What is your "Best Offer" strategy?

Messier2 · Aug 13, 2010

I put a few cards up here and there on BIN/BO and also buy stuff using that method.

My strategy for buying is that I will do a BO within the market price of a card. For example, if a card sells consitently for $90...I will do my BO of $80 or $90 (if I really want the card). Now, the seller can decline or counter and we go from there.

BUT, there are buyers who do the "start low and negotiate later" strategy. As a seller, I hate these because you don't know if a buyer is lowballing you or looking to negotiate. If I have a card that sells for $100 and your first offer is $10..you WILL BE blocked from future bidding on my items. I hear all the time that people use that as a "starting point"...but me thinks you are trying to lowball me and I don't have the patience to deal with that.

So, what are your BIN/BO strategy?

BunchOBull · Aug 13, 2010

I tend to offer recent market value, whether it be 90% of the original asking price or 10%.

I win many best offers with "savings" (as eBay likes to call it) rates of 70+%.

matfanofold · Aug 13, 2010

This is why you set an auto decline.

If you list a BIN/BO for $100, set the auto decline for anything below ~$50(or whatever ammount you think is a lowball ammount). It will save you the hassle of dealing with thoes who you do not wish to deal with.

What really bothers me though is when you make a fair offer, and it's just ignored. No declined, no counter, just expires... I recently offered $12 on a BIN/BO of $14 because thats all I had in my PayPal at the time. The offer just expired without response. Why put up a BO if you are not going to field them?

Mudcatsfan · Aug 13, 2010

really depends on the card. If something isn't actively selling for big money, its perfectly reasonable to start low and see if they're just willing to take anything on it.

For stuff that's hot, and has a pretty defined 'ebay value' i start pretty close to that value.

Some guy wanted $300 for a Montero Ref BGS 9.5, but they were selling for around 120 so i offered 100 and he accepted.

So did i lowball him? or was he just asking way too much ? Its all relative.

schillingfan · Aug 13, 2010

If the seller's BIN price is reasonable, I'll offer something pretty close ($5-10) to it. This almost always works and has landed me some nice deals.

If their BIN is ridiculously high, in hopes of getting someone to just hit it, I offer slightly below market value and write a note that I'm open to negotiating. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. It gives you a better idea of what the seller is really looking to get on it.

If a card has been up for a long time, I may lowball a little bit more than usual in hopes that the seller is willing to just move it at that point. For example, I just won a Schilling minor league BGS 9.5 for $5 because it had been up for sale for a very long time.

200lbhockeyplayer · Aug 13, 2010

Messier2 said:
I put a few cards up here and there on BIN/BO and also buy stuff using that method.

My strategy for buying is that I will do a BO within the market price of a card. For example, if a card sells consitently for $90...I will do my BO of $80 or $90 (if I really want the card). Now, the seller can decline or counter and we go from there.

BUT, there are buyers who do the "start low and negotiate later" strategy. As a seller, I hate these because you don't know if a buyer is lowballing you or looking to negotiate. If I have a card that sells for $100 and your first offer is $10..you WILL BE blocked from future bidding on my items. I hear all the time that people use that as a "starting point"...but me thinks you are trying to lowball me and I don't have the patience to deal with that.

So, what are your BIN/BO strategy?

We agree on every aspect, especially the low-baller approach. I sold a card for $240 a few weeks ago and I received a low ball for $40. After it sold I got a message from the low baller something to the effect of "I was expecting you to counter me, I would have paid $250 easily." And while that may have been the case, by offering $40, you certainly don't position yourself to be a serious buyer, and I'll treat you accordingly.

Of course, I have bantered about with lame offers before, for example:
BIN/BO of $350 (aiming for the sky)
1st offer of $50
1st counter of $275 (about 10% off the average last auctions)
2nd offer/counter by buyer $75
2nd counter by me $349.99

I'm not into the game playing on eBay, but I'll get entertaining with it for myself if almost requested to do so.

Fandruw25 · Aug 13, 2010

I post my best offer if I want the card unless the BIN is ridiculously overpriced. If the seller gets offended or counters, I'll just decline and move on.

ballerskrip · Aug 13, 2010

I typically start at 85-90%. Some times it is accepted and usually gets me a fair counter offer.

I still don't understand some sellers and their BINs. For example a seller has a starlin castro auto with a BIN for $100 (really, is he nuts?). I offer $28 which is right in the middle of the ebay completed listings. The counteroffer was $60. I then offer $31 and am declined. $31 was more than the average selling price the last weeks......ehhhh. Screw em

Skrip

muskiesfan · Aug 13, 2010

I don't play games. If there is a BIN/BO and I feel the BIN is too high, I simply offer what I am willing to pay. Either the seller accepts or not.

