Ebay offers

[Jim65]

I have an auction ending in 4 hours and just recieved an offer for less than my starting bid. Item has no bids, would it be a jerk move to accept his offer a few minutes before the auction ends? Id really like to see if I can get my price.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Jim65

I have an auction ending in 4 hours and just recieved an offer for less than my starting bid. Item has no bids, would it be a jerk move to accept his offer a few minutes before the auction ends? Id really like to see if I can get my price.

It all depends on if you will sell it for that price. Personally I would let it finish as most people like to bid/snipe at the end. If it doesn't sell and you are OK with the persons offer, offer it to them at that price then.

[bnorth]

double post

[JollyElm]

I gotta be honest, when I first saw 'regular' ebay auctions that also had the make an offer button, I read it as "My price is obviously too high, so make an offer that's lower than the starting bid." I never saw it as a way to get a higher price than said opening bid. The offers I made were soundly rejected. Ha ha. Oh well.

Are you willing to relist the item again? If so, politely reject his offer and say you would really like to get an offer closer to your target amount. Perhaps that would spur him to at least offer a bit more? Worth a shot probably.

[Jim65]

My question was more about accepting his offer with less than a minute left in the auction. I mentioned it to someone and they said it might be a jerk move but I don't see why someone would be pissed.

I ended up not accepting his offer and got a bid with a second left, so I got my price.

[jchcollins]

I've never understood the ability to make an offer on an auction, and not only on a fixed price listing. Doesn't that interfere with the integrity of the auction if a seller can suddenly decide to sell to a random offer-maker when there are already bids? Or does the "Make An Offer" option go away as soon as the item gets a bid?

I would also be tempted to think the offer is a way to lowball the starting bid, but that's just me I guess.

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I've never understood the ability to make an offer on an auction, and not only on a fixed price listing. Doesn't that interfere with the integrity of the auction if a seller can suddenly decide to sell to a random offer-maker when there are already bids? Or does the "Make An Offer" option go away as soon as the item gets a bid?

I would also be tempted to think the offer is a way to lowball the starting bid, but that's just me I guess.

I always put Best Offers in all my listings, auction and fixed price, nothing wrong with having choices. I've had lowball offers which usually decline right away.

[buymycards]

If you have an auction-style listing with Best Offer, bear in mind that:

If you receive a bid
Current offers and counteroffers will be declined automatically, and buyers won't be able to make any additional offers on your item
If you had received an offer that was higher than the current bid, the buyer who made the offer will need to place a bid, as their offer was declined when the first bid was placed
If a bidder retracts their bid, the Best Offer feature will be re-enabled