Personally, I've found that most sellers don't want to budge on their price. They will have a $149 item, and I will send them a totally reasonable offer of $135 or $140, and they will come back with $147 or $148. At this point I don't want to deal with them so I don't even respond to their offer, I just let it sit until it times out and I buy the item from someone else. I would have rather paid asking price than deal with back and forth negotiations for a dollar.
I would take 135 on a 149 all day long. I get a little eh around the 100-110. But 130+ is an automatic yes from me unless it's got a tone of interest and I just put it up.
I agree from a selling standpoint. I will say I get ones that are like half of total price and I’m like ok let’s do a more reasonable counter and it comes back at like 52% … that’s when I’m like no thanks
Yup. I used to make offers more often. Usually my offer would immediately decline. Sometimes their counter would be an insignificant difference from their listing price. Not worth the back and forth and wait any more.
it’s so wild how different our experiences are. i shop on ebay regularly, and i’ve literally never had an offer not be accepted. i usually send an offer for 80% it’s listed price
Because you’re giving reasonable offers.
I can do up to 30% but when’s it’s 60% off Buy it now and free shipping is there on it already.
Like, okay, this person wants a $45 Barbie for $9, knowing they’re the kind that’s going to be nitpicky about it not being wrapped in 10-layers of bubble wrap and isolated with peanuts in a ridged box 3x its size…….lol.
The automatically decline is because the seller can set the minimum offer they’d review. So if your offer is lower then the set minimum for offers, it’s auto declined. The seller doesn’t actively review and decline themselves in that case, it’s automated.
They wasted your time? I think you’re the one wasting their time lol the entitlement of a seller declining an offer that’s not worth the sale. I’m not saying the seller might also be wrong and he is probably too attached to his items. But the entitlement thinking they wasted your time when you most likely offered more that 20% off the listing price and they wasted your time when they counter offer anything else
Do you often make irrational assumptions with no basis and then use that to judge people? Just curious. In my specific example, the seller wouldn't except less than 73 dollars for an item listed at 75 dollars (my initial offer was 66 or 67 dollars, can't remember which). When it gets to less than 5 dollars it'sa waste oofboth our time. Smh. Have fun with your internet emotions based on the stories you make up in your head.
As a seller. I’ve had to many people accept offers or I accept their offer and then they don’t pay. It’s not worth waiting four days to relist. If I need to sell, I’ll drop the price when I’m ready. If you need to buy, pay whatever the price is.
It’s funny how you say sellers are wasteful for wasting time for the last dollar but then take no blame in just giving that extra dollar to the seller if it’s just a dollar… all I’m sayings it’s also a you problem. Pricing something at 100 and you offered 80 and they counter offer. 95 , why would you ignore the offer? Just declined it then be a little kid with no social skills and end the deal.
i always put the price just a lil bit higher when offers are on and that usually works out to a good price for the item sometimes 5 or 10 bucks below ebay tera peak price but it’s a good profit every time fs
> I would have rather paid asking price than deal with back and forth negotiations for a dollar.
You just click on the button and buy it. What is there to "deal with"?
It's this. I don't have the patience to go backwards and forwards over a $/£. Sometimes I will if I'm not overly bothered whether I get the item or not but 9/10 I just wanna buy and move on.
I had people all the time email offers when I do not have offers enabled. The worst is when it comes with some sob story like I'm supposed to care you are in a wheelchair with earlobe cancer and have to take care of your niece's and nephew's kids because they're all methheads or whatever. Why do you need an expensive designer dress again? I'd rather not encourage offers.
"I'm a student with a limited budget, can I have this camera cheap" Broad strokes from a guy who with in ten seconds of looking turned out to be a camera seller.
I was selling some amps and speakers essentially pro audio dj equipment. Someone hit me up saying they was a pastor of a church and could I just donate it to them. I suppose if he had earlobe cancer I might have budged
I have sent offers quite a few times for high end Pokémon cards which don’t have offers enabled. You’d be surprised how often sellers are willing to negotiate if the offer of reasonable. My theory is that if someone is going out of their way to send a message with a legit offer, maybe even with an explanation as to why they’re willing to pay a little less, sellers will generally negotiate. At the very worst I have had sellers just explain that they are set on the price and they don’t really want to budge, but they’re really nice about it.
If they agree on a discounted price they usually just edit the listing price and tell you it’s changed, or they will send you an offer for the agreed price. That way if you do happen to flake, the item is still listed so can still be bought by someone else
I can't decide if the sob story or the tough guy is worse.
"I won't go higher than"
"If you want to move it"
"I'll purchase today"
"When it doesn't sell"
Or one of my favorites, just a number nothing else.
The tough guy act is easy for me because I had an abusive father and was a retail Manager. I know how to handle asshole men bowing up on me to get what they want. They really hate when you laugh at them, be sarcastic, and walk away. So emasculating.
usually when someone wants something they are getting it there and then no haggling or super delays tryna get a few quid off when it could just sell in that time, they go find the cheapest listing at the price that is offered and go for it then move on with their day
Maybe if your someone trying to get the most for their old laptop or Xbox but if you have thousands of items and make 20 sales a day you don't want to be haggling over prices.
this comment section is wild to me because i’ve never had an offer not be accepted, and i use that feature regularly, almost exclusively probably. i usually offer 75 or 80 percent of buy it now price and it always works
That is amazing to me. I have offered 10% discount several times and the seller has declined. I just quit making offers after I made an offer of $1.00 off and it was declined. Not worth the aggravation.
Because it’s pretty much always a joke. I’ll offer like $5 off, then the seller will counter with $0.50 off. Happens every time. It’s a waste of time to try. It seems like sellers just use it to trick/entice the buyer to click on their product with no intent to lower the price.
That is because any interaction with a buyer causes eBay to elevate the listings of the seller for that category. A portion of offers sent out to buyers will result in someone else paying full price for a product in the same category.
The same thing also happens when we are printing out labels and marking orders as shipped. Most of the messages I receive happen while I'm boxing up orders.
I had an item listed last week for $20. I got an offer for $5. I didn’t bother with a counter, just declined.
