I'm a buyer that often messages a seller to discuss a potential lower price on an item, even if it's listed as a BIN with no OBO. Why? Because the answer is "no" to 100% of the questions you don't ask. If the initial question is asked in a polite manner, such a response should be reciprocated. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

I also believe all inquiries/offers should be responded to with a simple decline at the very least. Stupid offers are just that - stupid. But just end it, and be done.

Agree with this.

I just bought a card that was listed at $4999.99 OBO. I offered $4825 out of the gates, and he declined saying that he was likely going to raise the BIN anyway as the card was rapidly appreciating. While this was frustrating, I decided to just pony up on the full amount (instead of starting a thread out of my frustration.) Bottom line is: do you want the card you desire or do you want a hot deal? I find you rarely get both.

I missed out a few deals by now just clicking buy it now.

however, what about cards that seem fairly priced as a BIN also have the .99 cent auction option.. I can seem a 1953 topps psa 5 mantle for example be listed at $2500 or .99 option..and there may be 10 watchers all considering buying the card, maybe even sending out messages for a direct deal..

then there is that one guy that clicks .99s and maybe bids the card up to 5 dollars never to be heard from again and then the card sells in the auction for $3000...

I understand (and for the most part agree) with what you're saying here, but there are people that might have missed the auction the first time. I used to sell pre-owned vehicles on eBay. I can't tell you how many times I would list a vehicle on eBay, it failed to meet reserve, re-list it with the same reserve and the second time around it sold for more than the reserve. Then, when I compared the bidding history of both listings, some of the bidders were the same, but some were not. In most cases, the winner of the second listing wasn't a bidder in the first listing. My conclusion was that he/she did not see it the first time. Point is, maybe the seller is hoping that the card he bought in ML, LOTG or Goldin for $5000 10 weeks ago (using your example) was missed by someone who wants it and will see it on eBay and buy it? Just a thought.

Frank, I am willing to offer $75 for it if it is still in good condition. Please respond back promptly, as it might be a life or death situation.

Brian

Low-ball offers are a waste of everybody's time, just like high BINs are. If a card has an absurd list price and a OBO option, just ignore it. An absurd list price means that no reasonable offer will be accepted, so you might as well consider it to be part of the eBay Museum and move on.

|An aside. How do folks who post things at absurd BIN prices pay their rent? I'm sure it's great when you get someone to bite on one, but in order to live you need a predictable income. The landlord isn't going to wait for your next sale. I would speculate that they only sell part-time on the side, and don't depend on baseball card sales to survive. But then there's Deans, which looks like a full-time operation. So I dunno.|

Man, maybe I'm just too easy going. Make me an offer. I will outright decline if I think we're too far apart, or I'll counter with my best price. In my message I will TELL YOU it's my BEST PRICE. If you counter again I will decline. That still gives you one more opportunity to match my best price. I am unfailingly polite because, well, it doesn't take any extra effort, but I am also very firm once I have given you my best price. I list about 90% of my items with MAO, and even before the offer my price is usually competitive. If, in order to be competitive, my start price is going to be what I need to get I DON'T USE MAO. If I need $24 on a card I don't list it at $25 with MAO option. More than likely I'll start it at $30 because generally speaking I want to have about 20% wiggle room. Of course there are exceptions in either direction, but none of the issues in this thread strike me as things to lose sleep over, and I do this for a living. Have fun, lighten up, don't take yourself (or anyone else) too seriously!

Nat: an 'absurd' price may be a seller signalling that he is not interested in selling unless the offer is so right that he'd be a fool to reject it. I do that sometimes. I know Dan McKee (hi Dan) is unabashed about his doing so.

As much as I hate to agree with Jake ;) on anything, he's right about the credit card thing. I made a sale recently to someone who was willing to meet my price because he could use a CC to fund it. Not everyone has even cash flow.

LOL as I typed the above I was offered $15 apiece for 3 t206's that I had at $25, $30, and $30. I countered with the information that my counter is my best price. $20, $24, $24. He then offered $17, $20, $20. I declined. text book case for me. maybe he'll come back at my price, maybe not, but no sleep lost.

Understood, but that isn't relevant. In the case I described the $1250 price was offered to (not by) the buyer. And then another interested party offered $1400 to the seller.

Textbook negotiations 101 and that cuts through a lot of BS: "This is my final" or "This is my best". And you have to mean it and stick to it like Scott did or it's meaningless and you have zero credibility.

On another note, I have been looking at a modern raw card which sells for 1000. A psa 8 comes up, mind you that is a middle of the road for a modern card, buy it now for 4500 or best offer. So I offer 1000, and get a denial "are you kidding me?"

Shame on me for offering market value

shame on him for not know the market


or just move on

If the $1250 hasn't been accepted it's not a contract, pretty simple.

