[Closed] Ebay and best offers [mild rant]

I thought you could set it up to automatically reject bids below a certain amount?

I thought you could set it up to automatically reject bids below a certain amount?

Ha. I'm sort of experiencing this at the moment - someone has just submitted a counter-counter offer to meet me halfway, when I already met them halfway (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

I'm going to add a quid on to my first offer instead for the hassle.

Nowhere near as annoying as stupid offers for listings that don't have best offers on them.

Item for starting price £120 plus postage.....plenty of time left on the auction....so some nugget messages me and says will you take £100 posted.

I don't know what it is....buyers assuming all sellers are desperate.

Or even worse "Do you have a buy it now"....then they offer less than the starting price.

I thought you could set it up to automatically reject bids below a certain amount?

I've no problems with the ones that submit one lowball offer then accept whatever I counter with. That's just a lazy way of saying "what's your best price", 90% of them then accept a tenner off (a £185 item).

It's the ones that go £100 (me: £175) £120 (me: £175) £150 (me:£180)

I'd not be bothered if it was a novel item, but it's definitely a commodity, there's 50+ of them on there for 20% more than we put ours on for (we've just got a lot of stuff to get rid of and don't want to wait weeks).

Don't ignore eBay lowball first offers.

I listed a £1450 road bike and someone offered £500, which I politely? rejected. He later drove 200 miles and paid the full price in cash!

I recently sold a guitar. Listed it starting at £100, got an email from someone telling me I won't get that much for it but they would give me £30 if they can come and have a look at it first. Which obviously means they'd suck their teeth, tell me it's crap and offer me £20.

I ignored them.

It sold for £132.

Ebay is full of idiots & chancers. You just have to accept it.

I sell lots using buy now or best offer. I usually get emails - I'll give you £xxx including postage mate .

**** of and just put the offer in the box you knob.
People are stupid.

I've just had some seller countered my (reasonable) offer for something with a price 1p less than the buy it now. I'm not sure they are really grasping the best offers thing.

Reserve prices pee me off. "You are the highest bidder but haven't met the reserve price"
What's that all about. If there is a minimum you want, then make that your starting price !

I used to sell quite a bit of stuff on eBay but the past couple of years it seems to have become infested with idiots. Combined with the high fees, I've not bothered selling anything in there for ages and doubt that I'd bother again in future.

Not wanting to hijack the thread but as an ebay novice I have the same thing I have an item on there listed through the list a price not auction.

If I just choose to remove the item and don't want to sell it, will ebay charge me?

Reserve prices pee me off. "You are the highest bidder but haven't met the reserve price"
What's that all about. If there is a minimum you want, then make that your starting price !

It's an auction site.
Auctions have a reserve price sometimes, it's a fairly normal thing ?

Regp, you can just end the sale without a charge (other than you original listings costs), look through the options & choose 'no longer available' (or some such option).

If you think ebay users are a PITA try Shpock on for size. There'll be murder in your heart.

I enjoy it.

I'm selling a car on there at the moment. £12k OBO. £12k is about a grand more than WBAC will offer, the cheapest on there is a solid grand more, with a lower spec & yet people off £8k & get indignant & shouty when you just decline 🙂

It's got to the point now where I'll happily take the piss out of arseholes- and they are arseholes, there's no prettying it up- asking for best price/lowest price/variation thereof. I asked one chap if he'd be happy if I rocked up at his work asking if he'd do his job for 50% less, for cold hard cash, [i]today[/i] like. Dude didn't understand the point and got a bit sweary...

I thought you could set it up to automatically reject bids below a certain amount?

Just use this function OP.

If pricing something fairly at £200 BIN, I'd maybe set it to reject anything below £175.

I thought you could set it up to automatically reject bids below a certain amount?
Just use this function OP.

If pricing something fairly at £200 BIN, I'd maybe set it to reject anything below £175.

That's a bit boring though. I sometimes put accept offers for a while just to see how little some people think your stuff is worth, then bomb them off or, counter offer within a few pence of the original price if a suitably piss taking offer is received.

counter offer within a few pence of the original price

I have been known to do the same.

😀

Kayla . Totally in awe of your epic piss taking skills .

I agree that it can be a PITA but coming from the other side I have low balled items I have an interest in but that I'm not that bothered if I win or not (Usually old bikes in slightly worse nick than I like). If it's not accepted I move on.

