Ebay best offers?

[TedWill1939]

Any thoughts as to why people have best offers if they are only willing to knock a $1 or 3 of BIN price? I don't low ball or put in insulting offers. Not really sure what the ploy is by spending a lot of time to knock a buck off. Seems I only encounter this when it comes to cards. Any thoughts?

[buymycards]

That goes for eBay sellers and COMC sellers. There are sellers on both sites who actually go in and raise the BIN prices if you send them an offer. I don't quite understand that.

A lot of my eBay items are BIN/BO. Generally, if I don't have much room to negotiate, I list it as a straight BIN, but if someone makes me an offer I will consider it. Most of the time I list my Best Offer items a couple of bucks higher than I normally would so I have room to negotiate. I have sold a lot of items at 50-60% of my BIN price. Of course, most of my items are low cost items that I buy in lots to break up and sell individually. For things like tobacco cards, Goudey's, etc., it is tough to find them at a low enough cost to flip them on eBay and make a profit, so those are generally straight BIN's.

So, back to your original question. I have never understood a seller who list's their item as Best Offer, but they aren't will to accept an offer that is close to their asking price. They just end up pissing off potential buyers.

[bnorth]

Any thoughts as to why people have best offers if they are only willing to knock a $1 or 3 of BIN price? I don't low ball or put in insulting offers. Not really sure what the ploy is by spending a lot of time to knock a buck off. Seems I only encounter this when it comes to cards. Any thoughts?

Instead of dollar amounts I look at it as what % are they willing to take. It has gotten a lot worse in my experience in the last few years. You have to overprice you cards by 10-20% because everyone NEEDS to get it cheaper than your listing price.

As an example I listed a card at 2K and didn't get any takers. Then relisted it at $2250 and sold it for the $2K within hours.:confused:

It sadly seems like everyone wants to haggle. Seems like no matter the first offer I put in they come back with another offer. I have got those silly 1 or 3 dollar off responses when I make offers close to their asking price. If I low ball them with my first offer I get a decent counteroffer I usually accept.

[icurnmedic]

I tend to "low ball "at first, and if they counter reasonable I usually accept. But this is usually b/c they are listed at >20% above recent sales. When a seller automatically declines I usually move on, no harm no foul, But I really don't like when they counter at $5-$10 off on a $3000 card.

[doug.goodman]

Any thoughts as to why people have best offers if they are only willing to knock a $1 or 3 of BIN price? I don't low ball or put in insulting offers. Not really sure what the ploy is by spending a lot of time to knock a buck off. Seems I only encounter this when it comes to cards. Any thoughts?

I often make best offers, and they are often WAY lower than the BIN price, I usually include a note saying something to the effect of "I believe my offer is a fair price, because blah blah blah, but will not be offended if you disagree, no offense is intended, and no hard feeling from me regardless if you ignore, decline, accept or counter my offer."

I have "won" items for 80+% off, I have "lost" items for 10% off.

Either way, to paraphrase our illustrious leader "it is what it is".

Doug

[doug.goodman]

That goes for eBay sellers and COMC sellers. There are sellers on both sites who actually go in and raise the BIN prices if you send them an offer. I don't quite understand that.

There is a group of 30 m114s on ebay right now for $599. in August of 2019 they were listed for $299. I reached out to the seller and offered to buy 5 of the items in the lot for $100 (double the average, and I wasn't asking for the Gehrig or other big names).

His response was to raise the BIN to where it is now.

Oh well. 14 months later it's still there.

Yes, collectibles_1, I'm talking about your listing.

I have since then found one of the 5...

The hunt is the fun part anyway.

[Jim65]

I set my offer limit for the absolute least I will take, if someone offers that amount or above, I accept.

People who offer $5 on a $100 item aren't serious buyers and aren't worth my time.

[Case12]

COMC and Mill Creek Sports frustrate me. Best offer always 10%off. Never more. They rarely ,(or never) come down on price and will sit there for years. I put things from them in my watch list just to remind me to look somewhere else from time to time.
What I really do not like is Best Offer on a Starting bid. eBay added this about a year ago. As a buyer it wastes my time. It's basically a reserve. Anything else above is a crap shoot. It's not bidding. It's rather somewhat random. I end up sending a separate message to seller asking what they are looking for. Might as well put BIN and save us time.

