Asking for a lower price on Buy it now.
Moldnut
Posts: 3,113 ✭✭✭✭
Is it bad form to ask for a lower price on an eBay buy it now price?
Derek
EAC 6024
EAC 6024
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Moldnut
Posts: 3,113 ✭✭✭✭
Comments
No. Many times the seller will change the auction so you can buy it especially if the coin has been listed for a few days and no one has bought it yet.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
careful, if you really want the coin there's a chance the buyer will block you if you offer less. I've had it happen.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
I have been asked for a reasonable discount and have agreed. Have also been a buyer under the same circumstance.
Reasonable is the key.
Actually, I prefer not to get offers on coins that aren't set up to accept offers. If I wanted offers, I'd set it up that way. But getting offers and having to respond politely takes time I don't always have.
I always used recent sales as justification
It is a little annoying to me as like mentioned above if I wanted offers I'd use the make offer option but I'm not a coin dealer and I can appreciate moving things fast and normally will bend a little if messaged.
The idiots that make stupid offers will get blocked though. Like the one who acted like they were doing me a favor offering 40% under my BIN price without a make offer option.
I do it once in awhile, sometimes they send a offer in reply message
I do this for almost every single purchase I make on eBay in regards to coins and formerly cards. The worst they say is no. But, if youre polite it goes a nice way. I have had a seller knock down 40 dollars on a coin that I was already inclined to buy. Just ask you might get surprises from people looking to quick sell.
A government accident left me a former man, a potato. That photo on my profile is a low resolution selfie. I like coins.
it's just a business and every business will look at their bottom line, what they paid and may accept lower offers if it economically advantageous for them to do so. But it makes no sense for buyers to make dumb offers below wholesale market if the seller can just pick up the phone and get a higher offer from the major dealers, especially if the coin is cac, happened to me today. Some ebay buyers pursue scattershot approaches to many listings hoping that cash starved sellers are desperate. They must occasionally get lucky, as IQ tests aren't required to be an ebay seller (or buyer).
I have made offers regularly for the last few years. The worse thing that has happened was not to get an answer. I have never had anyone be impolite, just that no that is the lowest price they could take. 80% have responded very politely to my fair offer, unless the coin was greatly overpriced I tend to stick within a 10% realm. I've had probably
20% or 30% make an alternative offer and usually very near to mine. Just think that if you have a coin priced in your store, do you expect everyone to pay that price and never make an offer? I don't think so. The ones that got mad were very few and far between. Even these never made an impolite remark, just no response at all, which again is fine. I purchased 3 coins in the last week that were BIN via a private offer through ebay posts and one was refused. I do not see why this is not done more regularly by everyone. JMO
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
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Either your offer was insulting, or the seller is "having a bad day."
As a seller why not. You never know. I might discount a $200 item $10 or $15 say to move it but that’s it. Usually I tell them they need to shop around as I am on a narrow spread as it is.
Some have had such idiotic low offers I wonder why they waste their time. Do they think I am in the business to give it away lol. If the item is priced at CPG that’s a fair price for collectors to pay so just buy it. What is the seller asking relative to this or say CW or TPG MV. These are fair prices - I hate people who try to nickel and dime me. I have had put up w that in corporate world no way on bourse. At a show I may tell them “go find one.”
If it’s a really low offer I may block them. At a show I may discount an item as much as 10 pct which is a very generous discount otherwise go find one.
I have done that too, but it rarely seems to have any impact.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
I don't see the sense in blocking a potential buyer over being insulted by a low offer to buy your goods. If they really want it they very well might try to BIN just to find they're blocked.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
I usually block any sub-wholesale offers. It is not worth my time and they are likely to make more. Again, if I want offers, I will set up the listing to accept offers.
That said, I've accepted some reasonable offers. But you aren't getting a Christmas card from me if you insist on offering $9 for my $10 coin.
Unless you feel like it’s a fair price already, always ask!
Like this:
“Hi, nice looking example. I know that there’s no Make An Offer option. But I can pay $X if you’re interested. Please let me know and thank you for your consideration. Cheers.”
Assuming that you didn’t badly lowball the dealer you’re likely to get a polite response one way or the other. I’ve had about a 40% success rate doing this on eBay for years. Sometimes I’ll get redirected to a non-eBay platform which saves selling fees and allows for a lower sales price (yes, we all know eBay frowns upon that).
If I decide to make an offer on something with no "Best Offer" option, I have to make sure my offer is strong or at least comparable to what similar pieces are selling for.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
It happens to be an AG roll of 1916 Dimes for an asking price of $148. Probably not worth much more than a slight premium over 90% but who knows.
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Can only speak for myself but I just have no interest in dealing with people like that. Again I'm not a coin dealer though who needs to sell to keep my lights on, if that was the case I'd not limit my pool of potential buyers. But as it is just being a collector trying to sell the occasional duplicate I have no problem eliminating the annoyance. Maybe it's a little spite too haha
That's only for absurd offers like the one I mentioned above where he acted like he was doing me a favor offering 40% below my ask.
why not all they can say is no. if there really wanting to sell the coin and your offer is fair then it might just work
HAPPY COLLECTING
Actually they can also block you from bidding on their auctions which isn't too bright on the part of the seller.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I believe it is against ebay policy to make an offer unless the listing has a "make offer" button. Don't know why....
