ebay questions

[steelbikerider]

I'm new to ebay and I have some questions. Yes, I know its the 21st century but this old fart decided to get busy and clean out a couple of parts boxes to help finance a new frame.

Why make an offer instead of just bid? Is this to avoid the hassle of bidding and waiting? A couple were lowball offers that were way off.

Why say you have a question and want a text reply instead of through ebay messages? Is this to get your phone number for marketing/scam purposes? Both of these requests came from overseas locations.

If anyone is interested, I have Dura Ace 7400, 7700 and 7800 components for sale along with a few 10 speed Ultegra cassettes and a DA cassette, all used but in good working order. Send me a pm if you are looking for something.

[kppolich]

I'm new to ebay and I have some questions. Yes, I know its the 21st century but this old fart decided to get busy and clean out a couple of parts boxes to help finance a new frame.

Why make an offer instead of just bid? Is this to avoid the hassle of bidding and waiting? A couple were lowball offers that were way off.

Why say you have a question and want a text reply instead of through ebay messages? Is this to get your phone number for marketing/scam purposes? Both of these requests came from overseas locations.

If anyone is interested, I have Dura Ace 7400, 7700 and 7800 components for sale along with a few 10 speed Ultegra cassettes and a DA cassette, all used but in good working order. Send me a pm if you are looking for something.

Frowned upon to pass phone numbers or email addresses through eBay messages. You'll get an email from eBay b/c they monitor the traffic or they will block your message if you try to send a phone number.

It's up to the seller to make it a true auction vs. buy it now vs. allow offers.

[paredown]

I'm new to ebay and I have some questions. Yes, I know its the 21st century but this old fart decided to get busy and clean out a couple of parts boxes to help finance a new frame.

Why make an offer instead of just bid? Is this to avoid the hassle of bidding and waiting? A couple were lowball offers that were way off.

Why say you have a question and want a text reply instead of through ebay messages? Is this to get your phone number for marketing/scam purposes? Both of these requests came from overseas locations.

If anyone is interested, I have Dura Ace 7400, 7700 and 7800 components for sale along with a few 10 speed Ultegra cassettes and a DA cassette, all used but in good working order. Send me a pm if you are looking for something.
Lots of people on eBay think that if you list it for $100, they should get it for $50. I stopped doing 'Offers" because it was a total waste of my time--although you can set an 'Automatic Reject' on the silly offers. which helps.

I think a lot of people think they are a special case and deserve to get what they want RIGHT NOW for the lowest price.

I also no longer use auctions--the traffic is not what it was, so I pick a fixed price and list with automatic renewal. Yes, stuff sits--but when it sells I get a fair price so it is worth packing and shipping. I will use the 'Search' function a lot to look at completed sales to get a sense of what things sell for, and price accordingly.

Even with fixed price sales, I still get the occasional breathless email about how they will pay cash today--at about half the price I have it listed for. I ignore 'em...

[prototoast]

When I sell, I almost always sell with buy it now + offers instead of bidding, for a few reasons. If I have a general idea of what something is worth, sometimes bidding will yield above what I expect, sometimes it will yield below, but if you set it up to bid, it's out of my control. If I set it up to accept offer, I can make sure I don't end up with a price that's lower than what I'd really like. Also, with buy it now + offers, I can effectively run a dutch auction, starting with a high price and gradually lowering it until I get an interested buyer--but stopping before I get to a price that's lower than I'm happy with.

Also, regular bidding auctions aren't great for buyers when dealing with commodity parts. A lot of people use eBay as a straight shopping platform, and don't want to wait a week or more. They'll buy from ebay if they can get a discount over Competitive Cyclist or BikeTiresDirect, but they want to place their order now.

So my general strategy is 1) get a sense of the target price I want for my item 2) list it with a buy it now price of 30-50% more than that target price 3) start fielding offers 4) if it's not selling, gradually start lowering my price.

[Clean39T]

When I sell, I almost always sell with buy it now + offers instead of bidding, for a few reasons. If I have a general idea of what something is worth, sometimes bidding will yield above what I expect, sometimes it will yield below, but if you set it up to bid, it's out of my control. If I set it up to accept offer, I can make sure I don't end up with a price that's lower than what I'd really like. Also, with buy it now + offers, I can effectively run a dutch auction, starting with a high price and gradually lowering it until I get an interested buyer--but stopping before I get to a price that's lower than I'm happy with.

Also, regular bidding auctions aren't great for buyers when dealing with commodity parts. A lot of people use eBay as a straight shopping platform, and don't want to wait a week or more. They'll buy from ebay if they can get a discount over Competitive Cyclist or BikeTiresDirect, but they want to place their order now.

So my general strategy is 1) get a sense of the target price I want for my item 2) list it with a buy it now price of 30-50% more than that target price 3) start fielding offers 4) if it's not selling, gradually start lowering my price.

This is the winning and sane strategy.

Also, sending offers to buyers who are "watching" is a fruitful endeavor..

[jb_11]

I agree with the above, and will add that when I'm buying I see some advantages to haggling directly with the seller early rather than waiting for the shootout at the end.