[Ronnie73]

Almost always, when I list a card for sale on eBay, I uncheck the best offer option. After a week or ten days, if it hasn't sold, eBay decides on their own to add the best offer option, even though I unchecked it and didn't want any of their price decreases over time or anything else. Depending on what I list, certain cards I just automatically price at my rock bottom price. So technically there is no room for a best offer. When eBay does this, I try to catch it in time and have to go into each auction, one at a time and remove the checkmark again and then verify that it saved the change. Nearly half of them don't save the change, so I have to go in a third time. I hate it. It's even worse trying to explain that your not accepting offers on an item that says Best Offer. Other cards where I have room to make a profit on, when eBay adds the Best Offer option, I leave it there. I try not to do too much back and forth offers. If I made money and it free's up some cash for my T206's, I usually accept. Yesterday I got offered I think $10.20 on a card I listed for $15. I priced it at $15 because that's what the same card had sold for recently or I price it a couple dollars lower than the other cards in the same grade are listed for. I don't bother with a price guide. So I checked my records and saw that I paid $3.97 for the card. So I accepted the $10.20 offer. Many people would have countered at $12. But I've been on the other end of the Best Offer and when the seller is trying to get an extra dollar and change out of me, If I really don't need the card and it's basically something I'm gonna end up selling a year later because it doesn't fit anywhere in my collection, I just let the offer expire. But the only time I'd be cheap on a Best Offer from a buyer is if I never had the intension of a Best Offer option being added. When it happens, I'm completely honest and if there's a few dollars I can drop it at, I will. Or I just ask the magic question, Are you a Net54 or Tobacco Row member? If they say yes, A deal is done out of eBay and they pay even less than they offered, and I make more than I was even asking. It's great when that happens.

[hcv123]

I almost always list my items with "best offer". I am always curious to see what type offers people send. Sometimes they are reasonable, sometimes they are ridiculous. As far as what I will accept, it depends on a few factors including - How much $ do I own it for, What if determinable is current market price, How long have I had it listed, How much do I want to sell it. Certain items that I feel like I have priced right, I negotiate very little maybe 5%-8%, other items I have accepted offers at 60%-70% of my ask. 2 interesting scenarios just recently happened - I listed a card about 2 months ago at what was then the market price. I got an offer at about a 20% discount to my BIN - I looked back at current sales and the price on the last couple of sales had fallen - so I took the offer. I had another card that I have listed for a while (7months+) - I received a couple of offers at 20% off my ask. It is a REALLY rare card with no recent price history - I declined the offer and raised the price - realizing that I really wouldn't want to sell the card at even 5% lower than my original ask.
I do believe people often feel the need to haggle or will pass even on a good deal.
As a buyer - the rare times I offer less than 80% of ask,I try to support my offer with recent sales or some other relevant information.

[Jayworld]

I don't and have never understood the buyers that have a BIN or Best Offer, and you offer $2-3 below BIN, and then it is immediately rejected, and then you up it to $1 under BIN, and it is immediately rejected. This happens several times, especially for vintage sports magazines. At one point, the seller wanted $45, so I offered $38 (immediately rejected), then I offered $42 (immediately rejected), then I offered, on a lark, $44 (immediately rejected). As you know, if you get rejected three times, it does not allow you to make an offer anymore, but my point is, why offer a "Best Offer" if you aren't willing to accept $1 less than a BIN. I get it for a $10 item, but not for a $45. The magazine still sits there, and I was a legitimate buyer and would have (and do) pay immediately.

[sbfinley]

Literally 20 minutes ago about I found an item I was looking for at $349.99 BIN BO. Offered $325 - auto rejected. Offered $335 - auto rejected. Didn’t want to waste another 10 seconds of my life and bought it for $349.99. Well played guy.

