Ebay Buy It Now Or Make Offer

Apologies John, been away from the board. In case I wasn't clear in the opening post if an item has a make offer option I will always make an offer and I have never just bought an item at the asking price if a make offer is available. I kind of feel as if a seller is telling me, "here is what I really want to sell it for but I'm negotiable".

I agree - if there is a Make An Offer button, I will click on it first. I tend to offer 10% less than listed price, and those offers are mostly accepted, but not always. I have never seen a lot listed at twice what I would be willing to pay and offer half their Buy It Now price - I just won't even try.

I am amused by the (major) seller who lists his Buy It Now price at Catalog Value for stamps that typically sell for 1/3 to 1/2 SCV or less. You're probably all aware of this. Multi-$1000 stamps and it is up to the buyer to come u-p with a price. I refuse to play that game - I am the only one that would possibly get burned. I don't like this tactic at all, and, on principle, won't buy from this seller.

Quasi-related: If I see something with a Buy It Now listing, and don't need it right this minute, I will 'Watch' it. I learned to do this after I did it and got a lower offer from the seller. Maybe 10% of the time, ***I*** now get offers if I am Watching a lot.

If I want it now, and it is reasonably priced, I will Buy It Now. Generally, though, I don't need anything now.

Always make an offer unless the BIN is a steal. If it is a steal, it will get bought before your offer is considered (rare).

I hear you (the community) scoff at low offers, but you'd be surprised at how many are accepted or countered at an immediate large discount. Some people just won't haggle or negotiate so offers are not worth your while (big dealers), but more often than not, I've found it to be very successful as a buyer. As a seller, it is a total pain, because everyone expects a deal, regardless of whether your asking price is good or not.

I find being a buyer is much more satisfying than being a seller, though my better half is thrilled that I'm working to keep the clutter down by selling unneeded items as I go, rather than accumulating a huge disorganized stash as most collectors do. I would hate to try and make a living at it, that's for sure.

I find it interesting and frustrating as a seller to have a listing which is reasonably priced and usually one of the lowest list prices in comparison to other listings and then get an offer at 50% or even lower. In those cases I will counter offer at my lowest acceptable price without taking a loss, but have yet to ever have the counter offer accepted. I don't understand the buyer's motivation because nothing is listed lower, unless they play the same game with each subsequent seller until someone bites.

I am an auction seller but occasionally use BIN. I price items so that an offer of 65% or more is acceptable and then set the option to automatically reject offers below 65%. I never see the low balls so I never get upset by them.

Personally, just depends on the stamp(s) and how valuable they are to me at the time. Have come across several items that catalog for $2.00 or less that I'd been looking for for over a year or more, have paid full asking price as I wanted them right then and there and didn't want to risk missing them for very little money.

On the other side, have stamps that I know are readily available in large quantities so I'll make an offer and if rejected, move on without worrying about it knowing there are plenty more out there in the future.

That just comes from having looked a lot and knowing the market.

A little known feature added to ebay a few months ago is the ability to add Best Offer to auctions. Like the "Buy it Now" feature, it disappears once bidding starts. When ebay added the feature without warning, I saw offers like $20 for an auction item starting at $6. In some cases I accepted the high offer, but in some cases I did not. I believe the feature, if properly configured is a way to provide "Buy it Now" capability without the fees. If the Reject offer amount is set above the starting bid, it can provide the equivalent of "Buy it Now" with the possibility that the buyer will offer above the target price. I haven't tinkered with this because I do not run that many stamp auctions. It is possible to accept offers below the starting bid, but why do that?