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#1
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
So I see a card on ebay which allows for a best offer. The card was sold on ebay a few weeks ago for about half the current "buy it now" price -- and I make a best offer for about the price that this very card sold for a few weeks ago. Now I know people on ebay (and otherwise) want to double their money in a few weeks but unless the rest of us are morons it's pretty easy to find out that the card being offered for sale is overpriced by 100% - based on the sale of the very card a few weeks back. Anyway, my best offer is not declined, not countered -- just ignored. WTF is up with that? |
#2
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Dan Bretta
There is a Nebraska Indians postcard on ebay right now with a $200 BIN or Best Offer...I made an offer of about twice what the average NI postcard sells for and was turned down. It will not sell at his price and it probably would not sell to anyone but me if he lowered it to my offer. He's just wasting his time and money on ebay with such a high BIN. |
#3
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
I dislike the whole BIN/Best Offer game. It seems like more times than not the seller is just trolling for suckers. As a seller, I don't use that method; I always put things up for auction and let the market take its course. As a buyer, when I find something that I really want that isn't offered very frequently, and I am willing to bite the bullet, I have found that an offer of about 90% of the BIN price is usually accepted. But some sellers may have a lot more 'padding' in their BIN price than that, so it is certainly worth trying lower offers too (e.g. fair market value). |
#4
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Jason L
Jeff, |
#5
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: nbrazil
i dont see anything wrong with BINs/Best offers on ebay. This is the seller's perception of what this card is worth. He offers it to the public. See if anyone bites or offers something near to his price. If he overprices the card, so be it....he'll have to pay the listing fees. I dont see what the difference is between a BST post stating a price with the footnote "Willing to hear offers." At most, viewing these best offers are annoying. |
#6
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Richard Cline - RC
I think that no matter what anyone thinks of BIN or best offer, |
#7
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
Oh, and for the record, the seller received a single offer for his card -- mine -- during the entire week it was up for auction. Gee, perhaps the 100% markup had something to do with that? |
#8
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Matt
Jeff - you sound very annoyed at this seller, but if he wants to overprice his cards, that's his business. I've had situations where I was able to win a card well below what it had sold for in the past. Should I then be expected to sell it below those prices as well, or would asking that amount be OK? In fact, even if a seller wanted to sell it for 10 times what it has ever sold for, I don't have an issue with it; he may be a moron and have to eat his ebay fees, but a seller can ask whatever he wants. That said, he should have the courtesy of responding to your offer. |
#9
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Dan Bretta
Well the NI postcard has been listed twice and so far mine was the only offer on it....and there was one time I listed a lot of empty vintage baseball boxes...about 50 of them with a BIN of $399...when I got an offer of $50 I ignored it. Was I rude to ignore that offer? Or was it rude of the buyer to make such an insulting offer? |
#10
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: leon
I agree that there is no question folks should respond to all offers. A polite "no thank you" can go a long way in future dealings. With that being said I am sure you will agree that a seller can ask whatever they want to for a card. All you have to do is sort by highest price cards and you will see 22 out of the top 25 never get bids with either the BIN multiples too high, or just the same conclusion of the starting bid being multiples more than the value. It doesn't really bother me. I find it kind of amusing sometimes...People should always have the courtesy to respond ...and that especially goes for the BST area. Brian and I do want to know about crap going on over there. |
#11
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: T206Collector
<<I make a best offer for about the price that this very card sold for a few weeks ago.>> |
#12
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: jeffdrum
"Best Offer" is a misnomer, seller is under no obligation to accept any offer. Should be called "Make an Offer." I hit on about 40% of my offers. My impression like many others is that most people are trolling for someone who doesn't know what something is worth or doesn't care. And after all, if somebody is willing to "overpay" for something, on that day, at that time it was worth that. As I heard a retired ballplayer say of a current player, "He makes what someone is willing to pay him!" |
#13
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: barrysloate
I agree- you can decline any offer you want, but you shouldn't ignore them. Just politely say you are going to pass. |
#14
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: boxingcardman
it is their card and they can offer it for whatever they want. |
#15
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
boxingcardman, I hear what you are saying, but I disagree slightly. I believe, perhaps somewhat naively, that some concept of fairness is appropriate for these types of transactions. If nothing else, it builds good will between buyers and sellers. Perhaps there are very few sellers who would be swayed by 'moral' arguments as to how they should set their prices, but as a buyer I certainly feel better when I know that I haven't been taken to the cleaners on a card purchase. |
#16
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Mark
