"We’ve allowed buyers to make offers to help you sell" NO HELP!!!

[laawesome2017]

I'm new to ebay and I have noticed Ebay allowing offers on my items. I don't want this. I price my items at an excellent price and most of what I sell are handmade. I don't want to sell any lower. Ebay sends me an email and I have to go to 'manage my offers' on every single item. How do I stop this from happening all together.

Thanks Lisa xoxox

[shizam166]

The same thing happened to me and I am perplexed as to why, I am not a new seller  just a low volume seller occasionally .

Maybe Ebay could offer an explanation.

[rocket2retro]

Ring eBay and make them an offer on your monthly seller fees. Explain you're doing it to 'help them out'!

[foxinsox2000]

I don't generally allow 'Best Offer' with my listings (ongoing multiple quantity new items) - however I added the option to one listing for a one-off transation to help a customer. Now I can't remove it. The 'workarounds' that people advised for the eBay US site don't work here it seems. Contacted eBay and expressed severe disapointment because:

1) they never informed me of any change in policy

2) they cannot show me any written policy that explains that 'Best Offer' can't be removed if added to a listing, even when it was not offered when the listing was first created.

I explained that having 'Best Offer' on a listing puts me in breach of Fair Trading regulations because it misrepresents my pricing policy, and that eBay cannot force me to breach such regulations.

I will not increase the price to compensate for then accepting lower offers (that would also be unethical pricing policy), and I will not accept offers just to appease eBay. Proft margins are already very slim.

Naturally eBay has still failed to give a satisfactory response to the above. And (naturally) they inform me that there is absolutely no possible way for them to remove the 'Best Offer' now it's in place (computer says nooooooo sir...)

I can cancel and make a new listing, but the existing listing shows potential buyers that I have already sold a large quantity of this item, and I believe that those statistics that have built up over time help promote buyer confidence in the item. A new listing would reset that number to zero.

Yes I am being a little pedantic but it's just incredibly irritating to have eBay force / manipulate the way I manage my own listings, and my own pricing policies.

[springyzone]

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@foxinsox2000wrote:

I don't generally allow 'Best Offer' with my listings (ongoing multiple quantity new items) - however I added the option to one listing for a one-off transation to help a customer. Now I can't remove it. The 'workarounds' that people advised for the eBay US site don't work here it seems. Contacted eBay and expressed severe disapointment because:

1) they never informed me of any change in policy

2) they cannot show me any written policy that explains that 'Best Offer' can't be removed if added to a listing, even when it was not offered when the listing was first created.

I explained that having 'Best Offer' on a listing puts me in breach of Fair Trading regulations because it misrepresents my pricing policy, and that eBay cannot force me to breach such regulations.

I will not increase the price to compensate for then accepting lower offers (that would also be unethical pricing policy), and I will not accept offers just to appease eBay. Proft margins are already very slim.

Naturally eBay has still failed to give a satisfactory response to the above. And (naturally) they inform me that there is absolutely no possible way for them to remove the 'Best Offer' now it's in place (computer says nooooooo sir...)

I can cancel and make a new listing, but the existing listing shows potential buyers that I have already sold a large quantity of this item, and I believe that those statistics that have built up over time help promote buyer confidence in the item. A new listing would reset that number to zero.

Yes I am being a little pedantic but it's just incredibly irritating to have eBay force / manipulate the way I manage my own listings, and my own pricing policies.

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I think it is ridiculous that Best Offer cannot be added or taken away from a listing. It seems strange that something that was not on the listing when you originally created it now has to remain forever more. It would make a lot more sense if sellers could experiment with the feature and add or delete as required when an ad rolls over.

I understand where you are coming from when you say a new listing would reset the stats to zero and you don't want that. I have to admit, when I see an ad for an item where several have sold, it does inspire a bit of confidence, especially if i can go into feedback and see people who received it and are happy with it.

However, it is not the be all and end all. For instance, I don't automatically assume previous sales means it is a great product, it might just be a common product or a business with a lot of turnover.

What counts (for me, anyway) is the detail and description in the ad and if overall feedback seems to be positive.

So.. if you need to, don't be too afraid to just make a new listing, even if it resets things. You will probably build up more sales within a little while anyway so the couter won't stay at zero forever. 

[vintagealpaca]

I seriously cannot get past this one, but I've probably not been here long enough not be shocked. This is a deliberate strategy by eBay to increase their monthly sales figures and please the buyers at the expense of the seller. eBay deliberately selects the items with the most viewers and followers that have been up for the least amount of time to target for "make an offer" to get a quick sale. Good for eBay, great for the buyer, bad for the seller.  If they had any regard at all for the seller at all they would at least select items that had been relisted three times to target for this feature.

Nothing about this move is ethical. We don't have a choice as to whether or not we opt in, even if we don't tick the box we are apparently up for it, and there is no box to tick to opt out of this blatant money grab. It's misleading to the buyer because they are lead to believe that the seller will accept offers when they won't, and it forces the seller to take less than the asking price to avoid disappointing the customer who has made an offer in good faith.

So every day I need to go into to my email, check what they have put offers on, and take those offers off. It's not their item to sell, they have no right to set the price or decide which items should take offers.  Yep, time to check the legalities and make a formal complaint.

[springyzone]

You're right, alpaca.

If ebay had to target ads, you'd think the logical thing to do would be to suggest it for items that have had a couple of relists and have not had much interest to date.

I'm not sure if ebay's strategy works anyway as I have my doubts a best offer on an ad would necessarily translate to more views.

There are lots of other things that could cause an item to be passed over. Maybe the title doesn't use key words that people might search for, maybe the ad needs more photos or clearer photos or a better description.

Price is only one of the factors in a sale.

[springyzone]

I was chatting to a friend about this and it has made me wonder-Could this be the start of a change in listing policy by ebay?

At the moment, it is just being added to some ads.

But maybe it is something  the ebay boffins are looking at, and perhaps one day any ads that roll over for a second or third time will automatically have make an offer attached to them. or any buy it now ads that don't have immediate payment required might eventually have best offer automatically added.

If you look at the gumtree site, the 'make an offer' suggestion was added there some time ago. It's automatic and on every ad as far as I know.

The other change that I can see ebay making (down the track) is to stipulate that every item sold must offer some form of delivery, whether that be courier or Aust Post, even if pick up is the preferred option. That would be a sneaky way to get rid of a lot of the second hand items being sold by private, amateur sellers, especially the types of items where a buyer is more likely to want to go and inspect it before buying.

[brerrabbit585]

I'm wondering whether not being able to remove it was a Friday glitch?

[vintagealpaca]

I can remove it via the "manage offers" link in the email they send but its time-consuming. I have to select the manage offer button next to each individual item they have targetted in the email. Then it's another three clicks to get the job done for each individual item. We should just be able to opt out of this feature altogether rather than deal with this every day. Last night they targetted four different items and it was 12 hours before I caught it, someone easily could have made an offer in that time but luckily they didn't. 

[brerrabbit585]

Are you saying you can't just edit the listings (individually) and untick it?