The Trials And Tribulations Of Lowball Offers

An ambitious comparison. Here's another:

Feeling the impact of minor digital events fits with reading too much into minor digital events. Both might benefit from being taken down a notch.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

As a seller, for a BIN with Best Offer feature, I get a wide range of "best offers". I realize that people have many different motivations and methods to their offers, so without understanding their basis for the offer, it doesn't make sense to be upset if they low-ball.

If I think the offer is way too low, I may simply decline it, or I may counter-offer much higher, close to the BIN price. In ALL cases, I have a record of what the minimum is that I will accept, so whether the offer/counter-offer game ends is a sale, there is no issue with the process.

I agree with others that given the chance to evaluate the "best offer", it also provides the ability to assess other characteristics of the bidder's history and feedback, so the basis for accepting/declining can be more that just the "best offer" alone.

I generally have the BIN price set at what I believe is a fair value, so actually have buyers sometimes just BIN instead of always providing a best offer. I understand this as well, since some may already think the BIN price is acceptable and don't want to risk a decline from offering too low if they really want the item!

Here is something that worked for me. I had a bunch of covers that did not sell at .99 and they still didn't sell after they auto-relisted once. I changed them all to $3.00 or best offer and set my automatic accept at $1.00. All but two lots sold and only three of them went for a buck. Most went for around $2.00. Sometimes people just want a deal. I plan to put a bunch more up and I will likely start many of them at 99 cents again, but I may just jump to $3.00 or best offer on some.
Pat

Q/ Does that means that the seller is going to decide whether/not to accept a price based on:

a) whether/not the seller thinks the buyer is "winning"?

b) whether/not the buyer might be willing to go higher?

One of those is appropriate, one of those is not.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Hi Ikey-Pikey,

Regarding my assessment, I want to gauge the seriousness of the offer and confidence that this will be a positive transaction. I don't understand what you mean by "winner". Regarding offer/counter-offer prices, I use my minimum acceptable price to guide my counter-offers. Sometimes when providing a counter-offer, I may indicate that it is my lowest that I will go.

-dave

It allows you to check into not only feedback received (which is immaterial since only positive feedback can be left for buyers), but more importantly the feedback that person has left for other sellers. If the buyer in question has a habit of leaving a lot of negative or neutral feedback, then they are likely a problem child to avoid.

Where is the buyer located? Domestic shipping involves more safety and less potential headaches, so I may be willing to accept a lower domestic offer than international. If the buyer lives in a country that based on my experience, has a higher occurance of "issues", I may hold out for a higher price to offset the risk. However, if it's one of my regular overseas buyers, that's likely not the case.

It's an oppurtunity to pause, evaluate, and reconsider.

revenuecollector -

Very well said - I completely agree.

I wish there were an option to make an offer on a cart full of items. For example, if one seller has 10 stamps that I want, it would be nice if I could make an offer on the lot rather than each item individually. There have been times where I just used BIN because I didn't want to go through the hassle of submitting several offers and then waiting for a reply.

Lately as a buyer I have been preferring the BIN as opposed to bidding or offering. It makes it easy and a quick purchase. I look at all the BIN offers then decide what looks best to me. However, like today, I had to chose between a BIN "SCOTT 2000 Classic Specialized CATALOGUE" for 20.99 or a bid on one for $10.00 +S&H. So I watch both and hope I get at least one.
I have received offers on cars where someone would offer me half of the asking price and I would respond to him with a price just for him that was higher then the first.

Pat - I totally understand what you mean. It's the garage sale syndrome. If you offer it for free, then no one wants it. If you price it high then they will dicker on the price and buy. One time I just started asking people "How much would make it go home with you?". I will remember your plan when I go to relist my Upper-Volta blocks of 10.

Rev - It takes a brave person to do the international thing. I cant seem to bring myself to buy or sell internationally.

(edited for spelling)

orstampman, Greetings:

What I was driving at, Dave - however obliquely - was that we can get into a win-lose frame-of-mind where we would distinguish between someone who rarely/never offers a low bid, and someone who does it all the time (for whatever reason we might imagine). For the latter, we might want to not sell the item at their price, just for spite ... which should have nothing to do with it.

I could see always inviting Best Offers precisely because it is, if I understand ebay correctly, the only way that I could screen buyers and avoid the serial complainers (by "just saying no", to coin a phrase). In an auction or BIN, if I understand ebay correctly, I am stuck fulfilling their order, like them or not, looking forward to grief, or not.

Set the price high, screen the offers ... sounds like a plan.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Thanks, IkeyPikey, for the clarification! Got it now. Fortunately, I haven't been burned by best offers on ebay or Bidstart. I probably tend to be more trusting (but still verify what I can...), and am somewhere less than the higher mark as far as price. If my mileage changes, I will consider stricter measures, but so far(!) I see the stamp community generally being trustworthy! Cheers.

There have been times where I have listed a stamp and had it go unsold, so I have either listed it at a lowere price only to have it get bid up higher than the price it didn't sell at before or even a couple of times where I decided my initial price was too low and raised it and it thenm sold.

Im gonna have to try that with some blocks of 10 from upper volta and chad.
Do you provide free shipping or charge 1st class rates.

I do free shipping at times to bring new bidders in. Then in the following weeks I will list similar items with fair shipping on the first item. I never charge additional shipping if they buy multiple lots. Sometimes I lose a bit on shipping, but they bought multiple lots, so it's a win.