There are also idiots on the selling side so what may seem like an offensive offer to them may actually be market value.

On the reserve thing, didn't ebay used to recommend you did that as the stats showed that on average the prices were higher than those when starting with a high price? I never put a reserve on BTW.

I was selling a lapsteel a few years ago and actually turned down a sale because a guy annoyed me so much with his incessant bartering. That was Gumtree though and the price said no offers. He just kept offering different prices over a period of three days until he eventually offered the asking price. I then told him somebody else had bought it 😈

Put a little guitar pre-amp up at midnight the other day. £100 Buy it Now with best offers.

Guy sent a best offer of £100.

Em, sure, no problem!

I've got something on there at the minute - big, bulky item which I really don't want to go to the effort of posting so its listed as collection only.

First message I receive - will you post it?

If you lowball sometimes the seller comes back with a great price.

I don't understand what there is to get annoyed about.

Don't give potential buyers the option to offer anything they like and then call them out for offering something you don't like. Is that so hard?

What's also annoying is sellers who allow best offers but then don't accept anything lower than 99% of the listed price.

I was making offers on something recently and everything was rejected until finally they accepted 1p lower than the main price (I was having fun by this time).

Left a sarcastic comment in the feedback. That'll larn 'em 😀

First message I receive - will you post it?

I do that all the time, most people just assume something bulky will be expensive or a hassle to post when in fact a couple of bin bags and some tape is enough for a courier to work with. I ended up with a bike trailer and towbar that way, pretty sure I arranged the courier and the seller was happy.

If someone has categorically stated in the listing that they won't post then that's a different story.

I was making offers on something recently and everything was rejected until finally they accepted 1p lower than the main price (I was having fun by this time).

You were apparently prepared to pay the asking price so why would they settle for less? Though it is weird to ask for offers but not accept any.

If someone has categorically stated in the listing that they won't post then that's a different story.

It is.

If someone has categorically stated in the listing that they won't post then that's a different story.

That is what Collection Only means! Shouldn't need to add it to the listing. If I list something as collection only it is because I want you to collect it. I don't want to pack it, wrap it, wait in for courier etc,.

Anyone that asks such a stupid question gets added to blocked list and gets no response.

Sometime it includes "best offer" by default, and I forget to untick it.

Just sayin'

It varies. I've got quite a few things from "collection only" auctions, quite often people mean they can't be bothered or don't know how to sort out a courier.

I will quite happily admit to sending low offers all the time, its what the best offer function is for in my opinion.
This could make me a bad person, but I would always send an lower offer through first, even if I was happy for the BIN price. If they don't accept, fine, i'll just buy it anyway, and if they do accept great!

We sell an awful lot on eBay, and would expect buyers to do exactly the same back to me!

Just last night, a seller had put online a 2014 Macbook for £250. Incredibly dodgy photos, and nothing to say if it was working. After a few questions, he supplied to proof of purchase, and a screenshot of it actually powered up so I was happy.
I offered £110, and he accepted within seconds.

Does that make me cheap? Maybe....
But he wouldn't have accepted if he wasn't happy...

I sell lots using buy now or best offer. I usually get emails - I'll give you £xxx including postage mate .

**** of and just put the offer in the box you knob.
People are stupid.

or, trying to do a deal off-ebay which saves you both ebay and PP fees so you can knock a few quid off the asking price and it's still a win-win.

The collection only / "will you post" thing. Every. Single. Time.

It's not because I don't know how to post something. It's not always [i]entirely[/i] to do with wrapping it. It's the hassle of either waiting for a courier or lugging it to a drop off point. For a large-but-not-very-valuable item I just CBA.

Sometimes despite clearly specifying "Collection only from <location>" in the description people will bid, win, and then ask how much to post it 🙄 Or even better, after winning an item, one cockwomble [b]told[/b] me he would be sending his own courier.

People suck.

I now have to further add "please don't ask about postage or couriers" to make it absolutely clear.

^ Exactly. The item I have for sale is low value, big and relatively fragile. I honestly can't be faffed with posting and just want it gone out the garage (plus its something thats reasonably desirable so I'd have thought [i]someone[/i] local would want it. As long as I get enough for a takeaway from it, happy days 😀

also annoying when someone posts 'or best offer'.

i had one the other week, a set of cranks posted at £55 or best offer, so offered £50, i thought fairly, they rejected, so i offered £53, rejected, £54, rejected.

why put it on sale as 'or best offer'

idiots

I don't get the angst about asking about postage, as I said most of the time people just don't realise how easy it is (and some of us don't live close to where most stuff turns up). If you're going to be a child about it and block someone then that's frankly your loss, there are a lot worse things to get annoyed about.

