How do you handle the low-ball offers?

[clovis97]

We sell on ebay for a living, and most of our stuff is listed as a BIN with a best offer.

I like the best offer option for a variety of reasons. Buyers often get a sense that they got a good deal or saved some money, and quite often, we are able to move merchandise at a discounted rate.

Most of the time, the offers are pretty good and fairly solid. Most of those we readily except, especially in this economy. If we have an item that has been sitting for a while, I usually jump on an offer if it is fair.

But at the same time, I get crazy low ball offers.

For instance, I have a bike part listed @ $50. This is NOT going to be a fast moving item. It has a very narrow market, and only fits some of the older models. It has been listed for 22 hours, and some goof-ball offered $10 for it tonight. For the person that backed their overpriced Tundra over one in the driveway, $50 is a good deal.

I have a vintage manual listed for $59. Some dude offered $20. Sure, the $59 price tag is just a wild guess at it's value. Very niche market, but I can't find another one like it. I would entertain $40, but that would be the lowest.

A while back, I listed 3 train cars in super condition. Price was 34.99 each, which was the top o' the market, but a real train guy would know that was a good price considering the condition. Some joker offered $15 each, but only if I shipped them for free. They sold at full price within minutes after his low ball offer.

I have a WWII item listed for $199, B/O. It will eventually sell at that price, and I got an offer for $35.

I know that we can place price limitations on B/O listings, but it is time consuming to do so. And sometimes, I am just guessing at a listing price, so I hate to block out lower offers.

I usually ignore the silly offers. I delete them, or completely ignore them, and give no second thought to it whatsoever.

How do you handle the low-ball offers that are just totally crazy?

Why do people make such low ball offers? I could write a book on how to try to get a good deal, but $35 for a $199 item?

 

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[Iron Patch]

Simple... Anything not close I just decline and am done. Anything close that I am rejecting or countering I write a note thanking them and explaining why I need a little more. You want to play their game back, counter at one dollar under your full price.

You should actually be happy to get lowball offers because it shows other buyers there's interest in the item. If I have something on for $500 and get offered $20 it does tick me off to see it's someone that is not serious, but at the same time others see someone offered on the $500, which would probably be a high price for the item because I tend to start high. In general it's not worth caring about them, and I don't usually have enough time to care about the things I should be caring about!

 

[jerseyben]

How do I deal with it?

I stopped offering B/O because it has never worked for me.

 

[Tallone]

when I list something on ebay with a Best Offer option, I use the feature that automatically accepts or rejects offers based on values I define. The auto-reject feature saves me the hassle of dealing with lowballers.

 

[Keppy]

I always make LOW-Ball offers ...And some time i even get the item.......

 

[jerseyben]

I always make LOW-Ball offers ...And some time i even get the item.......

I have tried it many times. Eventually I just gave up. After having 30 offers rejected in 1 day, it got old quickly.

 

[lookin-for-treasure]

I too, have given up on best offers. The idea behind best offers is good, but I had way too many low balls that just ate up my time. I've found I've been doing better by having markdown sales using the markdown manager. People like the idea of a sale, and makes them feel like they are getting a better deal and have a limited time to get it as I run sales for 3 to 5 days.

 

[jerseyben]

I too, have given up on best offers. The idea behind best offers is good, but I had way too many low balls that just ate up my time. I've found I've been doing better by having markdown sales using the markdown manager. People like the idea of a sale, and makes them feel like they are getting a better deal and have a limited time to get it as I run sales for 3 to 5 days.

Markdown manager? Never heard of it. Please explain.

 

[gerryk]

I have purchased many things on eBay but never sold any. Mostly what I purchased were older radio and ham radio stuff. For some reason the ham radio stuff on eBay is always over priced. I have gone to local swap meets and some bigger swap meets and seen radios in better shape for much less then the minimum price on some eBay radios. For that reason, many people stopped buying the older equipment on ebay. Some of hose sellers had no idea what they were selling, said it looked good and should work, but had no electronics background or radio license. Turns out most of them were people buying bundles from estates and selling on ebay. I purchased a tube tester from a guy who said it worked but needed minor repairs. Half the parts were missing, the cabinet was crushed and the inside was covered with mold. He claimed ignorance saying he didnt know anything about the item and thought thats how it was suppose to be. He had sold many items like that and eventually was banned from ebay.

 

[Beachkid23]

I sell on eBay to for a living. I was doing Lotterby at Nowels with the best offer but I have a lot of stuff sitting. I find that for me it works best with small pieces of sterling jewelry And clothing. Especially jackets. I can't stand a lowball offers either, I had one guy come through an offer me about $70 under spot for each piece of gold jewelry I had. He told me they won't sell for anymore and that he was making the best offer possible. He could not go any higher know if I would please consider his offers. I kindly emailed him back and told him already paid for my safe deposit box for the year I wouldn't be selling them for that low when I could just store it in there for free. Crazy obviously is buying the stuff for scrap. But I've gotten sick of storing stuff at the house so now were just auctioning everything. Seems to be going pretty well we made $3000 so far this month. I'm just trying to clean out everything for Christmas. And get rid of it all!

 

[jerseyben]

I sell on eBay to for a living. I was doing Lotterby at Nowels with the best offer but I have a lot of stuff sitting. I find that for me it works best with small pieces of sterling jewelry And clothing. Especially jackets. I can't stand a lowball offers either, I had one guy come through an offer me about $70 under spot for each piece of gold jewelry I had. He told me they won't sell for anymore and that he was making the best offer possible. He could not go any higher know if I would please consider his offers. I kindly emailed him back and told him already paid for my safe deposit box for the year I wouldn't be selling them for that low when I could just store it in there for free. Crazy obviously is buying the stuff for scrap. But I've gotten sick of storing stuff at the house so now were just auctioning everything. Seems to be going pretty well we made $3000 so far this month. I'm just trying to clean out everything for Christmas. And get rid of it all!

