Ebay Best Offers - Buyers gripe

dontippet

There’s been plenty of gripes through the years of buyers who waster sellers time by low balling. But, as a buyer, I’ve noticed a pattern of sellers. Just today I place an offer of $275 on a $300 item. The seller declined my offer without a reason or even a counteroffer. Obviously, we are already within 10% so why not make a counter?

dmanrico

I’m with you. I will say coupon days get wacky. I know a ton of sellers that have BIN/BO with overpriced items and when coupons come out they won’t accept BO. Some even raise their prices.

NGS428

Many sellers list with BO just to get the exposure with no real intention of lowering the price. At least that is my take on it.

Some diamonds in the rough are more than willing to negotiate. Those are my kind is sellers They know the real value and offer accordingly.

dontippet

I had one seller once who declined my offer and said that he wouldn’t take anything less than the buy it now price. And I’m thinking, “why have best offer if you won’t accept it?”

lahmejoon

My gripe would be on items that have been on the site forever that are well over what comparable sales have been and the seller auto-declining offers in that comparable range.

Specifically, I started collecting checks of baseball HOFers and other celebrities, but have only focused on checks made out to government agencies (specific to my profession). As an example, you can have a Walt Alston signed check anywhere from $35 to $55. However, there is one that has been available for ages made out to a specific agency (which is right in my wheelhouse) for around $100 OBO. The seller doesn't accept offers in the comparable range. Fortunately, others pop up from time to time and I was able to pick one up for $35, but the $100 OBO one still remains available.

The moral of the story is to stay patient and, sooner or later, you will most likely find one that you're looking for in the comparable range, but I completely understand the frustration of offering what would be considered reasonable and the seller auto-declining offers in that range.

countdouglas

@NGS428 said:
Many sellers list with BO just to get the exposure with no real intention of lowering the price. At least that is my take on it.

Exactly. The Best Offer designation is just used as bait to get you to look at their item more closely when it is just one of many like items available. I avoid wasting my time on best offers. I am either ok with the BIN price and buy it outright, or else I just keep it moving. Plenty of other fish in the sea.

NGS428

@dontippet said:
I had one seller once who declined my offer and said that he wouldn’t take anything less than the buy it now price. And I’m thinking, “why have best offer if you won’t accept it?”

Exactly who I am speaking of. Just wanted the exposure. .

NGS428

@countdouglas said:
Exactly. The Best Offer designation is just used as bait to get you to look at their item more closely when it is just one of many like items available. I avoid wasting my time on best offers. I am either ok with the BIN price and buy it outright, or else I just keep it moving. Plenty of other fish in the sea.

I see with BO quite frequently. I am surprised at how few people present an offer to me. I am willing to go back and forth, but 90% just use the BIN.

CdnOsfan

i often offer 15-20% less and expect them to counter back 10-15% off and I usually take that but I find half completely ignore or decline without a counter offer. These people, I move on from. I am NOT chasing or begging you to buy your item, another will come along...

1951WheatiesPremium

For the purposes of both the holiday and this thread, I’m thankful for the seller I encountered this week who sold me my new autographed 1962 NYY Team Issue Mickey Mantle. I feel like there’s no harm in asking politely and after some back and forth he gave me a pretty fair price that was ultimately 33% off of ask.

steel75

You can tell pretty quickly if the seller wants to sell or is waiting for a "dummy to come along".

lawyer05

The reason is because ebay is "mandating that u put best offer: or else have to pay for insertion fees..dont take it personal

lawyer05

@dontippet said:
I had one seller once who declined my offer and said that he wouldn’t take anything less than the buy it now price. And I’m thinking, “why have best offer if you won’t accept it?”

Because u then dont pay insertion fees

Mrwalnut3

I sell a ton on ebay (not sports cards) and my two cents is that there are an increasing number of "problem" buyers on ebay. So if I get a poorly constructed sentence with random punctuation, for example "your to high 50 shipped" I'm going to assume a troublesome transaction and probably block the buyer.

On the other hand, if I get an offer, even a lowball one that goes like "hey - I am restoring a 69 Supercomet and could really use your widget, would you accept 50?" I am probably going to accept, even if I barely break even.

Again, that's just me, but when I follow that formula, it seems to minimize scams, returns and problems. To me, politeness pays.

HighGradeLegends

@Mrwalnut3 said:
I sell a ton on ebay (not sports cards) and my two cents is that there are an increasing number of "problem" buyers on ebay. So if I get a poorly constructed sentence with random punctuation, for example "your to high 50 shipped" I'm going to assume a troublesome transaction and probably block the buyer.

On the other hand, if I get an offer, even a lowball one that goes like "hey - I am restoring a 69 Supercomet and could really use your widget, would you accept 50?" I am probably going to accept, even if I barely break even.

Again, that's just me, but when I follow that formula, it seems to minimize scams, returns and problems. To me, politeness pays.

Welcome to the forums.

shagrotn77

Some sellers have no idea what their items are currently worth.
Some sellers get offended when you make a good offer if it’s less than their BIN.
Some sellers are just jerks.

Tere1071

When I sell an item on eBay as a Buy it Now with a Best Offer it's based on what I paid for it and what it regularly sells for. Where I get bothered is when I have an item for $40.00 and I get a best offer price of $15.00. Recently I have had an old Panasonic tape recorder in the original box which I have offered for $23.00 plus $11.00 shipping with a BO option. One person offered me $14.00 and wanted me to include the shipping as part of the price! His rationale was that the tape recorder was old. If the person's initial BO price is ridiculously low, I see no point in even offering a counter offer; I reject it and block the seller. Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive, but there's a difference of receiving a reasonable BO as opposed to someone who offers a 50% or more of the asking price.

aconte

I would have accepted $275 on a $300 bin on ebay. That's crazy. I've seen more of this too and I agree it is best to
just walk away unless you really want the item and it can't be found cheaper.

I mix it up and try to be fair on my offers depending on the item. I got offered $40 on a $100 item so I countered to
$90. That's my way of saying your offer was way too low so now if you want the card it will cost close to my listing
price.

steel75

We are all aware there are knuckleheads on both sides......buyers and sellers. Both sometimes make you scratch your head because they have done zero research on the item they are selling or bidding on. I've had items with no takers for weeks with free shipping, I lower the price WITH shipping ( same total to the buyer) and it sells...huh?

dontippet

Oh, I had no idea. Makes perfect sense then.

@lawyer05 said:
The reason is because ebay is "mandating that u put best offer: or else have to pay for insertion fees..dont take it personal