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Best offer declined...and the seller sold to another for the same price???
oih82w8
Posts: 11,896 ✭✭✭✭✭
I know I should not be too upset over this, but this really goes against my grain. I made a realistic offer for an ANACS graded coin under the "Make an Offer", the seller countered, but I felt it was still too high and declined. The coin stayed on my watch list and I just received notice that the coin sold...for the same amount I offered last week. It was no great steal, but the tone looked nice from the sellers images. I have done similar as a seller, but made the offer back the original potential buyer, who declined, and I sold it to the later, eventual buyer. I was thinking about contacting the seller and asking about this, but...I just needed to vent a little. Has anyone experienced a similar event?
oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore...
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore...
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Win some, lose some and some get rained out, but ya gotta suit up for em all. Prolly thought you were no longer interested and took the sure sale.
MY COINS FOR SALE AT https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/other/bajjerfans-coins-sale/3876
Nah, I just think seller took ez way or sold it to himself.
I'm a sceptic in these matters.
There's all kinds of good reasons that could happen. Maybe the other bidder is a regular. Maybe the other buyer bought multiple items.
Timing is so very important. The seller just accepted another offer. Your timing might have been a bit premature?
Sometimes an early offer is an indication that there may be a lot of interest. When this interest does not materialize and some time has passed, the seller may realize that he has to take the next (similar) offer. If they spend extra time trying to contact people who made prior offers, they may lose the current interested buyer while never hearing back from the original person either.
In my experiences, even when I go back to someone who made an offer originally, they rarely want the coin anymore (if they even respond). So I’ve learned that it’s best to just take the current offer and not risk the real possibility of no sale at all.
I've done this (sold for an offer equal to or lower than a prior declined offer) with a buyer who's made offers on several coins at once before.
And had it worked out the other way (original potential buyer buys the coin), there'd be a post here from the later buyer asking why the seller sold the coin to someone else for the same amount he just offered.
Ya caint win for losing.
MY COINS FOR SALE AT https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/other/bajjerfans-coins-sale/3876
it is the sellers choice what to do.
As a seller (who very rarely uses BIN/Make Offer), here would be my thought process. Let's say I list something for $100.
Offer comes in for $75. I think the item hasn't been up too long, and I'd really like to get $85 for the coin. I'll counter $90, and that gives the buyer a little room to counter again.
Buyer declines and a week goes by with no interest. I assume you're gone, and it would be an odd position to come back crawling and say that now I'll consider your $75 offer.
Two options:
Offer comes in for $75. I take it. I'd rather have the sale than keep waiting. I've already doubted I'll do better.
-or-
Offer comes in for $65. That's too low, but I'd like to get the sale. I counter either $85 and accept that the buyer may counter again, or I counter for $75 and tell the buyer that's really as low and I'll go.
Point is, the earlier you send in an offer, unless it's in the range the seller was already going to be happy with, the less likely the seller is to accept it since there's still the hope of a better offer coming in. The longer the coin is on the market, the more leverage you have as a buyer. Certainly, once I have someone committed to the $75, I'm not going to put them on hold to go back to an old buyer and offer to them first. One buyer is an immediate sale. One requires back and forth and may no longer be interested.
I have declined counter offers and resubmitted my original offer telling the seller that he could hang onto it if he changed his mind. Strategy has worked a few times.
Maybe he or she had an unexpected bill since last week and needed the funds. It happens. It wouldn't phase me at all if I was in your position.
Time, money and motivation.
This topic is almost as old as time itself.
Yours was the first offer, seller probably thought he could do better. Coin sat, no nibbles and then another offer similar to yours that reinforced that his price was too high.
For me personally, if I make a "best offer" it is only because the price is already really close to what I would pay. If I get the counteroffer and I like the coin, I just pull the trigger. I usually don't bother to make offers more than about 5% - 10% off of the coin's listed price. Dealers will usually knock off 5-10%, so that seems fair.
Do you now wish you would have just accepted the counteroffer?
"Do you now wish you would have just accepted the counteroffer?"
No.
Thanks all for the replies. Some good points...others...opinions expressed by those who were considerate enough to make a comment.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore...
The best offer option is a curious one. As a seller, it immediately let's the prospective buyer know that you will come down, perhaps significantly. For the buyer, well...they usually smell blood in the water. A low ball offer, followed by a semi serious one, and finally the "best offer" (because you only get 3 cracks at it.)
What confuses me beyond anything is when someone sends me an offer, I counter in accordance to the rules of the game...and then they disappear without so much as a response!
Not even a polite, "thank you for the counter offer but we're just too far apart?"
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Not exactly the same scenario as the OP but sort of.
I'm new to selling on Ebay and I had a proof set BIN and accepted offers.
Apparently I was automatically declining offers that I would have accepted without knowing it. 😮
When I finally figured out what was happening I sold it for an offer.
I felt bad because I would have sold it to the poor guy who made the earlier offer.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
seller had a change of mind and later lowered his price. $tuff happens.
If you had paid $X for it and found out he sold a like one a week later for less $, do you think you should be entitled to a price match?
