eBay best offers.....

[maxpower]

Not like this isn't rehashed every week, but since everyone else is chiming in, I'll throw in my two cents.

To the Buyer: if I'm priced above "market" price, then by all means, please feel free to purchase from someone that's selling at "market" price.

If no one else is selling, then the relevant market is you and me and your "market" price doesn't mean much. Just because you could have bought a card for $4 last week doesn't mean that the price will stay the same this week.

 

[autocut]

Not like this isn't rehashed every week, but since everyone else is chiming in, I'll throw in my two cents.

To the Buyer: if I'm priced above "market" price, then by all means, please feel free to purchase from someone that's selling at "market" price.

If no one else is selling, then the relevant market is you and me and your "market" price doesn't mean much. Just because you could have bought a card for $4 last week doesn't mean that the price will stay the same this week.

valuable 2 cents

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I usually add at least one bidder to my blocked list per week . There is a significant difference between making a fair market value offer to a seller that the seller feels is too low (based on what the seller thinks he/she will eventually get or based on what they have in it), and making a ridiculously lowball offer that is a fraction of fair market value.

I.E., when I get an offer for a Wil Myers Blue Refractor BGS 9.5 for $100, that bidder is getting added to my blocked list because I know that that bidder isn't approaching the negotiation seriously. They are only serious about getting a steal, or they are seriously retarded since they apparently believe I can't find the completed auctions link.

From personal experience, I've noticed more incompetant buyers than irrational sellers, and honestly, you can't complain about an irrational seller because chances are, they will eventually get their price.

Signed, cardboardbeauties

Or, perhaps, they feel your BIN is completely unrealistic, but is willing to purchase it at fair market value. By offering a low sum, they are hoping you come down and in response to same, they will make a significant jump up and hopefully meet somewhere in the middle and make a sale that benefits both parties.

However, since you blocked that buyer in an act of immaturity, you've missed out on a potential sale. Good move.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I don't really care one way or the other. When I offer, I send in the most I'm willing to pay. If it's not good enough, there is always another card I want for my collection. As a seller, I get a kick out of some of the offers so it gives me a good laugh.

My favorite is when I had a BGS 8 '93 SP Jeter recently in one of the older holders. One of the subs was a 7.5. I put a BIN of $90 as in the completed section, BGS 8's had been going for anywhere between $75-$92. So I went high in hopes of getting an offer of $80. Anyway, some guy offers me $60 and I counter with $85. He went to $65 and told me that the sub of 7.5 is what was truly killing the card so $65 is being generous. SO, I look at all of his completed auctions that he sold. Low and behold, he had sold a BGS 8 '93 SP Jeter, older holder, with the SAME SUBGRADES for $90 two weeks before. Needless to say, I canceled, told him I wasn't interested in selling low so someone else could flip, and told him that next time, make sure his completed auctions ran off the clock before he pulled that again on someone else. Then I blocked him.

You blocked him? Why? You were looking for $80 - you got him to go from $60 to $65 -- you knew he sold the same card earlier for $90 - a simple note saying, "Hey, I know you sold this for $90 two weeks ago - $80 is the best I can do" might have made you a sale. Now you've lost any potential bids from this guy who may have purchased other cards from you in the future.

And for what? To punish him? In an act of aggression?

I just don't get it.

 

[gvsu96]

I love BIN's that have A BO option and it's set with an auto decline that is $2.00 less than the BIN. Why even to that? Just set the BIN with no BO with the price you want.

 

[bballcardkid]

I usually add at least one bidder to my blocked list per week . There is a significant difference between making a fair market value offer to a seller that the seller feels is too low (based on what the seller thinks he/she will eventually get or based on what they have in it), and making a ridiculously lowball offer that is a fraction of fair market value.

I.E., when I get an offer for a Wil Myers Blue Refractor BGS 9.5 for $100, that bidder is getting added to my blocked list because I know that that bidder isn't approaching the negotiation seriously. They are only serious about getting a steal, or they are seriously retarded since they apparently believe I can't find the completed auctions link.