There was a card I wanted and the seller had the Buy it Now price at $450 which was about double the going rate. I offered $225 but was prepared to go higher if he countered. His response was basically 'how dare you offer me such an insulting offer compared to my buy it now price!! Never bid on any of my auctions again!!!' After listing and lowering the prices two more times, he took a best offer of $250 from another buyer. Guess my offer wasn't so insulting after all. |
#17
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: jay wolt
I don't use the Best offer option when I sell |
#18
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Mark Steinberg
I agree with Dan on this... a very similar situation to the Nebraska Indains Postcard... |
#19
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Doug
I haven't had a lot of luck with the best offer feature buying or selling. Usually when buying I run into a card with a buy it now that's twice what the card is worth and if I make a reasonable offer it's usually ignored or countered with a price that's barely different than the buy it now. When I sell something I usually try to list it at what I consider a fair price with a little "bargaining room", but it seems like the great majority of the offers I get are less than half of what the card is worth. Given that, I still respond to all of them. If it's close to something I'd accept I will counter with the least I'd be willing to take. If it's ridiculously low, I just politely decline it and go on. |
#20
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: dstudeba
Eric - |
#21
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: keyway
I never make an offer on any of these items. Ebay is supposed to be an auction site. I am also sick of all the buy it now stuff that pops up every time there is a cheap listing price day. Ebay should open up a for sale sight for all of these people. |
#22
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: leon
That site is called "Ebay Stores"....all of that high priced stuff that sits there not selling gets dumped on low cost, or no cost, listing days into the auction area we sift through.... |
#23
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Red
"The card was sold on ebay a few weeks ago for about half the current "buy it now" price -- and I make a best offer for about the price that this very card sold for a few weeks ago. " |
#24
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
Red, fair questions. The card was won a few weeks back with one bid -- the starting price on the card. No one bid on it for a week because it was overpriced as it was. Finally, the winner put a snipe in at the end and was the only bidder for the card -- thus making it clear to me and everyone else who watched the card that it was overpriced -- except to this one bidder. So maybe the bidder was willing to pay 50% more for the card; however, not a single bidder was willing to even pay what he paid for it -- and then he immediately tried to flip it for nearly double the price he paid for it, just a few weeks later. Still think my offer to pay what he paid for it was a bad offer, not even worthy of a response? |
#25
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
dstudeba -- good question, I suppose you are right that I shouldn't feel ripped off as long as I get a price that is fair with respect to the current market. And of course, as a buyer, the choice is always mine. |
#26
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Cobby33
I love (not) the sellers who do not set an auto-decline at a given floor and email back, making some stupid comment about how they would "rather burn the card" than sell it at that price. Use auto-decline, Einstein, unless of course you enjoy being a tool. |
#27
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: barrysloate
I will never understand the business model of having hundreds of items priced well above their market value, and virtually none of them will sell. And then a couple of months later, the same overpriced group will appear and likewise little to none of it will sell. |
#28
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: boxingcardman
Cobby: I didn't know there's an auto-decline function. Cool. I'll have to check that out. |
#29
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Jon Canfield
One of my favorite sales I ever made was when I offered a card for a $9.99 starting price and a BIN of $500.00 (what I wanted to get for the card). I bidder rushed to bid on the card to get rid of the BIN function. As the 10 day auction played out, the initial bidder who bid instead of using the BIn won the card - for almost $870.00. Needless to say, I was happy. |
#30
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
boxingcardman - well, I suppose that if you are buying a card, then using the seller's investment in a card as a negotiation point (if you happen to know what it is) is always worth a try: "Hey you only paid $250 for that $3000 card, so you will be making out like a bandit if you sell it to me for $2500." |
#31
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Ed Ivey
I recently bid what I thought was market on one and got an instant rejection, like an out of office auto reply. |
#32
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: leon
If you know what someone paid for something then that can certainly go into the thought process of an offer...however, to me what is much more important, is the fair market value. I have a standard answer for most folks that ask what I paid for something....it's usually "$1.00". (note obvious sarcasm).....I do use what I paid for something in determining a price but I use what I feel is fair market value more so.....I always answer questions and offers...no matter how ridiculous. Recently I was offered $225 for a card that I had priced at about $600....I paid $500 for it....I politely declined but the potential buyer and I had about 10 good emails that evening chatting about other stuff. I am sure if I was an ass, or didn't respond, we would have never had that nice dialogue....best regards |
#33
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Joe D.
