eBay

eurobeads · ‎09-12-2018

Suddenly, in the last few weeks or so, the following is happening:

1) “Best offer” is being added randomly to listings even though the best offer button is turned off. I just noticed that when I’m about to confirm a new listing, it says this:
By tapping “List your item”, you agree to pay all applicable fees and receive reasonable offers from buyers. Learn More.
-I don’t get it...since when is “Best Offer” forced upon us? I don’t recall reading any news of this anywhere/in the updates. What is going on???
Note: I use the ebay app so maybe this is just an app issue (I hope)?

2) Auction items listed on .com are relisting themselves automatically (without the relist button on). The automatic relists are not being deducted from the number of allotted monthly listings, but annoying nonetheless....

Anyone know what’s going on?

femmefan1946 · ‎11-28-2018

My friends you're missing the point I believe …. it's like if you seen an item on sale, you go to the store to purchase only to find out it's a misprint ….

Not exactly.

It's an invitation to make an offer.

NOT a guarantee that the offer will be accepted.

As each of your 55 listings comes to an end, switch over to the more accurate Advanced form and specifically remove the Best Offer.

Use Sell Similar to accomplish this.

And do it from a desktop, not a phone.

(BTW I looked at a couple of your listings, and there was no Best Offer on them.)

You are going to be charged for the new month of listing anyway, so it's worth doing the work, at least on the more valuable of your listings.

Or perhaps the ones you are sick of looking at.

femmefan1946 · ‎11-28-2018

@frontline66

Shipping in Canada only $240 not including to the Yukon and nwt

This is unenforceable.

We cannot raise the amount we charge for shipping.

We can use the Advanced Sell Your Item form which offers Calculated Shipping which automatically gives the shopper the cost to his doorstep, wherever he lives.

frontline66 · ‎11-28-2018

speakers quoted to Ont was $110 each plus taxes …. It's lucky I have them new in boxes … if anything by the time im done its to cost me more then that

But im ok with that for a sale … Since this morning I have 5 ads that have been auto changed over and ebay is working on a fix so they say … I do notice that if you do everything from PC and save it as a draft …. go get pictures with phone and post from phone, it will auto install best offer but I have always taken it off right away …. then 24 hours later or so magic happens and its on again …. other ads seem to be a random act as its not timed to any action ……….. anyways thanks for all the input and output and it is what it is ….. seems like im more of the focus then the problem we came here to deal with LOL …. Good night all, have a great night

femmefan1946 · ‎11-28-2018

Yes.

And that won't happen if you use the Advanced form.

It takes a few moments more, but you don't have to continually revise.

I'm so glad I only had girls.

frontline66 · ‎11-29-2018

Femmefan ………. if you would have seen I said " I do notice that if " …… Meaning I was just pointing out one problem that I found ….. Didn't say I wasn't using the advance forum to do them. I'm not just taking a one picture of a piece of paper. My items are large and i'm taking up to max pictures each time.... I'm not saving pictures which is the nice thing about using the phone to take them...If that platform doesn't work then probably best to let them know right? Nor does the advance forum make my life any easier bc each item is 95% dif unlike the few ads I looked of yours which just need a heading and picture revised

And that's the second time you have been rude or accusing me in a statement and i'm very much fine with playing the game back if you wish..... I thought we where here to solve a problem not to be a problem

retroman_studios · ‎11-29-2018

Also of note is that even if you use the advanced tool, if you are a low volume seller eBay will add Best Offer.

guitarsplus · ‎12-08-2018

I dont know about others but recently Ebay has suddenly introduced "Best Offer" to my postings just a day or two days before they close and unbeknownst to me, even though I had turned off the "Best Offer" box before I posted. To add insult to injury they insert a real low ball offer that I would normally never accept. Seems greed has gotten the better of them much to our detriment

femmefan1946 · ‎12-08-2018

I don't understand the accusation of greed.

If you accept a lowball offer, eBay gets paid less than if you sell at your preferred price.

I think it's really a case of very stupid people coming up with poorly thought through ideas to make themselves look good in the weekly meeting.

FWIW, both our employee Boardies (happy pigeon and tyler) have mentioned that they are actually sellers, which to my mind gives them a leg up on a lot of the Head Office minions.

I wonder what Andrea Stairs and Devin Wenig sell on their accounts?

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-08-2018

What do you mean by ....?

“To add insult to injury they insert a real low ball offer that I would normally never accept. “

Are you saying that eBay is automatically accepting the offer if it is above a certain amount or that they are just allowing offers above a certain amount?

retroman_studios · ‎12-08-2018

I think where the issue lies is when eBay adds Best Offer, sellers who are unfamiliar may panic or feel that eBay is allowing people to lowball them.

The cause of this is eBay's frankly idiotic, flawed and unrealistic price lists. There, had to be said. You can't let an automated system make pricing decisions.

Now that that frustration is off my chest, the point is to move on. Understand how it works, and understand you don't have to reply to the low ball offers. Just like people who teased you in elementary school, just ignore them and they (sorta) go away.

