making an offer

[patken123]

I wish sellers would set up this(make me an offer) feature so a potential buyer could know immediately if the offer he/she has made is accepted by the buyer or not.

This morning I made a $35 offer on an item which is also for buy it now price of $79.99.

I waited from 9:00 AM till 4:45 this afternoon and never heard from the seller,meanwhile similar items are being auctioned for around the same price as my offer and I didn't want to miss my chance to bid so regretfully I retracted my offer,although the seller has 48 hours to reply but waiting that long is not fair on the buyer if it means missing the chance to buy or bid on same items for 2 days .

That's why I think it is more beneficial to both parties if the seller can either accept or refuse the offer at least within an hour or set it up to do so automatically.

I did contact the seller to let him know what I did & why and at the same time asked if I'm within the ball park of his reserve to let me know so I can make another offer,so far I got no reply.

Just a thought.  

[i*m-still-here]

Sellers can set the auction up to automatically accept and reject offers within the range of their choosing.

Most sellers do not use that option.

When I get an offer that I either can't decide whether to accept or reject OR if it's just way too low I often allow it to expire.

You offered less than half so it's a long shot that the seller will accept, but you never know.

I've never thought of it the way you've described above so I thought it was interesting to see that point of view.

Maybe I'll reject more quickly next time if that's inevitable anyway.

[nuvistors]

Not all sellers sit by the computer 24 hours a day waiting for your offer !

[rose-dee]

Hi "patken123" --

EBay set the 48-hour window to allow for multiple offers to be made during that time, and to permit a seller time to consider the offer(s) and either respond, counter-offer (or let it expire).  If eBay set the offer acceptance period to an hour or less, this would leave almost no time for other offers, or for many sellers to consider and respond. 

Although in my experience multiple offers are infrequent, the possibility is always there.  One offer (the offer, but not its value shows on the listing) will sometimes attract other offers.  Think of it like a slow bid -- the better your offer, the more likely a seller will be to respond and/or accept your offer immediately (or before getting any others).  This is very similar to the process used in real estate transactions. 

Depending upon when the offer is made, time zones can also play a role in delaying response.  For example, if someone on the West Coast leaves an offer for one of my items at 9:00 p.m. their time (Pacific) -- already 1:00 a.m. for me in Atlantic time -- I likely won't be able to deal with it until the following day.  Also, some sellers have "day" jobs and only access eBay in the evenings, so that can add to the delay.

However, my guess in this case is that because your offer was less than 50% of asking price, the buyer decided to let the offer expire. 

As a seller, I used to set automatic acceptance/rejection values for offers (meaning that if your offer was above the minimum, you'd get it immediately), but I found this caused big problems when I wanted to put a whole category of items on sale -- the two often weren't compatible.   

Don't forgot that an offer is like a bid.  You should always assume that you could win the item, and be prepared to pay for it, so factor that into the picture when you're looking at, and bidding on, a number of items.  By the way, try to be cautious about offer retraction -- this isn't something you want to be doing very often. 

As general advice in making offers, if you are looking to get a response and really want the item, I would say that you should try to come within about 70-75% or more of the asking price. I think most reputable sellers would treat such an offer as a serious one, and be encouraged to reply.  I certainly always respond (maybe not within an hour though!) to any reasonable offer made.   

[rose-dee]

One other important point to remember about making a 'Best Offer' (from eBay's Customer Support info):

"For listings in which the seller has specified shipping costs for the item, the Best Offer price includes only the listed item. For listings in which the shipping costs aren't specified, the buyer can choose to include shipping costs in their offer."

In other words, you can't make an offer that is intended to include shipping costs if those costs are set out in the listing (which they are more and more these days).

[i*m-still-here]

As general advice in making offers, if you are looking to get a response and really want the item, I would say that you should try to come within about 70-75% or more of the asking price.

It sounds like you would be surprised at just how often reputable sellers will accept offers at 50% or less.

It's very common.

[i*m-still-here]

I also regularly make offers and part of the offer is the shipping cost I require.

Sellers have the option of refusing those offers, but if they accept I expect them to honour my conditions regarding the cost of shipping.

It's negotiable as well.

[bb_cool_stuff]

We are walking a fine line sometimes when making offers.

What we may consider reasonable may be insulting to a seller but we don't know inless we take a chance. No harm in asking.

Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

[i*m-still-here]

Agreed.

I used to tippy-toe around and not make offers until I saw that those low offers were accepted from other buyers.

I'm amazed at what sellers will accept............... I even feel guilty sometimes............ but I'm not forcing them.

Sellers who are get insulted probably shouldn't use the function.

[bb_cool_stuff]

Some sellers are willing to let mainstream items go with reasonable offers, some are not.

Unique items i can understand, but mainstream items???

Personally I'm just happy to get rid of them, they don't seem to be hard to find.

I'm amazed at what sellers will accept....

I guess we don't know their ROI.

We get the deal & they still make a profit. Win, Win.

[rose-dee]

As general advice in making offers, if you are looking to get a response and really want the item, I would say that you should try to come within about 70-75% or more of the asking price.

It sounds like you would be surprised at just how often reputable sellers will accept offers at 50% or less.

It's very common.

No, I'm actually not surprised at all.  That may be true for some types of merchandise and some sellers, but I was referring to a situation where a buyer really wants an item asap, would like it at a decent discount andwants a quick seller response.  He's more likely to get the seller's attention at 70% than at 50%.  With an offer of 50% or less of asking, the buyer may be waiting a while, or (as in this case) never hear at all.  A 30% discount isn't a bad deal for buyer or seller if the item is already fairly priced -- and that's the key.

