Interesting article on eBay offer negotiations

[JustinD]

I basically follow this formula to the T when making offers and have for many years. It’s interesting to see it broke down within the actual study at the bottom of the article.

If I am rejected immediately, I usually move on knowing we are just too far apart. If you take a day to think, or open an exchange of offers, it’s worth my time to continue with discussion.

The one thing not mentioned is if you never respond to my offer at all and prevent me from making a different offer from a competitor and I have to wait for the offer to expire, possibly missing another because I don’t need two. Well you are deleted from the watch list and never returned.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/othe...e-verthp-feeds

[ALR-bishop]

It was intersting Justin. Kind of reminds me of the battle of wits death poison scene in The Princess Bride

[raulus]

I must be slow.

Is a slow response from the seller a good thing or a bad thing?

It almost seems like they suggest that it's both a good thing and a bad thing. Good (for the buyer) because it indicates that the seller is agonizing over the offer. But bad (for everyone) because the slowness of the response tends to agitate the buyer, causing the buyer to move on?

[bnorth]

I haven't read the link yet. The biggest think as an occasional seller I have noticed with sending offers is to do it on Thursday. I have easily a 90% success rate on Thursdays and low single digit on any other day.

[CardPadre]

Data is from 2012/2013, has to be a somewhat different landscape on eBay now vs then. But maybe there are some universal and timeless trends in the data.

I’m more than happy to let an undesirable offer rot into expiration, I rarely decline them. Can’t hurt your card to have a “pending offer” on it. No sympathy for people who make a bad offer and any inconvenience it causes them.

[Smanzari]

Originally Posted by raulus

Is a slow response from the seller a good thing or a bad thing?

For me, Bad Thing - I'm not much on countering, so pretty much decline like 70% of offers. If its a really bad offer, I decline it right before I go to bed around 12-1a, hoping the buyer doesn't see it and moves on

[Lobo Aullando]

"Take a slow response as a good sign rather than a bad sign," said Krajbich. "Don't get discouraged. Don't think that the seller is lazy or just dragging you along."

Or – just hear me out – they were out of town. That's been 100% of such occurrences for me.

(The auto-reject threshold feature is pretty good at weeding out, too.)

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Lobo Aullando

Or – just hear me out – they were out of town. That's been 100% of such occurrences for me.

(The auto-reject threshold feature is pretty good at weeding out, too.)

Was auto-rejection available in 2012/13 when this data was from?

[Lobo Aullando]

Personally, I don't recall seeing it a decade ago. I have an increasingly bad case of Internet Brain, though.

Originally Posted by jayshum

Was auto-rejection available in 2012/13 when this data was from?

The study does use another dataset from 2020-23*:

The preexisting data from eBay indicate that most sellers (62%) do not use automatic thresholds. In the subset of data that we analyzed, 17% used only rejection thresholds, 5.4% used only acceptance thresholds, and 15.7% used both thresholds. To examine the effect of seller experience on automatic threshold use, we looked at the number of best-offer listings created by each seller (dating back to 2008). The relation between seller experience and threshold usage was quadratic—both inexperienced and highly experienced sellers used thresholds more than medium-experience sellers. While these results do not rule out that sellers have plans, the low rate of automatic thresholds suggests that sellers prefer to evaluate offers as they arrive.

I guess a lot of folks have the patience to deal with people who offer 30% of current market.


* - On a re-read, there's yet another dataset, and the quote doesn't relate to the 2020-23 one.

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by Lobo Aullando

I guess a lot of folks have the patience to deal with people who offer 30% of current market.

An offer can be rejected/countered. A polite reply many times brings the potential buyer up to an acceptable price point. A rude response can chase them off forever.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Lobo Aullando

I guess a lot of folks have the patience to deal with people who offer 30% of current market.

A reasonable offset to sellers who list at 3X the current "market".

[jingram058]

A couple of eBay points, from someone who has bought AND sold there since 1998, with 100 percent feedback:

If I, as buyer, make you an offer and you refuse to answer within several hours, then you as the seller are off the island. If you are away on vacation, then inform eBay of such. It isn't hard.

If you decline, so be it, I will move on.

If you're truly interested in selling, you will pay attention to your listings.

I don't worry about hurt feelings when it comes to best offers. If you don't like my offer, fine, let me know and I will move on, untethered to your listing.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by jingram058

A couple of eBay points, from someone who has bought AND sold there since 1998, with 100 percent feedback:

If I, as buyer, make you an offer and you refuse to answer within several hours, then you as the seller are off the island. If you are away on vacation, then inform eBay of such. It isn't hard.