From personal experience, I've noticed more incompetant buyers than irrational sellers, and honestly, you can't complain about an irrational seller because chances are, they will eventually get their price.

Signed, cardboardbeauties

Or, perhaps, they feel your BIN is completely unrealistic, but is willing to purchase it at fair market value. By offering a low sum, they are hoping you come down and in response to same, they will make a significant jump up and hopefully meet somewhere in the middle and make a sale that benefits both parties.

However, since you blocked that buyer in an act of immaturity, you've missed out on a potential sale. Good move.

Jeff, note the bolded section of my comment. Seems like you completely skimmed through my response and didn't read the fine print (pun intended).

And to those telling the seller that they shouldn't get offended by a lowball offer, that's what makes the world go round. Some buyers/sellers are consciously aware of how they are perceived by others. On the contrary, some don't really give a damn. When I'm buying, I don't want to look like ****** by offering a stupidly low price for an item when I know precisely what the card is currently selling for. As a seller, I expect to be treated the same. Again, different strokes for different folks.

And to those

 

[RZimm11]

I love BIN's that have A BO option and it's set with an auto decline that is $2.00 less than the BIN. Why even to that? Just set the BIN with no BO with the price you want.

Exactly this.

Why even put the BO option available? If you're looking for a price, put it there. Putting the BO option there just wastes everyone's time. If you use it, it gives the impression that you will negotiate.

Negotiating doesn't mean taking 95 for something you have at 100, and getting mad because someone offered you 75. If there is something listed at 100, and I'd like to pay 75, I'll normally put around 50-60 (depending on the card) and hopefully look to meed somewhere in the middle, because I'm expecting to negotiate, not ever expecting to get it at that offer. That's why there is the counter-offer ability.

I did just about that on a fairly big purchase recently. Offered 250 on an item market 325 (about 25% lower than listed). After a couple offers, I got it for 295. I'm happy and the seller was obviously ok with it.

If you're not willing to take 10 seconds out of your high-and-mighty busy schedules to counter an offer, DON'T PUT IT AS AN OPTION!

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I usually add at least one bidder to my blocked list per week . There is a significant difference between making a fair market value offer to a seller that the seller feels is too low (based on what the seller thinks he/she will eventually get or based on what they have in it), and making a ridiculously lowball offer that is a fraction of fair market value.

I.E., when I get an offer for a Wil Myers Blue Refractor BGS 9.5 for $100, that bidder is getting added to my blocked list because I know that that bidder isn't approaching the negotiation seriously. They are only serious about getting a steal, or they are seriously retarded since they apparently believe I can't find the completed auctions link.

From personal experience, I've noticed more incompetant buyers than irrational sellers, and honestly, you can't complain about an irrational seller because chances are, they will eventually get their price.

Signed, cardboardbeauties

Or, perhaps, they feel your BIN is completely unrealistic, but is willing to purchase it at fair market value. By offering a low sum, they are hoping you come down and in response to same, they will make a significant jump up and hopefully meet somewhere in the middle and make a sale that benefits both parties.

However, since you blocked that buyer in an act of immaturity, you've missed out on a potential sale. Good move.

Jeff, note the bolded section of my comment. Seems like you completely skimmed through my response and didn't read the fine print (pun intended).

And to those telling the seller that they shouldn't get offended by a lowball offer, that's what makes the world go round. Some buyers/sellers are consciously aware of how they are perceived by others. On the contrary, some don't really give a damn. When I'm buying, I don't want to look like ****** by offering a stupidly low price for an item when I know precisely what the card is currently selling for. As a seller, I expect to be treated the same. Again, different strokes for different folks.

