eBay begging letters

forgotmyname

I don't see offers as a problem, the starting price maybe a wishful one but worth trying because it costs nothing extra.

Found an item with some extra's I didn't need and sent an offer which they declined. Weeks later the item is still for sale
and many weeks after that it sold for less than I offered. So they could have accepted my offer and thrown the extra's away

or sold them cheaply and have been better off compared to rejecting what I thought was a fair offer.

Costs you nothing to reject the offers. Although offers with sob stories are likely to end up in the bin even if its a fair one.

Pollycat

subjecttocontract said:

I used to say Scottish rules apply i.e. the asking price is the minimum but you can offer more if you wish and are likely to be treated as a priority buyer.

I don't list BIN but on some of my auction listings I also do 'best offer' and will accept 20% under the starting price.

I recently offered on 2 items from the same seller, 20% below the starting bid but the seller said he wanted at least the starting bid.

Different people have different ideas about what works for them.

I think the OP's issue is different as their listing was only BIN - no offers.
I don't see why it's hard to say 'no' to people who ask for reductions that are not acceptable to sellers.
It's not like it's face-to-face contact.

tightauldgit

I have absolutely 0 problem with people putting in offers, even lowball ones (though I do think some of them are a bit cheeky) but I get annoyed when people start sending messages lecturing me on why the offer is a good one and I'm not going to get better. That kind of stuff just makes me not want to sell even if the offer is decent. 

Or the 'there's another one listed at £50 so I'll offer you £60 for yours even though you're asking £150' - oh is there? why don't you buy that one then? is it because it doesn't exist? is spares or repair? is it opening price on a week long auction? at the other end of the country and collection only? 

Equally parents sending stuff like 'Johnny has £10 of his birthday money left can he have this £20 thing for £10' just annoy me.

vacheron

tightauldgit said:

.....
Or the 'there's another one listed at £50 so I'll offer you £60 for yours even though you're asking £150' - oh is there? why don't you buy that one then? is it because it doesn't exist? is spares or repair? is it opening price on a week long auction? at the other end of the country and collection only? 
.....

I quite enjoy getting this kind of message as can be seen from the recent correspondence below.
I also checked and the seller they quoted was selling an older and inferior model.

... both items are still up for sale so he clearly didn't bother to purchase either in the end!  

GrubbyGirl_2

I had a good one.  I was selling a £425 glass vase no offers (was a good buy as an auction one sold for £630 a few weeks before).  I was contacted by a guy who said he desperately wanted the vase but only had £350 in his bank account so would I sell it to him for that?  I replied that if he only had £350 to his name maybe he shouldn't be buying expensive vases and it would be irresponsible of me to take his last £350 so I declined his offer.  10 minutes later he bought it at the asking price because he knew it was a good deal!

rollingmoon

I block them, along with people who use TXT SPK, make lowball offers and ask idiotic questions that would have been answered by reading the listing. Granted, I might get a sale out of them, but when you're dealing with potless chancers and the terminally witless it's most unlikely. Since I started doing this my proportion of successful listings has improved massively with no perceptible drop in sales.

RhondaD

tightauldgit said:

I have absolutely 0 problem with people putting in offers, even lowball ones (though I do think some of them are a bit cheeky) but I get annoyed when people start sending messages lecturing me on why the offer is a good one and I'm not going to get better. That kind of stuff just makes me not want to sell even if the offer is decent. 

Or the 'there's another one listed at £50 so I'll offer you £60 for yours even though you're asking £150' - oh is there? why don't you buy that one then? is it because it doesn't exist? is spares or repair? is it opening price on a week long auction? at the other end of the country and collection only? 

Equally parents sending stuff like 'Johnny has £10 of his birthday money left can he have this £20 thing for £10' just annoy me.

Even when the seller isn't asking for offers?

tightauldgit

RhondaD said:

tightauldgit said:

I have absolutely 0 problem with people putting in offers, even lowball ones (though I do think some of them are a bit cheeky) but I get annoyed when people start sending messages lecturing me on why the offer is a good one and I'm not going to get better. That kind of stuff just makes me not want to sell even if the offer is decent. 

Or the 'there's another one listed at £50 so I'll offer you £60 for yours even though you're asking £150' - oh is there? why don't you buy that one then? is it because it doesn't exist? is spares or repair? is it opening price on a week long auction? at the other end of the country and collection only? 

Equally parents sending stuff like 'Johnny has £10 of his birthday money left can he have this £20 thing for £10' just annoy me.

Even when the seller isn't asking for offers?

Yeah to be honest if it's polite then I haven't an issue. If I list something at £20 and haven't put offers on then if someone comes and says 'would you take £15?' then I'm fine with that. At least I can consider it and say yes or no. 

It's the entitlement that bothers me, when people start acting like they deserve a discount or that your stuff isn't worth what it's listed for.