Keep an open mind, or get financially repressed -Zoltan Pozsar
I can't remember the last time a buyer who made a lowball offer ended up buying the coin. In my experience, "lowball offer" = "bottom feeder".
Seller wanted $18k. No bites. Lowered it to $15k. I offered $12k. He countered with $12.5k. I countered with $12,001. Accepted.
Very happy with the sale.
Lance.
The guy was obviously trolling for a better offer. None came in, so he settled for the lower amount from another bidder.
No blood, no foul.
Dave
Very nice. A few years back there was a so-so MS Barber Half on Ebay that had recently sold on Heritage for about $575. Seller had jacked up the price more than double. Being a smart ass I offered exactly the Heritage sell price to make a point. He accepted.
It was a darker, not great coin. I didn't think he would actually accept!
I guess he had the last laugh.
If you had counter offered at $12000.01 I wonder if he would have held out for the extra $0.99.
Then Bob Barker reminded you to help control the pet population...
Heh...good one.
I just made a best offer...2/3rds the BIN... and it was accepted immediately....I know I could have gone lower... However, it is still a good deal....What is that old song? 'It only hurts, for a little while...'
Cheers, RickO
Yesterday I had two offers for the same item. One for the average sale price. One $60 less. I clicked on the higher, hit accept and my app showed i actually sold to the lower offer. Not really sure how it happened but the lowballer won this time.
My Ebay Store
No reflection on you, but I get offers everyday on my ebay stuff, and one of the things I do is to check the feedback given by the offeree. When I see neutral and negative feedback being given by the offeree, I pass. No need to deal with people that just seem to attract problems. One person ONLY gave neutrals, and there were well over 100 of those.
No germain most likely to coins, but shipping cost is also a factor for me on some items (large, heavy). So selling to a commercial address 100 miles away costs me a lot less than selling to Remote Lost in the Woods address 1500 miles away.
I also, with a minor exception, do not accept offers for the first 48 hours or so, to get more eyes on an item.
I've been on both sides of this type of transaction (Buyer and Seller). I don't think anything of it. It's just about the "timing"
There is one scenario though where I'm a Seller I might decide to sell to someone with a good track record (based on feedback). Example, I am selling something for $1,000. I get two offers one from a new eBay ID zero feedback, and the other from a person with 500 positive feedback. I'm probably going to sell it to the person with the 500 feedback rating. In fact, I might even sell it for slightly less than the offer from a zero-feedback user. Just sometimes I go by a gut feeling... This is most likely NOT the scenario in the OP's case...
If the seller tires of something being in their inventory, they may lower the threshold at which an offer is automatically accepted without looking to see if previous bidders were already interested at that level. EBay doesn't tip you off when this happens, nor should they.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars
Life
Life is all about timing and yours was just a bit premature.
I know it stinks but I wouldn't take it personally.
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
If that happened to me probably not notice. You made a free choice decision to reject his offer and perhaps that was not a bad idea. Perhaps he changed his mind and let it go to the next fellow at that price.
There will be other deals.....
The exact same thing happened to me two days ago.
I wonder what (if anything) we did wrong?
I was slightly irritated.
All right, more than slightly.
My most recent eBay offer (on a very battered 1804 Large Cent) was $72 versus a listed price of $90. The seller rejected that and countered with $72. I accepted...
Smitten with DBLCs.
The seller behavior suggests a new strategy:
Timing, same thing can happen at a show. Make a fair offer Thursday, no dice. Coin sits. Dealer getting ready to go home Saturday morning, has had a lousy show, accepts the same or lower offer.
Squeezing juice isn't as easy as it used to be. And sour grapes make bitter whine. No point to make here. Just an observation.
Seller wanted more than you offered , then eventually realized he should have let it go on the first fair offer.
Speculation, of course.
No lessons learned. Same old ____, just a different day and coin.
The only tip off I’ve seen is after I’ve looked at an item and the seller subsequently lowers the BIN price I may get an message saying the BIN was lowered. But nothing on the threshold levels.
His coin to sell, his decision to make. What would be accomplished in writing him? I think it would come across as very odd to write to vent your frustration about his transaction choice.
Return plus a restocking fee or cut your losses. Smoetimes one makes a bad buy so he was probably making the best of a bad situation.
MY COINS FOR SALE AT https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/other/bajjerfans-coins-sale/3876
He finally decided let it go at that.
Seems an awfully small irritation to me. Might think differently if is was a highly desirable coin, but then again, if that were the case, I'd expect to make a better initial offer or pay the freight.
Why all this crying over it or why even this conversation lol. The sellers counter offer was rejected and not really anyone’s business except his beyond that point.
Coin deals are point in time. One has to be decisive. I would not sweat missing out on a buy / as the money still in my pocket.
This is my "couch time" thread. Instead of going berserk with the dealer asking "what the heck happened" I thought that I would share my experience and see what others thought of if they shared a similar event. Now some of these comments have kinda took a turn off the main road of thought, but that is ok. No one is forcing anyone into participation, but I do appreciate those that add constructive content.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore...