Any Seller Use "Submit Best Offer" on eBay?

[gmarguli]

I used it for the first time on my current set of auctions. crackpots on eBay. Either people think it is an invitation to steal or people are insane. I've never seen such wishful thinking offers on stuff.

 

Anyone had good luck with this? I'm thinking that this will be the last time I ever use it if this is the type of offers I'm going to get.

[HaydenTubbs]

I used it for the first time on my current set of auctions. crackpots on eBay. Either people think it is an invitation to steal or people are insane. I've never seen such wishful thinking offers on stuff.

 

Anyone had good luck with this? I'm thinking that this will be the last time I ever use it if this is the type of offers I'm going to get.

I've seen plenty of lowball bids,but you would think people would be a bit more reasonable on their offers. I haven't used it myself,but I've heard other sellers say that it's helped them alot and I was considering it in the future.Maybe not if I'll I was to get was crazy offers.Did you accept any,or were there not any reasonable ones? I may just try it once...

[bigd5]

I sprinkled a few auctions of that type into my listings a little while back.........my comments are similar to yours.

 

I received more idiotic offers than respectable offers, and probably won't use the format again in the near future.

 

I figure there has to be some niche of a product that can work with that format, but I don't have that item.

[cpm9ball]

Greg, Hayden & bigd............a point of view from one buyer:

 

Earlier this year, I purchased three items from one of our members who used the "MAKE AN OFFER" . He accepted one of my offers and rejected the other two. In his response, he indicated an appropriate price that he could "live with". I accepted those offers but apologized for my lowball bids explaining that it was my "flea market" mentality for trying to find a middle ground that would satisfy both of us.

 

As I see it, the biggest drawback for a seller to the "MAKE AN OFFER" option is that you need to respond to many inquiries. Granted, some of them will be too ridiculous with probably only a very slight sprinkling of fair-minded offers, but "when time is money" it would seem that you would be wasting alot for many of the replies.

 

The biggest "positive" that comes from all of the lowball offers is that it tells you that your listings are being viewed by many potential customers. Hopefully, some of them will bookmark your site and come back again and again, this time, with more realistic offers. You'll have to accept the fact that you will never be able to educate an insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

 

Let's look at the other side of the coin. Suppose you, the seller, listed a coin that was reasonably worth $150 with a starting bid of 1c. When the auction has ended, it sold for $250. Would you reject the winning bid for being ridiculously high? I think not.

 

By the way, don't bother asking the identity of the member who sold me the three items earlier this year. I don't want him to be inundated with lowball offers and waste his time.

 

Chris

[gmarguli]

I did accept two of the offers. They were a little lower percentage wise than I would have liked, but I've got so many of the coins that I just want to move them and the total dollar difference was rather meaningless.

 

On some others, what I found amazing was that I checked out the current selling prices on eBay and TeleTrade. I priced mine around 20% below the LOW end of that range. An example of this coin just sold on TT for OVER DOUBLE what I was asking. I received MULTIPLE offers that were around HALF of my asking price.

 

I was expecting that people would use the Submit Best Offer if they were on the fence about something and a couple of dollars would make a difference. I never expected to receive offers to be screwed.

[RobertB]

One guy had a nice Irish commem, NGC MS70 for about $105 with the Make Me an Offer option. I offerd $70, and he accepted. Lowball, maybe, but it worked.

[coinman1794]

I have used that feature very successfully in the past. Maybe it was luck, but for a good stretch, I was able to accept a lot of offers. Granted, I rejected a whole bunch more, but the reasonable ones came along too, for me!

[chinook]

I have used it on a few occasions. Similiar experiences. I have accepted a few offers but for the most part it is a waste of time. It could be a tool to gauge interest though.

[bigd5]

I'm open to legitimate offers. Happens at every show.

 

I'm also very happy to be inundated with inquiries as well.

 

I'm completely turned off to ridiculous lowball offers, and the bulk of what I received when I tried this Ebay feature were of the idiotic lowball nature. Believe me, if there weere enough legitimate offers "sprinkled" in with the lowball offers, I'd continue listing items using that format. It wasn't the case.

[cpm9ball]

I'm open to legitimate offers. Happens at every show.

 

I'm also very happy to be inundated with inquiries as well.

 

I'm completely turned off to ridiculous lowball offers, and the bulk of what I received when I tried this Ebay feature were of the idiotic lowball nature. Believe me, if there weere enough legitimate offers "sprinkled" in with the lowball offers, I'd continue listing items using that format. It wasn't the case.

 

I REALLY, REALLY LIKE your Stone Mtn Commem. Would you be willing to accept $42.63 for it?

 

Chris

[bigd5]