Are you allowed to accept offer for Ebay Item?

Firefly

I placed some goods on Ebay yesterday and I've had an email making me an 'offer' for them.

It's not a very good offer, and as I've plenty of watchers, I've declined but I was just wondering if making an offer is allowed when the goods aren't 'buy it now'?

Time2Go_25

they are your goods you can do with them what you like, but if the ofers not that good then just let it ride

missyg_3

I don't think there's anything against a potential buyer making an offer, it's completing the sale off ebay that's against the rules.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

rammy007

I have asked sellers if they have a buy it now price before and a couple of them changed the auction to a buy it now for me,like another poster said its selling it not via ebay which is against the rules and you would not be protected if something went wrong.

Firefly

Thanks everyone. I haven't accepted the offer.

Always best to do things properly and have the protection if it all goes wrong.

missyg_3

It's rare for me to change an auction to a "buy it now" after I've decided to go with the auction format, but I remember doing it once for someone. He sent a very polite message with his reason for wanting the item sooner, and made a good offer.

I get a lot of messages where they ask me to add a "buy it now" price but don't state what they are willing to pay, or ask me "what price are you looking for?". Those are not very helpful!

Good luck with your auction Firefly.

scbk

If it's a local item that I could collect or a large item that was pickup only then I sometimes make offers, bought a few items this way

Storm_Cloud_2

I have an item on Ebay at the moment, which prompted someone within the first day to ask if I had a Buy It Now Price even though it was on auction. I gave him a price of £190 which i thought was going to be the top end of what I was going to get. He didn't take me up on the offer as the bidding was only up to £52 and I saw his bids, obviously thinking he was going to get it for a lot cheaper. Last night, with 2 days to go, he came back and said he was willing to pay the price I asked. The thing is the auction is now up to £185, so I had to tell him that unfortunately 'tis only the early bird that catches the worm. Of course I'm banking on it going up some more, but as he's obviously willing to pay my asking price, I can't really lose.

Lesson - If you are tempted to give out a BIN price on an auction listing if someone asks, don't sell yourself short with what you tell them you want for it just for a quick sale, it could be hazardous to your pocket.

zorber

Ebay frown upon transactions off ebay, but lets be honest they are going to say that as they wont make any money from the tranaction. The so called protection isnt worth the effort taken to type the words as usually so long it doesnt cost ebay then their is nothing they can do about it (not talking about paypal).

I have accepted and completed off ebay before, but this is due to the item having to be listed in a paypal payment catagory only and i didnt want to use paypal as i didnt want to pay the fees or take the risk of charge backs. If it wasnt for the fact i didnt wish to use paypal i probably wouldnt have completed off ebay.

Remember its my item, i paid insetion fees to list it and advertise it, so if ebay are trying to force paypal fees as well as ebay fees and hence become greedy. then i have no problem accepting offers off ebay.

freddysmith

If someone makes me an offer (auction style) and its a bit low, I always email back with a price I am willing to accept. If they agree I add the BIN option.
Also it can be better to take a little less on items you have multiples of and get the turnover, than wait for a high price on each item.