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Noticed this new feature for sellers recently, tried it a couple of times, to no interest.
You?
It had worked for me in the past but you have to put in a reasonable offer not some mad cheeky offer. Recently I sold a nice set of carbon handlebars on there, they cost me £400, the guy offered me £10.
No. Not in my experience.
I've been trying to sell a midi interface for a guitar into a computer and I've had some wild offers, so just ignored them.
So that really sums it up, just ignore them.
As above, yes, I've had some success with it (from both sides). However 90% of the time buyers think "25% of asking price is fair" and sellers think "I will only entertain 95% of the asking price".
ETA: As a seller you can auto-reject offers you're not interested in, which helps weed out the "£5, mate?" rubbish.
I think the problem is that eBay defaults Fixed price ads to allow offers without sellers really noticing.
Personally I’ve accepted offers of 90% or higher
Has worked for me (buying) but then I don't take the piss.
I’ve bought and sold with offers, don’t take the piss if offering, and have auto reject if selling. Also if selling, don’t put ‘or best offer’ if you are only willing to accept 20p under asking price...
Hold on, I don't mean making taking offers alongside a "buy it now" price. I almost always do that and it works well.
If the item you are selling has watchers you can now send them an offer lower than the BIN price.
That's what I meant.
Yep, have used it when selling and bought my bass guitar by offering what I thought was quite low, but it was accepted.
If the item you are selling has watchers you can now send them an offer lower than the BIN price.
That’s what I meant.
Nope, never used that. Ignore my post above.
If the item you are selling has watchers you can now send them an offer lower than the BIN price.
Ah. Didn’t know that, I wouldn’t bother, gives potential buyers the impression that you are desperate to sell, if they were interested, they’d make you an offer...
Ah, sorry, misunderstood.
I have actually sold through this, however only after a reasonably involved conversation with an interested buyer who after asking some clued up questions and made it clear he would collect something bulky asked "Would you accept £x?". I then sent it through as an offer and he accepted.
Yep, worked quite well gor me selling loads of electronics and camera gear through work.
Bear in mind most watchers are just watching to see if it sells with no real intention of buying, why would you watch a buy it now listing?
It does help if your realistic with pricing. We were clearing space in the store room, freeing up cash for new gear and the old stuff didnt owe us anything so were happy to dispose of it at a lot less than it might have gone for if we'd wanted to wait months/years for someone to want that particular niche bit of kit
It does work, bought and sold a few items using it. Once though a bike I wanted was £1800 or best offer. I would have paid the asking but put in a offer for £1650. That was rejected but you get 3 offers so I went £1700 then £1750, all were turned down. In the end I didn't buy purly on principle, why say offers unless your prepared to accept even slightly less than the asking price ?
They charge you to list if you don't add it
In my experience they do work, if I'm selling something for 60 and get offered 55 or 50 if not much other interest I'll likely take it.
Had the same the other way too, often a few quick counter offers to meet in the middle and the deal is done.
Be careful though, I saw a pair of hiking boots the other day, new, but from a private seller and close to price you can get them for online. Offered half that expecting either a straight declined or a counter offer but got accepted straight away. Paid thinking "result!" but then thought it was odd so looked at their other items and it was all high end outdoor gear, perfume and aftershave. So likely nicked, maybe fake. Can't prove anything though so I now have a dodgy pair of boots!
Ah, just read the follow up. Nah, not used that or been offered anything with it
I received one tonight. I'd accept if it was for me, but I was just showing my son examples of decent winter boots for our upcoming trip to Poland.
Used it for the first time last month. Never knew about it, but eBay sent a message saying I’d a watcher and did I want to send them a buyers offer. Tried it and the buyer accepted my offer, nice and easy. Like most people, I overprice my buy it now, knowing I’ll get battered down. This new offer lets you tell a watcher what it is you’re actually after. I’d put the item at £35 plus postage, offered it at £30 including postage.
Yes and both ways , send reasonable offers and get reasonable response, the newer feature where the seller can send an offer to the watcher is also working for me, last item was 1/3 off the buy it now price - you just need to know the reasonable prices - which includes checking the completed items prices.
Nope sent lots of offers with decent discount over last few months and never got a single nibble 🙁
Bear in mind most watchers are just watching to see if it sells with no real intention of buying, why would you watch a buy it now listing?
Backup if an auction or another offer doesn't go your way?
Worked on me recently. Seller sent me an offer that was 1/3 less than their BIN, but the going rate, and I accepted. Why they didn't just list the BIN as that i don't know.
I often watch items if I’m interested but think that they’re over priced and either there’s no offer feature or the seller isn’t willing to accept what I think is a reasonable offer.
If everyone else thinks it’s overpriced (I.e. doesn’t sell) then the seller might reduce the price. I’ll then see that as I’m watching the item.