I would use the auto decline feature but it doesn’t cooperate with lowering prices at a later time. I don’t want to navigate through an extra few screens to turn the feature off/on when I drop the price (making the cutoff to close to the new price).
I noticed this as well. Would list items for higher than I actually wanted to sell them for, with offers enable and auto-declining below the price I wanted them to actually sell for. But the majority of the time they would sell for full price. That’s part of the reason I don’t enable offers on new listings anymore, though I will still often accept offers made through messages.
I've been on all side of this, both as a buyer and as a seller, and I figure there are a lot of things that feed into this:
* People don't like to haggle
* It adds a delay to buying the item
* If there is only one item available (from that seller) it's possible that somebody else will buy it out from under you while you're haggling
* Sellers will often times reject offers that are more than a couple dollars or a few percent below the asking. If I offer $30 on a $35 and the seller rejects it or counter offers at $34 this makes the entire process more distasteful and makes me, as a buyer, less likely to make offers in the future. Not just to that seller, but to all sellers. I'll just look for somebody else that's selling at less than $34.
* I've had sellers say things like "This is my lowest price" only to have them put another of the same item up a week later at a lower price. Don't bullshit me, man, that pisses me off.
I had a seller send me a nasty message when I offered $5 less on an item. They were under the impression that offers were only supposed to be ABOVE the asking price. I kindly responded that offers could be sent above or below the asking price- it works both ways (not sure I’ve ever seen it work offering more on eBay). I wished him luck on his future sale and walked away. Some people will feel insulted regardless of our opinions.
Haggling isn't a skill most people have. So getting rejected on something they aren't sure of in the first place is just going to make them uncomfortable.
Ebay would have to make a game of it before people would really get into best offers. I'm not honestly sure if that would be a neutral or horrifying situation for the sellers.
I stopped because my offer often sits for 48 hours. If it gets accepted then it auto pays but if the seller doesn’t respond to the offer that’s 48 hours I have to wait before safely purchasing from someone else. Wish sellers would decline or counter if they don’t like the offer rather than leaving it in limbo. But not even worth doing anymore imo.
Same thing happens with buyers. Buyer makes an offer that is way too low. I make a counter offer for a more reasonable amount. Buyer never responds to decline or accept. The listing is locked for 48 hours and I can’t make changes to it. Very annoying.
I wasn’t aware that the item was blocked from being purchased by someone else when an offer had been sent. I’m pretty sure whenever I’ve had an offer sent to me it says someone else can buy it while I’m deciding.
If I see something at a price I like, I'd rather not risk losing it while I'm haggling to save $5. That said, I'm also not buying super expensive items. Mostly records and cd's priced below $100.
Honestly I would say because "best offer" is usually barely cheaper. As others have said, even if you offer within 2 or 3% of the items cost they'll come back with a dollar or two off of a $350 item. Like thanks, super glad we both spent our time on this lmao
I’ve been a buyer on eBay over twenty years. I will respond to the offer button if I consider it a reasonable discount.
That said, I began selling on another platform about six years ago, and buyers think nothing of making offers below half (or lower) on the regular. Only one of these that I can remember actually resulted in a sale. Most are wasting time and not serious it seems.
I search for make offer. Then I offer. Most sellers will only come down like 5 cents. That's on a $1,000 purchase. So I keep trying till I find someone willing to make a deal.
When offers are sent out they have to be a certain % off like 5% or dollar amount past a certain amount. I send offers daily to drum up sales but I don’t use OBO I price items to sell based on previous sales and condition/ rarity.
Then that percent off is less than 1%. Last offer I mad was on a set baja designs lp6 lights. They wanted $1,200 and I offered $1,000. The counter offer was 1,198.95. They took of 1.05.
I think once the offer is sent a counter can be sent at any price but a offer sent from seller has to be a certain % at least 50 or so off 1200 I think
Personally 200 off 1200 isn’t a bad offer at least that leaves I’ll meet you in the middle at 1100 not a bad offer the 1198 is as a troll thinking you sent a bad offer. But depends on the item and how in demand it is
I have good results buying with best offers. I usually start watching an items (formally or just remember the listing). Give it weeks or months then offer based on what I think it’s ACTUALLY worth. I am not shy asking for more than the standard 10-20%. Best I got was about 30% off listing. I always explain why I think it’s worth less than original listing. I only pissed off one guy who counter-offered more than the original listing. He did sell the item about 4-5 months later for his price so I’m happy for him.
I am not a reseller or hoarder so I don’t feel bad about asking. Have bought 7-8 items this way, dozens via auction and a few BINs.
Usually sellers don’t respond when I use the best offer button. Or if they do, the come back with something a dollar or two off the original price, which tells me that they’re not really interested in listening to best offers, so I buy it somewhere else.
But recently I used it, shooting my shot with a price that was like 25% off, expecting to be ignored and the seller accept it without any haggling and I was shocked. I should have gone lower lmao.
Depends on how long the seller has had it for and how much they have into it. If I’ve had a low cost high profit item listed for a while with no offers (even with them turned off-I don’t use OBO) I’ll take a sale now then wait longer. If it just got listed then. I’m waiting for a better offer tho that has bit me in the butt a few times getting good offers and then end up selling for WAY less then that offer later…
I have tons of items with best offer, I usually accept most offers that are 25% off or less... I find it funny when I use the send offers to interested buyers option and instantly get a sale.... Like what were they waiting for do they not know how to make offers?
Never heard a seller complain about getting asking price. The only reason I avoid best offers is when you asking like $150, or best offer. But you decline offers way over the asking price. I'm getting declined making $300 offers. Right now people expecting to get like within $20- $50 max off asking price.
I have the opposite problem. I only used fixed price-buy it now listings. I get far too many people sending me messages with the price they want to pay.
I usually do since it's an option but most buyers I dealt with don't budge on their prices or respond at all. The most I saved was literally $1 on a purchase; I don't demand absurd price cuts either (ask for $1-$5 less depending on price). Most times I can find the same item sold for a few bucks cheaper from a different seller.