[Exhibitman]

Maybe the seller doesn't really want to sell but has to list the item for sale for some other reason (e.g., the wife demands he start selling stuff) so he puts in a high price and doesn't budge? Could it be a very rare item? Or he could be into it for too much and doesn't want to take a loss?

Can't forget the nutty market right now with some items, either. There are a growing # of players it just makes no sense to discount.

[swarmee]

COMC and Mill Creek Sports frustrate me. Best offer always 10%off. Never more. They rarely ,(or never) come down on price and will sit there for years. I put things from them in my watch list just to remind me to look somewhere else from time to time.
COMC is about 5000 different sellers. The majority will consider offers on comc.com , where the pricing is at least 15% cheaper than cross-listed to eBay. So you may be holding a grudge where none belongs.

I know I consider offers of half off my COMC list price. So if I have a card for $100 on COMC, you can submit an offer of $50 or more. The same card would be listed as BIN (no OBO) on eBay for $115 or so. Plus at any given time, 400 COMC sellers are running sales off their COMC pricing which does not make their cards on eBay any cheaper. So I could run a 70% off sale on COMC, and the card will now be available for $30 on COMC and still cost $115 on eBay.

There are some jerks like JoelHitShow who will normally reject your offer and double the price, but once you learn which users those are, you either buy the card at their price or go to the next guy.

[swarmee]

Or I just ask the magic question, Are you a Net54 or Tobacco Row member? If they say yes, A deal is done out of eBay and they pay even less than they offered, and I make more than I was even asking. It's great when that happens.
Until eBay reads your message traffic and cancels your account...

[TedWill1939]

I don't and have never understood the buyers that have a BIN or Best Offer, and you offer $2-3 below BIN, and then it is immediately rejected, and then you up it to $1 under BIN, and it is immediately rejected. This happens several times, especially for vintage sports magazines. At one point, the seller wanted $45, so I offered $38 (immediately rejected), then I offered $42 (immediately rejected), then I offered, on a lark, $44 (immediately rejected). As you know, if you get rejected three times, it does not allow you to make an offer anymore, but my point is, why offer a "Best Offer" if you aren't willing to accept $1 less than a BIN. I get it for a $10 item, but not for a $45. The magazine still sits there, and I was a legitimate buyer and would have (and do) pay immediately.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I have never had this happen outside of card collecting.

The only explanation that makes any sense is what Ronnie73 said about ebay doing a OBO wjithout seller approval

[Jim65]

Until eBay reads your message traffic and cancels your account...

Exactly. If a buyer messages a seller about an item and that item is then taken down, thats an instant red flag for Ebay.

[Eric72]

Yes, eBay adds the best offer option without seller approval.

A message will suddenly appear in my inbox titled, "Your listings can now accept offers to attract more buyers." The body of the email goes on, "Your chances of selling have just gone up...Buyers can now make offers on your listings..."

As Ronnie described, this wasn't requested...eBay just makes it happen. The first time I got an offer this way, I was more than a bit surprised.

So, put yourself in the seller's shoes. You list an item and specifically do not want to deal with offers. However, eBay basically ignores your wishes and offers begin to appear. I can see why some sellers would reject every offer.

[JollyElm]

Yes, eBay adds the best offer option without seller approval.

A message will suddenly appear in my inbox titled, "Your listings can now accept offers to attract more buyers." The body of the email goes on, "Your chances of selling have just gone up...Buyers can now make offers on your listings..."

As Ronnie described, this wasn't requested...eBay just makes it happen. The first time I got an offer this way, I was more than a bit surprised.

So, put yourself in the seller's shoes. You list an item and specifically do not want to deal with offers. However, eBay basically ignores your wishes and offers begin to appear. I can see why some sellers would reject every offer.

God, that's weak. There should be something automatically added to where it says 'Make Offer.' Maybe something like, "I don't want to field offers in any way, shape or form, but EBAY MADE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Casey2296]

Exactly. If a buyer messages a seller about an item and that item is then taken down, thats an instant red flag for Ebay.