A lot of watchers aren't neccesarily potential buyers. They might be potential sellers who are gauging the market for similar items they want to sell
They might be potential sellers who are gauging the market for similar items they want to sell
Do they not have a whateveritistrackworld to ask/advertise on?
tried on a bike once, 3 offers no luck, then ebay had a 10% off thing and i ended up getting bike for less than my lowest offer
on another occasion I had offer accepted for a nearly new shock a got a fair discount
defo worth putting in an offer or two - nothing to lose by doing so
I've used it when selling but only ended up with silly offers.
a few particularly stupid offers were countered with a massively inflated price (Item for sale £200, offered £50; countered with £1k). The responses I got to those counters were enough to cement that the people weren't chancers, they were morons.
why would you watch a buy it now listing?
I do it all the time. If I am deciding between a couple of different options I will have them both in my watch list until I decide which one I want.
As for the sending watchers an offer I don't really see the point of that, I just reduce the price until it sells if it is not selling.
If you don't ask .. (but don't take the piss)
I've started making offers of modest reductions. Two rejections and a tenner off some used Haglöfs snowboarding trousers so far.
It is not about asking. This question is about the new feature on eBay where as a Seller you can send an offer to people who are watching your item.
I've sent out loads of offers with the feature.. usually with a healthy 20% discount. Rarely works for me.
If the item you are selling has watchers you can now send them an offer lower than the BIN price.
That’s what I meant.
As a buyer, several times -
I've watched things, then received an offer of price dropped by 10% or 20%, then bought it on the back of the offer.
However - I've not used it as a seller.
The existing scheme, as a seller, yes I have accepted offers made by buyers, if what I was listing had been up for a while without obvious interest.
yep it works for me, got a few trainers in the loft i sell now and again to raise funds from time to time, list them at £120-150, wait for the watchers then boom send an offer at £100, job done..
ps. £1 listing on ebay this weekend started today
Yes. This week:
Box open Motorola One Action listed at £179.
I offered £149.
Countered and we agreed at £159.
30 seconds work saved me £20.
That is not the same thing. The Send offer in this post is referring to the newish feature where I as the seller can see you are watching my item and send you, the buyer, a reduced price offer.
I was watching something last week that was £50, left it in my watch list for a few hours and seller sent me an offer to buy at £40. I was actually going to buy it later that day at £50 anyway so that was a bonus.
I offered £14 for a £16 8 speed 11-34 cassette successfully, so I treated myself to a bag of extra large flaming hot Wotsits and popped a quid in my youngest's piggy bank. Hardly world changing, but little things.
Lol people are still talking about the wrong types of offer...
Yep, I thought it was pretty clear
"The Send offer in this post is referring to the newish feature where I as the seller can see you are watching my item and send you, the buyer, a reduced price offer."
I think it's partly ebay's attempt to head off the direct messagers the "fiver and a PS2 controller" type nobbers that pop up any time you put something up on as a seven day auction and to stimulate more completed listings, ebay has gotten ridiculous in recent years with bidding fever on several items, and other stuff not shifting due to sellers unreasonable expectations...
I've used "make an offer" it to put sensible offers for overpriced BIN items, which is probably why the seller has opted to have it on the listing, only been accepted once.
Putting the "make an offer" option on an auction with a reasonable starting price just sends the message that the seller will take a quicker sale for the 'right' price whatever that might be, I'd rather bid and lose to someone richer and/or dumber than punt in a speculative offer with no indication of the seller's expectations.
The feature to allow sellers to put an offer price out to watchers is an interesting one, I've had BIN items on my watch list a few times lately and received these, and I can see how they're useful, firstly it let's the seller send the offer to all of the item's watchers, so it's only going to interested parties, not speculative bidders that get buyers remorse when they unexpectedly win an auction. Secondly the BIN price can be just a little on the high side in order to make that offer price seem more reasonable when it's sent...
Personally if I'm selling I either put it up a low starting price (99p?) and let it run, or at a BIN price that's in line with the current market. I'm not keen on adding a button that effectively asks to be low-balled, and if I put it up as BIN it's specifically because I didn't want to haggle...
Lol people are still talking about the wrong types of offer…
You mean... it’s actually better if people read the whole thread before posting?? Crazy talk! 🤪
I agree with everyone else that it's a great feature that allows chancers such as us to pop in the cheekiest of offers, in the hope they'll accept it 😉
Slight hijack here but people who offer me 50 or even 60% less than my already low asking price need to go sit on a spike, and people who don't leave feedback even when you've asked nicely and given them a total bargain, what's their problem. I have two types of buyer, extremely happy and impressed, then plain ignorant.
Feedback is largely a thing of the past now. I always post my items very well packed, and same day or next day at worst (although I state 2 days).
Many years ago I would get feedback on around 90% of sales whereas today I get feedback on about 10% of sales. People are just not bothering with it anymore. I don't know if the fact I have 2000+ and at 100% means they feel they don'#t need to?
Rarely. Sometimes I wonder why they even put the option up if they aren't going to be bothered to counter-offer.
I've been trying it recently - I got a pallet of audiobooks and it turns out quite a few are reasonably rare ie the only copy on eBay Uk
I've been pricing strong and then making offers when people have been putting in their watch list.
So far it's not been the best of strategies - I'm not sure if it's because it's new or due to the fact they last for 48 hours and users miss them?
I'm going to keep on trying!