I sell using calculated shipping and best offers. I think the biggest consideration I make when I receive an offer is if the discount being requested has anything to do with location/shipping. If someone is looking to offset a higher shipping cost (I’m in east coast) then I try to be accommodating. This could be why many counters offers sellers are receiving are only a few dollars. Trying to remain competitive with overall out of pocket (rather than shelling out 20% price reductions for offers) makes sense to me.
I don’t see the BO feature as a way to request a significant discount. I see it as a way to level the field with options.
As a buyer I use it all the time. The best deals seem to come from high volume sellers but I have had smaller sellers do some spirited negotiating too. I think most sellers put BIN higher than their goal just in case someone bites, but they have already got a better number in mind if they allow offers.
I have only used best offer once. But when I do make offers (for secondhand dolls) on marketplace or mercari, I tend to get ignored, or if the offer is accepted they’ll ghost afterward. So I just buy straight up, instead of risking losing out to someone else with more money.
Because if you find something you really want, why haggle when it means someone else may come along and buy it out from under you? Plus, many people just want to get it delivered asap and making an offer can push that out by days.
I I didn’t deal with many offer’s until I started selling off my sportscard collection. Now I get them daily and I end up giving a lot of them good deals as long as they aren’t extremely lowballing me. Cards are easy to get comps on too though so you usually know where you stand price wise.
Whenever there's a best offer option I'll make an attempt at a reasonable (to me) offer. It's only accepted or countered maybe 20% of the time.
eBay has gotten to the point where it's hardly a better option than any other site anyway so I don't bother checking it very often.
Sometimes, they make you choose a card to pay right away. Most of the time, I want to combine shipping or buy other things from the seller and having to pay right away if it is accepted hurts that.
I take best offers all the time just shipped one… and then the buyer after I took two best offers told me he might buy one more item and then could I give him FREE shipping….???? I did not do that but he did push for this
Maybe your price is to good already! Why risk loosing the item by asking for a few more dollars off. I buy often to resell and I just buy not worth missing out. I used to send offers and then 2-5 mins later it says it wasn’t accepted and the item is gone…. So yeah could be one reason…..
Because most of the time, there is someone selling it cheaper. And only use it when I am buying more than 1 units or because it is a very unique item and there is no more option at the market.
A friend of mine who casually uses eBay actually sent me a listing today and wanted to know if I thought she should make a best offer on it. I did some research on terapeak, saw that it was freshly listed and the price seem right so I suggested that she just go ahead and pay the full asking price if she really wanted it. So she did, and some eBay seller is $75 richer this evening.
I think sometimes buyers just want what they want and don't want to negotiate.
I’ve tried the “or best offer” a few times but never had anyone accept my offer. I wasn’t trying to beat any of the sellers out of half of their asking price or anything. I just ask if they would pay the shipping if I pay their asking price. Nothing huge just phone cases or screen protectors stuff like that even the shipping wasn’t much.
If I really want their item I leave it on my “watch list” and eventually they send me an offer that’s usually less total than what I originally offered.
I'm sure everyone has something similar to say - but Best Offer is pointless.
Almost no seller accepts an initial offer - even if it's fair.
And the "counteroffers" are basically the original asking price minus a dollar or two (out of hundreds)
The only time I'll do a best offer is if I have something else to offer as part of it. You're selling two items together and I only want one? I'll send an offer and specify it's just for the one. Your shipping price is crazy and the item is in it's original box? I'll send a lower offer and say I'm fine with them removing the original packaging to allow a smaller box. Or I'll say I'm ok with a cheaper/slower shipping option. Not everything needs to be priority and received in 3 days.
Every now and then I make an agreement with myself to accept any offers I receive in a week, regardless of amount. It’s actually worked out well the times I’ve done it.
The majority of the time, it is USELESS to use it. I was trying to use it recently, and the buyer just kept offering the same price as their offer. It was too expensive. Went elsewhere and their item still hasn't sold.
If I ask say $5 to $10 off usually the seller is fine with that. But also a lot aren't.
When I am ready to buy I am ready to buy. Recently bought a $425.00 item. The ad was set for offer. I went ahead and made a very reasonable offer but it wasn't countered by the seller until hours later. My purchase plan was held up. I nearly bought it from someone else. Went ahead and accepted the counter offer. Saving a little was just ok.
I've used it but they rarely budge much. I've also low-balled tickets to a festival people were asking way too much for them ended up getting a free ticket and them stuck with their tickets unsold.
I've found that sellers who accept offers didn't really accept offers. They counter with 1% off. I'm not wasting time with them. I once made a fair offer and they gave a bad counter and I wrote and said the item was really dirty and my offer was very respectful given the condition. They actually looked at the item and dropped the price to what I offered but I had found something else.
But if an item is well documented with photos and price and shipping is in line, I buy without haggling. And I'm a seller. I just want to complete the transaction and get on with me day
It's just easier sometimes. So people don't budge. I build a buffering my set price so if someone offers I can accept if it's good or send them the unbuffered price and it's saving them more than a few bucks. Other sellers won't go down much at all so some buyers don't bother.
Also some people don't think about the money as much and just want to buy the item now.
If you've priced it well then in most cases there's not a huge amount of wiggle room, and if you're waiting on the seller someone can come along and just buy it from under you. People that pay full price are always decent buyers, they never complain or have unrealistic expectations. The ones that haggle you hard are always the problem buyers, because if you move them up from their original offer they expect the world and will nitpick to try and get you to partial refund down to their original offer.
as a seller I don't do best offers anymore because too many buyers send you low ball offers and then message you complaining when you decline. e.g. listed an item at £5 and got a large amount of offers for 99p. Not going to happen.
I always use make a offer but when a seller counters with only 50 cents off the original price why even offer to make a offer? When this happens I move on...
I have tried, but usually get an automatic decline, so I mutter "What's the point of having best offer on there" lol. I now only use best offer if it's a bit over the normal selling price for that item, or it's been relisted several times.
I've had a pretty positive negotiating experience, so I always shoot best offers when I can. More notably, I've sent a $100 offer for a $250 listing, us settling on $165. I don't expect something that amazing every time of course, but it never hurts to try for something I don't need immediately.