If you decline, so be it, I will move on.

If you're truly interested in selling, you will pay attention to your listings.

I don't worry about hurt feelings when it comes to best offers. If you don't like my offer, fine, let me know and I will move on, untethered to your listing.

Define "several hours." If you send an offer at 10 p.m. and the seller doesn't respond until the morning, are they off the island?

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Ebay should also allow sellers to restart negotiations by allowing an offer to buyer if they change their mind and want to accept a buyer's offer previously rejected.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jingram058

If I, as buyer, make you an offer and you refuse to answer within several hours, then you as the seller are off the island. If you are away on vacation, then inform eBay of such. It isn't hard.

I'm pretty sure the "away on vacation" setting is only available to sellers who pay extra to have a "store".

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I really wish the OBO would be eliminated for good. Additionally, if that actually happened, buyers would be given X number of warnings for sending PMs offering less before having their accounts suspended.

Straight prices across the board; no haggling, no wasted time with lowballers and tire kickers.

If you're a potential buyer and the price is too high, you move on.

If you're a seller and your piece isn't moving, either lower your price or give the item a rest for a set period of time.

It would also spell the demise of the ridiculous six and seven figure "OBO" listings, just fishing for whatever the highest offer is that comes their way. This needs to stop.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by raulus

I'm pretty sure the "away on vacation" setting is only available to sellers who pay extra to have a "store".

No it is available for everyone as I have used it.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by bnorth

No it is available for everyone as I have used it.

Interesting. I guess my intel was bad.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by raulus

Interesting. I guess my intel was bad.

Just click on the help icon and then type in "time away" and it lets you schedule it.

[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.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

I really wish the OBO would be eliminated for good. Additionally, if that actually happened, buyers would be given X number of warnings for sending PMs offering less before having their accounts suspended.

Straight prices across the board; no haggling, no wasted time with lowballers and tire kickers.

If you're a potential buyer and the price is too high, you move on.

If you're a seller and your piece isn't moving, either lower your price or give the item a rest for a set period of time.

It would also spell the demise of the ridiculous six and seven figure "OBO" listings, just fishing for whatever the highest offer is that comes their way. This needs to stop.

When you go to a show, do you just pay the dealer's asking price or do you try to negotiate a lower price?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Just click on the help icon and then type in "time away" and it lets you schedule it.

Thanks. I’ve done it several times, but I have a store. Thought I read somewhere that it wasn’t available without a store. But apparently I was wrong, and not for the first time!

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by nwobhm

An offer can be rejected/countered. A polite reply many times brings the potential buyer up to an acceptable price point. A rude response can chase them off forever.

True

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[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

I really wish the OBO would be eliminated for good. Additionally, if that actually happened, buyers would be given X number of warnings for sending PMs offering less before having their accounts suspended.



Straight prices across the board; no haggling, no wasted time with lowballers and tire kickers.



If you're a potential buyer and the price is too high, you move on.



If you're a seller and your piece isn't moving, either lower your price or give the item a rest for a set period of time.



It would also spell the demise of the ridiculous six and seven figure "OBO" listings, just fishing for whatever the highest offer is that comes their way. This needs to stop.

This is a goofball take. I make a lot of offers as a buyer and I accept a lot of offers as a seller. That's the way deals get done.

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[Gorditadogg]

I need to make it a point to respond to offers promptly. Especially on Thursdays.

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[Mark17]

Originally Posted by jayshum

When you go to a show, do you just pay the dealer's asking price or do you try to negotiate a lower price?

When I go to a store, or a barber shop, or take one of my collies to the vet, I never make a counter-offer. I've never gone into a supermarket and asked them, "What's the best you can do if I take 5 apples..."

For some reason, people who buy cards and memorabilia have a completely different mindset.

I never list anything on ebay with an OBO because all that does is broadcast my listed price isn't real. I don't enjoy the haggling process. See the price and either pay it or move on.

[Exhibitman]

Obvious flaw in the research is inductive reasoning. They conclude that a slow response is indicative of something about the offer when it may just be indicative of having to go to a family dinner, watch the kid's Little League game, go to a religious service, or work the day job. Or maybe just a product of different time zones. An offer made at 7:00 PST to a seller in NYC may not be dealt with until the next day. I've made offers in L.A. and gotten nothing back until the next morning, usually because the seller is back east and stopped working for the night.

Mark, I don't generally use best offers but will send offers when eBay informs me that I can send an offer to watchers. Converts to a sale maybe 5% of the time.