This also adds some pressure to the buyer to offer a fair price, because you never know if it will go to another bidder and close early.

[yngpunk]

Why say you have a question and want a text reply instead of through ebay messages? Is this to get your phone number for marketing/scam purposes? Both of these requests came from overseas locations.



They're trying to get you to complete the "sale" outside of ebay...probably offer to send you a "certified" check for more than the item is worth, and ask you to send them back the difference or some similar scam. Really no benefit to them to purchase outside of ebay, since you're paying all of the fees, but increased risk to you...no seller protection, for what its worth. Request coming from overseas location is another warning sign.

[yngpunk]

Why make an offer instead of just bid? Is this to avoid the hassle of bidding and waiting? A couple were lowball offers that were way off.



Having the best offer option is always going to attract lowball offers in hopes of scoring a deal...quite easy and doesn't cost anything to put in lowball offer on the off chance that it gets accepted. You could also counter, to start a negotiation, but I suspect those that submit low ball offers aren't really interested in or needing of the item. As mentioned previously, you can always put in a floor (automatically reject offers below a certain price point) as well as automatically accept offers above a price point.

[tbike4]

What prototoast said. Part of my job for the last 3 months has been to get rid of equipment the company no longer needs or wants so I spend a few hours everyday on ebay. Most of it is network tech items and like anything in tech it gets outdated quick.

BIN is all I do and follow the same path as prototoast. You can find what almost anything has sold for and if not then a similar item.

Be prepared to encounter some lower IQ humans just like any selling platform. Yesterday I accepted an offer so the sale was made for a large item, local pick up and NO shipping. Did the buyer read the part that says NO shipping in 3 places? Of course not. Then there are the time wasters that ask a lot of questions and make a lowball offer. Do this> decline the offer and block them ASAP. I also get the seller that says- text me, with the number mixed in with a lot of letters. BLOCK them. My 2¢ worth.

[rccardr]

I go through periods where I sell a LOT of stuff on eBay; have been a member since 1999.

Mostly smaller components that can easily be shipped first class mail (15 oz or less), ship only to CONUS (non-US buyers can utilize eBay’s Global Shipping Program), but also some complete bikes. Pretty much everything but the completes is free shipping; for completes I charge $100 flat and refund the difference if actual shipping cost is less.

For years have used only BIN, just research the price of recently sold items plus shipping and be in that ballpark with the free ship price. Mostly I’m just monetizing mistakes previously purchased or things I know will no longer be needed...this is not a businessfor me. Best Offer in my opinion is just an invitation to get aggravated, since I know my price is FMV or slightly less.

For items being purchased, if there’s a BO on something I need, I’ll shoot an offer for 20% less than the BIN. Worst case is the seller comes back with a counter offer of 10% off. So, there’s that.

In 20 plus years on eBay, still maintain a 100% positive feedback rating and am a Trusted Seller.

[NHAero]

As a buyer I like the Make Offer option, and occasionally my not-quite-lowball gets accepted, or at least countered. I'm not looking for the absolute lowest price, so one back and forth is enough. If the counter offer is more than i want to pay, I'm done.

As a seller, I like BIN and Make Offer and usually don't price my BIN much higher than what I'm looking for - maybe 10-15%- because I'm assuming I'll get an offer close to what I'd really like and the transaction will be done quickly, vs. rounds of lowering the price. I do use the feature that sets the minimum offer I'll consider, and the one that gets accepted automatically (usually about 10% below BIN).

[steelbikerider]

Thanks all.

[Pegoready]

When I sell, I almost always sell with buy it now + offers instead of bidding, for a few reasons. If I have a general idea of what something is worth, sometimes bidding will yield above what I expect, sometimes it will yield below, but if you set it up to bid, it's out of my control. If I set it up to accept offer, I can make sure I don't end up with a price that's lower than what I'd really like. Also, with buy it now + offers, I can effectively run a dutch auction, starting with a high price and gradually lowering it until I get an interested buyer--but stopping before I get to a price that's lower than I'm happy with.

Also, regular bidding auctions aren't great for buyers when dealing with commodity parts. A lot of people use eBay as a straight shopping platform, and don't want to wait a week or more. They'll buy from ebay if they can get a discount over Competitive Cyclist or BikeTiresDirect, but they want to place their order now.

So my general strategy is 1) get a sense of the target price I want for my item 2) list it with a buy it now price of 30-50% more than that target price 3) start fielding offers 4) if it's not selling, gradually start lowering my price.

Yup. I USED to do straight auctions and enjoyed the thrill of it. The added issue is the winning bidder may not pay, which is becoming more and more common. You then have to give the winner a grace period to pay, get your fees back if they don't, offer second chances to the next highest bidder, and relist. It's a mess. The last straw was when I sold a Thomson seatpost to someone who was very unhappy he won because he thought I was running up the bids (impossible even if I cared and had time to do that) and refused to pay even though the end price was obviously below his max bid, by design.

With a BIN the winner almost always pays because a) they either buy at your asking price and pay on the spot or b) there is an engaged back and forth.

With BIN OBO listings you also have the latitude to sell stuff low when times are slow and stick to your guns when times are busy. I like that flexibility and can level out how busy I am.