A little story. A seller had a card listed that I needed for $75 BIN/BO, way overpriced. I offered $35 which was a little more than I wanted to go, but they don't come often so I thought what the hell. The seller comes back with $73. I re-countered with $40 which was at least $10 more than the card normally sells for. The seller came back with $74. It's his card and he can hold out for as much as he thinks he can get, but why bother having a BO option if you're not willing to negotiate at all? If $73-75 is really what you feel you must get, just list the card at a BIN in that price range with no BO option.

JVC · Aug 13, 2010

matfanofold said:
This is why you set an auto decline.

If you list a BIN/BO for $100, set the auto decline for anything below ~$50(or whatever ammount you think is a lowball ammount). It will save you the hassle of dealing with thoes who you do not wish to deal with.

What really bothers me though is when you make a fair offer, and it's just ignored. No declined, no counter, just expires... I recently offered $12 on a BIN/BO of $14 because thats all I had in my PayPal at the time. The offer just expired without response. Why put up a BO if you are not going to field them?

The only reason I tend not to use auto-decline is because buyers will make incremental offers to see what your minimum acceptable offer is and will assume that is what you're willing to accept for the item.

autocut · Aug 13, 2010

just whatever it is worth to me as a lot of people won't negotiate and go back and forth. It's either yay or nay.

matfanofold · Aug 13, 2010

JVC said:
matfanofold said:

This is why you set an auto decline.

If you list a BIN/BO for $100, set the auto decline for anything below ~$50(or whatever ammount you think is a lowball ammount). It will save you the hassle of dealing with thoes who you do not wish to deal with.

What really bothers me though is when you make a fair offer, and it's just ignored. No declined, no counter, just expires... I recently offered $12 on a BIN/BO of $14 because thats all I had in my PayPal at the time. The offer just expired without response. Why put up a BO if you are not going to field them?

Click to expand...

The only reason I tend not to use auto-decline is because buyers will make incremental offers to see what your minimum acceptable offer is and will assume that is what you're willing to accept for the item.

Thats fair, but I was simply addressing the op with his issues with low ball offers. If he simply set the auto decline at what he thinks is a low ball offer threshold, then he would not be bothered with it anymore.

Messier2 · Aug 13, 2010

matfanofold said:
JVC said:

matfanofold said:

This is why you set an auto decline.

If you list a BIN/BO for $100, set the auto decline for anything below ~$50(or whatever ammount you think is a lowball ammount). It will save you the hassle of dealing with thoes who you do not wish to deal with.

What really bothers me though is when you make a fair offer, and it's just ignored. No declined, no counter, just expires... I recently offered $12 on a BIN/BO of $14 because thats all I had in my PayPal at the time. The offer just expired without response. Why put up a BO if you are not going to field them?

Click to expand...

The only reason I tend not to use auto-decline is because buyers will make incremental offers to see what your minimum acceptable offer is and will assume that is what you're willing to accept for the item.

Click to expand...

Thats fair, but I was simply addressing the op with his issues with low ball offers. If he simply set the auto decline at what he thinks is a low ball offer threshold, then he would not be bothered with it anymore.

Now I do...I didn't in the past and really got some laughable offers! It gave me some humor at first but also, I was like WTF when I see them!

Good insights guys, keep 'em coming!

pigskincardboard · Aug 13, 2010

ballerskrip said:
I typically start at 85-90%. Some times it is accepted and usually gets me a fair counter offer.

I still don't understand some sellers and their BINs. For example a seller has a starlin castro auto with a BIN for $100 (really, is he nuts?). I offer $28 which is right in the middle of the ebay completed listings. The counteroffer was $60. I then offer $31 and am declined. $31 was more than the average selling price the last weeks......ehhhh. Screw em

Skrip

I can tell you why people do this and it's because they're not into the daily grind of eBay.

We've all seen 30 dollar cards become 60 dollar cards overnight, right? Sometimes it's just one buyer that wants one card right then and there because Castro had a good game last night (really good game actually) and he'll hit it.

So when someone lists a BIN and they don't want to edit the price over and over again to reflect market value, they'll just put a high BIN and play it by ear. They probably don't follow half the guys on a dialy basis and would prefer not to have to raise prices because of just one good night.

