Is it just me?
 

So, I submitted a Best Offer to a seller on a card for about a 20% discount from what a seller was asking. They rejected it (which was fine) but because I wanted the card so badly, I immediately sent another offer for literally a few bucks from what they were asking for. We're talking like 5% off here. They then rejected that offer, too, saying they wanted to see what other offers came in and that they 'just listed it'.

For some context here, we're talking a relatively low-dollar card here (under $100.00) that is not priced as a steal by any means. Seller is not on this board but one I've spent several hundred dollars with in the past few months.

Obviously, the seller has the right to do what they want, but to me, that's terrible business. I can understand having a firm price but when you have a Best Offer and you aren't willing to take an offer with a 5% discount on a low-dollar card because it came 'too quickly' (from a good customer, no less), it's just weird.

I could bite the bullet and pay the full price but the seller is using a Best Offer and I'm just sort of put off by the whole thing. To me, that should mean they should negotiate at least a little, right? I'm not jaded enough to say I won't buy from the seller at all. But what it did do is annoy me to the point where I will now refuse to pay their full asking price for it and will also avoid their auctions if/when it can be at all helped.

Maybe I'm just too close to the situation and being unreasonable.

Personally, I can see them saying they had just listed it and wanted to wait for other offers. I guess if you want the card pay the extra $4-5 dollars and be done with it.

Sounds completely obnoxious to me. Move on.

"Maybe I'm just too close to the situation and being unreasonable." --- Absolutely not !!!!!

If you have bought from this guy before, I'd like to think he'd accept your offer, or counter with something very close. I certainly would, because "I" want "you" as a future customer. Not only for that "$100" card, but potentially (since you now are happy with me), many more "$100" cards, as well as, higher value cards.

Even if you had not bought from him before, the same would apply, as in hope of future business.

I wouldn't be a jerk, and tell him to kiss off, just decline and move on. There are many "reasonable" sellers* out there, that would gladly help you out.

Scott

* :)

There was no reason for the seller to 'reject' your offer if he/she was waiting for other offers. A seller has 48 hours (I believe) to accept an offer before it expires. If the seller wanted to wait to squeak another 5 bucks, he/she certainly could have, but once that deadline approached, they could have accepted your offer and everyone would have won.

You should have just bought the card and/or the seller should have just accepted your offer. Sounds like both of you wanted that meaningless psychological victory.

It's 5 dollars.

I think a lot of times people see that "or best offer" and feel like they have to negotiate, even if it does only save them a few dollars. Thats why i usually don't offer that on a BIN on Ebay b/c I know that I'm going to get a counter offer from someone that would more than likely have just bought it outright had I not done that. I'm guilty of doing that too. If you really want the card just remember its business, not personal and go ahead and buy it.

This sounds like you could have followed up with more one to one communication to hash out what amount he'd be willing to accept now without having to wait for a better offer. But it sounds like you guys were so close anyway that just paying the buy it now price would have saved you time and effort. I'd hope your time it took was worth more than $5.

I completely agree with Peter, which at times has been rare. If a card was listed for $100 OBO and I offered 80 I would expect a counter offer, even if it was 90 or 95. To get it rejected, and then have an offer of 95 rejected as well? Completely ridiculous. I would never even consider doing business with this seller again, unless they had a card I absolutely could not find anywhere else.

Why did he even put up an or best offer if he's not willing to accept 95% of his asking price?

yep I get it, but since he just listed it and got a very fast offer he probably thought he under priced and wanted to wait to see about a full price offer.

On COMC I have had people raise the card price when I have made an offer.

I had a big group of cards listed recently, and a repeat good customer offered to buy a big lot of them if I could give a 10% discount on the lot.

I probably would've been more comfortable with a 5% discount, but this was a repeat customer who spends a lot of money and doesn't haggle on everything. Seeing how I try to be as customer-service friendly as possible, I said yes without an additional counter, to make a repeat customer happy and to keep him coming back.

The commonsense of customer service often is very lacking in this industry - this guy might eventually get the extra $4 on this sale, but doesn't realize it could cost him a $100 sale down the road.

......................
 

Yep...I see it all the time also, it ticks me off too. Just leave your card with BIN if BO is not of interest to you.

playing devil's advocate here but who says the guy is a dealer? Maybe he's just a collector looking to to get the best possible price for his card. If that's the case repeat business is less of a factor.

I bet though if the card was valued at $10k he'd think twice about declining a counter of $9500

I tried two cards recently with Best Offers at 90% of listing and they were automatically rejected. Just for the hell of it I put in a third offer on one for a buck less than the BIN. Also rejected. A seller should not be allowed to establish a Best Offer on a BIN listing if the listing is set it to reject every offer automatically. It is a waste of my time and, frankly, rude. IMO eBay needs to prohibit a seller from using the Best Offer feature unless the offer is set to automatically accept an offer at a certain level below the BIN price. eBay already prevents me from setting a BIN that is too close to an auction starting price, so it would be simple enough to establish. If a seller doesn't want to risk an automatic acceptance, either set the BIN higher or don't use the Best Offer.

I have no problem with someone trying to get the most he can for a card. He could have asked $125, or 150, assuming this was listed around $100.

I have a problem with someone declining, or auto-declining 95% of an asking price. Why even accept an offer in the first place?

People are free to list and sell their cards however they want. This practice is, in my opinion, completely rude, and I would spend my money elsewhere had this happened to me.

And yes AJ, I would expect anyone with a card listed for 10k OBO to accept 9,500. I would also expect a seller who listed a card for $10 OBO to accept $9.50

Agree the seller is obnoxious and dumb as well. Why risk losing a good customer over 5 bucks and why put best offer if you won't take a 95% offer? To me if you put best offer that you are inviting.... Ahem, offers.

at this point you either have to pay full price or move on, he saw that you went up in price, so he knows you want it, once he knows that, he thinks you will pay full price for it. so you either have to , or go somewhere else.

There are good guys out there.
 

In July, I saw a beater with a BIN of $14. I offered $7. Seller countered with $9. I paid $9.

Granted, it was a beater and we're not talking a lot of money. Nevertheless, the seller made the sale happen. Don't give up - reasonable, sound-minded sellers still exist on eBay.

Mike

move on

+1

Agree
 

Agree with a few folks here. If you offered 95 and it was 100 and they want to wait? That's crazy talk there. As a seller, I'd have pulled the trigger immediately on that offer. A $5 moral victory is a pretty thin one. If it's not something that's difficult to find, move on. If it is, buy it and move on realizing that the person is basically crazy.

That's the feeling I got, too. Granted, the seller has had that card up for a while at a higher price and it did not sell. But getting a quick pair of offers probably made him think he could get full price.

If that's the case, though, then why not then remove the Best Offer? As of now, the card is still up for sale with a Best Offer option :)

I see this all the time in my job. Customers will raise holy hell at me because they think their $150 bill is $3 too high. I had one lady who had four screaming matches (one with me, two with my manager, one with the head of the whole airport) because her bill came to $70 and she thought it should be $66. There's just no fix for batshit crazy.

What business are you in?