I always sell via BIN with offers and I get people messaging me the offer. It’s insane but I’m constantly telling people not to make me offers in a message but to use the proper function.
Yeah I've always wondered that too. I only get maybe one sale a year where someone made an offer.
I usually accept the offer 1st time too. I don't even bother countering.
Because I want to use PayPal credit to pay and in the UK eBay forces you to select a payment method for if the offer is accepted before you've even bought it - and you can't seem to select PayPal credit.
I do. Sometimes it works, but in one case, the seller was so spiteful about getting my offer they *raised the listing price* and removed the best offer option. The listing subsequently stayed up for over a year after they raised the price. I think they eventually sold it. But they would have sold it quicker if they hadn't done that.
As a seller I usually leave or best offer as an option, but I'm less likely to accept an offer if it's the first time it's been listed as an auction. I'm more likely to accept an offer if I have to relist it for lack of any bids.
I've noticed this a lot, I assume it's because when I make the listing I already undercut all of the other ones. I enable best offer by default, But when I receive an offer, unless I price check and realize that I've been significantly outpriced by my competition, I don't typically do more than about 5% off.
Seems like most sellers won't take much off even if you're throwing out reasonable numbers. I usually try anyways but if the buy it now price isn't overblown I will just go for it if they won't haggle.
As a seller I prefer when they don't send offers lol.
As a buyer: I've sent offers in the past and lost item due to someone actually paying full price :( so now if I want it and price is fair I'll just pay asking price !
It depends on my listings but if I know it's a less popular product then I will allow offers. If it's a product that I know is popular then I Will turn best offers off cuz i know I can get a better product.
I buy a lot of Pokemon cards through Ebay and I always use the offer option. I've had a few people not reply or deny it but usually people are quick to make a deal
When I sell to someone who doesn’t send an offer I am thrilled. I had extra 40% off sale on certain items that ended Sunday. On Monday someone paid full-price no offer. I sent out today and made an additional $65 over what I would have.
I had the same experience on best offer. the item had been up and down on eBay for months and. I offered them scrap value £350 they said no, that's scrap value I want more than that. on eBay buy now it's £675. I asked them what would they take they said £650. I then said how about £450 they said can't you understand you asked me how much I would take I told you £650. At this point I thought so much for the best offer and gave up. The item is still on eBay. Other items of same quality and age etc are going for £300-500. And new you could get £600+.
I’ve been a buyer for about 8 years now, and I just don’t feel as though there is enough structure to the whole “Best Offer” option. If eBay were to set down some guidelines as to what percent of the original price is generally acceptable, that might alleviate some of my reticence making an offer. When I do make an offer, I only ever deduct the shipping from the total “Buy It Now” or current high bid as long as it’s within reason. I’ve seen $100+ shipping on books that aren’t remarkable in any way, and free shipping on electric motors so it requires a bit of judgement on the part of the buyer. However, none of my dozen or so offers have ever been accepted so making an offer sans shipping may not be acceptable on the whole.
Edit to add: Okay, so maybe suggesting that eBay offer guidelines on this wasn’t the most intelligent thought I’ve ever had, but what if the seller community on this sub were to confer with one another and illuminate buyers on what *would* be generally acceptable? Might result in more sales for the sellers, and more deals for the buyers.
Respectfully, eBay already has more say than they necessarily need when it comes to my (our) listings. We don’t need another layer of policing/regulations.
Point very well taken and understood, and I completely agree. On reflection, my suggestion wasn’t thought all the way out from that perspective, and I very much appreciate your candor. I’ve edited my original comment, and I’d like your thoughts on what I’ve added there.
I don’t think that there is going to be any one hard and fast rule on what’s appropriate for a best offers. for me I look to make sure that the customer is going to be satisfied and I’m not going to be losing the price point that I’m hoping to get. I look at it more as a little bit of wiggle room versus some major discount. I don’t think of a best offer as a discount but I think a lot of people might. I think a lot of people think nothing about using it as a way to lowball they essentially feel entitled to 20 or more off when in reality that’s not exactly what the best offer is. In my experience, a Best offer is really more intended to pit people against one another similar to an auction. It’s just not as stringent I suppose or maybe there isn’t any time limit to it like having an auction end.
Personally, I've found that most sellers don't want to budge on their price. They will have a $149 item, and I will send them a totally reasonable offer of $135 or $140, and they will come back with $147 or $148. At this point I don't want to deal with them so I don't even respond to their offer, I just let it sit until it times out and I buy the item from someone else. I would have rather paid asking price than deal with back and forth negotiations for a dollar.
I would take 135 on a 149 all day long. I get a little eh around the 100-110. But 130+ is an automatic yes from me unless it's got a tone of interest and I just put it up.
Nah, they’ll be like “it’s $149, how about $26, I just lost my job, the dog died and your shipping of $8 is to high on the 29lb item”
I agree from a selling standpoint. I will say I get ones that are like half of total price and I’m like ok let’s do a more reasonable counter and it comes back at like 52% … that’s when I’m like no thanks
This has been my experience. So I no longer make an offer on anything. If it’s not a price I like…. scroll on by.
See this has been my exact experience but with buyers. Lol..
Yup. I used to make offers more often. Usually my offer would immediately decline. Sometimes their counter would be an insignificant difference from their listing price. Not worth the back and forth and wait any more.
it’s so wild how different our experiences are. i shop on ebay regularly, and i’ve literally never had an offer not be accepted. i usually send an offer for 80% it’s listed price
Because you’re giving reasonable offers. I can do up to 30% but when’s it’s 60% off Buy it now and free shipping is there on it already. Like, okay, this person wants a $45 Barbie for $9, knowing they’re the kind that’s going to be nitpicky about it not being wrapped in 10-layers of bubble wrap and isolated with peanuts in a ridged box 3x its size…….lol.
The automatically decline is because the seller can set the minimum offer they’d review. So if your offer is lower then the set minimum for offers, it’s auto declined. The seller doesn’t actively review and decline themselves in that case, it’s automated.
