eBay - Make an Offer - Please explain ?

[Colin88 54]

I've just had a very rare coin up on ebay with a 'buy it now' in the £thousands combined with a 'Make an Offer' facility...it was a nice VF and priced at £2k under VF...not an unreasonable buy and I dont think I'm a full cat type of seller...it was up for 10 days..272 views and 22 'watchers'..it ended a couple of days ago..since then I've had 5 emails asking me 'what do I want for it'...none of them appear to be Nigerain Scammers....

What was wrong with the "Make an Offer" option ??

What a lot of faffing about, I really cant be ars*d with eBay any more....its all going into auction proper.

[pies 33]

For me ebay only works at the cheap end of the market when things get pricey there are too many dangers

When people offer to buy outside of ebay they are hoping that as you are not paying evay fees the price you will accept will drop further

[declanwmagee 122]

I've just had a very rare coin up on ebay with a 'buy it now' in the £thousands combined with a 'Make an Offer' facility...it was a nice VF and priced at £2k under VF...not an unreasonable buy and I dont think I'm a full cat type of seller...it was up for 10 days..272 views and 22 'watchers'..it ended a couple of days ago..since then I've had 5 emails asking me 'what do I want for it'...none of them appear to be Nigerain Scammers....

What was wrong with the "Make an Offer" option ??

What a lot of faffing about, I really cant be ars*d with eBay any more....its all going into auction proper.

Hi Colin

First of all, I do apologise for hijacking your website thread!

I use Buy it Now or Best Offer for most of the coins I sell on eBay and I do come across this sort of thing quite regularly. I suppose watchers will have noticed that it didn't sell and assume that you must be desperate to get rid of it. Each one of your 5 could be a potential sale though, so I'd engage them in conversation and if you do agree a price, bang it back up on Best Offer and invite them to use the functionality built-in. eBay can be a bit funny about people negotiating privately, protective of their fees, so if you do negotiate offline, do it through normal email, rather than through the eBay messaging system.

[azda 979]

I've recently had similar and have worked out a price offline. Its good for me and the buyer. No fees involved, so the buyer gets a cheaper coin.

Its risky for them though as they don't know the seller from adam. I recently sold a Scottish hammered this way and te guy was really pleased, we're now in the process Talking over another hammered.

[Benny who 6]

I think with the fees that Ebay charge you will probably look at £200 on 2K,which means going off the bay will leave a little room for haggling.

As long as a good rapport is formed and the trust can be built,this can be a more secure way of selling as the buyer has to have a higher level of trust,and a Asda mentioned if they like the first coin there is a better chance they will use you again.

I have sold coins through Ebay and Paypal only for some little wipe to claim their monies back three months down the line.

[azda 979]

EBay Charge up to £75 and not 10% on everything Benny

[Colin88 54]

Thanks for the responses...I suppose it does make sense based on what you've all replied.

[Peter 615]

Anything over £250 buy or sell doesn't happen with me on Ebay.

I have picked up some nice stuff and shifted a few bits.I still think it a great 24/7 resource.

[TomGoodheart 403]

I'm fairly sure I'd heard that if you made an offer on ebay and it was turned down you couldn't then go back and make another (higher) one? So maybe people didn't want to put themselves out of the running by offering too little? I know the few times I've listed with an offer option I've not received any ... which is disappointing really!

Having said that, one of the coins I bought recently I got on an offer. However the seller had also listed the coin on his website, so as soon as I saw he'd lowered the eBay listing price I contacted him through there. It was only £20 difference, which would have been absorbed by ebay fees, but I felt I was getting a better deal and we were both happy.

I still check ebay regularly as good deals can be had, even now. But to be honest, I'd much rather buy at a set price from a dealer I know and trust these days ... I heard ebay are trying to head towards more fixed price BIN listings (perhaps they feel the competition from sites like Amazon) but how long it will take for people to accept the idea over 'auction' style, I'm not sure.

A couple of people I know have complained they've had no success recently selling on ebay. Maybe a sign of the times - everyone wants an (unrealistic) bargain! Or maybe what we're trying to sell is too specialised? *shrug*

[pies 33]

A couple of people I know have complained they've had no success recently selling on ebay. Maybe a sign of the times - everyone wants an (unrealistic) bargain! Or maybe what we're trying to sell is too specialised? *shrug*

They aint selling vicky or edward stuff then prices have shot up and its all selling toooooo many other buyers,they should leave me alone

[azda 979]

You have 3 chances making an offer. So if a coin is £1000 and Mr fruitcake offers £100, its going to get automatically knocked back as there is a Matrix a seller could use.

When listing BIN or "make offer" the seller can add an acceptance price plus also a price he Wants to start Talking Dollar with the Person who makes the offer.

You always get the idiots who go in at 25% of the listed price, so of course those will be knocked back because they are unrealistic. Those are the people who will get knocked back 3 times.

[1949threepence 3,367]

I've just had a very rare coin up on ebay with a 'buy it now' in the £thousands combined with a 'Make an Offer' facility...it was a nice VF and priced at £2k under VF...not an unreasonable buy and I dont think I'm a full cat type of seller...it was up for 10 days..272 views and 22 'watchers'..it ended a couple of days ago..since then I've had 5 emails asking me 'what do I want for it'...none of them appear to be Nigerain Scammers....

What was wrong with the "Make an Offer" option ??

What a lot of faffing about, I really cant be ars*d with eBay any more....its all going into auction proper.

Don't know. I've made an offer for BIN's on a number of occasions, most of which have been accepted. So no idea why they'd be reluctant to make a realistic offer.

[Benny who 6]

EBay Charge up to £75 and not 10% on everything Benny

Sorry should have said with Ebay and Paypal charges.Still slightly out with that figure,and maths was my strong point .

[azda 979]

13.5% in total for both eBay and paypal