Seller: When getting a RIDICULOUSLY low offer, have you ever given in to the temptation to.....

frankhardy

When getting a RIDICULOUSLY low offer on an Ebay item you are selling, have you ever given in to the temptation to give a counteroffer of $0.01 off of your original price and then put in a sarcastic message to send them? Not mean, just sarcastic.

Well, I just gave in to the temptation. I have an item that I am asking $195 or best offer. I just got an offer for $25. I sent him the one cent counter and told him - "Thanks for your kind offer, butI can't come off that much. How about I come off $0.01. Just let me know if you can do that. Thanks."

Some people......

Southsider

Honestly, I just add people like that to my blocked bidders list. I don't need to deal with people who try to waste my time.

gameusedhoop

I wouldn't even see an offer like that. I set the auto decline at a number I'd never consider so I don't have to deal with anyone like that. I also set an auto accept # that I'd be happy with. If there is any wiggle room between the two numbers then it depends on my mood at the time. Usually the auto decline and auto accept are the same # anyway. Just easier that way.

alifaxwa2

<< <i>Usually the auto decline and auto accept are the same # anyway. Just easier that way. >>



I wish more people would do that.

DCanfield

I got tired of receiving ridicuously low bids so I started setting the auto decline at a number that I just won't take. If they offer above that number I can make a per item decision. It sure removes a lot of stupid bids and bidders!

perkdog

Gotta say it sometimes is worth your while to stick to your guns and counter with your #rather than punk the person off. The reason I say this is because I got a $300 low ball offer ( and basically "my kids got to eat" story" ) on an $1800 card I had a BIN with BO on, well after a few back and forths I ended up getting my $1750 from the guy. Just saying you never know who is on the other line, however the auto decline option is more than likely your best bet..

CubsKiller99

<< <i>Gotta say it sometimes is worth your while to stick to your guns and counter with your #rather than punk the person off. The reason I say this is because I got a $300 low ball offer ( and basically "my kids got to eat" story" ) on an $1800 card I had a BIN with BO on, well after a few back and forths I ended up getting my $1750 from the guy. Just saying you never know who is on the other line, however the auto decline option is more than likely your best bet.. >>



+1

You never know who a future buyer could be. That being said, agreed that the auto decline needs
to be a reasonable number.

bishop

Glad to hear you are not going to be mean but only sarcastic . I was worried Shane

Dodgerfanjohn

I don't understand why one would be offended. So what if someone lowballs?

mattinglymint23

auto decline and save yourself the headache

wrestlingcardking

I think you should preserve potential relationships rather than create enemies, like the previous poster said, they may come around eventually but probably not if you create a hostile situation. My take.....

zurbs17

I used to do that on occasion. Then one day I noticed I got six negatives all referring to me being rude, all from the same person. I could not for the life of me figure out why as this person had been a semi regular customer for quite some time. I called him and asked what the problem was and turns out he was the one that I had been sarcastic with. He had bought and paid for some cards about a week before he sent in a low offer on another card. I apologized, he agreed to remove feedback and needless to say I have never done that again.

WalterSobchak

Whenever I sell with BIN/BO, I set my auto-decline at 50% of the BIN price, and my auto-accept at 90% of the BIN price. Any initial offer in between those two figures..... let the negotiations begin.


But if I didn't do it that way, no I would never send a sarcastic message/offer back to the lowballer. Too many nutjobs out there in EBay land & I don't need unnecessary headaches.

zurbs17

I don't set auto responses but if I get an offer that is 1/3 or less I don't counter offer and if the same person keep low balling me on different cards I'll block them without ever talking to them.

swartz1

I guess that was his best offer...

GR

I try not to offer less then 50% but sometimes you never know. Ive had a guy take $20 on a $100 bin. It hapens some people arent attached and want to get rid of some things. You miss 100% if the shots you dont take!

digicat

Use auto-decline and you won't even need to worry about stuff like this.

ludedude

I've seen buyers put a BIN at $195 on a $25 card! Sometimes I put a bid that I think is resonable even though it's much lower than the BIN price.

sportscardstop

If I'm having a good day, I just decline a lowball offer. But if it was a bad day at work and I was stuck behind a bunch of people going 40 in a 55, then he will probably get ripped for the lowball offer. But I do typically set an auto-decline to avoid seeing the lowball offers.

bobbyw8469

<< <i>I've seen buyers put a BIN at $195 on a $25 card! Sometimes I put a bid that I think is resonable even though it's much lower than the BIN price. >>



+1

I will put a more realistic bid, even a generous one, only to get scoffed at. Those items can stay in the Ebay museum.....

jlzinck

<< <i>When getting a RIDICULOUSLY low offer on an Ebay item you are selling, have you ever given in to the temptation to give a counteroffer of $0.01 off of your original price and then put in a sarcastic message to send them? Not mean, just sarcastic.