And to those

no, I didn't skim through your response whatsoever. I read it and responded. Just because you get a $10 opening offer on a $100 item that you've listed for $150 doesn't mean that after two rounds of negotations, the bidder may go up to $100. It's absolutely ridiculous not to negotiate because you can -- and many times will -- lose a sale. It's very obvious that the typical eBayer has absolutely no negotiation skills, and that's plainly obvious here. I don't want to flaunt what I do for a living in any way, but I can't ever remember a settlement that I entered into where, if my client wanted to settle for $10k, the plaintiff walked in with a opening $15k demand, I responded with $5k, and we met in the middle. For a $10k case, plaintiff might walk in with $50 or 75k, whereas I'd respond with 1 or 2K, and go from there. Both parties know that the case isn't going to settle for either $75k or $1k, but we have to negotiate to get to that point.

The art of negotiation is lost on eBay, and the seller simply denying an offer, failing to respond, and blocking the bidder is equivalent to getting up from the negotiation table, walking away, slamming the door, leaving the mediation, and disconnecting one's phone number. Just ridiculous.

Making a lowball offer doesn't make you look "like a ******"; it's a negotiation strategy. Ask 1000 girls in a bar to go home with you (yes, this is a big bar). You may get slapped 999 times... but you're going to get laid once. Same premise.

 

[pigskincardboard]

I love BIN's that have A BO option and it's set with an auto decline that is $2.00 less than the BIN. Why even to that? Just set the BIN with no BO with the price you want.

Exactly this.

Why even put the BO option available? If you're looking for a price, put it there. Putting the BO option there just wastes everyone's time. If you use it, it gives the impression that you will negotiate.

Negotiating doesn't mean taking 95 for something you have at 100, and getting mad because someone offered you 75. If there is something listed at 100, and I'd like to pay 75, I'll normally put around 50-60 (depending on the card) and hopefully look to meed somewhere in the middle. That's negotiating.

I did just about that on a fairly big purchase recently. Offered 250 on an item market 325 (about 25% lower than listed). After a couple offers, I got it for 295. I'm happy and the seller was obviously ok with it.

If you're not willing to take 10 seconds out of your high-and-mighty busy schedules to counter an offer, DON'T PUT IT AS AN OPTION!

I'll say this a million times, eBay auctions are designed to create deals and in no way properly evaluate the item's worth. Past that, on items that do not sell routinely on eBay, claiming fair market value is complete and utter ********.

There should be a rather large disconnect, about 25%, between eBay's auctions format and eBay's BIN format.

If you cannot see why it's beneficial for an auction company that works on commission to create incentives for buyers rather than sellers, you clearly just don't get it.

Secondly, people put items as BIN/BO for various reasons. Some people will come down 10%, other people 5%. Some people will lop off an amount if you offer on multiple items. A BO doesn't mean that a seller's willing to negotiate very far, it simply means that he's willing to lop off a few bucks if a certain set of circumstances are met.

eBay sellers are morons, but they act in a much more predictable way than buyers.

So I'll repeat this again -- Don't use fair market value and eBay auctions in the same sentence. eBay auctions do not properly evaluate an item's worth. eBay auctions evaluate an items worth in an eBay auction, with precise variables.

 

[JVC]

[quote="Jeff N.":130ro1ur]

I usually add at least one bidder to my blocked list per week . There is a significant difference between making a fair market value offer to a seller that the seller feels is too low (based on what the seller thinks he/she will eventually get or based on what they have in it), and making a ridiculously lowball offer that is a fraction of fair market value.

I.E., when I get an offer for a Wil Myers Blue Refractor BGS 9.5 for $100, that bidder is getting added to my blocked list because I know that that bidder isn't approaching the negotiation seriously. They are only serious about getting a steal, or they are seriously retarded since they apparently believe I can't find the completed auctions link.

From personal experience, I've noticed more incompetant buyers than irrational sellers, and honestly, you can't complain about an irrational seller because chances are, they will eventually get their price.