I am coming up on 20 years on ebay (2 more months). An offer does not bother me, and 99% of my listings are set up as best offer, and my reject number is $1, even on an item listed for over $1000. I do get a few insulting offers, but I am a big boy, I can handle it. I sell about 1500 items on ebay a year.
What I have started doing is LOWERING my price to the offer I am considering accepting. For example, I have an item listed at $75, and get an offer of $65, which I probably will accept, as I have $5 in the item. If I accept, then there is no "requirement" for the buyer to complete the sale, and I have had a few that never pay for it. Maybe they were trolling, maybe they feel if I accept, they should have offered less, whatever. But when I change it to $65, Buy it Now, no offers, with a requirement to pay for it immediately, they either buy it or they don't. I may also toss it that at the reduced price, I make it available to anyone, and that prompts some people to buy it immediately.
I base accepting the offer on MY OPINION. Do I have too many of this item? Have I been sitting on this item for too long, which for me is more than 3 months? Is the person wanting to buy several items at once? Have they bough from me before?
I also will block sometimes. Offer 20% of my asking price, and I counter at 90%, and reoffer at 22% or whatever, I will toss in a block as this is a person that I probably just don't want to deal with, and even if we reach a deal, it probably will come back at me.
Reference the Christmas card by offering $9 on a $10, for some people, they just HAVE to offer less, so it does not bother me. My margins are good enough I can handle it, and it does not stress me out. It's just $1.
I have made an offer on BIN items a few times...About a 50/50 success rate... of course, the offers were reasonable - 10-15% below BIN... Never any negative comments...Cheers, RickO
Very true they can do that too but then if they did do that I probably wouldn't want to do business with them anyway
HAPPY COLLECTING
Agree. That's also very true.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I have on items that have been listed and relisted with no action. Sometimes it works and other times the seller is already on a thin margin and can't let it go for my offer. The key is to be polite in the message.
It's still a free country as far as I can tell. Bad form or not.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
I have done it a few times and all times were accepted. Key is to be polite and reasonable offer. One time I only asked a question about an item and the seller answered the question and offered me a lower price!
On the flip side, I once had an item as an auction starting at 99 cents and a buyer offered me way more than I had expected to change it to a BIN, which he bought. It was not a coin or any kind of collectible item so there was no cherry picking or variety that I misssed either. Guess he just wanted the item and didn’t want to wait until the auction ended.
Then I've been a baaaaddd boyyy...
In reality, when I do it, I ....always....send a note to the seller with my reasoning for a lower offer. (auction results, any apparent flaws, etc.)
I do NOT make insultory offers. I got a coin simply by ...not...being in the group that apparently was just being stupid.
Seller thanked me for being reasonable in my offer and sold me the coin for a little over half the listed price.
That's an exception. MOST of the time, I get back what appears to be a justification for their pricing and then I do my assessment.
I have made an offer only to "Best Offer" coins. I have no idea what wholesale is. I base my offer on the PCGS prices shown when I look it up. Some times my offer is accepted or counter offered but mostly the sale is made. After reading this thread I may make an offer how ever it is listed.
Blocking some one too soon seems counter productive. If it were me listing something and get a stupid offer I wouldn't block right away. If they made another bad offer on a different coin then I might. But I wouldn't want to block a potential customer because of a single bad offer.
Some people consider themselves "wheeler dealers" but are just obnoxious. They prove it by repeated ridiculous offers. Those types won't change on their own and should be blocked. Allow them the chance to show who they are and they usually will.
I have also started lowering my price to an offer I'm considering accepting (for listings without best offer). For some reason there are enough people that will give a reasonable offer but then never pay for the item (I've had it happen multiple times). By lowering it, at least it creates a reason to buy as someone else may pick it up at the reduced price.
And in general, I agree with the majority here that it's perfectly fine to make an offer on buy-it-now listings. Just make sure you're respectable and preferably will actually buy the item if the price is reduced to your offer.
I got buyer asked me all the time. I also ask seller for discount. I don't think is a issue.
When I get a question on an item, in the upper corner of the message area, is a Make Offer button, so if ebay is encouraging offers, I see no issues.
I rarely have anything to do with eBay, so I can’t talk about them. I have made counter offers on after the action sales on items that did not sell. Usually it has been for rather esoteric political tokens, and those offers have often been accepted. Whether or not someone else will appreciate my taste will be determined when it coms times for me to sell my collection.
This is usually the only case where I will make an offer, after I’ve seen the item relisted a few times. It’s hasnt worked often, but by the same token I’ve never had a seller block me for asking.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
In some instances have made a counter offer to a guys offer meeting him halfway, he agrees and I move the coin.
Having a really bad show a guy offers me $5 on a $6 item. I accepted but no Xmas card for him lol. It paid my meal after show at jack n box drive thru.
Here is how it played out.
I contacted him through eBay and just asked if he had any room on his price, I never mentioned a dollar amount. He reduced the price by 5% on the listing for anyone to purchase it.
Of course I did make the purchase at the discounted price.
EAC 6024
What'd ya get?