Yes it's always worth asking about postage. Plenty of sellers are happy to arrange it despite listing collection only.

eBay puts limits on how much you can charge for postage so you can see why people may not want to list a heavy low value item with a postage option.

"[i]I don't get the angst about asking about postage[/i]"

Even when I've stated very clearly in the listing that I'm not going to post it ? If someone can't comprehend that then I don't have much confidence in them paying promptly, or not wasting my time arguing about condtion etc. It's not even as if they ask nicely, it's always "can u post" or similar. If they said "really sorry to ask but..." and explained a bit more then I'd be a lot more inclined to help. In fact I've done that before when selling on forums, one time I drove an hour to meet someone halfway, and another time I let them have it for free because they were making a very long drive to get it. I did that because they were decent people. The bloke that won a collection only item and then told me he'd send a courier can GTF.

"[i]If you're going to be a child about it and block someone then that's frankly your loss[/i]"

Not really. There are always other buyers.

i had one the other week, a set of cranks posted at £55 or best offer, so offered £50, i thought fairly, they rejected, so i offered £53, rejected, £54, rejected.

why put it on sale as 'or best offer'

Because you kept going back.

Why did you put £50 as a 'best offer' if you were prepared to offer £54?

I like to start with the premise that every other Ebay user is an idiot.

I never shy away from doing a deal with a buyer away from ebay. I don't feel very charitable toward ebay at any time of day! So, if I am selling something I want to clear £100 for, it'd need an ebay price of at least £120. If someone offers £100 to end auction early I'll just reply with my phone number, and withdraw the auction once it's paid for.

So my advice is don't ignore offers... what matters isn't that you get ebay their commission, but that you sell your item to someone.

Why did you put £50 as a 'best offer' if you were prepared to offer £54?

Seriously?

or, trying to do a deal off-ebay which saves you both ebay and PP fees so you can knock a few quid off the asking price and it's still a win-win.

For a one off big ticket item it might be worthwhile. But TBH it involves far more faff than just waiting for ebay to ping and print off an address lable.

Seriously?

For a one off big ticket item it might be worthwhile. But TBH it involves far more faff than just waiting for ebay to ping and print off an address lable.

it is a standard tactic though, and whilst I've used it to sell big ticket items (a Nomad frame, a Giant Reign) I've also bought stuff from people who turned out to be really local so the off-ebay cash meet was more convenient than posting (like attending the same CX race that weekend!). I'm not a regular eBay user, just offering it as an explanation as to why people make offers rather than click the button.

some proper angst over collection only.. ouch. i m watching an item now thats no bids thus far and the fella wants 30 quid collection only.. its over 300 miles away.. id happily pay a 100 quid delivered.. what can i say to persuade him to put it in a cardboard box and waste his time taking it to a post office or one of 5000 my hermes shops?

some proper angst over collection only.. ouch. i m watching an item now thats no bids thus far and the fella wants 30 quid collection only.. its over 300 miles away.. id happily pay a 100 quid delivered.. what can i say to persuade him to put it in a cardboard box and waste his time taking it to a post office or one of 5000 my hermes shops?

Its not a VW T5 splitter is it? 😉

If it is, £100 and its yours 😀

I never shy away from doing a deal with a buyer away from ebay. I don't feel very charitable toward ebay at any time of day!

Mmmm. . .So you nick stuff from the local supermarket as well?

I'm no great fan of big companies, but you've used their services to advertise and locate a buyer for you and you've stolen their cut of the deal. If you don't like their terms, then don't use eBay.

I can see for miles from the moral high ground 😆

I don't get the angst about asking about postage, as I said most of the time people just don't realise how easy it is (and some of us don't live close to where most stuff turns up). If you're going to be a child about it and block someone then that's frankly your loss, there are a lot worse things to get annoyed about.

I am fully aware of how easy it is to post something, I have sold over 1000 items on eBay.
However, if I want it collected and I have stated it is Collection only then that is what I expect. Blocking is not being childish, it removes any idiots continuing to buy. And never my loss as every item I have ever listed has sold.
Did I say it was the biggest thing to get annoyed about?