The ones who irritate me the most are the ones who message me and say they will buy if the price is reduced to XXX. If you look at the Manage Offers tab, it shows they used up all the offers to try and low ball your item. I sometimes message them and politely mention it's not possible to accept the offer as that is not the market value of an item. Then they ask what my lowest price is. I politely tell them to have a look at the auction, price is listed. I of course, blocked this bidder as they are more likely to open a case if I allow them to purchase even at a higher rate. They occasionally send more messages as this guy did, confirming my decision to block him.

So, as I mentioned previously, this is a marketing game. So play the game smart. I always add Best Offer now even if I have no intention of using it. It's nice as it will weed out some folks as you can see how low they low balled you and block them.

Now, that's a win! Hey, eBays system actually worked for something!

reallynicestamps · ‎12-08-2018

@retroman_studios

I think where the issue lies is when eBay adds Best Offer, sellers who are unfamiliar may panic or feel that eBay is allowing people to lowball them.

That puts the problem succinctly.

Perhaps a cultural difference, but posters to dotCOM seem to react to the unwanted Best Offer addition with fury while dotCA seem to to get worried.

We've already mentioned that eBay has an automatic refusal for Offers below the seller's chosen dollar value or percentage of asking price, right?

reallynicestamps · ‎12-08-2018

Responding to offers automatically

If you expect multiple offers, or you have a price range that you'll accept for your item, you can respond to offers automatically. The Best Offer system will automatically accept or decline offers outside of price limits you set. Buyers will not know that you have set these limits, and you can change your price limits at any time, as long as the listing is still active.

The upper limit price you set must be lower than the Buy It Now price.

If you get an offer at or above your upper limit, the Best Offer system automatically sends an email to you and the buyer saying that the offer has been accepted. This means the item has sold, and the buyer will be directed to pay you.
- Example: Your Buy It Now price for your car is $20,000, you know you'd accept $18,000, and you know you'd never accept less than $16,000. You can set both price limits. The Best Offer system will automatically decline any offer less than $16,000 and accept the first offer of $18,000 or more. You'll need to respond individually to any offers between $16,000 and $18,000.
If you get an offer below your lower limit, the system automatically sends an email to the buyer declining the offer. The buyer may submit a higher offer, or you can send a counteroffer.

You also can set just one of the limits to respond automatically, as in the following examples:

Set the upper limit: Your Buy It Now price for your car is $20,000. You know you would accept $16,000. You can set the upper limit to $16,000. The first buyer to offer any amount from $16,000 to $20,000 automatically wins the item. You then respond individually to offers below $16,000.
Set the lower limit: Your Buy It Now price for your car is $20,000. You know you would never accept less than $16,000. You can set the lower limit to $16,000. The system will automatically decline all offers below $16,000. You then respond individually to any offers at or above $16,000.

You can't respond to offers automatically if:

You've put an item on sale using Markdown Manager
The buyer included terms in the offer
You don't see the automatic response option on the Sell Your Item page

https://www.ebay.ca/pages/help/sell/best-offer.html#automatically

retroman_studios · ‎12-08-2018

In the photo I have attached, you can see how easy it is to set the limits for Best Offer. Do note however, to see this screen you have to switch to the advanced listing tool, the basic one wont show it.

frontline66 · ‎12-10-2018

So here's what I know after speaking to many of the managers / soups …. They all said unless they see the automatic installing of best offers effect sales they wont change it or unless people stand up and complain. The people I all spoke to were saying they felt the same way and its just morally wrong. So unless it hurts sales or people don't complain its here to stay

All I'm doing is removing my listing each time a best offer comes on to my ad …. not going fight the system as the only way it goes back the way it was is by showing them LOSSES …. sad as it is they want people to get angry instead of understanding how relationships are built.

I have other sites that I sell on, just started on Ebay about a month ago..... My sales are 2 times higher on the other sites but then again I'm just getting going here. I know im just 1 of millions but one still needs to do what he believes in and I believe it's basically a crime on what ebay is doing to destroy buyer and seller relationships.

I just had a guy lowball me on another site and I said " don't take this the wrong way but when someone has "firm" after the price it means you don't want to deal low ballers but thanks for viewing and have a great night"

he came back and said "sorry but ive purchased from you before and know how well you go over your stuff, educate or help later if required but ok have a great night."

So basically he didn't purchase so far (4 days later) and we wasted 40 mins going back and forth … Im only guessing I will help him out again some day but If I would have be rude to him you never know how many friends he tells that create lost sales

So long story short I don't believe its best to ignore and it just wastes everyones time bc if he had my asking price he would be low balling the guy with something 2 times higher then my asking price LOL

I didn't proof read this as its been a long day …. good night all!

monicshe_1 · ‎04-26-2019

Hi there,

So is the answer to this that there is no way to stop it from defaulting to best offer when items relist? I mean, without removing it manually by oneself? What a pain! I was hoping there would be a way to stop it doesn't sound that way from reading these comments.