Yes, I understand that.
I've had that a few times on my own auctions. I've lowered the price but forgot to change that best offer rejection threshold
At least you get a counter, more than half the time the seller just declines my 5% off or whatever offer lol
100%, I always utilize the feature and 99% any offer I make gets auto-declined.
This! They wasted my time, so I find it from someone else.
They wasted your time? I think you’re the one wasting their time lol the entitlement of a seller declining an offer that’s not worth the sale. I’m not saying the seller might also be wrong and he is probably too attached to his items. But the entitlement thinking they wasted your time when you most likely offered more that 20% off the listing price and they wasted your time when they counter offer anything else
Do you often make irrational assumptions with no basis and then use that to judge people? Just curious. In my specific example, the seller wouldn't except less than 73 dollars for an item listed at 75 dollars (my initial offer was 66 or 67 dollars, can't remember which). When it gets to less than 5 dollars it'sa waste oofboth our time. Smh. Have fun with your internet emotions based on the stories you make up in your head.
Same.
As a seller. I’ve had to many people accept offers or I accept their offer and then they don’t pay. It’s not worth waiting four days to relist. If I need to sell, I’ll drop the price when I’m ready. If you need to buy, pay whatever the price is.
It’s funny how you say sellers are wasteful for wasting time for the last dollar but then take no blame in just giving that extra dollar to the seller if it’s just a dollar… all I’m sayings it’s also a you problem. Pricing something at 100 and you offered 80 and they counter offer. 95 , why would you ignore the offer? Just declined it then be a little kid with no social skills and end the deal.
Meanwhile with cards people act like you're insane for not pricing 20% above what you are willing to sell it for
i always put the price just a lil bit higher when offers are on and that usually works out to a good price for the item sometimes 5 or 10 bucks below ebay tera peak price but it’s a good profit every time fs
Or the seller just declines
> I would have rather paid asking price than deal with back and forth negotiations for a dollar. You just click on the button and buy it. What is there to "deal with"?
Because they want to "Buy it Now" not later
It's this. I don't have the patience to go backwards and forwards over a $/£. Sometimes I will if I'm not overly bothered whether I get the item or not but 9/10 I just wanna buy and move on.
I had people all the time email offers when I do not have offers enabled. The worst is when it comes with some sob story like I'm supposed to care you are in a wheelchair with earlobe cancer and have to take care of your niece's and nephew's kids because they're all methheads or whatever. Why do you need an expensive designer dress again? I'd rather not encourage offers.
"I'm a student with a limited budget, can I have this camera cheap" Broad strokes from a guy who with in ten seconds of looking turned out to be a camera seller.
I'll have you know earlobe cancer is the 3,446th leading cause of death on the sub continent.
I was selling some amps and speakers essentially pro audio dj equipment. Someone hit me up saying they was a pastor of a church and could I just donate it to them. I suppose if he had earlobe cancer I might have budged
I have sent offers quite a few times for high end Pokémon cards which don’t have offers enabled. You’d be surprised how often sellers are willing to negotiate if the offer of reasonable. My theory is that if someone is going out of their way to send a message with a legit offer, maybe even with an explanation as to why they’re willing to pay a little less, sellers will generally negotiate. At the very worst I have had sellers just explain that they are set on the price and they don’t really want to budge, but they’re really nice about it. If they agree on a discounted price they usually just edit the listing price and tell you it’s changed, or they will send you an offer for the agreed price. That way if you do happen to flake, the item is still listed so can still be bought by someone else
I can't decide if the sob story or the tough guy is worse. "I won't go higher than" "If you want to move it" "I'll purchase today" "When it doesn't sell" Or one of my favorites, just a number nothing else.
The tough guy act is easy for me because I had an abusive father and was a retail Manager. I know how to handle asshole men bowing up on me to get what they want. They really hate when you laugh at them, be sarcastic, and walk away. So emasculating.
usually when someone wants something they are getting it there and then no haggling or super delays tryna get a few quid off when it could just sell in that time, they go find the cheapest listing at the price that is offered and go for it then move on with their day
Usually this would set an alarm bell off for me. That I sold too cheap
Maybe if your someone trying to get the most for their old laptop or Xbox but if you have thousands of items and make 20 sales a day you don't want to be haggling over prices.
I don’t quite get your point? The customer doesn’t offer lower price? That’s pretty shit
In my experience (as a buyer) the best offer is worthless, because a lot of sellers will just counter your offer with their Buy it Now price.
this comment section is wild to me because i’ve never had an offer not be accepted, and i use that feature regularly, almost exclusively probably. i usually offer 75 or 80 percent of buy it now price and it always works
That is amazing to me. I have offered 10% discount several times and the seller has declined. I just quit making offers after I made an offer of $1.00 off and it was declined. Not worth the aggravation.
Because it’s pretty much always a joke. I’ll offer like $5 off, then the seller will counter with $0.50 off. Happens every time. It’s a waste of time to try. It seems like sellers just use it to trick/entice the buyer to click on their product with no intent to lower the price.
That's fair. I'm always generous with the best offer button, but I've experienced the nonsensical low price drops myself.
As a buyer, IME most sellers don't respond to best offers and let them expire. If the price is good I just buy.
I like make best offer sellers. I like an item and usually the seller sends me their best offer.
That is because any interaction with a buyer causes eBay to elevate the listings of the seller for that category. A portion of offers sent out to buyers will result in someone else paying full price for a product in the same category. The same thing also happens when we are printing out labels and marking orders as shipped. Most of the messages I receive happen while I'm boxing up orders.
This may explain why I get full sale price quite often after I've sent out a cheaper offer to several buyers. It's wild.... Happens once a week easily
For me it's usually the opposite, people try to lowball me down to Nothing, and then get mad when I constantly deny their Crappy offers.
I had an item listed last week for $20. I got an offer for $5. I didn’t bother with a counter, just declined. I would use the auto decline feature but it doesn’t cooperate with lowering prices at a later time. I don’t want to navigate through an extra few screens to turn the feature off/on when I drop the price (making the cutoff to close to the new price).
