eBay best offer question
 

I'm selling a card and have buy it now option. Some guy wrote to me and asked what's your best price. I told him what I'd accept and he has 24 hours to accept it. What happens if I receive a higher offer in the interim? Can I accept it? Is it a lousy thing to do? I sympathize to a degree with the guy, but no one really needs 24 hours to consider an offer do they?

Since you offered a window specifically (verbal contract), I would say let the time expire before accepting another offer. You probably don't need to contact the first bidder; just accept the 2nd offer once the time goes by. If the card sells at full price, that's the risk the buyer took by making an offer.

If you get an email offer on an item you have listed as Buy It Now without a Best Offer option, the eBay system will let you respond with an offer to the prospective buyer which I believe is good for 48 hours. While you are committed to sell if he accepts during that time, he doesn't have the exclusive right to buy for that period, you are free to accept or extend other offers or someone could Buy It Now. The first buyer to commit gets your item and all pending offers are voided.

That makes sense. The old "snooze you lose" rule. Applies in myriad contexts.

Certainly has happened to me.

I remember a couple times on something good that I submitted an offer, the seller gave me a counter and the item was sold before I had a chance to finish typing my response or accept.

The risk of "make an offer".

That's why there is the buy it now option also on them.

How would you feel if a guy told you you had 24 hours to accept his offer, and then sold the card out from under you?

You gave him 24 hrs., so you should keep your word. Next time, I wouldn't give a time frame, and then you would be justified taking a higher offer.

I didn't give him a time frame, that is some eBay default.

I remember getting an offer accepted, after several hours, at the very moment another board member (hey Jeff) hit the BIN. Fortunately, the buyer took my offer and Jeff's BIN wouldn't register as it was a millisecond too late. :eek: The card was a super rare 1921 Ruth Barnstorming card, sold a few years ago at the National for an offer I couldn't refuse.

I don't have an immediate opinion on the question at hand however, if there is an obligation it should be adhered to, generally speaking. Now, if a seller didn't set it, and the system does, then I don't know. I guess someone could make another offer and you can accept it. That is within the rules....

.

Ah, your initial post was unclear. It seemed as though you continued corresponding through messages, rather than sending him an offer back through eBay as an offer. If you sent him an offer back, then the onus is on him to buy the card.

You mean the seller took your offer? Or am I all jumbled up in this thread of confusion?

Yes. On my transaction the seller accepted my standing offer, of several hours, a heartbeat before Jeff hit the BIN. I think I remember him telling me he kept hitting the BIN and it would never take the bid. :(

Ohhhhhh. Well, if ebay still allows you to accept a higher offer during that time period, I see no issue.

I get these all the time as this is how I mainly sell. My general response is I have posted what I want. If you want to make an offer, go ahead. If someone chooses to make a higher offer in the meantime, take it every time. There are soooooo many strokers on eBay. If he wanted it he should have made a legit offer or hit "buy it now". You have no obligation to this unknown "possible" buyer.

My buddy who used to sell real estate called them "tire kickers".

I've been getting a lot of weird offers lately (I don't even use Best Offer), from foreign buyers wanting me to sell them stuff, for about the same price it costs me to ship it to them. In other words, free on my end.

Those are easy to ignore though. :D

I was just going to say, can't you put in your ad, "All unreasonable offers will be ignored" ?

From Ebay's website:

Using Best Offer

If you see Make Offer below the Buy It Now price in the listing, the seller accepts Best Offers from buyers.

You can negotiate the price with the seller, giving you the opportunity to buy the item for less than the Buy It Now price. The seller can accept your offer, decline your offer, or make a counteroffer. However, you should make what you consider to be your best offer for the item because any seller who receives multiple offers for an item is likely to accept the highest Best Offer.

(Underlining added)

I would infer from the above that the answer to your question would be: yes, if you receive a higher offer in the interim you can accept the higher offer.

If a customer hasn't accepted an offer, he's not accepted an offer. As simple as that.

Offer
 

You stated in your initial correspondence that "Some guy wrote to me and asked what's your best price. I told him what I'd accept and he has 24 hours to accept it." To me that's a agreement and should be followed through with unless he doesn't follow through with the terms within the 24 hours given. So, yes; it's a lousy thing to do if you don't keep your word.

Well I never heard back from him at all, so it's clear who was yanking who's chain. Maybe he thought I was going to sell him a $500 card for $60.

Next time I receive a version of "what's the best you can do" I will do exactly what was suggested above. "Make a bid." That's the process, and not throwing the ball back in the seller's court.

My thought - I figure if you make an agreement to sell with a time period involved then you should honor the price for that time period, however if someone hits the BIN button before that time period is up, then that's just too bad for the guy that was trying to get it for a lower price.

Maybe in the future give the buyer 30 minutes or an hour to decide. When I make an offer I know then what i'm willing to pay.

I think you did just fine, just next time don't feel obligated to put a time limit with your offer. Best Offers made through eBay's automated system have an automatic 48-hour expiration. There are also automated messages and warnings too buyers warning that in essence state that the only way to guarantee they get the item is to click But It Now. Until then, someone else can fairly purchase the item per eBay's rules.

Personally, I get a little annoyed with the "What's the lowest price you'll take?" messages on items for which I have Best Offer enabled. That's what the BO feature is for. My favorite response for these tire-kickers is, "That depends. What's the most you would pay?"

I wonder about strategies sometimes. There has been an ebay item listed at all kinds of amounts in the $450-$500 range for the last several years. (I am not outing it as I still am always considering it :)) The seller now has it listed around $30 higher than my last offer was. I had made a few lower offers before and all exchanges have been very polite.
I don't really understand those kind of strategies sales. Maybe they don't know why I am do damned cheap? :) ...(it's in my DNA).
But if I have something for sale on a Best offer, for years, and someone offers within 10-20 percent, they own it.

I've had quite a few situations where a seller will have an item listed for more than I can pay, but I'll make an offer for what I can afford and they'll decline it. I'll keep it in my watch list and every couple of months I'll re-offer the same offer as before. Eventually, they give in and take my offer cause their item has been sitting there for 8 months without even a whiff of another offer. Always happens on Venezuelans, LOL.