Interesting article on eBay offer negotiations

[Rich Klein]

a good hobby friend of mine does a daily webcast about hobby stuff. He has done over 1400 episodes now and his primary focus as a seller is through EBay.

He is mostly lower end material but does post some good cards at times.

One of things he always states is he knows he probably priced something too cheaply when an "OBO" is sent almost immediately after he posted an item.

That usually alerts him that something may be worth more than he posted it for,

And I've noticed the same thing over the years as a COMC seller (even long before I worked there)

If you get an offer the second you posted something, you just might want to see what the "Comps" are.

I've always wondered if something is too cheap, why not just buy it instead of negotiating downwards

Rich

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

a good hobby friend of mine does a daily webcast about hobby stuff. He has done over 1400 episodes now and his primary focus as a seller is through EBay.

He is mostly lower end material but does post some good cards at times.

One of things he always states is he knows he probably priced something too cheaply when an "OBO" is sent almost immediately after he posted an item.

That usually alerts him that something may be worth more than he posted it for,

And I've noticed the same thing over the years as a COMC seller (even long before I worked there)

If you get an offer the second you posted something, you just might want to see what the "Comps" are.

I've always wondered if something is too cheap, why not just buy it instead of negotiating downwards

Rich

That definitely seems counter-intuitive. I agree with your last line about why wouldn't someone just buy it then if it's already too low, but I don't understand the thought that a quick OBO received means it's too low. Has he confirmed that by taking another look at comps for the item?

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by jayshum

That definitely seems counter-intuitive. I agree with your last line about why wouldn't someone just buy it then if it's already too low, but I don't understand the thought that a quick OBO received means it's too low. Has he confirmed that by taking another look at comps for the item?

Yes about 90 percent of the time

Here is today's webcast. I don't think he touched on the subject today but it does come up frequently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6quiwCERlk

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

a good hobby friend of mine does a daily webcast about hobby stuff. He has done over 1400 episodes now and his primary focus as a seller is through EBay.

He is mostly lower end material but does post some good cards at times.

One of things he always states is he knows he probably priced something too cheaply when an "OBO" is sent almost immediately after he posted an item.

That usually alerts him that something may be worth more than he posted it for,

And I've noticed the same thing over the years as a COMC seller (even long before I worked there)

If you get an offer the second you posted something, you just might want to see what the "Comps" are.

I've always wondered if something is too cheap, why not just buy it instead of negotiating downwards

Rich

Some people have a pathological desire to "win" every interaction.

You could post a vintage $500 bill for sale and some knucklehead would send a $400 offer.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

Yes about 90 percent of the time

Here is today's webcast. I don't think he touched on the subject today but it does come up frequently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6quiwCERlk

That really is strange. If I see something that I know is a good deal, I just buy it as fast as I can before someone else can. It wouldn't occur to me to offer even lower since I would expect it to sell while I was waiting for a response from the seller.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ASF123

In my opinion eBay shouldn’t let sellers turn on the auto-reject for offers of over, say, 75-80% of the list price. I’ve offered 90% and been auto-rejected multiple times. That’s not “or best offer” in any meaningful way. It is, however, a great way to assure that I’ll move on rather than consider paying the list price.

I think I have offered 5% less and gotten auto-rejected! I think I contacted the selller and said "what the heck"...It was around a $50 item...(Vans shoes).
.

[ASF123]

Originally Posted by Leon

I think I have offered 5% less and gotten auto-rejected! I think I contacted the selller and said "what the heck"...It was around a $50 item...(Vans shoes).
.

Ha! That’s ridiculous. Do you remember if you got a response from the seller?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ASF123

Ha! That’s ridiculous. Do you remember if you got a response from the seller?

No response as I remember..
.