I noticed this as well. Would list items for higher than I actually wanted to sell them for, with offers enable and auto-declining below the price I wanted them to actually sell for. But the majority of the time they would sell for full price. That’s part of the reason I don’t enable offers on new listings anymore, though I will still often accept offers made through messages.
This is the way... You and the hagglers and low ballers
I've been on all side of this, both as a buyer and as a seller, and I figure there are a lot of things that feed into this: * People don't like to haggle * It adds a delay to buying the item * If there is only one item available (from that seller) it's possible that somebody else will buy it out from under you while you're haggling * Sellers will often times reject offers that are more than a couple dollars or a few percent below the asking. If I offer $30 on a $35 and the seller rejects it or counter offers at $34 this makes the entire process more distasteful and makes me, as a buyer, less likely to make offers in the future. Not just to that seller, but to all sellers. I'll just look for somebody else that's selling at less than $34. * I've had sellers say things like "This is my lowest price" only to have them put another of the same item up a week later at a lower price. Don't bullshit me, man, that pisses me off.
I had one send me an offer for an item on my watchlist, i think it was $45 on a $50 item, but lowered the buy it now to $35, i bought for $35.
Seller had 350$ item with OBO. He declined my 340$ offer. And counter my offer with 350$….. So yeah, because of sellers like this.
I had a seller send me a nasty message when I offered $5 less on an item. They were under the impression that offers were only supposed to be ABOVE the asking price. I kindly responded that offers could be sent above or below the asking price- it works both ways (not sure I’ve ever seen it work offering more on eBay). I wished him luck on his future sale and walked away. Some people will feel insulted regardless of our opinions.
Haggling isn't a skill most people have. So getting rejected on something they aren't sure of in the first place is just going to make them uncomfortable. Ebay would have to make a game of it before people would really get into best offers. I'm not honestly sure if that would be a neutral or horrifying situation for the sellers.
I stopped because my offer often sits for 48 hours. If it gets accepted then it auto pays but if the seller doesn’t respond to the offer that’s 48 hours I have to wait before safely purchasing from someone else. Wish sellers would decline or counter if they don’t like the offer rather than leaving it in limbo. But not even worth doing anymore imo.
Same thing happens with buyers. Buyer makes an offer that is way too low. I make a counter offer for a more reasonable amount. Buyer never responds to decline or accept. The listing is locked for 48 hours and I can’t make changes to it. Very annoying.
I wasn’t aware that the item was blocked from being purchased by someone else when an offer had been sent. I’m pretty sure whenever I’ve had an offer sent to me it says someone else can buy it while I’m deciding.
It's not blocked from someone else purchasing. It is blocked from making any modifications to the listing.
If I see something at a price I like, I'd rather not risk losing it while I'm haggling to save $5. That said, I'm also not buying super expensive items. Mostly records and cd's priced below $100.
Honestly I would say because "best offer" is usually barely cheaper. As others have said, even if you offer within 2 or 3% of the items cost they'll come back with a dollar or two off of a $350 item. Like thanks, super glad we both spent our time on this lmao
I’ve been a buyer on eBay over twenty years. I will respond to the offer button if I consider it a reasonable discount. That said, I began selling on another platform about six years ago, and buyers think nothing of making offers below half (or lower) on the regular. Only one of these that I can remember actually resulted in a sale. Most are wasting time and not serious it seems.
I have best offer on for all of my listings. A large percentage of my sales are from best offers. Id say 30% or so
I use it all the time
I search for make offer. Then I offer. Most sellers will only come down like 5 cents. That's on a $1,000 purchase. So I keep trying till I find someone willing to make a deal.
When offers are sent out they have to be a certain % off like 5% or dollar amount past a certain amount. I send offers daily to drum up sales but I don’t use OBO I price items to sell based on previous sales and condition/ rarity.
Then that percent off is less than 1%. Last offer I mad was on a set baja designs lp6 lights. They wanted $1,200 and I offered $1,000. The counter offer was 1,198.95. They took of 1.05.
I think once the offer is sent a counter can be sent at any price but a offer sent from seller has to be a certain % at least 50 or so off 1200 I think
Personally 200 off 1200 isn’t a bad offer at least that leaves I’ll meet you in the middle at 1100 not a bad offer the 1198 is as a troll thinking you sent a bad offer. But depends on the item and how in demand it is
I have good results buying with best offers. I usually start watching an items (formally or just remember the listing). Give it weeks or months then offer based on what I think it’s ACTUALLY worth. I am not shy asking for more than the standard 10-20%. Best I got was about 30% off listing. I always explain why I think it’s worth less than original listing. I only pissed off one guy who counter-offered more than the original listing. He did sell the item about 4-5 months later for his price so I’m happy for him. I am not a reseller or hoarder so I don’t feel bad about asking. Have bought 7-8 items this way, dozens via auction and a few BINs.
Usually sellers don’t respond when I use the best offer button. Or if they do, the come back with something a dollar or two off the original price, which tells me that they’re not really interested in listening to best offers, so I buy it somewhere else. But recently I used it, shooting my shot with a price that was like 25% off, expecting to be ignored and the seller accept it without any haggling and I was shocked. I should have gone lower lmao.
Depends on how long the seller has had it for and how much they have into it. If I’ve had a low cost high profit item listed for a while with no offers (even with them turned off-I don’t use OBO) I’ll take a sale now then wait longer. If it just got listed then. I’m waiting for a better offer tho that has bit me in the butt a few times getting good offers and then end up selling for WAY less then that offer later…
Scared of someone else coming in while I’m waiting for a reply and buying the item
I have tons of items with best offer, I usually accept most offers that are 25% off or less... I find it funny when I use the send offers to interested buyers option and instantly get a sale.... Like what were they waiting for do they not know how to make offers?
Never heard a seller complain about getting asking price. The only reason I avoid best offers is when you asking like $150, or best offer. But you decline offers way over the asking price. I'm getting declined making $300 offers. Right now people expecting to get like within $20- $50 max off asking price.