Signed, cardboardbeauties

Or, perhaps, they feel your BIN is completely unrealistic, but is willing to purchase it at fair market value. By offering a low sum, they are hoping you come down and in response to same, they will make a significant jump up and hopefully meet somewhere in the middle and make a sale that benefits both parties.

However, since you blocked that buyer in an act of immaturity, you've missed out on a potential sale. Good move.

Jeff, note the bolded section of my comment. Seems like you completely skimmed through my response and didn't read the fine print (pun intended).

And to those telling the seller that they shouldn't get offended by a lowball offer, that's what makes the world go round. Some buyers/sellers are consciously aware of how they are perceived by others. On the contrary, some don't really give a damn. When I'm buying, I don't want to look like ****** by offering a stupidly low price for an item when I know precisely what the card is currently selling for. As a seller, I expect to be treated the same. Again, different strokes for different folks.

And to those

no, I didn't skim through your response whatsoever. I read it and responded. Just because you get a $10 opening offer on a $100 item that you've listed for $150 doesn't mean that after two rounds of negotations, the bidder may go up to $100. It's absolutely ridiculous not to negotiate because you can -- and many times will -- lose a sale. It's very obvious that the typical eBayer has absolutely no negotiation skills, and that's plainly obvious here. I don't want to flaunt what I do for a living in any way, but I can't ever remember a settlement that I entered into where, if my client wanted to settle for $10k, the plaintiff walked in with a opening $15k demand, I responded with $5k, and we met in the middle. For a $10k case, plaintiff might walk in with $50 or 75k, whereas I'd respond with 1 or 2K, and go from there. Both parties know that the case isn't going to settle for either $75k or $1k, but we have to negotiate to get to that point.

The art of negotiation is lost on eBay, and the seller simply denying an offer, failing to respond, and blocking the bidder is equivalent to getting up from the negotiation table, walking away, slamming the door, leaving the mediation, and disconnecting one's phone number. Just ridiculous.

Making a lowball offer doesn't make you look "like a ******"; it's a negotiation strategy. Ask 1000 girls in a bar to go home with you (yes, this is a big bar). You may get slapped 999 times... but you're going to get laid once. Same premise.[/quote:130ro1ur]

Best offer listings are less like court negotiations and more like the real estate market. In your settlement negotiations, defendant has an incentive to come to a settlement because if they don't, you'll end up going to court, and there's a chance that they'll lose. On ebay, there's nothing forcing the two sides to come to an agreement because either side can just walk away if they're not happy. In the real estate market, if you make a ridiculously lowball offer on a house, the seller is going to dismiss it and not waste their time on you. If you want to show that you're serious about purchasing the property, you make a serious offer.

 

[pigskincardboard]

[quote="Jeff N.":6qxqi46s]

I usually add at least one bidder to my blocked list per week . There is a significant difference between making a fair market value offer to a seller that the seller feels is too low (based on what the seller thinks he/she will eventually get or based on what they have in it), and making a ridiculously lowball offer that is a fraction of fair market value.

I.E., when I get an offer for a Wil Myers Blue Refractor BGS 9.5 for $100, that bidder is getting added to my blocked list because I know that that bidder isn't approaching the negotiation seriously. They are only serious about getting a steal, or they are seriously retarded since they apparently believe I can't find the completed auctions link.

From personal experience, I've noticed more incompetant buyers than irrational sellers, and honestly, you can't complain about an irrational seller because chances are, they will eventually get their price.

Signed, cardboardbeauties

Or, perhaps, they feel your BIN is completely unrealistic, but is willing to purchase it at fair market value. By offering a low sum, they are hoping you come down and in response to same, they will make a significant jump up and hopefully meet somewhere in the middle and make a sale that benefits both parties.

However, since you blocked that buyer in an act of immaturity, you've missed out on a potential sale. Good move.

Jeff, note the bolded section of my comment. Seems like you completely skimmed through my response and didn't read the fine print (pun intended).

