Accused of being rude by a buyer

GadgetGuru

Had someone yesterday offer me £250 for a brand new sealed item I have listed at £350. 
Why they think I would just drop £100 is beyond me. 
Even opened and used items the same as mine are selling in excess of £300!

I did the same as OP - just declined. With a large gap like that I cant see the buyer coming closer to my listed price anyways so its not worth the time or hassle. 
Sometimes they try coming back to justify their offer - 'oh Ive seen this listing'......or 'I can get it from China at this price'.....etc. Or they are comparing with an opened and used item.
I politely respond wishing them the best of luck with their purchase. 

rollingmoon

soolin said:

Just had an offer of £17 on an item listed for £40. Decided it wasn't worth counter offering as our prices were way too far apart- so declined outright.
A few minutes later had a message saying 'a bit rude mate' so I have blocked the buyer.

Nothing wrong with that at all. I had one at the weekend; they offered £25 on an item that's up at £75, offer refused and blocked before they had chance to respond. Life's too short to deal with potless idiots, and there are too many of them on eBay, sadly.

DullGreyGuy

I don't think either side are being "rude", at most blunt. 

Not passing any judgement on those that have already listed their sales experience but in my experience as a buyer there are some sellers who are clearly being exceptionally optimistic and listing well above the average sales price (not everything is worth 95% of its RRP when sold on eBay by a random person). I will make an offer inline with the normal eBay pricing for such things and that can at times be below 50% of what they've asked for. Most the time they'll decline or counter offer. Have come to a sale on a few items.

I have no issues... I just keep seeing the same item being relisted at its silly asking price. 

Pollycat

DullGreyGuy said:

I don't think either side are being "rude", at most blunt. 

Not passing any judgement on those that have already listed their sales experience but in my experience as a buyer there are some sellers who are clearly being exceptionally optimistic and listing well above the average sales price (not everything is worth 95% of its RRP when sold on eBay by a random person). I will make an offer inline with the normal eBay pricing for such things and that can at times be below 50% of what they've asked for. Most the time they'll decline or counter offer. Have come to a sale on a few items.

I have no issues... I just keep seeing the same item being relisted at its silly asking price. 

The OP appears to be both a business and private seller on eBay and other similar sites too so I'd expect the price to be in line with the normal eBay pricing for the item.

JetpackVelociraptor

I buy all kinds of stuff as a private and sell brand new items as a business, and I'd never bother making an offer that's more than 30% off the Buy It Now price. I assume everyone has a reason for having their price set the way it is, and if I'm going to buy off someone who doesn't know exactly what they're doing or what they're selling it's going to be because their item is cheaper than it should be, not because it's more expensive. If I'm offering 70% of the Buy It now it's usually because I'm after a bulk discount or offering to come and collect it and save on the postage, something like that to help the seller keep their costs down.

 As a business seller I've had buyers make offers of 50% or less, and regardless of how the conversation goes they never go on to buy anything. Sometimes people will send messages to suggest we don't know what I'm doing with the prices - "My offer is fair market value" or "it's only worth what someone will pay", but as a retailer we're happy to just wait until someone who appreciates the value of the item comes along. If that takes 6 months it takes 6 months, it's not a reason to start chopping up our profit margin just so we can lose money more quickly. I couldn't give a fig about the average sale price for what I'm selling, because the average item is used, dirty, doesn't come with a warranty, etc. Sometimes I'll get a message saying that someone else has offered the same item for less and I'll always check, but invariably the "same item" is in a poorer condition or lower quality, because when we set the prices we do all the same research the customer is doing.

Regardless of what I think about the silly offers we get sometimes, we are polite, friendly and professional in all of our responses. But we absolutely do block anyone who complains that we're rude, because we've learnt over time that people who complain before they make a purchase will always have a problem after.

GDB2222

I have listed a couple of items that haven't sold. As you know, ebay 'rolls' the listing over a few times before cancelling it.  By the time such an item has been on ebay a month or two, I'm amenable to an offer even if it's well below the price I'm asking. 

Pollycat

GDB2222 said:

I have listed a couple of items that haven't sold. As you know, ebay 'rolls' the listing over a few times before cancelling it.  By the time such an item has been on ebay a month or two, I'm amenable to an offer even if it's well below the price I'm asking. 

Most of my stuff is auction.

If it hasn't sold within 4 weeks, I'll either reduce the starting bid or allow offers.

FFHillbilly

I have had stuff listed for 3 years before it sold(all BIN), so I wouldn't panic after 4 weeks. I have a theory that eventually everything will sell, so I just relist it every time I get a FVF offer.
the only items I've dropped the price are things that take up space like cookers, sofas, bikes etc

Pollycat

FFHillbilly said:

I have had stuff listed for 3 years before it sold(all BIN), so I wouldn't panic after 4 weeks. I have a theory that eventually everything will sell, so I just relist it every time I get a FVF offer.
the only items I've dropped the price are things that take up space like cookers, sofas, bikes etc

I'm a private seller, just getting rid of my unwanted items.
I wouldn't want clothes or shoes hanging about the house for 3 years.
Any unsold items go the the local hospice charity shop.

forgotmyname

GadgetGuru said:

Had someone yesterday offer me £250 for a brand new sealed item I have listed at £350. 
Why they think I would just drop £100 is beyond me. 
Even opened and used items the same as mine are selling in excess of £300!

I did the same as OP - just declined. With a large gap like that I cant see the buyer coming closer to my listed price anyways so its not worth the time or hassle. 
Sometimes they try coming back to justify their offer - 'oh Ive seen this listing'......or 'I can get it from China at this price'.....etc. Or they are comparing with an opened and used item.
I politely respond wishing them the best of luck with their purchase. 

I get this comment a lot elsewhere and have to offer the same response,  how much warranty are you offering?

Depending on the original price and it's reliability maybe that is just where the risk value works for market in general or
just the risk value to them?

Mechanical or electrical item which is brand new may have come from a batch with issues, maybe they were replaced under warranty
but purchased outside the supply chain breaks that cover?  Far too many variables to say whether it's a good deal or not.

Making an offer and receiving no reply or a reply stating no should not offend anyone.   Buyer wants a bargain or to buy at a price point
where the risk makes sense to them, the seller either accept or declines.  Buyer needs to decide whether to pay more or buy
elsewhere.

I wanted a tool as mine broke in a common failure area, I could see the cracks forming on the one for sale but planned on using it to make
another part.  Seller on ebay had a bundle for £30 or £40. I offered £20+p&p stating I only wanted the one item.
Seller declined which was their choice, the item relisted several times and the entire bundle sold for £22 inc p&p.

If the buyer put the tool under a fairly heavy load it would have failed quickly and could have opened a returns case. So who did/did not
get the deal?