Well, I just gave in to the temptation. I have an item that I am asking $195 or best offer. I just got an offer for $25. I sent him the one cent counter and told him - "Thanks for your kind offer, butI can't come off that much. How about I come off $0.01. Just let me know if you can do that. Thanks."

Some people...... >>



Hell Levi does that with market offers.

PowderedH2O

Agree with ludedude here. I've sent in offers at 15-20% of the asking price if the asking price was insane. On occasion I have given VCP data to support my offer, and a couple of times we've made deals. Of course, for every lowball bidder story I read about here, I can tell you about a highball seller that won't negotiate even though they have a best offer option. For example, I saw a card a few weeks ago that was $14 BIN or best offer. The $14 was a reasonable price, but I figured that if you have best offer you'll take less, so I offered $12. He counters at $13.75. Really? Forget it. Now I don't want to deal with him at all and I never will. And that card still sits...

zurbs17

If I have a card listed at $15 or buy it now and I get an offer of $12 or more I feel somewhat obligated to accept it. The only time I may not is if I listed the card very recently.

CocoaBeachDodgers

What's RIDICULOUS is this thread.

Sure, it's your ebay account, you can run it anyway you wish! But this ,once again, reminds me of just how poor so many sellers in our industry are regarding customer service & just plain smart business sense! I guarantee you that Probstien, PWCC, BBCE or any other reputable owner would not choose this option, no matter how much they wanted to. A smart business owner knows the value of any customer, you can already see from other postings that this person could have still put in a decent offer, but now there is no chance. Multiply that times many other poor customer service choices, and your bottom line will not be as good as it could have been, no matter how well you think you are doing now!

There's a lot to be learned, by thinking about sayings such as: The customer is always right, You do not win the war by winning every battle, treat others the way you would want to be treated, the best piece of advertising is how you handle a customer dispute, etc......................

Mapleleaf

One week, I decided to automatically accept all offers on my BINs (no matter how low) just to raise some money for a card I wanted. I had a card listed for $1200 that I accepted an offer of $500.
Then the buyer never paid - he was just lowballing for kicks. I started using the auto decline after that.

sportscardstop

<< <i>What's RIDICULOUS is this thread.

Sure, it's your ebay account, you can run it anyway you wish! But this ,once again, reminds me of just how poor so many sellers in our industry are regarding customer service & just plain smart business sense! I guarantee you that Probstien, PWCC, BBCE or any other reputable owner would not choose this option, no matter how much they wanted to. A smart business owner knows the value of any customer, you can already see from other postings that this person could have still put in a decent offer, but now there is no chance. Multiply that times many other poor customer service choices, and your bottom line will not be as good as it could have been, no matter how well you think you are doing now!

There's a lot to be learned, by thinking about sayings such as: The customer is always right, You do not win the war by winning every battle, treat others the way you would want to be treated, the best piece of advertising is how you handle a customer dispute, etc...................... >>



I agree with your sayings except "The Customer is always right". That has to be one of the worst sayings that people have come up with. In most industries, the customer with a hostile complaint is just an idiot. Customers that are respectful and tell you their problem in a calm manner get the best service, at least that's how I handle customers. In the sports card business, the average customer is wrong 75% of the time. Obviously the more seasoned collectors on this board have quite a bit of knowledge and are right more times than not. But the average casual customer that enters a shop trying to tell a shop that they have a MJ rookie card in his Carolina uniform worth $500 is not right the majority of the time.

Southsider

I understand that for some of you, this is your business. For others of us, this is just a hobby. I have so little free time for myself that I don't need to waste it dealing with idiots and a$$holes. I choose to reduce the likelihood of my encounters with both by blocking bidders I believe will cost me time and resources to deal with them. Some do not have that luxury.

mattinglymint23

How about this one. I list an item for a reasonable price and set my auto decline to a little less . Buyer first offer is auto dk'd and his second offer is 90% plus of my bin. I accept and when I realize he is in same state add sales tax to invoice. He protests since he didn't know there would be tax so I resend invoice with tax waived ( ill cover it with the sale price). No reply to my new invoice.
And 2 day shipping was included free!!!

dennis07

I think the best approach is to reject the offer and walk away. Who knows the same person might come back a week later and make a better offer.

CocoaBeachDodgers

I agree with your sayings except "The Customer is always right". That has to be one of the worst sayings that people have come up with. In most industries, the customer with a hostile complaint is just an idiot. Customers that are respectful and tell you their problem in a calm manner get the best service, at least that's how I handle customers. In the sports card business, the average customer is wrong 75% of the time. Obviously the more seasoned collectors on this board have quite a bit of knowledge and are right more times than not. But the average casual customer that enters a shop trying to tell a shop that they have a MJ rookie card in his Carolina uniform worth $500 is not right the majority of the time. >>




Customers are people. Some people can be idiots. So some customers are idiots. I agree, customers are not always right, but that's not the real meaning of the saying.
There is a skill in handling unsatisfied customers so that they are happy and will spend future money in your store. You do not have to cave into the wishes, but you can make them feel like they received a square deal. Sometimes by offering a small discount, maybe by adding a bonus card that you have little into, maybe by offering a future credit, it all depends on the situation.

