The difficulty of negotiations for buyers and sellers

[glassdragon201]

Hello to all, I'm a mild collector and consumer. Sometimes I see multiple items that I like from a seller whom I've had good experiences with. Unfortunately, Ebay makes it hard to negotiate a total price and combined shipping. I have to commit to buy before being allowed by Ebay to suggest combined shipping or some discount to the seller. And it's impossible to contact this seller, as I get the following message from Ebay: "We're sorry we couldn't find an answer for you. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of messages this seller receives, they are unable to respond to your specific question right now. We suggest reviewing the item again to see if your answer is in the seller's listing." Has anyone been in a similar situation and are there any reliable workarounds?

[momcqueen]

Unless the seller has enabled Best Offer, you cannot expect to negotiate price. Ditto for postage. Add to cart will give you a total. The message that this seller doesn’t accept incoming messages is a clear indicator they’re not interested in conversations about cutting a deal. Some sellers simply are not in a position to do that. It’s time-consuming. If you want it, buy it. Like you would anywhere else.

[lotzofuniquegoodies · Accepted solution]

Sometimes in the past, what I have done is messaged the seller using the Other or Combined Shipping option in questions(The choice with 0 beside it) and optimistically hoped they would answer. From time to time you can luck out and get a response. Just explain your interest in several items and hope for the best. If they do use the Best Offer with their listing you can add a message with your offer as another possibility. Combined shipping really depends on the size of the items you are interested in and where they are located. Hope that gives you a bit of a starting off point.

-CM

[glassdragon201]

A missed opportunity for communication will almost always result in a lost sale. Sellers would or at least ought to prefer to communicate.

[momcqueen]

A missed opportunity to Buy It Now is a missed opportunity to purchase. If the seller has axed incoming communication, they’re not interested in making nicey-nice with nine tire-kickers for every one actual buyer. If you were browsing at any other online retailer, you wouldn’t expect to automatically be granted an audience. This isn’t a flea market. I accept incoming messages and will politely reply to anyone about anything but I cannot fault other sellers who are simply too busy packing orders to entertain that notion.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

It's not a 100% thing but more times than not the smaller sellers seem to be a bit more flexible to do what they have to do to get your business. And usually more options for shipping from them also. More hands on and willing to do a little extra to get the sale. Personally I prefer a actual response vs an automatic one any day. And the those are the sellers that actually appreciate repeat business.

-CM

[femmefan1946]

more times than not the smaller sellers seem to be a bit more flexible

The larger sellers who do not enable questions from potential buyers may have done a cost analysis.

They may not have an employee who is able to negotiate and/or work in English.

They may have included part or all of their shipping costs in the  asking price.

They may consider the Flat Rate they charge for shipping to be a profit centre, allowing them to reduce the asking price for the item.

Which is cheaper:

A $10 item with $5 shipping?

A $5 item with $10 shipping?

A $15 item with Free Shipping?

They may take a loss on the askingprice and make their profit on the shipping.

Combining the shipping may be impossible because the items are not all in the same location.

Combining the shipping may be more expensive than shipping separately, because bubblewrap is not free.