The Trials And Tribulations Of Lowball Offers

I am a serial watcher. While I can't speak for everyone else, I can say that I most often watch an item just to learn what the current market value is - either because I have the same thing for sale, or simply out of curiosity.

In my opinion, the only time you should consider watchers as being potential customers is when they are watching a "buy-it-now" store item. Sometimes I watch an item hoping the seller will drop their price for a few days.

Brian

I just accidentally submitted a lowball offer of $10 on a $750 cat stamp. Oops.

Usually when I have a few watchers but no buyers, I figure that at least some of the watchers are likely other sellers just keeping an eye on what similar items are going for. I have no intention of buying many of the items on my watch list, and some I just keep an eye on in case the seller reduces the price.

It doesn't matter what you are selling it's only worth what someone will pay..

"What drives me nuts is when a number of people are "watching" an item I'm selling but don't bother to make an offer."

I use the watch feature as a bookmark. It is otherwise very difficult to get back to a specific auction at a later date.

Me too, as well as sellers.

With BIN lots with multiple items per listing. I will make an offer plus ask for a mailing discount with a normal listings.

Most single stamps with "make an offer" do not suit me.

But coins, is the world for "make an offer" to me.

Have some great buys on silver coins doing this!

Wow, I am guilty of a couple of these things. I often make an offer lower than what I expect will be accepted. I do not mean to insult the seller. As someone who went to live auctions and estate sales for many years before ebay it is just part of the game. I expect a counter offer and then the "game" begins. I really like the negotiating part of buying anything collectible. The catalog means very little to me. It is worth whatever I am willing to pay or the buyer is willing to sell it for regardless of what some book says. I don't think this is taking advantage of anybody. I have seen buyers exploit people that have no idea of what they are selling. I do see that as dishonest and will not participate in that. The other thing I see in this post is using the watch feature as a bookmark. I am guilty of that too. ebay limits how many favorite sellers you can have, but if they limit how many things you can watch I have not hit that limit yet. If I am watching a listing of yours, I am likely watching several listings of yours. Sometimes I watch a listing as I have a similar item to sell and I want to see how yours does. I did not realize that this may irritate a seller. It does not bother me as a seller.
Here are a couple things I do that may really bug you but believe me that was never the intent. If I am really busy I will switch my listings to "best offer" but I will start it at a high price. I don't expect anyone to bite at the high price. I want the fun of offer/counter offer.
The other thing I do is what I call bottom feeding. I will bid on a bunch of low start items or make some low offers to get things going. After a couple hours I may have bid on 300 items. Again, I am not trying to insult you. I am just getting things started.
I look at it this way as a seller you are under no obligation to accept my offer and I fully expect a counter offer. If this is an auction and you start things at a penny, don't expect me to open with a $10.00 bid. I myself often start things at a penny sometimes with free shipping and sometimes a penny bid is all I get. I view it as advertising. I hope it gets the bidder to look at my other listings. If not, Oh well it's all a part of the game.

I've had good luck with best offers on ebay, but I had a bad experience asking for a discount from a seller's price list once. I put together a lengthy list of stamps and asked if he'd accept $X for it, which was around 10% off his total list price. The seller could have replied with a simple "no" and I'd have accepted it without argument, but the reply I got back was, more or less, "I can't believe you would even ask, who the hell are you to dictate how much I sell my stamps for!". After some back and forth and me removing a few stamps from the list, I still ordered from him and got a small discount, but I likely won't be doing business with him again. Not because he doesn't want to give discounts, but because of the condescending rudeness.

Not suprising. After all, stamp collecting *IS* the preferred hobby of grumpy old men...

I might make a low-ball offer now and then. More often than not its on an item that is overpriced to start with (my opinion of course). I normally would expect a counteroffer in any other scenario (say a Oriental Rug shop), but some ebay sellers are very sensitive. Its crazy that some sellers do not immediately counteroffer an offer, especially because an auction platform such as ebay is exactly where you would expect that behavior.

Q/ Why would we call it a public auction if no one was allowed to watch?

At IRL (In Real Life) auctions, I feel free to 'watch' 100s of lots go by. I also fee free to make/take a list of prices realized ... and for whatever purpose I see fit.

There are *always* more people not bidding, on every single lot, than there are people bidding.

Q/ Why should internet public auctions be more private?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

When I get on an ebay spell I watch a ton of auctions. For instance, If I am looking for a souvenir sheet of martial arts, then I will watch a dozen auctions of the same thing without bidding. If I see one I like I will bid at the last minute or offer at 75% of list.
My theory... You wont get an answer if you don't ask the question.

I watch stuff all the time. I put the stuff I'm interested in on my watch list then triage them and watch the remaining items until I pull the trigger or make an offer. Sometimes I'll just watch the market to see what items are selling for to obtain a real world buying/selling price.

Sometimes getting a low ball offer can feel just as bad as getting a low blow to the body since they both hurt. (It's even worse when the low ball offer won't even cover the postage shipping for the item.)