Question Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o... in Buying on eBay DND

Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention of accepting them? So annoying !

jilhea9 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:06:34 GMT

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

1956glyn — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:13:52 GMT

Well......

Sometimes Ebay adds best offer to listings without a seller asking for it or being aware.

One has to use the advanced listing form to avoid the above

As to whether a best offer is accepted or not depends entirely on the offer made. I have had offers of less than 50% for my items in the past which was ridiculous

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

pixiesen2012 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:34:39 GMT

ebay adds the 'make an offer' without the sellers knowledge,

don't blame the sellers, blame ebay.

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

arkwebus — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:36:40 GMT

They can make higher offers on auctions! A local purchase was on for 99p - ten days. I offered £15 and we did the deal in 3 minutes.

@jilhea9

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

jilhea9 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:41:41 GMT

That seller must have been laughing his socks off !!

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

1956glyn — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:45:12 GMT

Just because make an offer is on a listing never assume that the seller will accept a lower offer. If arkwebus made an offer of £15 i am sure he still thought it a good deal.

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

arkwebus — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:45:14 GMT

So was I as it was an item that I had been looking for for a long time [IKEA table] just up the road and worth the £15 [to me at least]. I really must get round to putting it together after 3 months!

@jilhea9

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

1956glyn — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:49:55 GMT

Just to add if Ebay had their way everyone would start any listing off at 99p lol How many times have we read on these boards that a seller has not honoured a sale because it didnt make as much as they wanted ...a lot

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

jilhea9 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:55:41 GMT

Worth it if you really want something,defo !

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

john1297576 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 22:19:42 GMT

If an auction make a decent offer and it will probably be accepted. If you think making offers is to get something for next to nothing then it should be declined.

Sellers can preset automatic decline of cheap offers.

Re: Why encourage “make offer” if you have no intention o...

m25jet — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 22:34:34 GMT

If the seller listed the item for sale using the bog standard selling form then it may well be the case that eBay have tampered with his or her listing and added in the Best Offer option without the seller's consent, hence the reason why the offers are being refused. Another reason as to why offers often get refused is when buyers make an offer that is so low it's practically insulting. I've had people do that to me in the past when I used to sell on the site - if people sent me insultingly low offers I'd put them straight onto my Blocked Bidders List.

Although eBay originally only offered the Best Offer option for Buy It Now listings they started to make it available for Auction listings a few years back. Whilst this can have advantages for the seller if somebody makes an acceptable Best Offer before anybody has placed a bid for the item, if a buyer makes an offer that is actually lower than the starting price then the most likely outcome is that their offer will be rejected. If you see the Best Offer function on an Auction listing then don't make the mistake of thinking that the seller is open to offers below the starting bid - the starting bid already shows you the minimum amount that the seller wants for the item, so if you must make an offer then make the seller an offer that's greater than the starting price, and submit a decent offer that you feel may possibly tempt the seller to accept the offer and sell the item to you. If you make a high enough offer then the seller may accept it, in which case you won't have to wait for the auction to run its course; however, if the seller rejects the offer then you'll either have to place a bid for the item (in which case the Best Offer function will vanish from the listing and cannot be reinstated) or see if you can find a similar item being advertised for sale by another seller who's not asking for as much money for the item.