Question
I'm wondering if anyone else uses this option as a seller, and what you think of it as a seller or buyer. I'm beginning to wonder if it attracts a slightly odd element as well as those looking to save just a little bit more than everyone else (the bargain hunter/barterer element).
I have been using it, in part because some buyers who want three or four books would like a little discount, in some cases people use it to request a different form of shipping, or if the listing is about to expire and I'm going to lose the listing fee anyway I might be willing to knock a dollar off. I also use it when the buyer can't figure out how to adjust the shipping costs for several items so the total comes out right. I took a $1.50 off the price of a listing on Feb. 28th to make sure that I made the $1,000 sales mark for February so I'd be on track to get a powerseller invitation after this month.
But I'm beginning to wonder if its worth it, sometimes its more trouble than its worth. I had to put in an automatic "decline offers under $X" for each of my listings because there were a number of people wasting my time and theirs with $1.50 offers on brand new cookbooks that retail for $40. Decline their offer, then they come back with $3.00, decline their offer, come back with $4.50.
Then, a couple weeks ago, I had a potential customer make a lowball offer on a book, who indicated they were looking to shave off a few dollars. Counteroffered saying I had just noticed the last copy of the book had a slight flaw on the DJ, if they would accept it, I would accept their offer. Before they accepted, someone else made an offer, took the slightly flawed copy, and first person was disappointed and insisted they wanted the copy. I was very sympathetic, I'm sorry, someone else bought it before you did, I have more copies coming in, I'll let you know as soon as they come in.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, I get in new copies of both books the disappointed buyer wanted. I go back through my emails, spend time looking for this person's user name, and let them know I have more copies in. Mind you, in the last couple of weeks, the book price has actually gone up, the number of copies for sale is way down, but I keep my prices basically the same (allowing for the latest fee increase).
Buyer makes a lowball offer, since they had indicated previously they would have taken the slightly flawed copy at the reduced price, I say I will accept the offer if they will accept a copy with a crease across the top of the DJ. Two days pass, and the offer expires. In the meantime, multiple copies of the books sell at full price (and some being auctioned off sell for more than my asking price). That's when it starts getting weird.
I list another copy, and receive the exact same lowball offer from this person, exactly the same one as I had counteroffered (thereby indicating that I was not receptive to the original offer, isn't that a logical conclusion?). Buyer says "offer not for creased copy". Says older book is routinely selling for $15 including shipping (completely false, prices have been rising lately, I was the only seller for most of the week) and he/she thinks we can make a deal if I come around (paraphrased).
At this point, I'm partially confused (you would take a flawed copy a couple of weeks ago to save a few bucks, and now you won't?) and partially irritated that someone who themselves has been selling on Ebay is (1) insulting my intelligence by lying about prices; and (2) telling another seller that they are charging unreasonable prices. If all those copies are available on Ebay for so much less, go for it, and God Bless! Why are you wasting your time on this listing? I can't think of a polite diplomatic way to tell the buyer just that, it might look snotty in print no matter how hard I try, so I ignore the offer for nearly two days while I'm trying to think of the best way to say "not gonna happen". Meanwhile, someone else buys the cookbook set (at full price), so I figured the buyer will get the hint and go away.
Not so fast. My next set lists, and he or she posts the same damn offer AGAIN. OK, this time I'm going to have to affirmatively decline to get them to stop, and I'm getting even more of a distinct bad vibe about the potential buyer than I was before (feeling like a stalking victim at this point). Haven't come up with something appropriate to say, so I just decline the offer without explanation.
Now I get back yet another email which says
You have MAKE AN OFFER in your listing. I offered 3 dollars less. What's the point of having it in your listing??????????????????? No worries. I just bought the older one cheap. I'll get the other for about 20-22 bucks. Your listing only had convenience in it's favor. Don't bother replying.
If my listings were so unattractive, why did you keep coming back over and over again wasting both our time? (For that matter, why did every listing I post sell for full price if my prices were so darn egregious?) If you've gotten it for less, I'm happy for you, good luck, move along! GET OVER IT! Oh yeah, and I really want to reply and continue this dialogue even longer. Blocked them first thing, so hopefully that will be the end of it.
But I am wondering, for those who use this function as a seller, do you find its worth it? Does it attract a certain undesirable wacky element for you? Do your bidders understand that its not a guarantee that the seller will entertain ridiculous offer, but a vehicle of negotiation?
Answer
I've never used it. A friend who only buys, just went through quite an ordeal with an offer. Apparently, he made an offer. Never heard anything. Sometime later, all of a sudden, he gets an end of auction notice from eBay saying that he owes $XXX for the deal. He didn't even know the offer was accepted! And then after this, the seller wanted to tack on additional charges that he says weren't in the original deal. I don't know all the details, but my friend was not pleased with the overall "Make An Offer" experience.
Answer
I use it and like it. I don't use it on everything. I've only had one whacky person. My acceptance rate for the last 90 days is 70%. So far, I've not had to use the auto-decline. I probably would if I did high volume and was selling a lot of the same items but I don't.
