Make me an offer outside of auction?

[goodlittlekitty]

I want to be sure about this. Short answers, please. (and thank you!) 🙂

I asked a seller why no Buy It Now on their listing.
I prefer that to waiting through auctions.

The seller has the listing as strictly auction format.
No BIN. No Or Best Offer.

The seller messaged me back to make them an offer.

I laughingly told them to stick a button on their listing and I promptly would make them an offer.

But no reply yet.

Am I wrong? Am I allowed to make an offer on an auction only listing?

[pierrelebel]

"Am I allowed to make an offer on an auction only listing?"

Short answer: The system does not allow it.

Longer answer: A seller asking a potential buyer to "make an offer" does not necessarily mean the seller wants to sell "outside eBay".  It may be a matter of gauging how much you want to pay and if it is worth his while to make changes to the listing. the "Make an Offer" option is not available on auction style listings, only on fixed price listings.

Sellers need to pay more money to eBay to use the BIN option.  Personally I never offer auction with BIN.  I list both at auction and fixed price (never with the "Make an Offer" option).  Buyers decide what they want.  If they are not willing to wait a few days for an auction listing to close, there is not much I can do - or want to do - about it.

[femmefan1946]

Yes.

Many sellers, especially newbies and those who have a lot of repeats of unsold items, have unnoticed or unwanted bits of info in their listings.  (A current one is that Canadian sellers' relists are moved from the original US dollar price to Canadian dollar price, an unwanted 30% reduction in value.)

At one time buyers were not supposed to make offers unless there were Best Offers or BIN options enabled. But it was pretty universally ignored.

BTW, your offer should you decide to make one, would not be 'off-eBay'. And even if it were, by paying through Paypal and backing your PP account with a credit card, you would have strong Buyer Protection.

[mr.elmwood]

You can ask anything you want. Thing is, eBay states that people who ask questions seldom buy. Seller requested that you make an offer and you refused to do so. Ball is in your court. Make an offer.

[goodlittlekitty]

"Short answer: The system does not allow it."

By that, do you mean it is cumbersome doing it via ebay messaging? Or do you mean I'm breaking rules of the ebay "system" (i.e., the User Agreement)?

Thank you. I would buy it now, but didn't want to run afoul.

If it's fine to go that route, then I will. Thanks!

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

"I would buy it now"

The problem is that the seller does not offer Buy-it-Now in the listing.  As such, you cannot buy it now.

If the seller were to add the Buy-it-Now option to the auction listing, the Buy-it-Now price must be 30% above the auction starting price.  Is that something acceptable to you?

[goodlittlekitty]

Thank you for those thoughts. I hadn't considered it as being "off ebay", so much as a kind of fee avoidance (on both the seller's and my part) that could reflect poorly; ebay might take a dim view if sellers didn't pay their fee for that listing option.

Well, I will make them an offer, if it's all clear. Thank you so much for your help!

[pierrelebel]

"I laughingly told them to stick a button on their listing and I promptly would make them an offer."

Once again, unfortunately the eBay system does NOT work that way.  Auction listings cannot have the "Make an Offer" button.

We could all save lots of time and many experienced sellers could help you if you provided more information such as:

Starting bid?

Closing date/time

Bid(s) outstanding?

The price you are willing to pay?

[goodlittlekitty]

HAHAHAHA! I see what you mean. I actually checked my reply to them and see that I'd originally asked for a BIN (not a BO) so that poor seller must be muttering unmentionables now about ditsy derpy buyers, ha, oh well. I will fatten my offer to smooth that over 🙂 Hopefully they will find that agreeable.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge about all this. Ebay could never afford this much expertise in CS, for sure. I wish every new buyer was immediately told by ebay to register here for any personalized help they may need. I'm surprised they don't! Ha! Job security for the Resolution Centre personnel..

[goodlittlekitty]

That is so funny to me! I don't think I have evermade a purchase on ebay without asking a question. In fact, I won't buy if the seller doesn't at least reply in a day or two... if they are like that before the sale, how about after?

Also, I could cite the many times a seller, when asked, will, um, "revise" their appraisal of the item's condition after being asked specifically what "awesome condition" means...they find holes after all (surprise!) or loose threading beginning to unravel "slightly" (more surprise!) - It's funny. People are funny! 😄 Early on, many sellers taught me to be sure to ASK FIRST, before committing. Why have the "ask a question" in the listing, if the seller doesn't want to answer?

There also seems to be a trend (have any of you noticed it too?) of rather anemic descriptions left for buyers to divine what the actual condition is using only the lone picture provided. That's not very satisfying as a buyer, so any potential sales there (from me, anyway) get pitched overboard right quick.

Having blathered all THAT out, lol, I will go pok my offer now. Thank you for the noodge. 😉

[cumos55]

The Best Offer option is in none of my fixed price listings on eBay.

Potential buyers will make an offer.

If the offer sounds good... a Best Offer option is added to the listing and at a price no lower than the offer price.

Adding the Best Offer option to a listing allows me to control  who buys the item... and that is the person who made the original offer...

[goodlittlekitty]

30% more? The starting bid's $9.99USD.

I would have jumped at $65.00USD. I will make an initial offer of $45.00. Not including shipping, of course (unless the seller's feeling generous!)

THANK YOU for explaining that requisite price spike; 'splains a lot.

Offer time! I hope they haven't blocked me, heh!

[goodlittlekitty]

Cool! Thanks. That's the kind of stuff I need to know.

Now I do, thanks to you. I better skeedaddle! It's a beaut!

Thanks again!

[goodlittlekitty]

He said he got another offer for $75 USD, but since I made first offer, he'd sell to me for $65 USD. I told him he should definitely take that better offer with hard feelings.

He then invited me to bid anyway, because there was so much interest in it, even though I told him I wasn't interested in an auction.

He refused my offer of $45, that's fine ofcourse. But then he apparently didn't sell to the other person he said had offered him $75? He offered to sell for $65 which I declined. Now he wants me to bid (no bids on the item right now)?

Oh well. Thank you all for letting me know it's okay now to make offers on auction-only listings. I used to get scolded by sellers for that.

But it does seem to have some oddities that inhere doing this way. Shrug 🙂

[goodlittlekitty]

*no hard feelings*

[goodlittlekitty]

He said he got another offer for $75 USD, but since I made first offer, he'd sell to me for $65 USD. I told him he should definitely take that better offer with hard feelings.

He then invited me to bid anyway, because there was so much interest in it, even though I told him I wasn't interested in an auction.

He refused my offer of $45, that's fine ofcourse. But then he apparently didn't sell to the other person he said had offered him $75? He offered to sell for $65 which I declined. Now he wants me to bid (no bids on the item right now)?

Oh well. Thank you all for letting me know it's okay now to make offers on auction-only listings. I used to get scolded by sellers for that.

But it does seem to have some oddities that inhere doing this way.

[goodlittlekitty]

*no hard feelings*

[goodlittlekitty]

He said he got another offer for $75 USD, but since I made first offer, he'd sell to me for $65 USD. I told him he should definitely take that better offer with no hard feelings.

He then invited me to bid anyway, because there was so much interest in it, even though I told him I wasn't interested in an auction.

He refused my offer of $45, that's fine ofcourse. But then he apparently didn't sell to the other person he said had offered him $75? He offered to sell for $65 which I declined. Now he wants me to bid (no bids on the item right now)?

Oh well. Thank you all for letting me know it's okay now to make offers on auction-only listings. I used to get scolded by sellers for that.

But it does seem to have some oddities that inhere doing this way. 😕