I recently bought an E121 from an eBay seller, after a couple cryptic emails I ended up calling him and making a deal, we talked for 30 minutes about life in general, his unemployment and his pending double knee operation. I asked him how he handles just that problem. He said he would double the BIN price and in the event the card sold we would split the profit. After a few days the listing disappeared.

[ThomasL]

My pet peeve as a possible buyer is...if I know you bought something at auction for 800-1000 out the door...and I offer you 1200-1400 for it on ebay best offer and the response is "1500 is the best I can do"...Im out and good luck.

[Jim65]

Yes, eBay adds the best offer option without seller approval.

A message will suddenly appear in my inbox titled, "Your listings can now accept offers to attract more buyers." The body of the email goes on, "Your chances of selling have just gone up...Buyers can now make offers on your listings..."

As Ronnie described, this wasn't requested...eBay just makes it happen. The first time I got an offer this way, I was more than a bit surprised.

So, put yourself in the seller's shoes. You list an item and specifically do not want to deal with offers. However, eBay basically ignores your wishes and offers begin to appear. I can see why some sellers would reject every offer.

When Ebay does that to me, I just go to edit auction and uncheck the best offer option.

[Jim65]

My pet peeve as a possible buyer is...if I know you bought something at auction for 800-1000 out the door...and I offer you 1200-1400 for it on ebay best offer and the response is "1500 is the best I can do"...Im out and good luck.

What difference does it make what a seller paid for an item? If they paid $1 for a $500 item at a garage sale, does that mean they have to sell it to you for $2? If they overpaid for an item, does that mean you are obligated to overpay them to cover their their loss? :)

[Huysmans]

My pet peeve as a possible buyer is...if I know you bought something at auction for 800-1000 out the door...and I offer you 1200-1400 for it on ebay best offer and the response is "1500 is the best I can do"...Im out and good luck.

Exactly.
This is a pet peeve of mine as well.

While anyone has the right to price any item at any amount they want, I just don't support and purchase from these gouging types.
There are items I've watched on eBay that delusion sellers purchased for a song, and now want a king's ransom, only to be listed for YEARS without any interest... and no lowering of the price... ever?!? Comical. I hope they never sell.

It's apparent after considerable time as a buyer that the overwhelming majority of sellers on eBay have very little to no business acumen whatsoever.

I also find the gouging types are the ones that will low ball and make ever excuse in the world why they should get something dirt cheap when purchasing.

[bnorth]

What difference does it make what a seller paid for an item? If they paid $1 for a $500 item at a garage sale, does that mean they have to sell it to you for $2? If they overpaid for an item, does that mean you are obligated to overpay them to cover their their loss? :)

+1 as long as they are selling it at or near market value what difference does it make what they paid.:confused:

EDIT to add: This is a real transaction between myself and another member. I emailed another member and said I had a insanely rare card for sale and I wanted $800 for it. Guy responds with did you buy it off ---- and pay less than $5 for it? I honestly said yes I did but this is a fair price for the card. We made the deal at my asking price and we were both happy.

For me it is about a fair selling price and if the seller got a great deal good for them. I also recently paid a member 10X what he paid for a card he was still waiting to receive in the mail. I was happy I got it at market value and happy for the seller.

[buymycards]

My pet peeve as a possible buyer is...if I know you bought something at auction for 800-1000 out the door...and I offer you 1200-1400 for it on ebay best offer and the response is "1500 is the best I can do"...Im out and good luck.

Don't forget - eBay will take $150 out of your $1200 offer, and eBay will take $187 if the seller sells it for $1500. That 12.5% adds up quickly on high dollar items.

And - The IRS, the State Dept of Revenue, and Medicare and Social Security will take their share - maybe 30 to 40% out of any profit that is made.

[ALR-bishop]

I just do not get sellers who have something I want and will not sell it to me at a price I am willing to pay :)

[Case12]

It's not so much 'will they take what I am willing to pay', but that the ebay system is making it more difficult to buy 'best offer' without communicating with seller on the side - with COMC, etc, this is fruitless. (Communicating with some sellers is awesome. I recently bought a Connie Mack auto on a '54 program. eBay was handling it bad, so I called the seller. We agreed to a price, he took it off eBay and we settled privately. In this case it was worth it because he got it as a 10 yr old boy in person...with provenance). I purchase enough stuff that I don't want to do this for every item. (BTW, I got his story which was to me as valuable as the item. He saved eBay fees and I saved taxes...win/win...for a higher dollar item). But most items are not worth that time.

