how to politely refuse an offer for BIN?

techspec

soolin wrote: »

tech- are you getting messages from Italian buyers at the moment by any chance?

I have Italy blocked and for some strange reason I am getting 2 or 3 messages a week now from different buyers asking me to unblock it as they want to buy my things. I have a standard reply saying I struggle with their postal service and as a number of items fail to reach my buyers I don't feel I can offer a service to anyone in Italy. Most leave it at that, some agree that they rarely do get anything when they do buy- and thank me for being honest. Some though get a bit argumentative and even say they will buy at their own risk if I ship- but I ignore them and block them just in case.

I do get a few. As a rule now i block countries where a pattern of non-receipt is visible. Argentina being one. One of the problems for none EU countries is having to state the contents on the custom slip - so i try to be brief and not mention too much that points to its value. Must be very tempting for some posties in poorer countries. A parcel i sent to argentina arrived with 3 of the 4 items stolen - and was taped back up :eek:. I was shocked when Royal Mail paid up without a fight.

But i must admit, i only blocked Italy after reading your posts - so i just blame you :rotfl::rotfl:

No, as i say - i tend not to respond anymore. But if i do - i just tell them their post in unreliable.

vicx

Speaking of buy it now offers and silly offers, I happened to find this listing when I was looking to see how much the iPhone 4 was going for:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320975761479?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The question answered at the bottom of listing:

Now I know it will go for more than £150 as offered but no way will it sell for around £350 so I am going to 'just watch' and see.

charlies_mum

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Is that funny then? You lost yourself £38 and are rolling on the floor laughing?

Yes, I thought it was funny. Some you win and some you lose. In this case, I lost. If it had been hundreds of pounds, I might have been upset.

Gleeful

I offered a seller £60 for an item that started at 99p. They refused and the item eventually went for £35. By which time I had already bought the same item from abroad for £55 inc postage as I was desperate for it. A learning curve for both me and the seller, that one!

Crowqueen

Depending on the seller's response I may not have bid on principle. I've occasionally asked after items just ended what the seller will take for them - I don't think I've done that on an item which is still running though: there is usually enough choice not to have to haggle with someone who may be unreceptive to being asked.

If there are bids on an item of mine then I will usually ask them to bid, they may get the item for less anyway - a good ploy. What I won't do now though is upload my own BIN price to the listing if someone asks me for one - too many times I've done that either to have them decide it's too much and wander off or just bid at start price anyway, then win the item.

I will never block anyone who offers me something but I'm not happy with what they offering. They may still bid anyway and at the very least it will contribute towards a decent asking price. I don't want to turn away any interest in the item simply because they don't play by some 'arbitrary' rules. Most of the time I think it's the old 'don't ask, don't get' situation, and by being rude or cheeky sellers may sometimes dig their own graves. Be polite - and you may still get something out of them. Be rude - and you open up the possibility they will decide to mess around.

Remember the interest is a potential customer, even if they are offering too low a price.

demystified

mumto2loves wrote: »

Hi

How do you reply to messages asking 'whats the buy it now price?' or 'how much do you want for it?' or 'how much for cash?'

These are questions for things that are for sell by auction. I get them nearly everytime I list something and never know the best way to respond or if I should just ignore the question?

tia

This is an interesting one, I usually get a few of these myself it seems to be increasingly common it seems it's buyers wanting to get sellers to end the auction early to get a cheaper price than they think the auction will eventually end for. I've even had one stating the buyer was leaving the country the day after tommorow and I would have to end now or risk losing the deal...

I used to reply to them but that usually results in a further attempt at getting me to end the auction early, now I just ignore them. They never bother to contact me again and funnily enough they rarely seem to bid on the auction either, so my guess is its just professional traders trying it on.

I guess its the equivalent of turning up at a car boot and getting "mugged" by traders rummaging through your stuff and offering silly prices before you've even got it out of the car.

graspthenettle

If I don't want to put on a b.i.n. then, like others, I just say - thank you for your interest but I would prefer to let the auction run in this instance.

