It’s an interesting perspective as someone who both buys and sells on eBay. I know that a lot of people don’t sell, so I’m going to gripe from the view of a seller.
I pay for a monthly fee for an eBay store, something that I don’t plan to do much longer. The reason I do this is so that I can have my “free” 150 fixed price listings a month. It’s very rare that I don’t have the “Best Offer” option selected.
I’m sure that the buyers out there have gripes about sellers. Heck, I have them myself. I am one of “those” sellers that will sometimes put a high dollar, rare, etc. card on there with a ridiculously high price. For example, this Russell Wilson is mine. I have it listed at a BIN of $500. Do I expect to get that? No. However, there is a “best offer” option to send offers. This card is a case of when you want to use this option. I have a number that I want to get out of it and if someone hits that number, I will accept it.
Lately, I have been running a lot of sales in my store. There’s stuff that I would like to move. However, I’m not desperate to move it. I have marked many of these down 50% and now, am even running 60% off a lot of items. I’ve become very frustrated at marking items down at such a high percentage, then people still trying to get them for 75% of what I was originally asking.
On the end of the buyer, I can understand, somewhat. You always want to get something as cheaply as you can so that you can allocate funds to other PC items. However, when someone’s already come down that far, do you REALLY think they are going to accept an even lower offer? Maybe some sellers do, I suppose that I can’t truly say.
What I can tell you is that I won’t accept. I have actually declined before and after the sale ended, had the person come back and offer what I had it marked down to before. Then, I have declined again, just on principle. Maybe it makes me angry or another negative adjective that you want to call me. However, it is what it is. It actually irritates me to the point that just typing this piece out has me all fired up.
<Steps off soapbox>
Okay, I’m better now. The purpose of this was twofold. One, I needed to vent. Secondly, as a buyer, you should also take just a moment and think about it from the other side of the fence. Someday you might be in that same position.
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“had the person come back and offer what I had it marked down to before. Then, I have declined again, just on principle.”
I am with you on that. I don’t sell often, and I think people are either incredibly dumb, or think someone will take the first offer they receive. I have put up some BIN or BO, and the offers are a quarter the BIN or less. I don’t BIN a crazy number. I research was past copies of the card, or similar, have sold for and base it on that. But if 10 copies of a card have sold from 70-110 buck or so (for example), and I list it at $120, don’t offer $25. That’s just stupid and rude.
And another situation: if I counter by finding the middle between my price and your offer, don’t counter again raising your offer a buck or two. That will get an immediate decline and you pay the BIN or take a hike. We all want a deal, but supply and demand sets the price. Welcome to Economics 101.
I appreciate the comment…it lets me know that I’m certainly not alone in my frustration!
I understand where you are coming from, as I both buy and sell in eBay. My only comment is that when an item is marked extremely high and then marked down by 50% or more, it’s hard to tell what a seller is truly looking to make. Sure, some lowball offers are ridiculous. But there are also others that are made with sincerity because the buyer feels the offer is fair. I try not to take it personally. My blood pressure is too high to begin with!