Sending Offers, Good or bad?

[threeeight-3d]

We Currently make a habit of sending potential customers offers when they are available, However scrolling though the community board there seems to be a fair few threads, where customers are annoyed by the barrage of offers they receive.

I have two questions for buyers and sellers

Have any sellers here experimented with sending/not sending offers and what where the results like?

As a Buyer have you been put off of a product by an offer, that you otherwise would have purchased or made an offer upon?

[hudsonsclothes]

I send offers on items I can afford to make a slight cut on, or items that have sat unsold for a while. However I don't send offers on everything and I imagine it is annoying to receive them from every item you've thought about buying .

I would personally use them perhaps when you haven't had good sales to keep you ticking over, when you have the wiggle room to reduce an items cost a little or if you have something you just want to clear out.

[hudsonsclothes]

Sorry I didn't even answer you question. 🤣 I have sent offers and I'd say of the 90 sales I've made this month around 10 are from offers I've made to people.

In answer to your second question. I am not put off by an offer from a seller unless it's a miniscule amount off anything else then you have a chance to potentially get something cheaper than you would have or have the option to just decline and move on with life

[sheba-knows-best]

In my opinion "Send an offer" is an amazing tool - probably the best in your toolbox. 

It is natural for people to get annoyed by offers... but pretty soon they will be trained like the easily-trained animals we all are, into watching before buying in the hope of being sent an offer. After all, very few people who were genuinely interested in buying will NOT buy because they have been sent money off... unless the offer makes them suspect it is tat... in which case your photos/description aren't doing their jobs. 

But use make an offer wisely:

Time it to fit with co-funded coupons if you have them (and use the text box to remind UK buyers to use coupon if you wish them to... you may hope they forget, or that they dont know the offer and coupon can be combined)

Use it sparingly on your crowd-drawing items that you are in no rush to sell.

Use it when you notice an uptick in watchers on all your items... it means buyers are actively about and shopping (as opposed to busy and may delete it without properly considering)

Allow counter-offers if you want to ditch stock.

Turn off counter offers if you are in no rush to sell.

Turn off counter offers if you are hugely discounting already (although I often discount less and leave counter offers on and drop another £1 when asked just so the buyer really thinks they've pushed me hard)

Turn off counter offers if the item is less likely to appeal to haggling bargain-hunters (hard to judge I know, but I mean, like, shopping list items - ie necessities - vs aspirational items. With the former, people probably want to think they already have the best deal, dont want to have to wait for an offer, but with pre-loved clothing that I sell, people are very used to shopping about and waiting for a deal)

I could probably go on for ever.

All in all it is a very pyschological tool and probably drives buyers and sellers up the wall.  Yes, I may wish the genie had never been let out of the box (I feel the same about mobile phones) but now it is here, you need to use it as most buyers expect it and will look elsewhere without it.

[pg_kicks]

I dont send offers, and I dont have offers on the items. In my eyes if you do I dont see why a buyer would ever just use buy it now. With the constant daily offers I get sent (mainly from unregistered business accounts) they are swiped and deleted instantly from my phone. I wish I could turn offer notifications off but as I need the app for the sales/questions notifications but the constant offers annoy me. I really should have another account for when I'm buying stuff so its not pushed to this account tbh.

In short, im not a fan at all of the you've viewed this now get 5% off but the one to watchers I can see some slight benefits from, but looking at your items surely nobody thinks hmmm maybe I'll watch Soldering Iron Tip Cleaning Sponge instead of just buying it outright?

[sheba-knows-best]

If you go to performance tab

Select sales

Scroll down to "all sales" the first bar chart. Then select "offer sales"... you will get useful data:

[sheba-knows-best]

Of course, the downside, possibly someone would have paid full amount and then you send an offer. But again... the genie is out of the bottle... people are starting to expect... I uess it also depends whether you have 'make an offer' on your listings.

You could of course always wait at least a day or two before sending offers but that might get confusing if you have a lot of watchers. Also you might lose the sale if a buyer is comparing two items.

My rule is not to worry about 'what might have been'. But to settle for what I am happy with. So you need to know your margins. It also helps if you can keep very good y-o-y figures. If you're not keeping up with same period last year, then you know times are tough and you need to offer maye. But if you're income is buoyant y-o-y, hold your nerve a little longer and wait.