Has anyone tried to set a Best Offer with a price way above the auction minimum? I've done that a few times when I put up an item that I think will get a lot of interest and that someone might pay a premium for it. I usually write what I am doing into the description. Doesn't work; usually it just confuses and then pisses off people.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Mark, I don't generally use best offers but will send offers when eBay informs me that I can send an offer to watchers. Converts to a sale maybe 5% of the time.

When there's something I want with an OBO, that tells me the seller will take a lower price. I decide what I'm willing to pay, submit that offer, and if it's rejected or countered, I walk.

I agree with you that this study makes assumptions on why a seller might delay responding. Among the reasons you mention having to do with different time zones, family activities and so on, I would add that all sellers do not approach the process the same. For example, several times when I've made my offer, the seller never replies. The study might suggest he was considering the offer, but the other explanation would be that he rejected it and letting it expire was his way of declining.

People go to Best Buy and never haggle over the sticker price of a TV or computer. The same people go to a car dealership and haggle over the sticker price of a new car. It's an oddity of our culture I suppose. In some situations, haggling is nonexistent; in others, it's a game that's always expected to be played.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Mark17

When I go to a store, or a barber shop, or take one of my collies to the vet, I never make a counter-offer. I've never gone into a supermarket and asked them, "What's the best you can do if I take 5 apples..."

For some reason, people who buy cards and memorabilia have a completely different mindset.

I never list anything on ebay with an OBO because all that does is broadcast my listed price isn't real. I don't enjoy the haggling process. See the price and either pay it or move on.

Originally Posted by Mark17

When there's something I want with an OBO, that tells me the seller will take a lower price. I decide what I'm willing to pay, submit that offer, and if it's rejected or countered, I walk.

I agree with you that this study makes assumptions on why a seller might delay responding. Among the reasons you mention having to do with different time zones, family activities and so on, I would add that all sellers do not approach the process the same. For example, several times when I've made my offer, the seller never replies. The study might suggest he was considering the offer, but the other explanation would be that he rejected it and letting it expire was his way of declining.

People go to Best Buy and never haggle over the sticker price of a TV or computer. The same people go to a car dealership and haggle over the sticker price of a new car. It's an oddity of our culture I suppose. In some situations, haggling is nonexistent; in others, it's a game that's always expected to be played.

You're right that most of the time, negotiating over the price of something is not what happens in the US. However, in other countries, it is common to haggle over prices for many things.

I'm not sure why cards, cars and houses have an expectation of negotiation over the price (at least for most people), but it is definitely a part of US culture.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Define "several hours." If you send an offer at 10 p.m. and the seller doesn't respond until the morning, are they off the island?

Use common sense. I'm not going to submit an offer at 10 p.m.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by Mark17

When I go to a store, or a barber shop, or take one of my collies to the vet, I never make a counter-offer. I've never gone into a supermarket and asked them, "What's the best you can do if I take 5 apples..."



For some reason, people who buy cards and memorabilia have a completely different mindset.



I never list anything on ebay with an OBO because all that does is broadcast my listed price isn't real. I don't enjoy the haggling process. See the price and either pay it or move on.

Car dealers must love you. Or do you take the bus?

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[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

Car dealers must love you. Or do you take the bus?

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My last 2 cars were given to me by my brother in-law, when he got new ones for his family. They come to me with well over 100,000 miles, but they are Subarus so they last past 200k. My current one is at 205,xxx.

When I bought cars in the past I did very little haggling. I remember when I got my conversion van, I asked the seller if the price was firm, he said yes, and I paid it.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Use common sense. I'm not going to submit an offer at 10 p.m.

Don’t be a jerk. I did use common sense. People frequently send offers late at night.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Use common sense. I'm not going to submit an offer at 10 p.m.

You have common sense, and I have common sense. The rest of the eBay population...Well, George Carlin said it best: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that"

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Use common sense. I'm not going to submit an offer at 10 p.m.

I'm not sure what common sense has to do with what time you submit an offer. The seller usually has 48 hours to respond to so (aside from what this research is trying to show), I'm not sure why it makes any difference what time the offer is sent.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

You have common sense, and I have common sense. The rest of the eBay population...Well, George Carlin said it best: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that"

If there was ever a more timely point in history where the world needed Carlin...

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I'm not sure what common sense has to do with what time you submit an offer. The seller usually has 48 hours to respond to so (aside from what this research is trying to show), I'm not sure why it makes any difference what time the offer is sent.

