What happened to people making offers and asking questions on ebay?

[Lucas00]

Just turned every listing into an auction (near or a bit lower than my old bin price)

Will report back in 7 days if anything sells.

[robertsmithnocure]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Just turned every listing into an auction (near or a bit lower than my old bin price)

Will report back in 7 days if anything sells.

Looking forward to seeing your results.

[Exhibitman]

I've noticed an inordinate # of overpriced BIN listings have offers preset to reject at nearly full price. One guy had a best offer indicated on a partial set of obscure nonsport trade cards I was interested in. I made offers to 70% of BIN and they were all automatically rejected. I got discouraged and quit. Yesterday the guy sent me an offer at 70% of the BIN. I said no because screw him for wasting my time in the first place. Let his item rot.

[mannequin1]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I've noticed an inordinate # of overpriced BIN listings have offers preset to reject at nearly full price. One guy had a best offer indicated on a partial set of obscure nonsport trade cards I was interested in. I made offers to 70% of BIN and they were all automatically rejected. I got discouraged and quit. Yesterday the guy sent me an offer at 70% of the BIN. I said no because screw him for wasting my time in the first place. Let his item rot.

You over-reacted. He was probably inflexible some time ago when he listed it but now has realized that it's better he take your 70% offer and move the item. I would take his offer and put you're feelings aside.

[Yoda]

I have always thought auctions were the most equitable way to price items. Auction prices set the market.

[UKCardGuy]

Auctions are great for items that are in demand by lots of buyers. But for unusual or rare items, BIN gives time for the right buyer to come along. But as others have said, ending the listing and resisting it using "sell similar" is a good way to reset the algorithm.

[perezfan]

In the "good old days" of eBay, asking questions of the seller was common and even expected. The vast majority of sellers were happy to provide prompt answers to any questions/concerns a prospective buyer might ask.

Fast-forward to today, where it is 30/70 (at best) that you'll even get a response. And if you are graced with an answer, it is typically rude, terse or a non-answer. What has happened to people's ability to communicate?

Recent example... We all know that a card graded "3" could or could not have a wrinkle/crease that fails to show up on a provided scan. I personally don't collect cards with creases, and like to request that the seller look at the card (typically if it's graded 2 - 4) to let me know.

You'd think I was asking for the moon. A few sellers will still respond with no issues, but most either ignore the request completely or reply with something like "I'm not a professional grader".

I did not realize you had to be a professional grader to hold a card under a light and disclose whether there's a crease. We've gotten to the point where 99% of sellers' descriptions simply state the number grade and nothing else. At what point did TPG became the word of God?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by mannequin1

You over-reacted. He was probably inflexible some time ago when he listed it but now has realized that it's better he take your 70% offer and move the item. I would take his offer and put you're feelings aside.

Yeah you’re probably right.

[Zach Wheat]

Agree with Adam there are a lot of overpriced BIN's. I think many sellers over value their item. I regulalry look at BIN prices for one specific issue of graded card. Almost all BINs are well over recent sales, some times 8-10x of recent sales.

[Yoda]

VCP is such a handy tool and in some cases can persuade reluctant dealers to lower their off-the- chart BIN's.

[Butch7999]

Similar to what Rock, Daryl, Trib, and Mark have cited above, we've been made gun-shy about making an offer because
too many vendors are provoked at a glance, soooo offended and outraged that anyone would dare to imagine an overpriced item
might be obtainable for anything less than the BIN or auction start price.
We've even gotten nasty replies after merely asking for details on items poorly photographed and/or inadequately described.
Also, so many eBay BINs are 200%, 500%, 1000% above any established or probable market value -- there's just no point
to trying to make an offer at a reasonable price.

[gunboat82]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

Similar to what Rock, Daryl, Trib, and Mark have cited above, we've been made gun-shy about making an offer because
too many vendors are provoked at a glance, soooo offended and outraged that anyone would dare to imagine an overpriced item
might be obtainable for anything less than the BIN or auction start price.
We've even gotten nasty replies after merely asking for details on items poorly photographed and/or inadequately described.
Also, so many eBay BINs are 200%, 500%, 1000% above any established or probable market value -- there's just no point
to trying to make an offer at a reasonable price.

Yeah, these are weird times on eBay. I asked yepbg if he would take $4,000 for an item listed at $4,410. He said no and raised the price to $5,780.

It's his prerogative, of course, but it felt like a passive-aggressive response.

I don't usually leave much wiggle room when I sell on eBay either, but that's because I'm just a hobbyist who gets hit with fees on the buying and selling end, and I'm usually just listing to break even or take a modest loss. Failing that, the stuff stays in my collection.

For example, I bought a card on REA with a $3,400 hammer price, but my cost was $4,375 after taxes.

When I found a better copy of the same card just a week later, I offered the REA card at $4,250 shipped in multiple places, with zero interest. I had to list it at $4,750 on eBay to hit that $4,250 target, and wasn't willing go any lower. The person who used BIN ended up paying $5,100 after taxes.

I can't even imagine what the spread is like for someone who has overhead and does this for a living. In this ecosystem, the auction houses and eBay are the real winners.