an old topic... what and how to offer on Ebay

[LightBright]

I thought I’d re-ask the age old question of what to offer for an Antique Jewelry item on Ebay.

The item is priced at Etsy prices. It’s been listed for eight months (since I’ve been watching). It would need a re-polish of one of the major stones. I like it because its fairly unique, hard to find, and in that sense the starting price of the auction makes sense. Item is NO RETURNS. There is a Make Offer option.

How would you go about calculating an offer and communicating with the vendor? Would you contact the seller and tell them your thoughts on an offer? Or use the Make Offer button? To be honest, a comfortable price for me would be (at least) 30% off. I do not like low balling because I don’t like conflict-- does this look like a low ball offer? Should I just pay way more than I’m comfortable so that I don’t have to keep looking? I’ve been looking for months... I’m embarrassed to have to ask, advice would be appreciated.

Also, have you ever just gone ahead and paid for something that was not a bargain because you were sick of looking?? LOL

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Yes
how much will you regrete it if you were too lose out ?

Needing a polishing aside Is the asking price a fair price or is it priced for negotiation ?

Surley there is no harm getting dialogue started with a 30% less offer

 

[maryjane04]

I think you should just offer 30% less and see what they say. They can only decline or accept. I recently bought a cheap ish gold filled necklace it was advertised for like $50 and I offered $30 and they accepted. Obviously the scale is different but the principles are the same.

 

[marymm]

Especially since there are no returns, and it is still there after 8 months ... go ahead and offer your price ... at best, they accept, you receive it and are happy.

 

[Bron357]

If the ebay listing permits a “make an offer” (auction format listings don’t) you can offer whatever you like HOWEVER the seller will probably have set “minimum“ low price. If you make an offer below that you get an automatic “offer declined” response.
the seller can still see who offered and how much.
if your offer is above the minimum (if one was set) the offer is open for 48 hours for the seller to decide whether to accept or counter offer. If the seller doesn’t respond in 48 hours or is essentially declining your offer, the offer lapses.
as a buyer you can make up to 3 offers for an item. This includes offers automatically rejected for being too low or offers that lapse. Any offer you make is considered binding if the seller accepts it.
Most sellers will consider / accept an offer within 10% of the asking price.
Just be aware that if you “low ball offer” the seller can not only ignore you they can actually block you so you can’t even recontact them again. Some sellers are weird.
I would contact the seller via messaging and say you are interested in item, what would be their best price. Always best to try and establish a relationship, some sellers are very flexible others like a rock. No harm in asking politely.

 

[winnietucker]

Eh I just throw out offers on eBay ( if they have a best offer option or if I know they also sell off of eBay and we can avoid the fees). I’ll offer what I realistically feel ok with paying. They can reject me or counter.

Some of my offers are prob low ball. But I’m the flip side is that I’m watching a bunch of items where the sellers send me offers - some are just a few % and some are significant decreases.

As a sometimes seller, lowball offers don’t offend me so it prob factors into why I don’t think it’s a big deal to make offers that might be considered lowball. Especially on a platform like eBay where it’s easy to screen this stuff. My thought is, you never know until you ask.

 

[dk168]

I sell using the Make An Offer option with a minimum that I am willing to accept.

I had really low offers before and they would just be rejected automatically.

I had buyers who messaged me asking if I would accept a certain amount and why the could not offer much more after their offers were rejected.

They were not much far off from the minimum that I set, so I counter-offered to just below the minimum, and were accepted.

As a buyer, I had offered about 40% below the asking price, for the sellers to counter-offer. If there were much more than I was prepared to pay, I would walk away.

DK

 

[MMtwo]

I routinely offer about 25% lower if the offer button is up there. Some folks list at a higher amount and expect to sell lower. Some buyers want to "make a deal". I would certainly think after all this time they would appreciate the chance to sell the item. If they think your offer is too low, they will counter.

Hubby just just sold a pair of my speakers on ebay. I had one lowball offer that was nothing even close to what I would consider. We countered. He walked. No problem at all. I sold them the next day at a reasonable price.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Oh boy, my husband is much better at negotiating on EBay. The last time I really wanted something and asked how much I should offer he said 33% off. Now usually 20% is my sweet spot so this to me was crazy but in the end we met at 30% off. Another recent purchase I offered 20% less because I didn’t want to lose it, the offer was accepted right away.

It seems like it’s a bit easier when to negotiate at higher percentages when someone is not emotionally invested in the piece. So if it happens to be a gold and coin place with a presence on EBay they are usually great to work with.

Now I also have had the experience of someone offering me 50% less than my BIN and that was way too low, so I automatically declined.

I hope you are able to get the piece you want at a price you are happy with. Feeling like you got an outstanding treasure at a great price is an amazing feeling.