What's the point of eBay's best offer if the seller won't budge?

M3Rocket wrote in post #7800340
Wow--just wow!

You said it better then I could have...

Maybe he already had some offers for around the amount he was asking.
Why should he sell to you at a lower price than he was already offered? Maybe that was why he came back with counter offers and wouldn't go lower.
Best offer is the "best offer" he can get.

mikeassk wrote in post #7799918
Best offer is stupid if they don't just take a reasonable offer. 120 for and ask of 133 is a "reasonable offer".

EBAY is stupid as the OP said, because they should be forced to take reasonable offers if they decide to use that stupid function.

Otherwise they are just wasting time.

There was a seller that instantaneously refused my 3 best offers, it was total BS because they would have never accepted anything short of the buy it now.

EBAY is crooked.

I was going to type something, but I honestly can't think of anything better than the other poster said. WOW!

Did you ever stop to think that the seller thought you were wasting his time? You and the guy I quoted above should go into business together!

Esquire08 wrote in post #7800013
What you are describing might be true for repeat clients, but I doubt this seller was a major retailer that wanted to established a relationship.

And to say that sellers should be forced to accept "reasonable" offers is just ludicrous. This guy came with $120, got rejected, then came back with $130. So which is reasonable? The $120, or the $130? If your idea is put in place, the $120 automatically wins, which benefits the buyer, but the seller could have capitalized on $130 given the chance. Your method would discourage sellers from offering the best reasonable offer function altogether, which only really hurts the buyers in the end.

If it was 133$ BIN and a 130 best offer came in,
Not accepting it proves that they are wasting buyers time by offering a BEST OFFER option.
The seller is either being stubborn or using the extra "search" benefit to their advantage without actually being fair and using it and EBAY should be on top of that.

If you list something as 100$ or best offer than you should take 90 bucks as a very reasonable offer if nothing else came in.

Mk1Racer wrote in post #7802171
I was going to type something, but I honestly can't think of anything better than the other poster said. WOW!

Did you ever stop to think that the seller thought you were wasting his time? You and the guy I quoted above should go into business together!

If you are selling something you are "working".
If you don't want to take anything short of your "ASKING" price then just don't.

But don't "WASTE" other peoples time entertaining the notion that you would accept an offer when there is no way that you would.

How is that not clear to you?

NickSimcheck wrote in post #7801427


You said it better then I could have...

Yeah--a lot of malignant narcissism going on here.

Mk1Racer wrote in post #7802171
Did you ever stop to think that the seller thought you were wasting his time? You and the guy I quoted above should go into business together!

Does he not want to take my money? That's fine with me. Are you saying that an offer of $120 on a $130 bag is unreasonable?

mikekelley wrote in post #7803207
Does he not want to take my money? That's fine with me. Are you saying that an offer of $120 on a $130 bag is unreasonable?

I didn't say that a $120 offer on a $130 item is unreasonable. I've been in negotiations w/ people plenty of times, on both sides, when we couldn't come to an agreement on price, and we walked away. So just because you made what you feel is a reasonable offer (and I agree that it is), doesn't mean the seller has to accept it. But to turn around and spend $10 more, to 'spite' the seller is just so Jr. High School.

To mikeass,

I may be 'working' (not sure where you get that from), but I'm certainly not working for you. If you're not willing to pay the asking price, please don't waste my time w/ multiple lower offers. How is that not clear to you? Here's how something like this goes.

Me: Bag is $133
You: Will you take $120?
Me: No, I'll do $130
You: Is that your best price?
Me: yes

Pretty simple, either you're willing to accept that or you're not. You've asked two questions and have enough information to make a decision. How is that possibly wasting your time? And you don't see anything wrong w/ getting upset at the seller, and going and actually paying more than the original asking price w/ someone else? If you were willing to pay that much to start with, why did you even get into negotiating in the first place? Is it because they said OBO, and you thought you could beat them up on the price? If that's the way you do business, please don't ever show interest in anything I'm selling.

I think what it boils down to is why get upset over it?

His price was still lower then the guy that sold the bag for $140.

Except when I buy it for a whole ten dollars more, I know that the seller isn't the type to waste someone else's time should anything come up. Call me crazy but I think only accepting three dollars less than the BIN for best offer is a little bit sleazy, whether or not he was trying to get more search hits.