[Eric72]

Don't forget - eBay will take $150 out of your $1200 offer, and eBay will take $187 if the seller sells it for $1500. That 12.5% adds up quickly on high dollar items.

And - The IRS, the State Dept of Revenue, and Medicare and Social Security will take their share - maybe 30 to 40% out of any profit that is made.

Thank you for saying this. Sometimes it has felt like I was the only one factoring in those taxes (over 30% in my case) when computing how much money will actually be made on the sale of a card.

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

COMC and Mill Creek Sports frustrate me. Best offer always 10%off. Never more. They rarely ,(or never) come down on price and will sit there for years. I put things from them in my watch list just to remind me to look somewhere else from time to time.
What I really do not like is Best Offer on a Starting bid. eBay added this about a year ago. As a buyer it wastes my time. It's basically a reserve. Anything else above is a crap shoot. It's not bidding. It's rather somewhat random. I end up sending a separate message to seller asking what they are looking for. Might as well put BIN and save us time.

Mill Creek will give you a dollar off on best offers then charge you the same dollar for postal costs on multiple buys. After charging me $15 for postal costs on multiple winners (which only cost $5 to send) I won't buy from them again. I bought over 50 signed 1975 Topps from one seller and he charged me only $3.99 for all!

[oldeboo]

Mill Creek will give you a dollar off on best offers then charge you the same dollar for postal costs on multiple buys. After charging me $15 for postal costs on multiple winners (which only cost $5 to send) I won't buy from them again. I bought over 50 signed 1975 Topps from one seller and he charged me only $3.99 for all!

I've learned my lesson on that before. One time I won 5 rather low dollar cards and the seller refused to combine shipping. I think he wanted $25 for the shipping of 5 raw cards. I chalked it up as a lesson learned and insisted that he send each card in it's own padded mailer if that was his choosing. I won't bid on anything anymore without combined shipping being specifically mentioned in the listing. If you want to upcharge shipping by a buck or two, fine, I get that there are material costs, gas costs to go to the post office, handling time, etc. I'm perfectly fine with that. Charging $25 for $4 worth of shipping, no thanks that's borderline theft. Again, lesson learned.

[Kidnapped18]

The vast majority of the eBay BIN amounts for cards are way overpriced. I buy very few cards on eBay so it really does not affect me. I also appreciate the sellers who are willing to negotiate and come down to a reasonable price.

It amazes me that a card will be auctioned or bought for $500 on eBay then within a week or two that same card is being sold again on eBay for $1,500 plus. If you collect a certain type of card then you know the going price and know when one is for sale so if you weren't willing to go more than $500 in the original auction why would you pay 3 times plus a week later for the same card?

There is a reason that a lot of the cards on eBay have remained there months and months on end. If the cards were priced reasonably then the cards would have already sold.

I believe some sellers just use eBay to show off their collections as no person who has any knowledge of the cards value will pay some of those prices.

[ThomasL]

Don't forget - eBay will take $150 out of your $1200 offer, and eBay will take $187 if the seller sells it for $1500. That 12.5% adds up quickly on high dollar items.

And - The IRS, the State Dept of Revenue, and Medicare and Social Security will take their share - maybe 30 to 40% out of any profit that is made.

This is true and I get the seller fees part, but the buyer now has to pay extra now on ebay where they didnt in the past (plus shipping is usually priced up) so that's almost a wash in my book basically (I just won a card for $650 on ebay, which same card sold for $550 a few months ago on ebay, and it cost me $713 for example...that % also jumps up and adds up for the buyer as well now). But if the seller is taking all that other, IRS etc, into account why even bother bc the markup will price them out of the true market value and it would never sell if they try to factor all that in? But ya I would say ebay is harder on the seller now than the buyer but it isnt exactly buyer friendly either now I guess is my point

I buy and sell both on ebay and I get it I really do...but to another person's point I am also very aware of what market values are: If the market value for something is 800-1000 and they bought it at auction last week for 850 after premiums and they are listing on ebay for $2000 and "cant do better than $1500"...sorry but I guess Im stubborn on my thoughts about how silly that seems...