So, they toss it up there with a BIN of 3x the going rate and hope for the best. They're protecting themselves from a card jumping up over night and being left out in the dark.

nyc3 · Aug 13, 2010

What I hate is when people show me a list of cards that sold recently. If you are going to do this dicky move make sure you are comparing the same card. I was selling an extremely low numbered 3 color LETTERMAN patch last week and some tool sends me an offer for 1/4 of what I was asking showing me a 1 color small window patch saying hey same player same price.

schmidtfan20 · Aug 13, 2010

Ebay doesn't give you many chances to make offers, once you are out you are out.

I also think that some sellers really don't even want to sell the card, like at card shows when guys have certain
cards marked stupidly high. They just want to show off the card and have guys drool over it. whatever.

Kevin

schillingfan · Aug 13, 2010

nyc3 said:
What I hate is when people show me a list of cards that sold recently. If you are going to do this dicky move make sure you are comparing the same card. I was selling an extremely low numbered 3 color LETTERMAN patch last week and some tool sends me an offer for 1/4 of what I was asking showing me a 1 color small window patch saying hey same player same price.

If a seller balks at my offer, I will then send them links to completed auctions for the exact same card to show that my offer is sometimes even higher than the card typically sells for. For example, a 93 Finest Refractor PSA 9 came up with a BIN of $250 or BO. The last few have sold for right around $100. I offered $125 because that's typically the highest they'll sell for. He counters with $220. ::facepalm::

I've run into quite a few sellers who don't care if 5 copies of a card have sold at the exact price and you're offering 10-20% more, they just won't budge. Their loss.

nyc3 · Aug 13, 2010

schillingfan said:
If a seller balks at my offer, I will then send them links to completed auctions for the exact same card to show that my offer is sometimes even higher than the card typically sells for. For example, a 93 Finest Refractor PSA 9 came up with a BIN of $250 or BO. The last few have sold for right around $100. I offered $125 because that's typically the highest they'll sell for. He counters with $220. ::facepalm::

I've run into quite a few sellers who don't care if 5 copies of a card have sold at the exact price and you're offering 10-20% more, they just won't budge. Their loss.

In that case I agree, but when you are selling a letterman and are offered a quarter of what its worth and then have to click links to look at topps series 2 patches I have a problem with that :lol:

msink28 · Aug 13, 2010

I almost always offer a little less than I'm willing to pay, since I don't know what the seller is willing to take. Sometimes I get counter offers, others not. I've been auto-rejected a few times on what I thought were very reasonable offers.

The format irritates me from both a seller's and buyer's perspective. From a seller's perspective, I detest when I'm selling something rare and low numbered, someone lowballs me, and has something snarky to say in a note. If there aren't any completed listings for me to look at, I can't really just "take your word that this is what they go for," now can I?

From a buyer's perspective, I get irritated with sellers who start out at 4x the going rate for a card from completed listings. They'll get upset because I'm lowballing them, but I'm really not. I refuse to bid on those items anymore.

Sellers who use the format often baffle me. As I understand it, you have 48 hours to accept the offer. Yet I often see sellers, particularly on popular new cards, accept offers within 12 hours of the offer. That's purely a dominated strategy. First, if you're worried about a buyer not paying, this won't fix the problem. The buyer still has at least 4 days to pay. Second, if you receive one offer that you like, the probability of you receiving a better offer is probably conditionally higher if it's something that's popular. I'm not sure why sellers don't at least wait out the offer period.

JVC · Aug 13, 2010

msink28 said:
I almost always offer a little less than I'm willing to pay, since I don't know what the seller is willing to take. Sometimes I get counter offers, others not. I've been auto-rejected a few times on what I thought were very reasonable offers.

The format irritates me from both a seller's and buyer's perspective. From a seller's perspective, I detest when I'm selling something rare and low numbered, someone lowballs me, and has something snarky to say in a note. If there aren't any completed listings for me to look at, I can't really just "take your word that this is what they go for," now can I?

From a buyer's perspective, I get irritated with sellers who start out at 4x the going rate for a card from completed listings. They'll get upset because I'm lowballing them, but I'm really not. I refuse to bid on those items anymore.

Sellers who use the format often baffle me. As I understand it, you have 48 hours to accept the offer. Yet I often see sellers, particularly on popular new cards, accept offers within 12 hours of the offer. That's purely a dominated strategy. First, if you're worried about a buyer not paying, this won't fix the problem. The buyer still has at least 4 days to pay. Second, if you receive one offer that you like, the probability of you receiving a better offer is probably conditionally higher if it's something that's popular. I'm not sure why sellers don't at least wait out the offer period.

In many cases, sellers will accept the offer early on in the offer process because buyers have the option of retracting the offer. There have been several times when I received an offer I liked only to see it retracted a few hours later.

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