And just to clarify, the spite thing was for pure humor on this board which I guess people didn't really get. I wasn't thinking LOL IMMA SHOW THIS GUY WHO'S THE BOSS! when I bought it somewhere else.

mikeassk wrote in post #7802226
If it was 133$ BIN and a 130 best offer came in,
Not accepting it proves that they are wasting buyers time by offering a BEST OFFER option.
The seller is either being stubborn or using the extra "search" benefit to their advantage without actually being fair and using it and EBAY should be on top of that.

If you list something as 100$ or best offer than you should take 90 bucks as a very reasonable offer if nothing else came in.

You might want to re-read the thread.

The original price was $133, the OP lowballed at $110, the seller countered with $130, the OP countered with $120, the seller rejected, the OP offered $125, the OP rejected.

And you are also assuming nothing else came in. Maybe this was a lot of backpacks and the previous five had sold at $130.

You really don't think things through.

mikekelley wrote in post #7804251
I wasn't thinking LOL IMMA SHOW THIS GUY WHO'S THE BOSS! when I bought it somewhere else.

Yes you were.

Esquire08 wrote in post #7809821
You might want to re-read the thread.

The original price was $133, the OP lowballed at $110, the seller countered with $130, the OP countered with $120, the seller rejected, the OP offered $125, the OP rejected.

And you are also assuming nothing else came in. Maybe this was a lot of backpacks and the previous five had sold at $130.

You really don't think things through.

And your assuming that something did.

I have had best offers that work well in all kinds of marketplaces including EBAY. It works well when both parties are willing to make a deal. 130 instead of 133 is not a deal, it is like a slap in the face.

Some sellers on EBAY just use this as a hook to get people interested in an item. It is just lame.

The OP's point was just what the title said. You are just defending a lame sales tactic that is annoying to deal with. If you are asking a certain price and you wont budge but 2%, that is just weak. What is the point to even bother with any dialog or bargaining if your talking about 3 dollars!

mikeassk wrote in post #7810438
And your assuming that something did.

I have had best offers that work well in all kinds of marketplaces including EBAY. It works well when both parties are willing to make a deal. 130 instead of 133 is not a deal, it is like a slap in the face.

Some sellers on EBAY just use this as a hook to get people interested in an item. It is just lame.

The OP's point was just what the title said. You are just defending a lame sales tactic that is annoying to deal with. If you are asking a certain price and you wont budge but 2%, that is just weak. What is the point to even bother with any dialog or bargaining if your talking about 3 dollars!

The lame sales tactic that was an offered price $10 below the competition?

LAME!

mikeassk wrote in post #7810438
And your assuming that something did.

I have had best offers that work well in all kinds of marketplaces including EBAY. It works well when both parties are willing to make a deal. 130 instead of 133 is not a deal, it is like a slap in the face.

Some sellers on EBAY just use this as a hook to get people interested in an item. It is just lame.

The OP's point was just what the title said. You are just defending a lame sales tactic that is annoying to deal with. If you are asking a certain price and you wont budge but 2%, that is just weak. What is the point to even bother with any dialog or bargaining if your talking about 3 dollars!

I think you've got bigger issues than the OP. "A slap in the face"? Not sure why you think the seller would spend the effort to 'personalize' it like that. And honestly, what's a "slap in the face" is "F-you, I'm going to spend more than you were asking w/ someone else, because you wouldn't go w/ my offer."

And what's 'weak' and 'lame' is the way you whine about this. Bottom line is, the seller sets the price. Most people have a value they place on something, which determines how much they're willing to pay, before going in. Obviously the OP was wililng to pay $140 for the bag, because that's what he paid, even though he could have got it for $130. You seem to think that because someone says OBO or ONRO, that if you don't get some significant reduction in the original asking price, you're leaving money on the table. If you can get it for a price you're willing to pay, why sweat it?

I know some people enjoy the game of negotiation. I personally don't. Sure, I will negotiate on things, but I'm much more of a "Let's cut to the chase, what's the bottom line?" kind of guy. I absolutely loathe the new car buying process where you have to spend all kinds of time and effort negotiating the price. Last couple of cars I've bought have been "What's the best deal you can give me on it?" or "This is what I want and this is what I'm willing to pay, will that work?" And believe me, I've walked away from plenty of deals. Because in the end, the price wasn't what I wanted to pay. But I can't think of one time when I've ever gotten mad at a seller because they wouldn't move on the price.