If the seller has over-priced his item -- which I see is frequently the case with many BIN items in my categories -- then 50% is what the seller really expects to get, and so he/she is happy to sell it at that level.  I see some that are so outrageously priced that I don't know why the seller bothers with BIN at all.

Offers are all dependent upon perceived value (by the buyer), the type of item involved, and (for a seller) balancing the likelihood of a BIN sale against the possibility of an offer.  There's a big difference between taking a 50% offer on a $10 widget or on an article of clothing worth $400.

I admit I'm in a unique niche on eBay, as many of my items are one-of-a-kind, yet I try to price them at BIN at exceptionally good value for the money, and I often let them go for very little profit.  I could price them far above my competitors (or for what they're truly worth!) and hope to get a 50% offer, but I've always sold well with BIN -- I don't like to be coy with my customers by listing artificially high prices, and then tacking on Best Offer.  My "Best Offer" option allows a buyer to negotiate a reasonable discount if they wish.  If I do get an offer (or make one, for that matter), it's generally between 70% and 90%. 

I actually once had a buyer apologize profusely -- after I'd accepted his offer that was 65% of asking price -- because he'd felt he'd made an insulting offer on a beautiful, valuable article.  I hadn't been insulted at all, I needed the sale, and he was fortunate enough to get a wildly good bargain because of it.  But at under 50% I might have let his offer ride and waited for another buyer to come along.

[2011limey1]

Any time I've made an offer I haven't gone as low as you did......but that's my problem, maybe I should try.  Also, each time I've done it, I  usually get an auto response, which from reading these posts isn't the norm.  But I've never been rejected.  Think I'll try lower next time!

[pjcdn2005]

The seller may only monitor their ebay accounts on Monday to Friday so they may not have seen the offer yet. If that is the case though it would be prudent to set a minimum and a maximum offer but then some sellers like to see who is making the offer before they accept it.

[patken123]

Just an update and clarification:

I receive a response from the seller which sounded ridiculous(you be the judge),my question to him was,"Am I in the pall park  price wise? remember my offer was less than 50% of BIN price (I offered $35 for $79.99)this his reply:This is almost fixed price. May be 75.00

Now my point is if he expect me to offer $75 ,merely $4 less than the BIN price why would I bother to even make an offer and wait 48 hrs?to save $4?

The item I'm interested is a Cordless phone,his items for sale are new/other with box open ,just like many others for sale at $40  to$45,I'm talking exact same model# and condition.

How I know all of this is because I have been keeping tracks of what has been sold for the last 2-3 days.

My point in all of this is:if the seller could set up the auction in such a way that any thing less than 50%-60% of BIN price should  send an immediate & automatic response so the buyer knows he is way off the target price.I have seen this being done many times and I start lower and keep getting rejected until I hit a price and there's pause of an hour or so and then my offer gets accepted,I think this way both sides walk away happy.

[brandeentertainment]

I use Make an offer for about 1 month and with an overwhelming amount of insulting offers I revised and got rid of the best offer...

Remember you only get 3 offers then ebay will not longer allow you to make offers...

Also anyone who use best offer and is high volume will most likely have 100's of offers a day and on top of listing,shipping,answering questions probably working a 9-5 on top of all that the time given 48hrs is appropriate..

Best offers are there for an attraction as sometimes 5% or $4 off is more then enough to make a buyer feel like they got a deal and be happy ..

When I make offer I look at average selling price BIN not auction then I will make offers according .. I never low balll too much as it is almost always a waste of time ..

The lower the offer the more likely you are to just be ignored and let the offer expire as many sellers and rightfully so I just insulted..

[bb_cool_stuff]

Funny, got a ridiculous offer tonight.

Game Worn Jersey of probably a future CFL Hall of Fame Candidate.

Offered 100 including shipping beacause, get this, he is just going to take off the Numbers & the Namebar & put on his own. Like i believe that.

Of course we want to send back a message telling him to "Go Kiss A Duck" but he received my stock answer " Thanks for your offer, but i will respectfully decline. "

No muss, no fuss.

[brandeentertainment]

I'll give you $50 and I will turn it into a jersey for my dog BB ... Come on LOL

[brandeentertainment]

O ya they are all folded up and sealed in plastic

[bb_cool_stuff]

What do you mean c'mon. lol

You still owe me a Pumpkinhead dvd.

Can i exchange it for a "Girls Gone Wild " dvd.

Our dog put in that request, but i am concerned about her as she is a female.

Could she be, you know ?

[bb_cool_stuff]

Thanx for the great offer Brande but Film Promo Shirts are hard to move.

I still have some deadstock promos listed with Free Shipping & they are still not moving. Will probably be selling them in a lot pretty soon.

Were they mainstream one sided AC DC Shirts ?  If they aren't you may be selling them a little low.

 I just sold an AC DC shirt for 40 in the last hour. Not boasting, just want to see you get a good price for your shirt if it is comparable.

AC DC, Aerosmith, KISS can be tough sells unless the shirt is unique. Not that they aren't good bands, there are just so many of their shirts on eBay that aren't moving.

Passed on Twenty AC DC & Twenty Jackass 3D shirts last week from a friendly competitor. He couldn't move them & offered them for a ridiculously low price, but they would take too long to turn.