Cannot Understand Problem With Buy It Now

It appears that 98% of the ebay community does not get BIN: make an offer. When a seller has this sort of listing you can offer 20 cents and - you just never know - that might take it. But I have seen over and over the make offer option ignored. I relist at a $15 start point and get a bid. I just shake my head.

What is the problem here people?

Assuming you mean to state "MAKE OFFER" as opposed to BUY IT NOW...

Some sellers just ignore offers that are too low, and just let them
expire, while other sellers will either decline or counteroffer...

Some sellers like Langs, whom have a ton of material, most of which
has MAKE OFFER enabled, can take a week or longer to respond, simply
because of the massive amount of material and massive amount of messages...

CanadaStamp....
20c??? what are you talking about??




Randall....
BEST OFFERS from sellers are good for 48
hours.

PS...Langs knows what is happening with his ebay store.
He has his phone (w/app) with him ALL the time.
I have even been with him before when some offers came in...
and he asked me if I would have accepted/declined/countered.

I sent a message to a seller yesterday morning that has 2 items I'm interested and the are both BIN with no best offer option. I asked if he would make a package deal if I bought both items. No response from the seller at all.

The items are $199 and $99. I know if I was selling something that's been sitting for 5 days already with no takers, and I got a message like I sent, I'd be falling all over myself to respond one way or another.

I've never used BIN. I do use the "Make Offer" option. Probably a 50% success rate.

Mike33.....
Yesterday was a Sunday and today is a Holiday....
Maybe the seller is not "in the office"??

I use BIN if it is something I really want, but otherwise rarely. BIN prices rarely fall into the range of interest for me. BIN with Make an Offer will get me more likely to respond. But just a BIN offer is often not going to get my interest.

it depends on what it is, I buy auctions because I am looking for deals but I try to make little sets so if for example I get a small set cheap because its missing a stamp and I know I dont have any I will use a buy it now to get the single stamp I need to complete it and both come about the same time.

Once I used the Make an Offer option on a rather high priced item and the dealer responded that it was too early in the 30 days listing period to really consider any option. The item was so important to my collecting interest and future exhibit that I was afraid some one else would purchase it in the meantime. So, I used the BIN feature about 1 week later to buy it at the asking price.

Here's the item: probably unique

Glenn, I don't know how I personally could put a value on your purchase. It sure looks interesting. Are there comparables out there?

Never used the Make an Offer- don't like the idea of trying to guess what the seller really wants.

The seller can set a limit on the lowest offer they will consider so that offers for 20 cents automatically get rejected. A minimum value for automatically accepting an offer can also be set. There are some techniques I used with buy it now lots.

1- both my son and my wife have ebay accounts. I will use their accounts to submit lowball offers (up to 6!) to get a feel for the seller's attitude when responding or to learn something about their lower limit on price. If an offer gets through, then I know I am slightly above their bottom line and can buy the lot with one of my family's account at a low price.

2- if I am not successful, then I go to my primary account and try 2 offers above the 6 that were rejected.

3- if those 2 offers don't get the lot, I hold the third offer back. Instead, I email the seller and very nicely ask what is the lowest price they would accept. This has worked at times and if asked courteously should not offend the seller.

4- I always take advantage of the opportunity ebay provides to send a note along with every offer to personalize the communications. It does help.

5- if nothing has worked I try my third and last offer.

If "Buy It Now" is available, I figure the seller is willing to haggle,so I make an offer, just as if I was at a flea market or a yard sale. Sometimes it is accepted outright, sometimes the seller counters. But I can't think of an instance where I didn't ultimately make the purchase at fair discount from the original price.

I make offers all the time and am successful at around 20% off the BIN.

Have made two offers with Langs recently and he responded within 2 hours on both occasions even with my odd hours.

eyeonwall wrote:




I often don't use the Make an Offer option either, especially on items under $20, and where the BIN price is competitive with what others are asking. In my case that is just because saving $2 or $3 isn't worth the hassle, especially when the offer is denied or ignored half the time.

On more expensive offerings, I will make an offer. I have purchased a handful of Langs' offerings where he accepted an offer. The problem is that his stuff is so overpriced to begin with, than even after he accepts an offer it is still overpriced, by a large margin. So I do this only for items I really desire and do not see offered anywhere else.

If I feel the offering is what I'm willing to pay then I'll just do it. I'll make an offer based again on what I'm willing to pay.