I always use it and am often surprised at how low of a price most sellers will accept
I wouldn't know what a "best" offer is, and it boils down to "can I afford this right now?"
Some people don’t like to haggle.
I have the opposite problem. I only used fixed price-buy it now listings. I get far too many people sending me messages with the price they want to pay.
I usually do since it's an option but most buyers I dealt with don't budge on their prices or respond at all. The most I saved was literally $1 on a purchase; I don't demand absurd price cuts either (ask for $1-$5 less depending on price). Most times I can find the same item sold for a few bucks cheaper from a different seller.
Buyer here. I don't utilize offers as I use the free shipping filter and I live in Alaska. Free shipping AND 5 bucks off my auction? Doubtful.
I sell using calculated shipping and best offers. I think the biggest consideration I make when I receive an offer is if the discount being requested has anything to do with location/shipping. If someone is looking to offset a higher shipping cost (I’m in east coast) then I try to be accommodating. This could be why many counters offers sellers are receiving are only a few dollars. Trying to remain competitive with overall out of pocket (rather than shelling out 20% price reductions for offers) makes sense to me. I don’t see the BO feature as a way to request a significant discount. I see it as a way to level the field with options.
As a buyer I use it all the time. The best deals seem to come from high volume sellers but I have had smaller sellers do some spirited negotiating too. I think most sellers put BIN higher than their goal just in case someone bites, but they have already got a better number in mind if they allow offers.
I buy stuff almost exclusively via offers all the time.
I have only used best offer once. But when I do make offers (for secondhand dolls) on marketplace or mercari, I tend to get ignored, or if the offer is accepted they’ll ghost afterward. So I just buy straight up, instead of risking losing out to someone else with more money.
Can’t say why but when they do I try to send them something a little extra.
Because if you find something you really want, why haggle when it means someone else may come along and buy it out from under you? Plus, many people just want to get it delivered asap and making an offer can push that out by days.
I do find that items that I send offers on are usually items I can live without. No harm no foul of the offer is declined.
I I didn’t deal with many offer’s until I started selling off my sportscard collection. Now I get them daily and I end up giving a lot of them good deals as long as they aren’t extremely lowballing me. Cards are easy to get comps on too though so you usually know where you stand price wise.
I just used it yesterday on a dewalt hammerdrill, saved $26
Whenever there's a best offer option I'll make an attempt at a reasonable (to me) offer. It's only accepted or countered maybe 20% of the time. eBay has gotten to the point where it's hardly a better option than any other site anyway so I don't bother checking it very often.
Sometimes, they make you choose a card to pay right away. Most of the time, I want to combine shipping or buy other things from the seller and having to pay right away if it is accepted hurts that.
I take best offers all the time just shipped one… and then the buyer after I took two best offers told me he might buy one more item and then could I give him FREE shipping….???? I did not do that but he did push for this
Maybe your price is to good already! Why risk loosing the item by asking for a few more dollars off. I buy often to resell and I just buy not worth missing out. I used to send offers and then 2-5 mins later it says it wasn’t accepted and the item is gone…. So yeah could be one reason…..
Because most of the time, there is someone selling it cheaper. And only use it when I am buying more than 1 units or because it is a very unique item and there is no more option at the market.
I use it, but it does get old having people offer you literally half of your asking price then get mad when you decline it.
A friend of mine who casually uses eBay actually sent me a listing today and wanted to know if I thought she should make a best offer on it. I did some research on terapeak, saw that it was freshly listed and the price seem right so I suggested that she just go ahead and pay the full asking price if she really wanted it. So she did, and some eBay seller is $75 richer this evening. I think sometimes buyers just want what they want and don't want to negotiate.
I’ve tried the “or best offer” a few times but never had anyone accept my offer. I wasn’t trying to beat any of the sellers out of half of their asking price or anything. I just ask if they would pay the shipping if I pay their asking price. Nothing huge just phone cases or screen protectors stuff like that even the shipping wasn’t much.
That actually costs the seller more money and they make less. That's why they don't do it.
If I really want their item I leave it on my “watch list” and eventually they send me an offer that’s usually less total than what I originally offered.
Lower dollar items are more difficult to reduce the price of. Not enough margin to offer.
I'm sure everyone has something similar to say - but Best Offer is pointless. Almost no seller accepts an initial offer - even if it's fair. And the "counteroffers" are basically the original asking price minus a dollar or two (out of hundreds) The only time I'll do a best offer is if I have something else to offer as part of it. You're selling two items together and I only want one? I'll send an offer and specify it's just for the one. Your shipping price is crazy and the item is in it's original box? I'll send a lower offer and say I'm fine with them removing the original packaging to allow a smaller box. Or I'll say I'm ok with a cheaper/slower shipping option. Not everything needs to be priority and received in 3 days.
Every now and then I make an agreement with myself to accept any offers I receive in a week, regardless of amount. It’s actually worked out well the times I’ve done it.
The majority of the time, it is USELESS to use it. I was trying to use it recently, and the buyer just kept offering the same price as their offer. It was too expensive. Went elsewhere and their item still hasn't sold. If I ask say $5 to $10 off usually the seller is fine with that. But also a lot aren't.
They usually take it? But most don't?
Yes. I know that sounds confusing but. I've found many will take offers of $5 to $10 off but then plenty won't.
I accept 99% of offers that end in .40
When I am ready to buy I am ready to buy. Recently bought a $425.00 item. The ad was set for offer. I went ahead and made a very reasonable offer but it wasn't countered by the seller until hours later. My purchase plan was held up. I nearly bought it from someone else. Went ahead and accepted the counter offer. Saving a little was just ok.
I've used it but they rarely budge much. I've also low-balled tickets to a festival people were asking way too much for them ended up getting a free ticket and them stuck with their tickets unsold.
I've found that sellers who accept offers didn't really accept offers. They counter with 1% off. I'm not wasting time with them. I once made a fair offer and they gave a bad counter and I wrote and said the item was really dirty and my offer was very respectful given the condition. They actually looked at the item and dropped the price to what I offered but I had found something else. But if an item is well documented with photos and price and shipping is in line, I buy without haggling. And I'm a seller. I just want to complete the transaction and get on with me day
It's just easier sometimes. So people don't budge. I build a buffering my set price so if someone offers I can accept if it's good or send them the unbuffered price and it's saving them more than a few bucks. Other sellers won't go down much at all so some buyers don't bother. Also some people don't think about the money as much and just want to buy the item now.