Can you send me your eBay user name please so I can add you to the blocked list to avoid any future hassle.

some proper angst over collection only.. ouch. i m watching an item now thats no bids thus far and the fella wants 30 quid collection only.. its over 300 miles away.. id happily pay a 100 quid delivered.. what can i say to persuade him to put it in a cardboard box and waste his time taking it to a post office or one of 5000 my hermes shops?

Have you offered £100 delivered?

every item I have ever listed has sold.

Can you send me your eBay user name please so I can add you to the blocked list to avoid any future hassle.

Do you mostly sell handbags?

😉

[quote=handyman153 ]I will quite happily admit to sending low offers all the time, its what the best offer function is for in my opinion.

Interesting. I tend to just knock 10% off as I've always assumed that's about the going rate for making an offer and I CBA faffing around (and it seems when I do that most other people are happily paying full BIN anyway).

Do you mostly sell handbags?

Nope. Can you send me your username too please.

kerley - Member
Do you mostly sell handbags?
Nope. Can you send me your username too please.

Never seen the Studio 54 door-policy approach applied to eBay listings. Could work, I suppose. 😆

Why did you put £50 as a 'best offer' if you were prepared to offer £54?

Seriously?

Semi, and semi- tongue-in-cheek.

My initial response was to adrec who said

i had one the other week, a set of cranks posted at £55 or best offer, so offered £50, i thought fairly, they rejected, so i offered £53, rejected, £54, rejected.

why put it on sale as 'or best offer'

and they kept rejecting his 'best offer' because he kept going back, showing that the £50 (or £53) wasn't actually his best offer after all, because he kept making a better one. Hence my comment.

There is an art to negotiation and when done right doesn't end up as just reaching the halfway point between your first offer and the original price. But keeping going back and upping the offer to end up at the asking price isn't it (although the other fella played his hand pretty nigh perfectly)

(look, really I know that best offer on ebay as IRL doesn't really mean best offer, it's a negotiating point, but the protest seemed to be 'why did you say you'd take offers if then you didn't - and the answer to that bit is as above, because adrec got outnegotiated)

I don't even bother replying to low ball offers, just ignore them completely.

Sundayjumper - Member

The collection only / "will you post" thing. Every. Single. Time.

I ask about postage on "collection only" auctions constantly, and about half the time the seller says "Yeah no problem". It mostly just seems to mean "didn't really think about it".

The rules, for me, are I don't ask if they've actually written "collection only" in the description, because that means they've thought about it rather than just clicking a button. And of course, you ask first, nicely, you don't bid first then ask, or demand.

But since so many sellers are happy to do it and just haven't thought much about it, I don't see any reason not to ask. And of course, it pushes prices down so it's a great way to buy stuff.

As Northwind said.

And my username is e***s. You're welcome.

User name please Northwind

kelron - Member
You were apparently prepared to pay the asking price so why would they settle for less? Though it is weird to ask for offers but not accept any.

If a seller allows best offer I usually make one (reasonable, not annoyingly low). Why not? I assume they're happy to settle for less. Maybe that makes me tight, I dunno.

Anyway in this case the seller was refusing everything, I was getting annoyed/amused and started having fun. They were refusing offers 50p less than the asking price of something like £20-30 🙄
So I offered 1p less, assuming they'd finally accept, just so I could leave aforesaid sarcastic comment in the feedback 😛

Regarding the "collection only" issue, I find this is mostly sellers of bulky items who think the postage is really expensive or complicated. Unless they specifically request not to I generally ask before bidding and everyone so far has been happy for me to arrange a courier.
-Edit: Like wot Northwind said. A quick question before bidding is harmless IMO.

Really needs to be a separate eBay for people who can't read listings properly and are happy to waste the sellers time and then one for the rest of us, eBaypro or something. Any stupid questions and the account gets deleted.

If a seller allows best offer I usually make one (reasonable, not annoyingly low). Why not? I assume they're happy to settle for less. Maybe that makes me tight, I dunno.

I make offers too, it's a good way to get some bargains. It's just that once you start outbidding yourself if the seller doesn't respond you're showing them you're probably willing to pay more than your offer.

hence my point about 'best' offer.

I make offers too, it's a good way to get some bargains. It's just that once you start outbidding yourself if the seller doesn't respond you're showing them you're probably willing to pay more than your offer.