[threeeight-3d]

Its not necessarily about hitting targets for me, as a business we want to sell as much as possible, providing its profitable, and if some people require a small discount to convert than that be a necessary evil of business, However my question if more of is it a net positive or negative, do more people get put off my offers or do more people convert because of offers

[sheba-knows-best]

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@threeeight-3d wrote:

Its not necessarily about hitting targets for me, as a business we want to sell as much as possible, providing its profitable, and if some people require a small discount to convert than that be a necessary evil of business, However my question if more of is it a net positive or negative, do more people get put off my offers or do more people convert because of offers

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Apologies if something interests me, I tend to talk about it from my own perspective as then I think we all get to learn from each other and we all sell in different categories but some inof will be cross-sector

However, having looked now at your items, I can see you are more in the 'necessities' bracket. In which case I still think sending offers will make people convert rather than go elsewhere. 1) because they're getting it cheaper and 2) because if they'd forotten to buy you are now the seller right under their nose again. 

But take a look on your performance tab (as shown). You can see your breakdown of sales in each bracket (sent offer/made offer;/no offer). I know that doesnt reflect what might have happened if you hadn't sent offers... but surely it gives you an idea of how many people buy after being sent an offer, which should help right?

[m25jet]

Given that I gave up selling on eBay quite a while ago the first question is not applicable to me.  However, in answer to your second question, I do tend to find it extremely aggravating when a seller sends me an offer for an item that I've had a look at but have subsequently decided not to add to my Watch List.  In this case it will often put me off of buying anything from that seller, as I do not appreciate being spammed by unwelcome offers.

With regards to offers made for items that I've already got on my Watch List, if the discount offers a decent amount off of the full asking price then I will often buy the item there and then; however, if I get offers for items that I'm watching and the discount is marginal at best then I just reject the offer straightaway, as I won't buy anything from a seller who's just wasting my time with silly offers.  In some cases when I've received silly discount offers I have subsequently decided to have another look for the same item and have, in many cases, ended up buying the same item for a cheaper overall price from a rival seller.  Admittedly, this was probably not the original sellers' intention, but had the original offer been good enough to clinch the sale in the first place then I more than likely wouldn't have ended up running another search for the item again to see if I could get it for a better price elsewhere!

[sheba-knows-best]

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@pg_kicks wrote:

I dont send offers, and I dont have offers on the items. In my eyes if you do I dont see why a buyer would ever just use buy it now.

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I kind of agree but the evidence (messsage 6 above) suggests 32.4% do. My gut is with you. I held off the tool for a while. Intellectually, I don't 'feel' it. But with selling I tend to try things and watch what happens. Buyers are constantly changing - getting younger, very tech savvy (I could go on). It is ebay's job to know what buyers want and offer the tools to give it to them. As a seller I feel it is best to try ebay's tools if you can. On the other hand I dont offer next day post (hard for me, risks disappointment, returns are trickier, attracts wrong buyers etc etc etc) So sometimes you ignore ebay because it doesnt suit your business.  But you accept the consequences. Definitely not offering next day postage reduces my sales.

[plpmr]

If a seller send an offert for an item you are interested in [say watching] that's fine.

However, seeingly offers get sent for items you have just looked at and that's a pain for someone like me who advises on the boards.

[threeeight-3d]

Thanks for that, we did have a look there and it makes up only 1.3% of our total sales hence why were questioning its effectiveness

[threeeight-3d]

The trouble there for us as sellers is we don't get to select or even know why the potential buyer is eligible for an offer, Otherwise i know for a fact i would be more specific in who i send offers too. 

[bojangled]

@threeeight-3d 

Hi

As a seller I used to send offers out regularly, only to watchers.

I stopped earlier this year as it take up was very low. 
Instead I run short 2 - 3 day sales on selected watched items over certain weekends/periods. Had much more success with that approach. 

However what I do find useful is the option to send an offer when replying to a prospective buyers messages regarding a multiple purchases or quantity. 
Jo

[pg_kicks]

Your evidence suggests that they purchased with an offer but it doesnt show if they would have purchased without the offer, sadly thats forever unknown. Have I read it wrong or are only 32% of your sales for the full asking price? To me that means you either have 68% of your items priced too high or you are missing out on extra revenue on 68% of your sales, neither of those are good facts, its a question we shall never get the answer to though as maybe you'd not have sold anything if you didnt send offers or maybe they'd still have bought them but paid full price. 

All I know is that if an item has best offer even if its listed for less than I'd happily pay I will send an offer and if somebody sends me an offer just because I looked at an item previously its ignored. Neither of those are good for eBay for the sellers.

I agree its eBays job to know what the customer wants, I guess if we believe eBay are doing a good job then customers want less rights.