I am beginning to dislike both sides of the Ebay Best Offer process. |
#34
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
Leon -- you are a wise man, with a fair and balanced attitude, and I think you are right, a buyer should be motivated only by what price they can get, not by how much the seller might or might not be gaining out of a deal. Push comes to shove, I am not in any big hurry to do business with a seller who makes small profits, if I don't get a good price on my end. On the other hand, I do think it is true, in baseball card trading as well as any other business, that a savvy buyer can use knowledge of the seller's position to their advantage in negotiating a price. What else is new. But I'm just a mathematician who lives in a dream world of ideals. And for some crazy reason likes vintage baseball cards. |
#35
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Cat (ret.)
Jeff: |
#36
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: James Gallo
Here is one thing that has not been brought up. |
#37
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: JK
Eric, |
#38
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Dan Koteles
why would you only offer what or close to what he paid. He may have bought it relatively cheap and wants to make a little. You arent necessarily saying you do not want hime to make a profit...but what are you saying ? Plus ,if they recognize your name and realize you have a little cabbage....ah ,ya never know. |
#39
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: bruce Dorskind
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#40
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Mike
When Ebay becomes like a show we are all in trouble. Having attended about a dozen Nationals it is amazing how many dealers like to display their collections (not inventory) with astronomical prices. Cards that go for $100 on Ebay are priced over $250.00 with little room for movement. Maybe these are the same people who also have high buy it nows on Ebay. When I see a high BIN, I dont even make an offer figuring the seller would not be realistic based on the outrageous initial offer to sell. |
#41
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: barrysloate
Bruce- if your assertion is true that prices in various auction houses can have as much as 200-300% swing, something sounds fishy. There is always a margin of error in any market, but that's too large a margin. |
#42
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Bobby Binder
Barry, |
#43
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Glen Turner
I have called and e-mailed Ebay many times asking them if they would put a box you could check that would allow you not to see BIN. |
#44
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Ed Hans
"The hassles of eBay"? I can't imagine a much simpler or safer process, with PayPal protection and the feedback system. Compare that to some of the horror stories we hear (and those we do not) from auction houses. Ebay is certainly not perfect, but neither are the auction houses. |
#45
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: barrysloate
Bobby- I'm not sure that ebay is that much of a hassle. If you had a choice of buying say a PSA 8 on ebay for $1000, or from a major auction house for $3000, I can guarantee you there are enough people out there who are willing to deal with the hassle. Like I said, something isn't connecting here. |
#46
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
Glen -- I think if you do a Search in eBay, you can click tabs at the top of the search results page that will let you display Auction items only, or Buy It Now items only. Thus if you click the "Auctions" tab, the Buy It Now items won't be visible. Is that what you are asking? |
#47
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
"It is true that the prices realized in auction houses such as Goodwin and Memory Lane bring in much higher amounts in the 300%+ range even for cards that commonly sell on eBay. I am not so sure that something funny is happening in this case." |
#48
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Matt
Eric - I'm pretty sure that the "Auction" selection just eliminates store listings, but active listings with a fixed price/buy it now remain. |
#49
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: Eric Brehm
Not to belabor this point, but okay, I'm convinced that a seller's investment in a card should generally be irrelevant as far as what I should be willing to pay for it. I should really only be concerned about whether the price is acceptable to me or not. There are two cases recently however where I did take the seller's potential profit into account: |
#50
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O/T Pet Peeve on Best Offers (Ebay)
Posted By: martindl
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