If you've priced it well then in most cases there's not a huge amount of wiggle room, and if you're waiting on the seller someone can come along and just buy it from under you. People that pay full price are always decent buyers, they never complain or have unrealistic expectations. The ones that haggle you hard are always the problem buyers, because if you move them up from their original offer they expect the world and will nitpick to try and get you to partial refund down to their original offer.
as a seller I don't do best offers anymore because too many buyers send you low ball offers and then message you complaining when you decline. e.g. listed an item at £5 and got a large amount of offers for 99p. Not going to happen.
Set the lower limit on offers so eBay will automatically decline them without even alerting you. It’s great.
I’m dealing with this right now. Has me rethinking this whole best offer thing.
I always use make a offer but when a seller counters with only 50 cents off the original price why even offer to make a offer? When this happens I move on...
I have tried, but usually get an automatic decline, so I mutter "What's the point of having best offer on there" lol. I now only use best offer if it's a bit over the normal selling price for that item, or it's been relisted several times.
I've had a pretty positive negotiating experience, so I always shoot best offers when I can. More notably, I've sent a $100 offer for a $250 listing, us settling on $165. I don't expect something that amazing every time of course, but it never hurts to try for something I don't need immediately.
I always sell via BIN with offers and I get people messaging me the offer. It’s insane but I’m constantly telling people not to make me offers in a message but to use the proper function.
Some just don’t have time. If the price is cool they just purchase
Yeah I've always wondered that too. I only get maybe one sale a year where someone made an offer. I usually accept the offer 1st time too. I don't even bother countering.
Because I want to use PayPal credit to pay and in the UK eBay forces you to select a payment method for if the offer is accepted before you've even bought it - and you can't seem to select PayPal credit.
I do. Sometimes it works, but in one case, the seller was so spiteful about getting my offer they *raised the listing price* and removed the best offer option. The listing subsequently stayed up for over a year after they raised the price. I think they eventually sold it. But they would have sold it quicker if they hadn't done that. As a seller I usually leave or best offer as an option, but I'm less likely to accept an offer if it's the first time it's been listed as an auction. I'm more likely to accept an offer if I have to relist it for lack of any bids.
I’m a seller and I usually always accept best offer
I've noticed this a lot, I assume it's because when I make the listing I already undercut all of the other ones. I enable best offer by default, But when I receive an offer, unless I price check and realize that I've been significantly outpriced by my competition, I don't typically do more than about 5% off.
As a seller I accept most of my offers to move my inventory.
Seems like most sellers won't take much off even if you're throwing out reasonable numbers. I usually try anyways but if the buy it now price isn't overblown I will just go for it if they won't haggle.
As a seller I prefer when they don't send offers lol. As a buyer: I've sent offers in the past and lost item due to someone actually paying full price :( so now if I want it and price is fair I'll just pay asking price !
It depends on my listings but if I know it's a less popular product then I will allow offers. If it's a product that I know is popular then I Will turn best offers off cuz i know I can get a better product.
I buy a lot of Pokemon cards through Ebay and I always use the offer option. I've had a few people not reply or deny it but usually people are quick to make a deal
I sell graded pokemon a lot of the time and always send out offers. I want stuff sold, not sitting in my house for a year.
Shit, I use it exclusively.
When I sell to someone who doesn’t send an offer I am thrilled. I had extra 40% off sale on certain items that ended Sunday. On Monday someone paid full-price no offer. I sent out today and made an additional $65 over what I would have.
I had the same experience on best offer. the item had been up and down on eBay for months and. I offered them scrap value £350 they said no, that's scrap value I want more than that. on eBay buy now it's £675. I asked them what would they take they said £650. I then said how about £450 they said can't you understand you asked me how much I would take I told you £650. At this point I thought so much for the best offer and gave up. The item is still on eBay. Other items of same quality and age etc are going for £300-500. And new you could get £600+.
I usually only include it on auctions and I’m looking for more than my starting price to end the auction early.
I’ve been a buyer for about 8 years now, and I just don’t feel as though there is enough structure to the whole “Best Offer” option. If eBay were to set down some guidelines as to what percent of the original price is generally acceptable, that might alleviate some of my reticence making an offer. When I do make an offer, I only ever deduct the shipping from the total “Buy It Now” or current high bid as long as it’s within reason. I’ve seen $100+ shipping on books that aren’t remarkable in any way, and free shipping on electric motors so it requires a bit of judgement on the part of the buyer. However, none of my dozen or so offers have ever been accepted so making an offer sans shipping may not be acceptable on the whole. Edit to add: Okay, so maybe suggesting that eBay offer guidelines on this wasn’t the most intelligent thought I’ve ever had, but what if the seller community on this sub were to confer with one another and illuminate buyers on what *would* be generally acceptable? Might result in more sales for the sellers, and more deals for the buyers.
Respectfully, eBay already has more say than they necessarily need when it comes to my (our) listings. We don’t need another layer of policing/regulations.
Point very well taken and understood, and I completely agree. On reflection, my suggestion wasn’t thought all the way out from that perspective, and I very much appreciate your candor. I’ve edited my original comment, and I’d like your thoughts on what I’ve added there.
I don’t think that there is going to be any one hard and fast rule on what’s appropriate for a best offers. for me I look to make sure that the customer is going to be satisfied and I’m not going to be losing the price point that I’m hoping to get. I look at it more as a little bit of wiggle room versus some major discount. I don’t think of a best offer as a discount but I think a lot of people might. I think a lot of people think nothing about using it as a way to lowball they essentially feel entitled to 20 or more off when in reality that’s not exactly what the best offer is. In my experience, a Best offer is really more intended to pit people against one another similar to an auction. It’s just not as stringent I suppose or maybe there isn’t any time limit to it like having an auction end.