See, this is what ticks me off more than anything else.

When other people take you for a fool or think that you dont know what something is worth.
If you have an ebay store and you have something priced appropriately... You put in 100% of the work to sell it at full value. If you wanted to sell it for scrap you could do so quite easily. When someone swoops in and thinks they can snatch it up SO THEY can sell it for scrap. That kind of mentality just boggles my mind. Insulting and frustrating.

 

[ivan salis]

there are cheap "bottom feeders "out there --they think folks are hard up for cash and will take any offer -- folks often ask me "how much is x worth"? I tell them as little as you will take for it and as much as someone else will pay for it --when those two prices cross , that what its worth between A person and B person at that exact point in time.-- it varies wildly between person to person and place to place --that's the art of haggling.

 

[Baltimore]

While the low ball offers have been annoying the few times I've used them, I admit to occasionally low balling people myself. However, I only do this when it seems that the seller has extremely over priced the item and is just fishing for a sucker. When someone is offering an item for $75 that sells regularly for $15, I sometimes throw in a $10 offer just to see if they will accept anything, or if they genuinely think that their item is more valuable than the 10 others on ebay at the same time. Worst case scenario they ignore me, best case I get the item for a reasonable price. That being said, I would never lowball an item I know to be priced right. That would just be obnoxious.

 

[diggummup]

I don't do best offers anymore, haven't for about a year and a half maybe (?). That being said I still get offers on items and most are halfway decent offers. I sell about 3 items a month from someone offering or asking for a lower price on a BIN item. I just sold an item this way 2 day ago. I took $25 off the BIN price of $149.99. It had been listed for a couple months and I thought that it was a fair offer. I've had counteroffers accepted as well. So the way I see it, a serious buyer will ask anyway, if they are really interested in something. To the lowballers that I do still get, even without the best offer option, I just say no thanks... if I reply at all.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

I have told people, " if you want something for less than a crack addict will steal it for you...you should shop elsewhere..."

really...I do.

 

[clovis97]

While the low ball offers have been annoying the few times I've used them, I admit to occasionally low balling people myself. However, I only do this when it seems that the seller has extremely over priced the item and is just fishing for a sucker. When someone is offering an item for $75 that sells regularly for $15, I sometimes throw in a $10 offer just to see if they will accept anything, or if they genuinely think that their item is more valuable than the 10 others on ebay at the same time. Worst case scenario they ignore me, best case I get the item for a reasonable price. That being said, I would never lowball an item I know to be priced right. That would just be obnoxious.

I've made a low offer or two also, but I've never once thought that I was out of line or obnoxious in any way, especially considering the current market values.

One of the items was a pair of Lionel 2383 engines in near mint condition. Book price was about $450 at the time, and lesser condition engines were selling for $200 to $300. The low end of the market was $75 to $150. The guy was asking $600 or B/O. They had been listed for 30 days.

His listing had just a few hours to go, so I wrote a nice email about how nice they were, but I only had $450 to spend, explained that my offer was on the low side, but if he wanted to let them go at that price, let me know. I was kind and polite in my email.

In reply, the dude sent three of the most hateful emails I've ever received in my life! One of the emails was a week later...that dude was one ticked off guy!

 

[lookin-for-treasure]

Markdown manager? Never heard of it. Please explain.

I have opened up a ebay store account not too long ago. It's one of the marketing tools available through having the store. You can select individual items and mark down as a percentage or a set dollar amount. Also, you can select how long you want your sell to run.

 

[lookin-for-treasure]

I've made a low offer or two also, but I've never once thought that I was out of line or obnoxious in any way, especially considering the current market values.

One of the items was a pair of Lionel 2383 engines in absolutely dead mint condition. Book price was about $450 at the time, and lesser condition engines were selling for $200 to $300. The low end of the market was $75 to $150. The guy was asking $600 or B/O. They had been listed for 30 days.

His listing had just a few hours to go, so I wrote a nice email about how nice they were, but I only had $450 to spend, explained that my offer was on the low side, but if he wanted to let them go at that price, let me know. I was kind and polite in my email.

In reply, the dude sent three of the most hateful emails I've ever received in my life! One of the emails was a week later...that dude was one ticked off guy!

Wow, that guy really was ticked off..lol.. It never hurts to try a lowball offer as one stated below, sometime you will get them. I just like to offer them, not give take them....lol

 

[clovis97]

Wow, that guy really was ticked off..lol.. It never hurts to try a lowball offer as one stated below, sometime you will get them. I just like to offer them, not give take them....lol

I never replied to any of his emails, which must have made him even madder. I've often wondered if the dude had paid over $1,000 for them back in the late 90's when the Lionel market was exploding, and I was the unlucky one to come along when he realized the new true value of his engines.

His set was barely nicer than this one:

Vintage Lionel Train Santa FE Locomotive Engines Pair Original Boxes 2383 T | eBay

 

[vwayne1]

It amazes me how sensitive a lot of people here are about things like this. Especially when most people say they do it also. Making a low offer is a legitimate method of buying. A lot of you have said how offended you are about the low offers. Please consider lightening up and having fun. This whole eBay ride is a lot of fun when you let it be. You really need to take the advice of a previous poster and use the high-low parameters that are available when you choose to use the best offer option. You will only see the offers that fit between your high and low. I kind of miss the days when I was laid off for a year and I was doing this game full time. I learned a lot. And more importantly, I had a blast. Made about 2000 a month , got to go treasure (eBay stock) hunting all the time and probably worked a total of 20-25 hours a week. If I could work out some cheaper health insurance for the family , I would go back to selling full time. Have fun everyone!!!