do you notice a correlation between "Best Offers" and complaints?

[bargainbookscanada]

Hello Fellow Canadian Sellers.

I was just wondering if I was the only one.  I allow "best offer" and these days on Ebay it seems to me to be somewhat of a necessity due to slow sales. My general strategy is to list with a price comparable to any similar, recently sold items and put on a best offer, give a little bit of a feeling the customer got a deal (to increase sales).

But lately I have begun to reconsider.  There must be some kind of correlation between people that use Best offer and the likelihood of a complaint.  The complaints seem to be about anything, from buyers complaining about slow shipping times (hasn't arrived within 2 days)  to complaints that the item doesn't work (though I tested it before it leaves).  

I theorize that people who win with Best offers often think they are doing the sellers a favor by buying their item at any price.  

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[recped]

I have never used Best Offer and have no plans to ever do so, I set my prices at the lowest price I feel like taking.

Strictly anecdotal but it seems to me that Sellers that use Best Offer complain more about everything/anything than sellers who don't use Best Offer.

Hard to say if the buyers present more problems or they just don't like the offers they get. I'd bet that some buyers, if their first offer is accepted, feel like the offer was probably too high, buyers who start out thinking they paid too much are probably more critical.

Just my opinion, I think using Best Offer on common low value items is silly, if you are willing to take $10 for a $15 item just list it at $10 and move on to something else. I have never made an offer on a Best Offer listing, unless it was something truly unique a listing with BO just screams overpriced. I could spend time with a back and forth or I could just look for another listing of the same thing that is cheaper. It's not going to help you in a Lowest Price First search either.

[cumos55]

None of my listings have Best Offer included...

But ... I do consider an offer if it is on a higher priced it.

I then add the Best offer option to the listing....  and state it must be purchased within a certain number of days.

Many years ago the Best offer was added to a listing of a piece of art glass... with the indicator it would be available for 10 days.

The offer person showed up after three weeks and asked what is going on ..

the Best offer option had been removed.... and this person was blocked.

This person had bought from me before.... and I could "read" the frustration on his part...

[cumos55]

Best Offer can be used effectively...

but... Why on everything

[m-banfill]

Don't Generalize.  As a buyer who uses best offer, I rarely complain, unless the best offer counter from seller was like 50 cents cheaper than the original offer.  I mean in that case why have best offer at all.

But even I agree best offer shouldn't be everywhere.

[rockp5233]

I use a lot of ''Best Offer'' on my item, maybe on 80 % of my listing, and this is working very well for me... I rarely need to deal with buyers complaints.

I think it is a personal choice to each seller to use it or not !!!

Enjoy Easter and don't abuse too much candies/chocolate... 😉

[fine-eclectic]

i have used it for some of my listings and cannot say that i noticed any negative trends associated with it.

My feeling is that Best Offer can help induce a sale if the item is sought-after/rare and the price is competitive, as it may incite someone to purchase at the asking price for fear that they might lose it to a close/reasonable offer. i have also used it successfully when i wasn't exactly sure of what the value of an item is.

i wouldn't bother using if for lower-priced items, but i see some sellers use it exclusively.  Having said that, i am cautious about generalities in ebay because it seems there are always surprises!

[38e_avenue]

I use "best offer" on all of my listings. 80% were sold as "offer accepted".

I also noticed a strange trend - "cheap" buyers, who heavily negotiated the price (lowering it - for example - from 25 to 10), also are the most unhappy ones. I got even a negative from a buyer, who got an item for really very, very low price. For that reason, I don't accept any low offers anymore. Most buyers offer about 10-20% below the current price. 

Please remember - you don't need to accept the offer. You can also counteroffer. If the item is valued at 20 dol, I offer it for 25 dollars - making a safe buffer for any low offer or markdown manager.

[rose-dee]

I've always had a lot of success with Best Offer, but I use it selectively.  I don't accept every offer as presented, but I do make a point of responding personally to every offer and I never turn down an offer without making a counter-offer.  I think of BO as a sort of "slow auction" that is most effective when used for more attractive OOAK or rarer items.  

Besides the usefulness of BO pointed out by others above, I think BO allows negotiation between an interested buyer and a seller that might not take place otherwise.  Sometimes the price differential on an item of some value is only a question of 10% or 15%, which might not matter a lot to the seller but makes a big difference to the buyer.  How would a seller know that a buyer may have moved on because the fixed price was just a bit too high? 

Pricing OOAK items is a bit of an art, so I feel BO allows some leeway for both parties to "feel out" a mutually acceptable price.  It's better, in my view, than running constant discount sales, although I agree with others that I wouldn't use it across the board on all items.  

I can't say I've ever had any complaints from BO buyers in particular.  Most are actually very happy to come to an agreement on an item they want, some even thank me for being flexible on price.  I think much depends on how carefully you choose when to use BO, how you handle the offers that are made, and how you communicate after the deal is concluded.  I don't use any of the automated BO features (i.e. auto accept or reject, etc.) -- I interact directly and personally with every buyer who makes an offer.  Maybe that's why there has never been a complaint or problem after the fact. 

