" Only 5% of the population could be classed as intelligent.

[shoppingbag*]

How about this one.  l was offered $500 for a $900 item without having "send offers" enabled.   Another one, I quoted the very lowest offer I would accept, and they still came back with a counter offer....welcome to my blocked buyer list for that one.

[springyzone]

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@the4masters2013 wrote:

I don't have make an offer enabled.

Needless to say, people ask what my best offer is.

The best one was, "Would you accept $15?" It was on a book for $25 free postage. ... sigh!

Obviously the answer was a very polite Thanks but no thanks..

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Ooh, that gave me deja vu vibes. If you think ebay is bad, try  some of the buy/sell sites on facebook.

I once listed an as new charcoal carpet runner, a long one, up for $25 and within a minute or so, had a woman pipe up with, will you take $10?

It wasn't a private message either, it was on the general chat reply part. Like you, I politely said thankyou but no. Back came, ok $15 then? I said no to that too.

The runner was only a month old and I was selling it for about quarter the original price, people expect stuff for virtually nothing. I was then inundated with offers so sold it within 24 hours anyway.

Often it is better to hang out for your price or close to it, if you come down, people will just keep trying it.

[siddieswans]

One good thing about eBay is that it only allows a potential buyer 3 offers on any one item (more for cars I think.)  If a buyer makes a low offer, I am quite happy to counter-offer, with the message "thanks for your offer, this is the lowest I will accept."  Quite often this counter-offer is  accepted but if the buyer comes  back with another offer, I just  say "No, sorry, that is the lowest". And if they come back again I still say "no sorry" with my original counter-offer BECAUSE when they make this 3rd offer, eBay lets them know they have no more offers left, so if they are in any way serious about owning the item, they may accept what they know is my final counter offer.

2 quick points. Sometimes a buyer will make a ridiculously low offer, just to see what the seller will come  back with. So I don't NECESSARILY get upset about an initial low bid 🙁 Also when an item fails to sell at auction I usually increase the price by 10% when it goes into my store, to give me some wiggle room with offers. And if it has been hanging around for a while, that can also influence me.

Also sometimes the buyer JUST WANTS TO WIN. Then their final offer may be only marginally, say $1-2, below my counter-offer, in which case I just throw up my hands and say OK you got me! 😁