Counter offer - just a little whine

[yooh_9839]

I'm just letting off a bit of steam here, nothing important.

I never used to send offers on my shop items, my amount of stock was always fairly small and EBay has always been a hobby for me rather than a serious business.

But now that I'm starting to wind things down on Ebay and clear-out the remainder of my stock, I've started sending the occasional offer and I'm always amazed by how much some people are desperate to save just that little bit extra.

Model Kit £10
Offer sent @ 20% off = £8
Counter offer = "Hi, thanks for the offer, would you consider letting it go for £7.80?"

On the one hand I want to point out that if I'd been prepared to sell for that amount I would have sent an offer with a bigger discount. But is it worth haggling over 20p?

First world problems I know. But grrrr

[*vyolla*]

I honestly think that sometimes people just can't help themselves; they make an offer, your make a counter offer, they then offer a token nominal sum less. Perhaps it's just some weird genetic memory bargaining thing, they feel the need to kind of have the last 'bargaining word' !

[yooh_9839]

LOL. Yes I'm sure you're right, the 'last word' comparison is perfect (wish I'd thought of it). 
I'm finding however that I'm developing a stubborn, bloody-minded streak and rather than agreeing to that extra 10p discount I refuse the sale. Ahhh the intricacies of dealing with Joe Public

[susapric-68]

As you're just clearing out now is it worth losing the sale over 20p?. try countering with £7.90p. The UK has so many cultures now and in some haggling is a way of life so it has to be expected

[yooh_9839]

I do usually accept, but rarely without some steam exiting my ears 

[ed_58611]

I don't know if it's genetic but it is definitely weird... I do it too! 😝

If, in the OPs illustration, the postage was £2.20, I have to admit I'd also counter with the same £7.80 because that would make the total a nice round number... which I do realise is absurd!

Can't help myself.

[moldosgifts]

i just reply to all counter offers "NO" ! Keep it simple and decline.

[m25jet]

It's been a while since I last sold anything on eBay and a lot of things have changed in that time, but if things haven't changed too much and it's still possible to set up a Best Offer option with the ability to determine the minimum amount you'll accept and the top limit of the amount you won't accept then set the listing up as follows:

When you're putting the listing together select the option to include Best Offer on the listing as well, but set it up in such a way so that the listing will automatically accept or decline offers without you having to review them manually.  So, for example, if you're listing something with a Buy It Now price of £200.00 but you'd be willing to accept offers of £150.00 or higher then set the lowest amount that you'd automatically accept as £150.00, and in order to avoid any grey areas that would result in you having to consider the offers manually, set the highest amount to automatically reject so that it's 1p below the absolute minimum amount that you'd be willing to accept, so in this example the highest amount to set the "Automatically reject offers equal to, or lower than..." option would be £149.99.

In the event that it is still possible to set the Best Offer option up in this manner then I would suggest that you try doing this, as that way it should automatically reject any silly offers, and only those that were high enough to be considered acceptable would be automatically accepted.  If you are not using the feature to make people submit their payment details when making a Best Offer then the buyer would have to pay manually when the notification comes through that his or her offer has been accepted.  If, on the other hand, you have got your listings set up so as to require the buyer to provide his or her payment details when submitting an offer then should the offer be accepted the payment ought to be taken from the buyer's payment method straightaway, thus eliminating the problem of buyers committing to making an offer and then failing to pay for the item once the offer has been accepted.

[technthread]

Polite messaging goes a long way. I’d probably have accepted that because of the tone of their message.

I get a fair few blunt messages, it often seems to be resellers who want to flip items on another platform that are the worst for it, I don’t know how they build relationships and do deals like that.

[johnwash1]

I agree with @technthread , polite offers do get more consideration.

I'm fully aware of the ability to set auto limits on best offers.  I never use them myself.  I love to see just how cheeky and/or deluded some people are!

And when they send an offer of 20% of the asking price, with no explanation of why they think their offer is fair, they go straight to the blocked buyers list, because otherwise they're likely to be a troublesome buyer, I've found.

[goldenwolfman]

Two points here..  

20p may seem insignificant, as you say 'not worth haggling over' ...but you still find time to waste your own time coming to discuss it? Why bother if it's 'not worth haggling over' - your words, make the sale and get it gone as you are just wasting your own time when all you say you want is to wind things down?

Second point.. My mom always told me 'the pennies make the pounds' and some still think that. In this world of what has become almost desperation and as one discussion on here described, Price 'Gouging' now the norm - the new terminology for asking crazy money for things, AND very occasionally - achieving it, can you blame buyers for squeezing that extra 2% which makes them feel satisfied that they then got a bargain.

It's those that offer £4 for a £10 item that I get offended by and believe me I've had a few of those this last year! I usually blank them as it's not worthy of a reasoned response.