Rest assured, after letting me go for 48 hours before responding, or more likely no response at all, I will never again buy anything from that seller.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Rest assured, after letting me go for 48 hours before responding, or more likely no response at all, I will never again buy anything from that seller.

Sure, if they never respond then I can see not buying from a seller, but I don't have a problem submitting an offer late at night and not getting a response for a day or so. A lot of people selling on eBay are also working full time jobs and may not be able to respond right away.

[raulus]

Some interesting takes on here, particularly for people who have been willing to express an opinion regarding ratios and percentages. I'll share a sale from just 2 days ago on eBay, and the negotiation that occurred.

I had a nice little PSA-graded Mays exhibit for sale, not real common for the grade, with a couple of recent sales on eBay at that grade. One recent sale at $360, and another at $357. Knowing that everyone loves to play the game and feel like they got a deal by talking me down, I priced it slightly above this level at $390, and included the possibility to make offers. Can't remember where I set the automatic rejection level, but it was probably around $330 or $340. I figure anything below that, it's not worth even trying to counter.

Couple of days ago, I received an offer at $350. It looks like his first few offers were autorejected, as he had just 2 offers left. For those of you doing the math at home, this is a 10.25% discount off of the asking price. So for some who expect a bigger discount when making offers, I suppose this would have been aggravating.

Knowing that he and I probably weren't far apart, but wanting to get right up to where the last few sales had occurred, I countered within about 30 mins at $360.

He accepted, and I shipped it off to him yesterday. If he had countered at $355, would I have accepted? Probably? I guess we'll never know, since he didn't try. I suspect he decided that $5 wasn't enough to bother arguing about, although other buyers have certainly haggled with me back and forth with offers over such small pricing differences in the past.

In many ways, the whole thing seemed a lot less exciting than most of the comments on this thread. But maybe it's because my asking price wasn't much more than comps, and I was happy to come down to comps, whereas the buyer was happy to come up to comps after probing me at a little below comps, and in spite of a couple of autorejections.

In the end, no one got banned, and I was happy with the sale. With any luck, the buyer will be happy with his purchase, at least once it gets there after going through the authentication process.

[Vintagedeputy]

This post and article are timely for me. I am a reseller on eBay and was just today laughing about a best offer that I received.

I have an unusual item with no comps listed for $49.95. The item has been listed for less than 24 hours and I’ve had five views. Today someone offered me $25. That’s a 50% offer. I countered with $35 and a nice message saying thank you for your offer, I’ll be happy to meet you in the middle at $35. Now that’s really not in the middle and it’s giving more for the buyer and less for me but I was willing to take $35.

They countered my offer of $35 and went up three bucks to $28. I have a hard time believing they think that three dollar bump is really going to win the item for them when their initial offer was at 50% of my asking price. Lowballers really seem to not want to win the item sometimes.

ETA - 5 minutes after I posted this someone offered me $45 for the item and I took it.

[vintagerookies51]

I must be getting offers from different people than y’all. I routinely get offers that are just ridiculous, like sub-$3000 for a decent 1933 Goudey Ruth. When I see that notification on my phone, I don’t even bother going into the app to reject it. I always list mine at quite a bit more than I’m willing to take for it since I know people will haggle no matter how fair the starting price is, so I usually have a pretty sizable percentage I’m willing to go down. But when I get goofy offers like that, I don’t bother acknowledging them. I suppose I could set up automatic rejections, but sometimes it’s entertaining seeing what people will offer.

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by vintagerookies51

I must be getting offers from different people than y’all. I routinely get offers that are just ridiculous, like sub-$3000 for a decent 1933 Goudey Ruth. When I see that notification on my phone, I don’t even bother going into the app to reject it. I always list mine at quite a bit more than I’m willing to take for it since I know people will haggle no matter how fair the starting price is, so I usually have a pretty sizable percentage I’m willing to go down. But when I get goofy offers like that, I don’t bother acknowledging them. I suppose I could set up automatic rejections, but sometimes it’s entertaining seeing what people will offer.

Or counter back with a # you will accept…. You admit you over priced it yet there is an issue with a low offer. It cuts both ways.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by vintagerookies51

I must be getting offers from different people than y’all. I routinely get offers that are just ridiculous, like sub-$3000 for a decent 1933 Goudey Ruth. When I see that notification on my phone, I don’t even bother going into the app to reject it. I always list mine at quite a bit more than I’m willing to take for it since I know people will haggle no matter how fair the starting price is, so I usually have a pretty sizable percentage I’m willing to go down. But when I get goofy offers like that, I don’t bother acknowledging them. I suppose I could set up automatic rejections, but sometimes it’s entertaining seeing what people will offer.