[ThomasL]

What difference does it make what a seller paid for an item? If they paid $1 for a $500 item at a garage sale, does that mean they have to sell it to you for $2? If they overpaid for an item, does that mean you are obligated to overpay them to cover their their loss? :)

You are right and I would say those are the outliers and exceptions to what I am talking about.

[Huysmans]

You are right and I would say those are the outliers and exceptions to what I am talking about.

If it doesn't matter what a seller paid for an item, then why does it matter what a buyer offers for an item??

I find it funny that some will state how they have a right to list an item at any amount they want regardless of what they paid, and then these same people will whine about low ball offers.

[CJinPA]

My pet peeve as a possible buyer is...if I know you bought something at auction for 800-1000 out the door...and I offer you 1200-1400 for it on ebay best offer and the response is "1500 is the best I can do"...Im out and good luck.

I completely agree. I've run into a couple situations like this in the past year w/ sellers. Example: I see a card I'm looking for and do a little research. Find it's recently been sold at auction for, say $500. On eBay, it's now listed at $900. The market for this card is around $750-$775 and I really like the scans so I offer $750 (and probably willing to go $800). Seller rejects and counters w/ $890 - I'm out, we're too far apart - sorry!

[Gradedcardman]

I may be doing this wrong. When I list a Buy it Now or Best Offer, I normally have it set so any offer above my "auto reject" is a fair offer and 99/100 I accept. I always use the "turn offers down under" so I don't get the lowball offers.

[Gobucsmagic74]

Instead of dollar amounts I look at it as what % are they willing to take. It has gotten a lot worse in my experience in the last few years. You have to overprice you cards by 10-20% because everyone NEEDS to get it cheaper than your listing price.

As an example I listed a card at 2K and didn't get any takers. Then relisted it at $2250 and sold it for the $2K within hours.:confused:

It sadly seems like everyone wants to haggle. Seems like no matter the first offer I put in they come back with another offer. I have got those silly 1 or 3 dollar off responses when I make offers close to their asking price. If I low ball them with my first offer I get a decent counteroffer I usually accept.

I think people just like to feel as though they are getting a deal, whether real or imagined.

[Gobucsmagic74]

Yesterday I placed a best offer on a 1950's Jackie Robinson comic book. I'm thinking of putting together a display case with my run of Jackie's (1947 BB through 1956 Topps) along with comics, a Jackie Robinson jersey, Louisville Slugger bat, my Jackie Robinson signed PC, a Giles National league ball (you get the idea). Anyways, I placed the best offer at $50 and never heard back from the seller. In the meantime I found another copy of the comic book and purchased it. Well I received the counteroffer from the seller overnight. It was $50.42 with an added note that he added the .42 out of respect for Jackie. I thought that was great and am torn because I already bought the other one in the meantime but I don't want the guy to think I'm a jerk either. Life is funny sometimes...

[VoodooChild]

Something changed recently and now sellers can make the offer to buyers. So, I don't even mess around making best offers anymore. I find the best priced card that is listed with the best offer option and just add it to my watchlist. More often than not, within a couple days (and even within a couple hours), I'll receive a fair offer from the seller that I accept. Now, this works mostly with modern cards where there are so many more sellers. I do try to do this with pre-war as well, but don't get anywhere near the amount of offers.

[Jim65]

Something changed recently and now sellers can make the offer to buyers. So, I don't even mess around making best offers anymore. I find the best priced card that is listed with the best offer option and just add it to my watchlist. More often than not, within a couple days (and even within a couple hours), I'll receive a fair offer from the seller that I accept. Now, this works mostly with modern cards where there are so many more sellers. I do try to do this with pre-war as well, but don't get anywhere near the amount of offers.