Just because it's called "best offer" doesn't mean that's what your first offer is.

Otherwise it wouldn't have the "counter offer" function.

Earlier I received a message asking to swap my rocket frame for a car. I guess if you don't ask you don't get...

Often folks, who aren't semi-professional ebayers,including me, will say collection only, because they have been burned on postage price in the past. So I sometimes say collection only but if someone asks, I will agree to post of they agree at cost price.

Or even better, after winning an item, one cockwomble told me he would be sending his own courier.

Can't see what is so wrong with this. Surely it is being collected, as you requested.

Kerley, why don't you just give us your eBay user name and we will all avoid you?

Earlier I received a message asking to swap my rocket frame for a car

Well, at least it wasn't for a PS3

[quote=CharlieMungus ]

Or even better, after winning an item, one cockwomble told me he would be sending his own courier.
Can't see what is so wrong with this. Surely it is being collected, as you requested.

Because you have to pack it up and hang about for the courier

I placed a paddlebaord on eBay a few weeks ago, with a reserve (£700) and collection only. The board was 10ft long and 32" wide, so a bit combersome. I did put in the description "collection only or I will deliver between xTown & yTown" and I'd factored in my time and petrol for my offer to deliver.

Didn't make the first reserve, but got 11 mails asking if I'd sell it for between £200-£250 cash and posted.

So, bored of these pitiful offers I started to put the price up, so next Relist and the boards now £750 and I then get some more mails offering £300-£350 and posted.

Then I get a string of mails from one bloke moaning at me because I've not accepted his offer of £300, so I block him then another mail pops up and it's the same bloke using another login.. so I block him again.

The auction ends, I then get mails of random offers out of eBay for £600-£700. So, whilst eBay is good for advertising sometimes it pays to be blunt with idiots and wait a little longer.

I sold it off eBay, via PayPal and delivered it within my original destination scope.

CharlieMungus - Member

Can't see what is so wrong with this.

I do all my courier drops together on one day, having someone use their own courier means hassle- waiting around for delivery etc. Also means you're not in control of the postage- what if it's not delivered? You have no contract with the courier, so if it's not delivered the buyer can both claim against the courier, and against you as seller, that's potential Bother.I might do it under the right circumstances but if the seller didn't raise it til after they bid that's a dick move regardless.

Also, Kerley is probably hiding a markup in the postage costs.

Why did you put £50 as a 'best offer' if you were prepared to offer £54?
Seriously?

Semi, and semi- tongue-in-cheek.

My initial response was to adrec who said

i had one the other week, a set of cranks posted at £55 or best offer, so offered £50, i thought fairly, they rejected, so i offered £53, rejected, £54, rejected.
why put it on sale as 'or best offer'

and they kept rejecting his 'best offer' because he kept going back, showing that the £50 (or £53) wasn't actually his best offer after all, because he kept making a better one. Hence my comment.

There is an art to negotiation and when done right doesn't end up as just reaching the halfway point between your first offer and the original price. But keeping going back and upping the offer to end up at the asking price isn't it (although the other fella played his hand pretty nigh perfectly)

(look, really I know that best offer on ebay as IRL doesn't really mean best offer, it's a negotiating point, but the protest seemed to be 'why did you say you'd take offers if then you didn't - and the answer to that bit is as above, because adrec got outnegotiated)

Go on then, Sir Alan, tell me what i should have done rather than offering below the asking price. refuse to budge and miss out on something for the sake of £1?

my point was, he wasnt prepared to take an offer, he wanted the full asking price, yet clicked the 'or best offer button' when setting up. 'or best offer' as far as i can tell is Ebay speak for 'open to negotiation', and that clearly was not the case.

iirc it was getting towards then end of the auction anyway, so i really dont know what more this fella wanted.

will say collection only, because they have been burned on postage price in the past.

I just use Royal Mail/Parcelforce for everything. May not be the cheapest but I charge exactly what it costs so if people don't want to pay the postage cost then don't buy the item.

You should never get burned as you can price it up on the Royal Mail website and know exactly what it will cost you to the penny.

The missus is selling something £30 or best offer, someone offered £12, she said no, so they offered £15, she countered with £40 bit ****ed off with the low offers. They then came back and said "I think you are ripping people off, these are selling for £30".

THAT WHY IT's ON FOR £30