I’d definitely go with autorejections. Either that or be okay with getting notifications for every silly offer.

I also don’t have any Ruth playing days cards for sale. The last Ruth I sold went for $25 a few months ago.

[vintagerookies51]

Originally Posted by nwobhm

Or counter back with a # you will accept…. You admit you over priced it yet there is an issue with a low offer. It cuts both ways.

Big difference between listing it at $6750 with the anticipation of negotiating down to a fairish market price of $6000, and getting offers for less than half of that.

[bnorth]

Just noticed a weird one on eBay. Yesterday I was searching for Wade Boggs bats and found one I don't have. At this point that is a fairly rare occurrence. The bat was a little more than I wanted to pay and didn't have an OBO so I bookmarked it hoping the seller would send me an offer.

I just logged into eBay and sure enough the owner of the bat sent me an offer and it was an amount I would pay. So I hit the Review Offer link to buy it. Turns out the seller sent me the offer(12% discount) and then within minutes somehow ended the listing and relisted the bat so the offer was no good now.

So F them I will wait and buy the same model the next time it shows up for sale from someone else. I don't care enough about my collection to buy from low level trash. I guess they could be one of those people that if you don't accept their offer in 5 minutes they can't mentally handle it and have to withdraw their offer.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Just noticed a weird one on eBay. Yesterday I was searching for Wade Boggs bats and found one I don't have. At this point that is a fairly rare occurrence. The bat was a little more than I wanted to pay and didn't have an OBO so I bookmarked it hoping the seller would send me an offer.

I just logged into eBay and sure enough the owner of the bat sent me an offer and it was an amount I would pay. So I hit the Review Offer link to buy it. Turns out the seller sent me the offer(12% discount) and then within minutes somehow ended the listing and relisted the bat so the offer was no good now.

So F them I will wait and buy the same model the next time it shows up for sale from someone else. I don't care enough about my collection to buy from low level trash. I guess they could be one of those people that if you don't accept their offer in 5 minutes they can't mentally handle it and have to withdraw their offer.

I completely agree with you. To Hell with that seller. Total BS.

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by vintagerookies51

Big difference between listing it at $6750 with the anticipation of negotiating down to a fairish market price of $6000, and getting offers for less than half of that.

Or it’s not worth $6,000.

A card I wanted hit ebay yesterday. $70. It’s worth $30. Many sales to justify that price too. In fact the RC doesn’t sell as high as this particular 2nd year card. As expected, seller is ignoring my offer and it expires shortly. When it does I won’t ever make another offer. Had he responded with a counter and a simple note saying “sorry I can’t go that low” I may have offered $40 and then let it sit for a couple months before offering again.

[raulus]

Reading some of the comments here, I don’t think I appreciated just how much of a blood sport offers can be on eBay. I can certainly understand the challenges with unreasonable offers or astronomical asking prices. The solution seems pretty simple - move on.

But I guess I don’t understand why it has to devolve into such tragic calamity that the counterparty is now dead to you based on one interaction.

Now, if they had insulted you personally, called you names, accused you of listening to country music, or questioned your paternity and integrity, then by all means, get your dander up and block them.

Life is just way too short to get this agitated over something as quotidian as a failed eBay negotiation over piffle such as cardboard.

[ClementeFanOh]

This is a topic that has boggled my mind for years. In the first place, eBay built its empire on auctions, not flat sales. I have submitted offers for collectibles for one of two basic reasons. First is that the item has gone unsold month after month, which should tell the seller something about his item. The second is that the item is not realistically priced, and I’m trying to get it there. I have met both reasonable and unreasonable sellers this way. I deal with reasonable ones and jettison the others…Someone above mentioned negotiating a lower price and wondering why this happens with collectibles. That’s easy- nobody needs an extravagant collectible, nobody. Buyers also know that sellers often invest much less in an extravagant collectible than their selling price. As a buyer, there’s nothing wrong with testing the waters to see what a seller’s floor is- especially if the seller is cooperative and the floor actually matches the ongoing value of the item. Sellers who receive offers and don’t bother to acknowledge them are often hurting their own interest (with collectibles). After all, the potential buyer on the other side is at least intrigued enough to offer. For the truly unrealistic or rude seller, I usually default to daring them to take their item off eBay autopilot- month after month of not selling and keeping the same price despite this- and to actually auction the darn thing. The responses are often straight from The Chuckle Hut. Trent King

[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