Strange New eBay "feature"

Rob-F

Rob-F

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I've got three items up for sale on eBay. When I checked to see how they were doing, there were a big blue box by two of my listings, that read "SEND OFFER." I thought that must mean that prospective buyers has sent offers (I had "Best Offer" enabled). So I went to my email to see what they were. There were no best offers offered. I was baffled.

It seems that eBay now wants us to send offers, even though no one has inquired about the item. But send them to whom? Everyone? Anyone? So If I have an item I've priced at say, $50 or best offer, I'm supposed to now "offer" it for less? To whom? The world in general? Nobody in particular? Seems to me that if I have it up for $50, then $50 is my "offer."

Well, maybe I just don't understand what this new "feature" is. But it looks to me like the world is going psychotic. Or is it just me?

Edit: Perhaps the "offer' is to those who are watching the item. I don't know. Seems odd, though. If a store puts an item in the window for $50, they don't usually "offer" it for $40.00. I don't know. I've had a hard day.
 
Rob-F said:
Edit: Perhaps the "offer' is to those who are watching the item.
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Um yes, it's not meant for you. It's for a prospective buyer.

It's even on auctions now, much to the surprise of many sellers. It's been that way for a while I think. Probably to combat the many who just message sellers and make a deal off eBay.
 
This has been around for a while and my impression is that you can opt out of using it if you want. (But do not ask me how as I have never used eBay to sell, only to buy). I have only ever seen it used in conjunction with some items being sold at a Buy it Now (BIN) price. The buyer can instead offer a lesser amount than the BIN price and this is supposed to be a best and final offer. It is entirely up to the seller as to whether they accept it or not and I have had some sellers just ignore me and not respond -while others have responded saying yes or no. In fact I have made offers a few times but have never had them accepted unless they were within a tiny margin of the BIN price -in which case what's the point. As a buyer I do not think I have offered a "best offer" price for the past year or more - sellers either do not offer it on their items or I am happy with that the BIN price is reasonable..
 
Peter, and Corran, what you are both referring to is the tried and true Best Offer as it has always been. I'm fine with that. But this is different! It's one thing for the seller to allow the buyer to submit a best offer. That's fine! But now, eBay is suggesting that the seller, rather than the buyer, should initiate the first "offer." Perhaps I haven't been clear enough. It's not the same as the way it has always been done. This is new and different, and doesn't seem to make sense.
 
Looks like it'll be sent to watchers. I've got a listing with no watchers and no Send Offer button. But I've seen it before and I know what you're talking about!

I've had emails with "An item you're watching is on sale" but I think that's a different thing too. I guess the general premise is the same.
 
I never understood why eBay does not let you see who put your items for sale in their favorites so once the item was unsold, you could make them an offer directly.
 
A buyer may inquire by email regarding a listing, along with an offer. If the seller agrees to the arrangement, they can use the ‘send offer’ feature to confirm it and the buyer can then proceed with payment.
 
splitimageview said:
A buyer may inquire by email regarding a listing, along with an offer. If the seller agrees to the arrangement, they can use the ‘send offer’ feature to confirm it and the buyer can then proceed with payment.
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Again, that's been around for a while and is different to what OP is discussing.
 
But since I have the "Best Offer" option activated, all the buyer has to do is, well, make an offer! :bang:
 
Yeah Rob. The idea here is to appeal to your prospective buyers. If they are interested and wondering if they should make an offer, you take the initiative and say, "Hey, I'm selling for this, but I can lower to this". That way, the buyer can then make an offer.

For instance, I often find appealing items on ebay and add them to watch list, and then forgot about them. This is to remind the buyers that they are watching the item.

I think is a nice feature to remind the buyers that you are selling the item for a bit less.

Regards

Marcelo
 
Arbitrarium said:
Again, that's been around for a while and is different to what OP is discussing.
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Emailing sellers has been around forever, yes.

But the seller sending an offer as the OP described is new.

I was just describing how the new feature could be utilized.
 