Ebay is Ebay though! You are your own boss, you can run it any way you want and you do not have to worry about getting fired for poor customer service. I was in the service industry my whole life so these kind of posts get under my skin a little more than others. LOL! That along with everybody that wants to block everybody. That's like saying "you can't come into this store any more". I'm not saying you do not need a BBL, but it shouldn't be 20 pages long!

frankhardy

I have literally had hundreds of low ball offers and have never even sent anything sarcastic...until this morning. I gave into temptation. I wish I was as perfect as you guys. I guess I have a long way to go as a person and a seller.

I just blocked the guy that made the offer. I will now work on not yielding to temptation and try not to offend an idiot buyer again.

grote15

<< <i>I have literally had hundreds of low ball offers and have never even sent anything sarcastic...until this morning. I gave into temptation. I wish I was as perfect as you guys. I guess I have a long way to go as a person and a seller.

I just blocked the guy that made the offer. I will now work on not yielding to temptation and try not to offend an idiot buyer again. >>



Don't forget to ask him to leave you a positive feedback, too..

matthewbschultz83

heh...

I was just about to make a post about this issue. I get free Rangers programs with my parking pass. I end up with several of the same ones. I bag and board 2 for me and throw the rest on ebay. Usually for between $8 to $15 depending the player. I also do the same with Texas Tech programs from games I attend. I had one listed for $14.99 + $5 (ships priority very well protected). I'll take $10. My cost was $5 for this particular program. So I'm not really making much money on it. I get an offer for $5.50 today. I countered at $10. Buyer counters that - which is done for me. I don't go back and forth if you don't accept my counter I decline. A few hours later the same buyer comes back with an offer for $10 and includes the message "These were $5 at the game."

Should I waste even more of my time by sending him a message, just decline and block? Is worth the headache. I hate the people don't understand how things work sometimes....

JasonM32

It goes both ways.

Are you ever tempted to send a smart comment to someone who lists a card for vastly more than it's worth? In the last year or so a guy listed a PSA 10 insert of a modern NBA player for $500. It's numbered to 100 or so. It's a card from the players rookie year but it's not a RC. I collect this player and I know the market for his cards pretty well. The sellers reasoning is that since he owns the only two PSA 10's then he can set the price. He fails to understand the difference between rarity and desirability. The dude is in fantasy land. Here on Earth I think there are only a couple of people that would pay even $50 for that card. Now if I send him an offer of $50 for the card am I the jerk? Maybe he thinks that eventually he will run into a guy that has more money than brains. Don't hold your breath pal, that card is going to be sitting on your shelf for quite some time.

The point is, this kind of stuff happens all the time. It's better to just laugh about it. I feel that auto decline is the way to go for you.

JMDVM

<< <i>Agree with ludedude here. I've sent in offers at 15-20% of the asking price if the asking price was insane. On occasion I have given VCP data to support my offer, and a couple of times we've made deals. Of course, for every lowball bidder story I read about here, I can tell you about a highball seller that won't negotiate even though they have a best offer option. For example, I saw a card a few weeks ago that was $14 BIN or best offer. The $14 was a reasonable price, but I figured that if you have best offer you'll take less, so I offered $12. He counters at $13.75. Really? Forget it. Now I don't want to deal with him at all and I never will. And that card still sits... >>




I've had that same experience, probably with the same seller. Why even put "best offer" if you have no intentions of negotiating?

frankhardy

<< <i>

Don't forget to ask him to leave you a positive feedback, too.. >>



Wow, you guys are on top of your game! I love the way you guys twist things. This wasn't a $2300 transaction!


It just hit me.... never, ever be sarcastic with a low ball Ebay buyer. That is uncalled for. But sarcasm against long time CU members? Oh yeah!

MomandPopCardShop

Auto decline is not a option for those of us with over 1000 items in our store, it's too easy to decline a reasonable offer. Obviously everybody has had bad experiences with "Best offers", both buyers and sellers. After 2 years of having best offer on our eBay listings I can say there is no perfect method to make everybody happy. Some people get mad when you decline their offer, others get mad when you counter their offer. Ive had people get mad because a price was too high (but amazingly, never because one was too low) My unwritten policy is to beat any current price on eBay (some people even get mad at this too when we only beat one by .25) I'ved even raised prices when one was accidentally typed in too low (This really fires people up) But Im not here to make either friends or enemies, just make a living with the hobby that I love.

MomandPopCardShop

It is apparant that many folks (both buyers and sellers) view high starting prices or low offers as a personal insult, I wonder why?