Answer
As a seller I do not like the "make an offer" ordeal. I have used it briefly and got tired of people offering $5 or less for expensive items. I do not counter offer with these folks at all. I have never had one legitimate "make an offer." At one point I had over 200 items with "make an offer" in the listing. I think that I have FINALLY culled them all out.
Any buyer is free to send a seller a message to see if they will take a few dollars off of an item at any time. I think the "make an offer" option attracts a fringe element (in my experience) of buyers. I say that I will "never" use the make an offer option again but then I remember that "never" is a long way off so...I might do it again but doubt it.
As for buyer "knowing more about your merchandise and selling prices" this happens on a fairly regular basis on eBay. It happens more with my mom and sister than it does with me but they have had "buyers" get really nasty in these types of situations. I have seen the emails and just have to wonder where someone gets off harassing a seller like that...if you don't want the item at that price then "move a long little doggie."
I will quit babbling now.
Ardee-ann
Answer
As a seller I've never used it and probably never would. It wouldn't work well for the type of items I sell. If I did use it, however, it wouldn't be on things that one can find everyday --- for that you use BIN.
As a buyer I only use it for items that are unique and are >$75. I made an offer to someone who was selling something for $385 (BIN) and I made an offer of $250 -- we managed to come to a suitable compromise.
I think it works well for some items --- and for other items it's a bad idea.
Answer
Unfortunately, the whacky buyer may have my email by now, since we had a number of conversations back and forth a few weeks back. Hopefully I won't start getting a bunch of abusive and spamming emails. I usually don't check the box for "hide my email address" from the person I'm talking to because you can only respond once, and then the system won't let you respond to the message again, and if people want to ask more questions, I'm happy to answer them. Maybe I need to rethink that.
sagemoon, I'm with you, before I set the "automatic decline" function, I never bothered to counteroffer the ridiculous lowball offers, just declined them. I figured the person wasn't serious, they were just horsing around or testing to see if there was some magical "accept all offers" option that the seller had accidentally selected. (Yeah, right.) If it was anywhere in the ball park, I would counteroffer, offer to send it media mail to slash a few bucks, offer a discount for a slightly marred copy, and sometimes, we came to an agreement. I'm certainly amenable to giving a slight discount to good repeat customers or people buying multiple items, sometimes without being asked, even though book margins are pretty low to begin with.
I was really pleased one customer contacted me to see if I had a book that wasn't listed before she looked elsewhere. I'll just try to remember THOSE kinds of customers and forget the nut jobs.
Answer
I use make on offer on a few things.
But I don't use ebay's default setting, which is any offer.
I tick the box for "I won't accept an offer less than x.xx" that way the really stupid bids I never see, only anything my allpark of above.
That being said, seems like ebay has tweaked something recently (BIG suprise THERE, LOL!) and my make an offers have gone back to the default setting. Didn't know THAT till I got a stupidly low offer for an item. after going WTH? I went & checked & it was set back to default (which is ANY offer).
I checked my other BO & had to reset all of them.
Overall, I don't mind BO. when things have been slower on ebay I have made some sales with BO, but I wouldn't use it on everything.
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I use it for some (not all) items and have had quite a bit of success with it. I don't have the automatic decline thingy checked just because I want to see all the offers and get some entertainment value out of ridiculously low ones - which I just decline without any counteroffer or attempt at negotiation. I've sold quite a large number of items using the best offer setting, and I use it purely as a negotiation tool.
Answer
I like the best offer feature becuse when I have something that has sat in my store for a year, I can be more negotiative on it. I do not use the automatic decline offer button, because what if someone put their offer in at just 5 cents under the set auto decline amount?
I have had some best offers that I just completely ignore. For instance a $25 shirt and they offer me $1.
I have wondered myself too, if you decline an offer or counter offer on something, do they get your email address? I have noticed when I get a rediculously low offer and I counter offer, a few hours later I get the normal spoof mail that says my eBay account has been put on suspension unless I sign in right now fro the link in the email. LOL!
Answer
Well, I think the "buyer" may have figured out that I blocked them, because I got an inquiry (from another user ID) wanting to buy one of the same books for basically the same amount, slightly reworded, but it basically had some of the same writing and punctuating style, they were going for the same total, and they added in a bizarre non sequitr at the end that seemed rather in keeping with the "buyer". Said sorry, can't do it for that price, thanks for the interest, and hopefully that'll finally finally be the end of it. ;D
Maybe I'll keep "make an offer" on some items in spite of the nuts. Had a 7 day listing that I forgot to extend to a 10 day last night before the 12 hour cut off, that was coming down to the wire today, would have lost about a buck, but received offers for a buck and 1.50 less than the BIN price, waited until it was about 1 minute out, then accepted the higher offer. Possibly wouldn't have made the sale without the MAO option, guess I have to look at it that way (even though I took a bit of a hit on the profit margin).
motomom, IIRC, I think if you reply from the Ebay selling manager, the "respond to offers" link, you're fine. If you click on the "respond" button in your ebay messages, you need to remember to click on the box on hiding your email from <username>. If you answer from your regular email, and forget and "reply" like you would to any other email, instead of clicking on the "respond" button, you're out of luck, they'll have your email.