And to those telling the seller that they shouldn't get offended by a lowball offer, that's what makes the world go round. Some buyers/sellers are consciously aware of how they are perceived by others. On the contrary, some don't really give a damn. When I'm buying, I don't want to look like ****** by offering a stupidly low price for an item when I know precisely what the card is currently selling for. As a seller, I expect to be treated the same. Again, different strokes for different folks.

And to those

no, I didn't skim through your response whatsoever. I read it and responded. Just because you get a $10 opening offer on a $100 item that you've listed for $150 doesn't mean that after two rounds of negotations, the bidder may go up to $100. It's absolutely ridiculous not to negotiate because you can -- and many times will -- lose a sale. It's very obvious that the typical eBayer has absolutely no negotiation skills, and that's plainly obvious here. I don't want to flaunt what I do for a living in any way, but I can't ever remember a settlement that I entered into where, if my client wanted to settle for $10k, the plaintiff walked in with a opening $15k demand, I responded with $5k, and we met in the middle. For a $10k case, plaintiff might walk in with $50 or 75k, whereas I'd respond with 1 or 2K, and go from there. Both parties know that the case isn't going to settle for either $75k or $1k, but we have to negotiate to get to that point.

The art of negotiation is lost on eBay, and the seller simply denying an offer, failing to respond, and blocking the bidder is equivalent to getting up from the negotiation table, walking away, slamming the door, leaving the mediation, and disconnecting one's phone number. Just ridiculous.

Making a lowball offer doesn't make you look "like a ******"; it's a negotiation strategy. Ask 1000 girls in a bar to go home with you (yes, this is a big bar). You may get slapped 999 times... but you're going to get laid once. Same premise.[/quote:6qxqi46s]

Jeff, that's only negotiating if both sides are getting paid on return, which isn't the case. In those situations, one of the negotiators is getting paid to negotiate and they other may or may not be getting paid a percentage of the settlement. It make sense to enhance the complexity of the negotiations. If both sides were getting paid solely based on the results, negotiations would commence at slightly above the median price.

The seller's fees on eBay are absolutely negligible on anything over $50, whereas lawyers could easily take up the entire purchase price in a year or two. Realistically, there's no incentive for the seller to sell anywhere close to auction closing prices. The buyer has absolutely no leverage when the seller could simply list the item as an auction and receive close to the same price that you're offering.

Thus, assuming that you have any leverage is a joke. Time doesn't negatively affect the seller's except to the tune of whatever a BIN costs (10 or 50 cents?). That's quite a bit different than a three man team of lawyers billing at 1100 per hour and double that for in court time.

 

[matfanofold]

Just a random story.....

Recently I was browsing eBay for my 51' Bowman set needs. I had $30 in the paypal and was just looking to see what I could get. Now, if anyone has ever sought after vintage PSA stuff in highly collectable sets like the 1951 Bowman, you would see there is really no accurate set prices for anything. What sold for $10 today may sell for $50 an hour later and vice versa.

Well, there is 2 kinds of sellers out there selling there vintage. Thoes who want to sell, and thoes who price there stuff very high. There usually is no middle ground. You will find the same card listed 3 times for $20 each, and then again 3 more times listed for $50 each.

Anyway, I found a card that I wanted to buy. He had a BIN/BO of like $45, and as I mentioned earlier I only had $30 in the paypal. So I considered it. "Do I make an offer?" And decided to do so. I offered the $30 I had, which would have been reasonable for the card/grade and I was counter offered $44.50. Yep, 50 cents less than the original BIN.

My point is, 1. Sometimes people offer simply what they can pay without intent to lowball or offend. And 2. Sellers can ofend as well by making absurd counter offers. Anyway, thats my story....

 

[RZimm11]

I love BIN's that have A BO option and it's set with an auto decline that is $2.00 less than the BIN. Why even to that? Just set the BIN with no BO with the price you want.

Exactly this.

Why even put the BO option available? If you're looking for a price, put it there. Putting the BO option there just wastes everyone's time. If you use it, it gives the impression that you will negotiate.

