System autodecline of offers is wrong

[rcli]

The system auto declined an offer just because someone bid on the item. It should permit the seller the option of accepting up until the point the bid exceeds the bid price or when the offer deadline is reached l, otherwise the seller (and ebay) could lose out.

[rcli]

Sorry I meant offers should be acceptable up to the point the bid price hits/exceeds the offer price (or when the offer deadline is reached)

[john1297576]

"up until the point the bid exceeds the bid price" What ever does that mean? The bid is the bid price ! As you do not know what an auction might go to, it is up to the seller whether to add "Best Offer". If you accept a Best Offer you might be losing out and if you decline a best offer you also could lose out. You make the choice, but once a bid is placed you have agreed to sell to the highest bidder, you can't say "hard luck" I am selling to someone who has made an offer. You have no idea how much the bidder has bid and you will never find out.

[pixiesen2012]

the system isn't 'wrong'

as soon as a bid is placed all offers are cancelled and the auction begins,

if you would rather only receive offers list as  fixed price good til cancelled rather than auction format

[rcli]

It wastes time. In theory the seller can just cancel the auction and relist and then ask the previous offered to make the same offer again. Or there is the situation someone offers good price within minutes of listing eg £100 on a start price if £50, but moments later a £50 bid happens and the seller has to wait until the end eg 7 days. Yes the seller can set auto accepts and auto decline values, but sometimes the values maybe on the borderline or some sellers want to see and assess each offer (and they dont state at their screens 24/7 and so need reasonable time to notice offers etc)

There is also the situation that some offerrers forget to bid after their offer autodeclines. The seller will become annoyed, and ebay also loses their little extra commission.

[rcli]

As a buyer, making an offer, I might want to know the outcome sooner. I make an offer very early on, only for a very low bid to occur in the meantime to autodecline offers. It's a complete waste of time making even decent offers on listings with low start bid prices.

[tobiasd4]

Why would a buyer make a high offer if they think they can bid at low price & get cheap.
Sellers sometimes have high expectations of what they think item is worth.

[pixiesen2012]

it's a complete waste of time adding make an offer to an auction,


either list as an auction or list as fixed price with make an offer

[rcli]

Yes it's a waste of time of having best offer with an auction if the seller isn't given a real chance to assess the offer. It's a gamble on the buyer making an offer (in they might get it for less) but also a gamble for the buyer as they might get more (or less) in letting the auction run fully, but at least they would only accept an offer they are happy with. The best offer can save a lot of time as it provides extra option to seller (if it gives chance to assess bid) and could save time from not having to wait for the entire auction process.

Imagine you auction a product where there is only one person who is interested in it. The buyer might make an offer they are happy with which is higher than the start price (it would be pointless for a seller to accept offer price at same as the start price), the seller might accept it if they think it is a good price. The buyer only makes the offer higher than the start price as a risk premium that someone might outbid them, yet on the other hand they might not, but at least they put in an offer the buyer is happy to buy at. From the sellers perspective, the risk is there are not many bidders and it achieves only at or near to the start bid price. The winning bidder might have offered a fair amount more under an offer situation.
The Buy it now listings is another way to go with best offer, but the statistics indicate that those listing dont sell as well as the auction listings in the way the listing algorithm works, which tend to shove fixed price items to the end of list searches. Ebay wants to ensure auctions achieve as high a price as possible and so have to put them earlier when possible by tending to put longer durations on fixed price items.

[pixiesen2012]

anyone who makes an offer on an auction item instead of placing a low bid is just stupid

[rcli]

It depends on the perspective of the buyer. Some might be trying to be clever thinking they are getting a good price and avoid a potential bidding war or just want the item quickly and not want to wait for the full duration of the auction. There are lots of different people out there in different situations, I would never generalise them and call them stupid. My whole point is the current system doesnt work, in not letting the seller sufficient time to assess offers. It's a simple change in the code. In giving the seller more time to assess, ebay might be shortening the sale time thus allowing the seller (if they are businesses) to reinvest in new stock more quickly and generate more sales and improving their ROCE... and ebay would benefit from that too.

[tobiasd4]

You can complain all you want about system, there is only 1 reply to all this:

EBAY SITE = EBAY RULES.

[rcli]

Ebay site = ebay rules.... until they find ways of changing them to help improve profitability

[pixiesen2012]

sellers can set their preferences to auto accept offers over a certain price, surely that covers your problem

[tobiasd4]

Perhaps this link is of use to you, sounds like ebay is not for you.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/changing-account-settings/closing-account-deleting-data?id=4199&...

[rcli]

Some people are so stuck with the rules lol. Anyone who challenges the norm scares the heck out of them and they have to get offensive and rude. Maybe if they read the full text properly they would realise some people are writing objectively from 2 sides.

[tobiasd4]

If you read the heading, this is ebay member foum no ebay staff come here,
so as i pointed you can complain all you want, but ebay wont see this or care about your opinion.