[sheba-knows-best]

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@pg_kicks wrote:

Your evidence suggests that they purchased with an offer but it doesnt show if they would have purchased without the offer, sadly thats forever unknown. Have I read it wrong or are only 32% of your sales for the full asking price? To me that means you either have 68% of your items priced too high or you are missing out on extra revenue on 68% of your sales, neither of those are good facts, its a question we shall never get the answer to though as maybe you'd not have sold anything if you didnt send offers or maybe they'd still have bought them but paid full price. 

But that's just modern retail life isn't it? That 100% of clothing items or shoes in the shops (online or high street) are priced according to the eye of the beholder. Some will think them over-priced and wait for a sale, some will just buy rather than risk them selling out before a sale. There is no right/fair/over/under price in clothing retail anymore (no one needs a 'new' coat from ebay anymore than anyone needs a new pair of trainers). There is just the agreed price between buyer and seller. I'm bemused you don't 'get this'. I feel like I've known it for the last 25 years. Do you always pay full price for things and think that is bang-on-right-price?

All I know is that if an item has best offer even if its listed for less than I'd happily pay I will send an offer and if somebody sends me an offer just because I looked at an item previously its ignored. Neither of those are good for eBay for the sellers.

Fine. Send your offer. That is good for the ebay seller if they choose to accept. They have priced in people making offers. As to you ignoring an offer because the seller had the temerity to send you an offer... that is up to you. I'd say have sympathy on the poor sod who has no idea what to do for the best and just decide whether you like the adjusted price or not. 

I agree its eBays job to know what the customer wants, I guess if we believe eBay are doing a good job then customers want less rights.

How has the customer possibly got fewer rights by being able to make offers and accept offers? 

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Truthfully I find this whole debate odd and i think it suggests people on these boards are not perhaps average buyers. Many of us are older; many have been selling for years through ebay's up and downs. The world is changing. ebay buyers are changing. I have been impressed by ebay's fight back against Vinted. I don't think I know best what the average 16-30 year old thinks/does when buying. I suspect ebay may know more than I do. My own 16 y.o.  daughter expects to make offers on Vinted. I don't 'like' lots of things about selling on ebay. I don't like buyers expecting next day delivery/free postage/30 day returns (the list is endless) but I have to try and give buyers what they want if I want to stay in the running... and I have to trust ebay to point me in the direction of what buyers want...

[stecomedia]

Sometimes I will send an offer to perennial watchers and none of them buy. During the (now 4 day!) offer period where the listing is locked, and I can't send offers to later watchers, someone will just pay the full price. Whenever that happens I ask myself why am I so keen to send offers out but I still do it... talking of being habitually conditioned by a platform, I think as a seller I'm conditioned to want the send offer available listings gone off my selling overview page. Maybe that's a bit of OCD on my part wanting to keep that page tidy.

I am not as impressed with eBay's fightback against Vinted to be honest. I've as good as left eBay now, but I listed a football shirt last week for about £45 which was a really good price for what it was, less than it should have been tbh but I know eBay all too well, it feels really quiet and I wanted it sold. The shirt got 1 watcher and maybe 5 views. The watcher ignored my sent offer, I got cheesed off and put it on Vinted. It sold same day, I was getting notifications of watchers on the new listing over there every 10-15 minutes until it sold, it seems busy over there. I have sold a lot of things over there during the past week that were pulled from eBay and in many cases ended up with more money than would have done selling on here.  

[m25jet]

If you are open to reducing the asking price to a certain degree in order to secure a sale then perhaps the best way forward would be to include the Best Offer option on your listings.  That way if a buyer felt that the Buy It Now price was a bit on the high side he/she could submit a Best Offer for your consideration, at which point you could make a decision as to whether to accept the offer, send the buyer a counteroffer or reject the offer made.  At least if you were to approach the situation that way rather than just sending offers out at random it would eliminate the problem of aggravating buyers who don't want to be sent Best Offers just because they happened to look at the listing and subsequently decided that they weren't interested in purchasing the item, whereas those buyers that are genuinely interested in the item may show their interest by putting forward an offer if you were willing to include the Best Offer option on your listings.

In summary let interested buyers come to you rather than randomly approaching buyers for business when you have no way of knowing whether they are even interested in making a purchase.

[vinylscot]

I send offers once a month, at a time which suits me, usually around the end of the month, not as an automatic reaction to a watcher adding the item.

As with so much on eBay, it's not as successful as it used to be. A couple of years ago, the take-up would be around 20%, now it's rarely more than half of that.

I find the extra sales puts a little shine on my monthly figures, although I may need to re-think it, now that eBay has increased the offer time. In my experience, most offers are taken up within 24 hours or so, and I would prefer them to be open for only 48 hours; that worked fine for me.

I don't add "send offer" to many of my listings, unless I know I'm being a little optimistic with my asking price.