Other times, and it all depends on the item, I am happy to accept a b.i.n. or I just end the listing early for them to get round the whole 40% extra on top of the list price which ebay insists upon. I make sure the person emails that they will be around to bid so they don't miss out.

"how much do you want for it?" is an annoying question, the answer is, obviously, as much as I can get, thanks - at the very least as much as I have listed it for or I wouldn't have listed it at that amount!

I would never ignore a buyer's question, I really hate it when sellers do that.

Angie74

Someone really got on my nerves this week on ebay asking me for a BIN price for my item as they could collect tomorrow. It was on for 3.50 start and collection only so I said I'd accept £6. I replied to their message within 20 mins of them sending it, and they never got back to me. I relisted it for another 10 days as it was only on for 1 day then on free listings.

They then messaged me 3 days later saying "I will have it" no please or thanks, which bugged me as well. So I ended the auction, messaged them back and asked if they could collect Sunday (the next day) no reply again even though I messaged them back straight away. I sent another message saying if I'd not heard back from them by Sunday evening I would be re-listing it while it was free listings. Still no reply so I relisted it and blocked them from bidding. And I put it for £7.50 as well just incase they were thinking of getting someone else to bid for them. Rather chuck it out than sell it to them now! Plus they have a negative fb for apparently not selling something to someone that they won, so they sound like a nightmare anyway and I don't really want them having my address now. In future I'm going to refuse any BIN requests.

demystified

Angie74 wrote: »

Someone really got on my nerves this week on ebay asking me for a BIN price for my item as they could collect tomorrow. It was on for 3.50 start and collection only so I said I'd accept £6. I replied to their message within 20 mins of them sending it, and they never got back to me. I relisted it for another 10 days as it was only on for 1 day then on free listings.

They then messaged me 3 days later saying "I will have it" no please or thanks, which bugged me as well. So I ended the auction, messaged them back and asked if they could collect Sunday (the next day) no reply again even though I messaged them back straight away. I sent another message saying if I'd not heard back from them by Sunday evening I would be re-listing it while it was free listings. Still no reply so I relisted it and blocked them from bidding. And I put it for £7.50 as well just incase they were thinking of getting someone else to bid for them. Rather chuck it out than sell it to them now! Plus they have a negative fb for apparently not selling something to someone that they won, so they sound like a nightmare anyway and I don't really want them having my address now. In future I'm going to refuse any BIN requests.

I had something similar on a Gumtree ad someone contacted me within minutes of the ad going live - was blunt to the point of rudeness about how much, postage, etc. Even trotted off to the P.O to weigh it, got back to her and told her only to be told "surely you can do better than that" - no thanks or anything. Anyway I never heard from her again.

Sold it eventually on eBay for 3 times the price I listed it on Gumtree for, tells it's own story I think.

consultant31

demystified wrote: »

This is an interesting one, I usually get a few of these myself it seems to be increasingly common it seems it's buyers wanting to get sellers to end the auction early to get a cheaper price than they think the auction will eventually end for. I've even had one stating the buyer was leaving the country the day after tommorow and I would have to end now or risk losing the deal...

I used to reply to them but that usually results in a further attempt at getting me to end the auction early, now I just ignore them. They never bother to contact me again and funnily enough they rarely seem to bid on the auction either, so my guess is its just professional traders trying it on.

I guess its the equivalent of turning up at a car boot and getting "mugged" by traders rummaging through your stuff and offering silly prices before you've even got it out of the car.

I'm afraid I wouldn't contact you again after having been ignored either!

I have often emailed and asked if the seller has a BIN price in mind for an item. I'm quite happy if they reply with a 'no thanks, I'm going to let it run' and will bid as usual, it's just handy to have the option of getting the item quicker and without the need to be there for the end of the auction.