Negotiating doesn't mean taking 95 for something you have at 100, and getting mad because someone offered you 75. If there is something listed at 100, and I'd like to pay 75, I'll normally put around 50-60 (depending on the card) and hopefully look to meed somewhere in the middle. That's negotiating.

I did just about that on a fairly big purchase recently. Offered 250 on an item market 325 (about 25% lower than listed). After a couple offers, I got it for 295. I'm happy and the seller was obviously ok with it.

If you're not willing to take 10 seconds out of your high-and-mighty busy schedules to counter an offer, DON'T PUT IT AS AN OPTION!

I'll say this a million times, eBay auctions are designed to create deals and in no way properly evaluate the item's worth. Past that, on items that do not sell routinely on eBay, claiming fair market value is complete and utter ********.

There should be a rather large disconnect, about 25%, between eBay's auctions format and eBay's BIN format.

If you cannot see why it's beneficial for an auction company that works on commission to create incentives for buyers rather than sellers, you clearly just don't get it.

Secondly, people put items as BIN/BO for various reasons. Some people will come down 10%, other people 5%. Some people will lop off an amount if you offer on multiple items. A BO doesn't mean that a seller's willing to negotiate very far, it simply means that he's willing to lop off a few bucks if a certain set of circumstances are met.

eBay sellers are morons, but they act in a much more predictable way than buyers.

So I'll repeat this again -- Don't use fair market value and eBay auctions in the same sentence. eBay auctions do not properly evaluate an item's worth. eBay auctions evaluate an items worth in an eBay auction, with precise variables.

I don't see how anything you wrote has anything to do with what I said.

I wrote nothing about fair market value and auctions.

I negotiated a deal on a BIN/BO listing by offering and counter-offering, coming to a deal somewhere close to the middle. The item I bought, I have seen offered for 500 on another site. So the original listing was already much lower than that. I offered less and got it for a good price.

I didn't buy multiple items, and I got it for about 11% lower than his asking price. Was fair enough to both of us and worked as I would expect a negotiation would.

If he would have put 320, or even the original 325 (which has happened to me on offers before), or ignored me, he would have lost a sale. If he wanted the full 325, he should have just listed it as a BIN and neither of us would have bothered. This way, a deal was made that was mutually beneficial.

Apparently, a lot of people use the BO option just to gauge what people are willing to offer, with no intention of negotiating. Seems almost like key-word spamming to get people to check out an auction that they have no way of getting at any other price. If you 're going to advertise the BO function, you should be willing to use it. Otherwise, just list it as a BIN.

Making offers back and forth just to possibly save $5 is a waste. If you're not willing to negotiate, don't use it at all.

 

[nosterbor]

what ticks me off is a bin/obo for $100 you offer $80 and get a counter of $99. i then counter at $1 and tell the MORON to drop the obo.

 

[Kennesawsportscards]

As in any business, a seller is entitled to ask what he wants for his item according to what he has into the item or what he feels he needs. A buyer may also decline without trying to Bully the seller into submission. Negotiating does not mean offering 5 dollars for an item the seller is asking 100.00 for.................IMHO that is just insulting and not an honorable business tactic. Go to your local retail store and offer 5 dollars for a 100 dollar item or a restaurant and do the same.......you will be shown the door. Quoting past ebay prices doesn't mean anything to me as well. You may politely accept my price or politely decline, either way is acceptable. I will never dictate to any seller what he should sell his cards for and anyone who does is scum!!!!!!!!!!!. This goes the same to a buyer who wants to sell his cards to me. A WIN/WIN situation is the only way to go..........

 

[maxpower]

I generally don't respond with a counteroffer because I figure that if a bidder has put in a 'Best Offer', it's actually their best offer!

That being said, I do take the time to decline offers. I think that's more polite than just letting the offer expire, so that the bidder knows right away to look elsewhere for the card.