I do this as a seller, you can only make one offer per buyer, so you have to make it count. I've made quite a few sales with it.

[Mike D.]

Something changed recently and now sellers can make the offer to buyers. So, I don't even mess around making best offers anymore. I find the best priced card that is listed with the best offer option and just add it to my watchlist. More often than not, within a couple days (and even within a couple hours), I'll receive a fair offer from the seller that I accept. Now, this works mostly with modern cards where there are so many more sellers. I do try to do this with pre-war as well, but don't get anywhere near the amount of offers.

I’ve seen this as well...most seller offers I get are in the “nice enough if I was going to buy it anyway” category (5-10%), but I’ve gotten a few in the “I was thinking about it but now can’t say no” category (25-35%) range.

[Madi$on18joshua]

I personally always lowball my first offer and see what they come back with. I've had many accept the lowball when I was willing to pay more.

A couple years ago my prize wine was on a lowball offer on a 1915 CJ Jackson PSA 2. They were asking $15k or best offer. I offered $10k.

I ended up buying it for $11k, pre sales tax days!!! What a score. I would have easily paid 13k @ the time. Now I'd be lucky to get the same card for $20k.

Don't take it personally, put your offer in and if you don't like the response move on.

[Throttlesteer]

There used to be a day where I felt guilty "low-balling" a Best Offer. But, now that there are so many fantastical BIN prices and whimsical fairy tales where people think they're going to get 500% over what something is worth.

You're welcome to price your stuff at any number you want. Don't be surprised if it doesn't sell, and don't get pissed if someone low-balls you because they're willing to deal in reality.

[Leon]

I personally always lowball my first offer and see what they come back with. I've had many accept the lowball when I was willing to pay more.

A couple years ago my prize wine was on a lowball offer on a 1915 CJ Jackson PSA 2. They were asking $15k or best offer. I offered $10k.

I ended up buying it for $11k, pre sales tax days!!! What a score. I would have easily paid 13k @ the time. Now I'd be lucky to get the same card for $20k.

Don't take it personally, put your offer in and if you don't like the response move on.

+1
And then sometimes when they accept my first offer I feel like I could have gotten it cheaper. Not a long time ago I got this one only to find out the seller is on our forum and I could have done it privately. I paid tax and all and it was 5412, about 9 mos,. ago. I thought I paid way too much even though the guy had a much higher asking price...It would be hard to find at that price today...

[trambo]

I don't list much on ebay these days but do have everything w/BIN and Best offer. I put auto reject values at a price it's not worth the effort of negotiating. Anything above that number is worth a discussion. I also have auto accept prices that are numbers at which it's also not worth the effort of negotiating.

I do find it pretty interesting when receiving a message on a card with BIN/BO where the email sender asks what my best price is. Isn't that the point of BO? I've also been given grief for my auto reject prices that the offeror thought their offer was more than fair, I'm an idiot (and I may very well be an idiot..), etc.

All of this is why I don't have much stuff for sale on ebay.

That said, as a buyer, I love the BIN as I'll offer what I feel is reasonable and we'll see how it goes. I've picked up a number of cards at fair prices in that manner.

[oldeboo]

That said, as a buyer, I love the BIN as I'll offer what I feel is reasonable and we'll see how it goes. I've picked up a number of cards at fair prices in that manner.

I think that's the way to go on there anymore, as a buyer. You're best deals are BIN or BO, more so BIN, in my opinion. Just have to focus on newly listed items, as the ones that are sitting there for months or years are not good prices. With how hot the market is, when you give people 7 days or so to figure out a value it seems there is always one person willing to overpay and pay whatever it takes.

[Exhibitman]

And then sometimes when they accept my first offer I feel like I could have gotten it cheaper.

Happened to me earlier this year on this signed John L. Sullivan cabinet. The BIN was a fair market price, but I thought WTF and offered half the BIN to get the negotiation ball rolling towards a price I would be happy with, but the seller just took it instead. Made me a happy man...but wondering if I could've gotten it even cheaper!

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/toptenitems/websize/Sullivan%20autograph.jpg