What is in the water lately...or should I be the one to start drinking?
U1chicago
Posts: 6,039 ✭✭✭✭✭
What is it lately with some folks? I'm not a big time seller (usually 15 or less items listed across various platforms). So it's been quite interesting to have multiple oddball encounters in the last few weeks. And this isn't limited to just eBay-it includes IG, Facebook, plus the CU forum.
Just a few examples:
1) A coin is posted for $65 and a person comments "BIN" (this is used on the forums/social media like a buy-it-now on eBay where the person agrees to make a purchase). I mention the payment methods available and just receive an "ok" as the response. Eventually I get another response saying "let me think about it"....I explain that's not how this works but eventually we get down to the truth that the person doesn't have any money. So no "BIN" and we move on.
2) An interestingly worded question comes in: "Can I commit to this coin?" ...well of course you can! When and how would you like to pay I inquire? Here again I get the let me think about it response. Something tells me that the two of us have different definitions of the word commit. But wait, I'm not completely correct about this sale falling through as the person returns! The next question goes along the line of should he buy my coin or another coin that can be had for the same price. I'm not going to play games so I just tell him to pick whatever he likes best because I can't decide for him. A few hours later I get the expected message of him going with the other coin.
3) eBay-I could stop right there! My favorite question as well: "what is your best price" ...this comes up occasionally and the majority of the time it goes nowhere. I don't have offers enabled on this listing but if the other person is ever in the ballpark and it's a coin I'm not set on keeping, I'm willing to do a modest discount (anywhere from a few percent to ten). So I send the question right back and ask the person what their best price is. Some don't answer but this one does-350 is their best. I look at the listing again and it's around 800. We aren't even close so I reply that 800 is the best. This person doesn't give up though! "How about 475" they ask. I simply say no and move along. At least there were no more follow-ups with lower offers!
4) Just general reading comprehension here: a coin is listed as no offers and below recent comps. Not one, not two, not three (ok LeBron that's enough), but at least five people make offers that are 50%-80% lower than the ask.
5) An honorary mention from the CU forum...I don't know who this person is and have never talked with them before. I could have avoided making the reply but I was a bit curious if this was a joke or if they were serious. I didn't think they would reply any more and they did not. Wasn't there some unwritten rule about no comments in the BST? I'm actually not against comments that are positive (although I see the case for unfairly bumping a thread) or ones that warn others when there is a counterfeit or a scammer. 
....on the bright side, the mechanical pencil market is hot! I sold my only two this weekend on eBay! It pays to dig through the old supply cabinet in the basement ("pays" being a relative term to describe an average of about $10 net 
)!
Comments
If they ask you if you think the coin will upgrade or if it will CAC, that's also a bad sign...
I just tell them it will definitely get the u1 seal 🦭 of approval
And if I saw a thread started on CU about it, I’d just say I bought it from myself and they missed out on the two point upgrade!
The amount of buyer weirdness manifesting over the past few years is directly proportional to my inability to deal with this nonsense.
Threads like this tip the scales towards me selling my materials to a reputable dealer rather than online, as I had been planning.
Luckily for you, you seem to have a high tolerance for this stuff and find some humor in it!
Those characteristics will serve you well.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
I don't trust my mailman, can you ship by carrier pigeon?
Perhaps, in the PCGS BST example, the person read 510 as $10? I guess it is possible.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
If the mailman sees the package, it compromises the integrity of the shipping process - everyone knows that!
I have been getting a lot of offers recently at 50% of asking price. Even coins that are for sale under comps. Weird thing is I listed several auctions a week ago. Just about every item went for considerably more than I had them BIN.
My Ebay Store
I have some weird interactions on Instagram.
I Post a coin as a newp and say how much I’m glad I won it in a recent auction. Someone DMs me: “Hey I really want to buy this coin.” I respond that it’s not really for sale but if you give a solid offer I might consider it. “I was thinking $____ what it just went for in that auction.”
Yes please solicit me to buy a coin I didn’t list for sale and that you know I just won for the same price I just won it for 😑
BHNC #248 … 130 and counting.
Confucius say: Drink before dealing with people because drinking after is too late
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
To me the offer of paying the same as you did in auction is a big improvement to the people I’ve dealt with that want to pay 10-50% less than what I did in auction. I even told someone why would I sell at a 100+ loss when the seller accepts free returns (I wasn’t planning to return the item and rarely do but the point stands).
Expect more and more as the market tightens up and buyers close their wallets. We're heading back to a pre-covid market sooner or later. Or at least a market that looks more like that than the market of 2020-2023.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I’m amazed that a supposed buyer doesn’t understand that BIN means a commitment to buy at the offered price!
Edit for clarity.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
I haven’t had this many silly encounters since I joined eBay in 2012. And the market was lower in some of those years than it is now. I attribute this more to the people becoming less informed and worse at communicating than the market going down.
@DelawareDoons I’ll take the other side of that one and say I don’t think we’re ever heading back to a “pre-Covid” market.
@U1chicago sorry to hear about the wackos. It could just be a run of bad luck. I like seeing your listings and they seem reasonable. As for the BST, I’ve noticed there are “members” who don’t post anywhere else but who lurk there constantly and try to bottom feed. They can just be ignored.
There might have been a village fire sale and all their idiots got out. If there is a buy it now price or make offer, I seldom, if ever, go more than 5% below the asking price. Margins are not huge, and insults are not welcome, nor should they be. The younger generations feel entitled to everything, and that attitude does not help either. I am appreciative of the quality sellers, and always happy to do business with them again and again.
When I sold my Lincolniana collection many years ago, I got many weird responses, which I attributed to the broad spectrum of items. The wider the net perhaps the more fish one has to throw back.
I got a nice lowball for one of those "members" on my 64+CAC HR saint, its a coin that sold for 47k in auction and his offer was almost 20% back of that, quite a bit less than what I paid. Quite frankly it was a number so low that anyone in their right mind would pay that for the coin, JA probably would have paid more than that and he is a very conservative buyer. His reasoning was that he is a "dealer" (lol) and he would have to flip the coin quickly to make a $1000. The next day I sold the coin for my ask price, $6500 more than what he offered.
I guess people are hoping to catch a seller in a desperate situation. Unfortunately for the lowballers, I only sell something because I want to, not because I need too.
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I had THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE contact me about a $3000 comic book on eBay. All 3 of them wanted to trade. I told all of them that I would only trade if the trade was HEAVILY in my favor. The first two both offered me a collection of Pokemon cards, which I did not want at all, with a value only slightly above the $3000 comic book.
The 3rd one sent me photos of 5 comic books that on a VERY good day might have been worth $3000 and he told me he would send them to me as soon as he received tracking information on the comic he was "buying". I told him there was no way I was sending a comic without payment as I had no recourse if he simply didn't ship.
After looking at all the comments on this thread, I think the best you can do is scrub the H2O for the ETOH. Good luck.
@DeplorableDan
Think you’re spot on that some look for opportunity when others need the cash and if someone needs cash fast there’s usually an associated cost. $6500 though…that’s egregious!
@U1chicago
Enjoyed the read. I’m sure many have similar funny / annoying experiences.
One of my pet peeves is the person that messages about your listings and lowballs because they are a "dealer" and need to make money. We didn't go to you asking for help, you came to us-so spare me the "I need to make money" line. If you can't make money at the asking price or a reasonable offer, then move along to a different opportunity (learn to be a better "dealer").