Many of the Japanese sellers of gear have "make offer" option. This is on Buy it Now gear. I bought some items where the seller took my offer, or made a counter offer and I agreed, or made a higher offer, or I backed away.
 
Yes, it's another irritating, useless new feature. It's like a BIN offer, only for auctions.

You can disable it via a tick box when you first list. You probably didn't notice, I didn't. I know I turned down one offer on an auction, being a bit of an adrenaline junky, that was more than the eventual sale price.

Here's eBay's explanation.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now/adding-best-offer-listing?id=4144

There is one advantage over the old method of having an auction with a BIN price, in that eBay control what BIN you can ask (why?). Here there is a little more flexibility.

Remember, buyers CAN offer you more than the starting price - and often do. You can program the listing to automatically reject offers below a certain value so you don't waste time on lowballers.
 
splitimageview said:
A buyer may inquire by email regarding a listing, along with an offer. If the seller agrees to the arrangement, they can use the ‘send offer’ feature to confirm it and the buyer can then proceed with payment.
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This new feature is so annoying and I'm sick of cheapskates asking for a lower price or telling me that they are starving students/retirees that would give my listing a loving home. This one guy provided a sob story and wanted a discount so that he could use the lens with his M6 and M9 cameras! I might have been a bit more sympathetic if he was using a FED.
 
When I list BIN/BO, if someone shoots a low-ball, I give it a split second of attention and then it's forgotten. I sometimes make such offers myself, depending on many factors which I won't list here.

So i can't really complain about others doing the same thing. Sometimes low offers work, and I end up with a bargain...most of the time not, but no harm in trying.

When selling, if the offer is within the ball-park I'll often counter-offer, as then I know I have someone that's really interested as opposed to someone who is simply hoping for a jackpot.

In the past few days I've countered and closed a couple of sales.
 
When I sell on Ebay, I list everything as "Buy It Now". But what happens is Ebay waits a week or two and if the item hasn't sold yet, they automatically change it to "Make Offer" (in addition to Buy It Now), even if I've set up the sale to NOT accept offers. So I have to go back in and manually turn off the "accept offers" option. Its annoying. And it took me a couple of times to figure out why all of a sudden I was getting people trying to make an offer; its because Ebay had turned that feature on against my will.
 
css9450 said:
When I sell on Ebay, I list everything as "Buy It Now". But what happens is Ebay waits a week or two and if the item hasn't sold yet, they automatically change it to "Make Offer" (in addition to Buy It Now), even if I've set up the sale to NOT accept offers. So I have to go back in and manually turn off the "accept offers" option. Its annoying. And it took me a couple of times to figure out why all of a sudden I was getting people trying to make an offer; its because Ebay had turned that feature on against my will.
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I never list items as auctions, only use “Buy it Now” listings, and never check the “Accept Offers” box when I am placing the ad. That box has always been unchecked by default......until about four weeks ago. I listed several items at one time, as usual, and in a few days started getting “offers”. Since I never list items to show up with “Make an Offer’ in the ad, I wondered what the heck. Went back and looked at every ad I had placed that day, and the several I had placed since, and every one of them showed the “Make an offer” button.
Ebay has changed the defaults, at least for me. Used to be I had to check the “accept offers” box when I was writing up the listing. Now ebay has checked that box by default, so yes, they have changed the game slightly without giving any notice. I can uncheck the box, which I do, but the default behavior of the site is now to encourage people to accept offers, at least for my account.
The other thing ebay started doing to me around the same time was that they started sending me emails about listings I had up encouraging me to lower the asking price, even though mine was already the lowest asking price on the site.
Ebay only makes money when something sells. Both these new behaviors are aimed at speeding up sales.
 
Larry Cloetta said:
That box has always been unchecked by default......until about four weeks ago. I listed several items at one time, as usual, and in a few days started getting “offers”. Since I never list items to show up with “Make an Offer’ in the ad, I wondered what the heck. Went back and looked at every ad I had placed that day, and the several I had placed since, and every one of them showed the “Make an offer” button.
Ebay has changed the defaults, at least for me.
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Yes!! My experience exactly!
 
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