Question On Ebay Sellers Pricing Structure.

I came across a seller on ebay that I found curious. I don't know how the site feels about sellers being named, so I won't at this time.
There are many nice covers listed, and many would be a nice addition to a collection. After scrolling through pages, I noticed an interesting pattern. A lot of them (and not particularly noteworthy) had a standard start price of $85, followed by a make offer.

I know a little bit about not much, but I do know something about somethings, and a lot of these seemed a bit out of range.

So, not disparaging seller, but most sellers seem to take the opposite tact to attract bidders.
Pat

What really matters is what will the seller take as an offer. Some expect 99% and others will take 20%. Still if a generally accepted price for an item is $10 but the seller wants $25, let the seller enjoy owning the item.

You can mention a listing so we can go look and reply. Title, or item number as well what website.

"Buy it now" can be a bit of a minefield. I occasionally make offers which are accepted and some others are met with a counter offer. When faced with a counteroffer, I am sometimes successful at finding a mutually acceptable price. I recently made an offer on some cheap stamps I wanted to complete a page and received a nasty response to the effect that I was trying to "lowball" the price. It seemed obvious to me that I would not offer more than the asking price. I question whether that seller understands the term "offer". An offer is a place to begin. Needless to say, I will not be bidding or buying anytime soon with this seller. Unless what you are looking for is extraordinarily rare, there will be other sellers who have what you need. The market which consists of multiple buyers and sellers will determine the price. Checking completed and sold listings on ebay and other auction sites should give you a pretty good idea of what a reasonable value should be.

It is all about personalities. When I was a young man my friends and I used to go to a junkyard for car parts. It always took courage because the owner was a notorious curmudgeon and haggling could cause a volcanic eruption.

On one such trip a friend of mine was interested in a windshield. The junkyard owner stated the price and my friend countered. Well, things quickly went South and concluded with the owner picking up a sledgehammer and smashing the windshield to bits.

Concur that it's all about personalities (which can be hard to read or to learn when dealing in the online environment).

One thing that sets me off as an ebay seller (well, ok, there are a number of things) are people who offer less than the start price on a pending auction, or who ask me to close an auction and sell to them at the start price [p.s. I don't seek offers on any of my lots, with rare exceptions driven by consignors, so the option isn't there in the first place]. Why would a seller ever rationally do something like that? Wait till the auction closes....

That's ebay's fault. They force the seller to put in a BIN to use Make an Offer. So if a seller wants to collect offers for a few days, they put in a price that likely no one will pay on purpose.

ebay should just let seller put out a Make an Offer listing with no price, then people won't get their feelings hurt because "they're asking too much."

Some sellers seem to reject any offer so I'm not sure why they add it to their listings. I think most will take an offer of 5-10% even 20% off. Some may take more but not often in my experience, however if you don't ask you won't know. I have dickered back and forth both selling and buying. If a seller comes back with a counter you don't like, try another offer a little closer, if it's still in a reasonable range for you.

Another thing a lot of people don't take advantage of is at the left you can narrow your search to only see completed/sold items and see what that stamp/item has recently sold for.

I also don't get bent out of shape if we can't make a deal, there's always another deal, another day. Don't burn a bridge. Other than pure greed, which is alive and well and living in the suburbs, there are sometimes reasons why a seller has a threshold that they can't go below. No harm, no foul, I move on...

I mostly run items at auction but with certain items, I will list them as BIN with no "best offer".

Best offer is simply telling others that you don't expect to get your asking price IMHO. Whenever I did use "or BO", I received ridiculous offers of 50% or less. Almost like the people who go thru listings that start at .99 and bid on everything they see hoping one gets thru and they get a score of a stamp at a steal of a price.

I still get offers on BIN listings but they are very serious offers AND I know that to make an offer, the person has to go thru a tiny bit of work to send me a message and make an offer as opposed to just click a button and move on to the next. Tells me they are interested enough to actually contact me and ask even though they see no best offer option.

Results have been very very good and it weeds out the lunatic offers.

It helps that i'm also not chomping at the bit to sell something and have no problem letting it sit a while before making any changes price wise or whatever.

As always, everyone's experience will differ. Just giving a glimpse of my experience.

I learnt from that post. Thanks.

Inkmanno1: Out of curiosity, if you have no best offer on the ad when you get an offer you like through messages, how do you complete the sale without going outside ebay?

I've done it but as there's no easy option to send a cold-offer to a specific buyer (that I am aware of) it's always a bit of a pain. One option has been to have the buyer purchase it and refund the difference or to have them purchase it and issue a discount on an invoice. Some buyers don't like doing it that way because they are afraid they are technically on the hook for the full price. Is there an easier way that I am oblivious to?

I do use make an offer on many ads but don't really get a lot of lunatics, a few and I'll offer a counter but that's life in the flea market :)

Communication with the buyer. Revise listing with the new agreed upon price and let the buyer know they need to buy it now and not wait hours before someone else decides they want it too, which has never happened yet, fingers crossed. Mine have always been on it and hit BIN immediately with no issues. It's not like the auctions with limited time remaining and the day of or day before people see things they want.

Also have had them pay and I then refund a agreed upon amount. Both ways have worked fine for me. I believe it helps also for the buyer seeing that you are agreeable to a negotiation, meaning you as the seller are legit and serious. Seeing your other items and feedback helps too, no matter what some think of the whole feedback system, which yes is extremely flawed.

Thanks for all the replies. As I said there are many fine cards I wish I could have. I see a lot of discounting starting to happen (25%), maybe even before I started to look.Just my own opinion,but I see a lot in the $10-$20 range; if it fits your specialty

But as the baseball team RPPC showed, if it's what you desire, you pay the price.

As example I see no multiplier for this particular cover.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/132562376442

I have a bid on one similar, even nicer (I think) for $1.50.

As for this seller, I see no reason (at all) for this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184864220963

Best to all,
Pat

What's not to understand? He doesn't want anyone to use BIN. He wants to collect offers for a few days as I explained.

ebay, in their silliness, won't let you collect offers with out a BIN.

What's not to understand???

I'd say putting a 99 cent cover up for $209.99 is in the "play stupid games" arena.

pat

patg,
What do you propose should be done about it?
Every seller has a right to start an item at any price they desire.
I see no story here at all.

I have done business with this seller for years. However the current trend of $85 and up opens is something quite new. Before I read this thread, days ago, I sent him a message about an $85 BIN/MO on an item which is Scott Listed at $7.50.

That said, he currently has 73,829 listing ranging in price from $1.39 to $6000.00 so to say he is only listing at $85 may be current for the moment, but far from normal.

As to the idea he is collecting offers, my offers have been replied to, accepted or countered, with in a short period of time.