[reallynicestamps]

I also noticed a strange trend - "cheap" buyers, who heavily negotiated the price (lowering it - for example - from 25 to 10), also are the most unhappy ones.

I don't think that's strange. Marketing courses often point out that the more someone pays for an item, regardless of quality, the more likely the person is to be satisfied with it.

In the case of someone haggling the price down substantially, there would always be the niggling thought that the seller would have gone lower. So even when the haggler wins, he loses.

[ricarmic]

I rarely use best offer and normally only on high priced items. 

I've found that it helps stimulate discussion on the price. Normally I will only accept a 10-20% discount.

I have had customers that will only buy stuff they've negotiated on.

I have not noticed any trends with problems, however I do not let stuff go cheap.

I do not bother to respond to crazy low offers like $50 against a $1,000 item. It is amazing how many of those I get. For a while, like Rose I always responded but I never heard back ever from the crazy low offerors anyway so I quit responding to them.

[rosscd57]

If you use: Best Offer" the buyers out there know right away that you do not expect to get listed price. What's the point of that?

Then - it puts you at a disadvantage and on the defensive as soon as you get an offer.

Plus, I find that those buyers who want to dicker, are almost always the ones that turn out to be a pain in the butt.

I use Buy it Now only for all listings, expensive or not and it works just fine. I sell 95% of my listings.

.

[38e_avenue]

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@rosscd57 wrote:

If you use: Best Offer" the buyers out there know right away that you do not expect to get listed price. What's the point of that?

Then - it puts you at a disadvantage and on the defensive as soon as you get an offer.

Plus, I find that those buyers who want to dicker, are almost always the ones that turn out to be a pain in the butt.

I use Buy it Now only for all listings, expensive or not and it works just fine. I sell 95% of my listings.

.

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I think it depends on the inventory / quantity of items you offer for sale. I have a lot of items which I listed several years ago. If I get a low offer for such item, I accept it. Without the "best offer" option that item would be probably never sold.  

Almost all offers I get are reasonable - 18 dollars for a 20 dollars item or so. Some people really don't want to pay more. I had a lot of cases, where the buyer disappeared after I counteroffered, adding just 2 dollars to the price. I use all available techniques to boost my sales - discounts (10-20%), revising items, changing titles, etc.    

BTW, In 5 weeks I will have a good opportunity to test your theory

I need to leave to Europe, so I will remove "best offer" and add "immediate payment required" to all of my listings - to avoid any late payment / unpaid item problems. I expect my sales will fall off a cliff. But who knows...?   

[bargainbookscanada]

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@rosscd57 wrote:

If you use: Best Offer" the buyers out there know right away that you do not expect to get listed price. What's the point of that?

Then - it puts you at a disadvantage and on the defensive as soon as you get an offer.

Plus, I find that those buyers who want to dicker, are almost always the ones that turn out to be a pain in the butt.

I use Buy it Now only for all listings, expensive or not and it works just fine. I sell 95% of my listings.

.

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I would say that about 50% of my listings with Best offer, get offers.  There are some people that pay full listing price.  That's why I still use best offer despite the added frustration.  I can still lock in full price occasionally.  But sometimes items will just seem to sit and last forever if I don't allow offers.  

[zee-chan]

Best Offer is useful.

1) Allows me to see buyer feedback to determine if I want to accept their reasonable (10-25% off depending on item) offers. If it's someone who routinely gives out negatives / critical feedback, I decline their offer right away (even if it's a good offer) and add them to my BBL. Not worth the potential headache since I'm not desperate to sell. If they gave all sellers positives and good feedback, then I'm usually happy to accept the offer even if it's a little less than what I would have liked. 

2) Allows me to either ignore or put very low-ball offers to BBL. I usually don't block on the first offer, but if after 3 offers it's still low-ball they go on my BBL (even if they gave all sellers positive feedback).

3) I have buyers who make offers on multiple items. I wouldn't accept the offer if it's only one item but if it's multiples I'd usually accept since I save on shipping / time selling multiple items in one order. 

As for complaints... I barely get them. For the majority of sales people buy at my listed price, and most of the offers I get are within reasonable range where I either counter-offer something that the buyer is ok with, or I just accept. 

[canadian.tree]

I tried using best offer multiple times but it always turns into who can give me the best , worst offer.

I had a system up for 220$ with a game which is normally up on eBay for around 300$ for both of them thinking I will sell it for 200 lowest price. This is just one example but it has happened on many occasions with different things. people will offer me 100$ and say respond right away or I will decline and get it for cheaper else were. I had people say they were low on money and there kid really wanted the system so they were offering me 150$. I also feel weary accepting someones 2nd or third offer not that I've done that because people put there offer up by 5$-10$ each time saying I will not spend more then this. Seems there is more chance of an unhappy buyer willing to leave negative feedback or not even pay at all because they are getting revenge on you making them spend more. even if they do accept the offer for them to get the item.

I put the same item up for same price without best offer the item sold in 2 days. But when I had best offer I got about 24 offers no sale in the 30 days.