Let me know if any of your contacts might have a 2016 KGB backed Ivan the Terrible card in ex or better. I will pay in hard currency. Tks!

You know, I often follow this recommendation also, and avoid the absurd list price w/ BO listings. However, every now and then I see that the seller actually accepted the incredibly lowball offer that I would have been happy to pay also. So sometimes, I still think it's fine to go ahead and shoot that lowball offer even if you know you'll probably get rejected or ignored.

I simply put in to automatically decline an offer below a certain # so I don't have to go back and forth. If you're not even going to offer me at a # to where I know you have serious interest or idea of what the card is worth, you're not even worth my time to respond. Someone who wants to try and cut me in 1/2 right off the bat just pisses me off. That's not a negotiation, that's being a low-baller.

There is definitely an art to negotiation, but the first thing you don't do is insult the person you're trying to negotiate with right off the bat with a stupid offer. Know the market and offer a fair price. Also realize that markets and prices change and what someone bought something for yesterday isn't what you can buy it for today. If we could all do that, we'd all be bazillionaires.

I have about 3000 postcards in my ebay store all at $9.99 OBO so I'm not dealing in big time merchandise, but I would say that about 90% of all offers I get are "lowball" offers which I consider less than 50%. It's always funny to me too that I get offers of $3.99 or $5.99 which is odd to me considering that's a selling tactic and not a buying tactic. You want your offer to look better then tack on that extra penny. I will almost always accept a $5 or better offer on a postcard because usually I have less than that into it and I like to keep my stuff moving. I know the OP thinks that not responding right away with a counter offer is rude, but it's also a selling tactic. I have listed some high dollar items that get offers right away and I don't always respond to them immediately because I'm hoping someone will come along and hit the BIN. I have also had some people make offers and when I don't respond right away they go ahead and use the BIN because they don't want the item to get away. And on the flip side I get offers all the time that I counter and never hear another peep, so that goes both ways too.

Also did you know that you can accept an offer higher than your listed BIN price? Last year I got an offer of $11 on a $9.99 postcard, I was intrigued by this and accepted the offer. The lady paid me so I put a dollar bill in with her postcard. I'm not so sure she understood how ebay best offers work.

I've never understood how any offer can be "insulting." How can you take that personally? It can be a waste of time etc... but I have seen people who actually get mad at what they consider to be low ball insults. There's plenty of real stuff in life to get mad about/insulted by a number on a computer that I can reject ain't one of them.

Some offerors put obnoxious messages into their offers, usually along the lines of "this card sucks for the grade but I'd take for $___" or "I saw one last week for $___ so you have to sell this one for $___". Well if you think my card sucks, don't buy it, and no, I don't have to sell you jack $hit. I've even had some idiots misquote my own book back at me to try and get me to sell something on the cheap.

Exactly what i do!

Yes, an insult can be insulting, I wholeheartedly agree, and I've gotten some of these gems over the years. I usually block guys who start off on that foot because if that's their first impression why would I expect it to improve? Even so I tend to do it with very little fuss. I've never been big on letting others control my emotional state.

Oh, and my story earlier, the guy who made the offers just came back and met my price. See it's easy! :)

What part of this do you disagree with, the definition of negotiate or the fact that it is a negotiation?

Where does it say you need to make your best offer the first time?

It is not assumptions. It is scenario play. Just like it is not a negotiation. :rolleyes:

......

Not understanding you quoting me, with six ellipsis only. Was there something about my post that is confusing?

I was disagreeing with something but nothing in that comment!

I use OBO as a bartering platform. Because I remain an emotional buyer, market value sometimes isn't the biggest concern...depending on how much I want that particular item.

I never makes super low bids on items I feel are worth a lot more. Treat folks with respect during the process and you will usually come to a price that's agreeable to both of you.

Of course, my way, the seller usually gets the better end of the deal, but I wind up paying what I still feel comfortable with.

I would never, however, say something like, "some room for negotiating". Instead, I enjoy the chess match that ensues.

I have had experiences with owners who barely budge off their BIN - like upwards of 90% - and I almost never make those purchases.

I'm sure my emotional method has me frequently paying more than I could, but, at least with the back and forth, I get the illusion that I'm saving some money- and I can live with that.


That's my 2 cents worth...but my OBO is a penny and a half.

I looked up the rules and I'd say it's more of a guideline than a rule after looking it up. Circled below.

.....

They're wasting my time and that's what pisses me off. I can't get my time back and I'm not interested in dealing with people who can't even afford to buy it in the first place.

How many sellers out there have declined and offer and had the buyer come back with a second offer lower than the first? Not long ago I had a buyer provide an 'offer' on an item about 25% of my asking price (no, I didn't have auto-decline set). I responded with a fairly quick 'no thank you' (figuring it wasn't worth the effort of a counter offer). The next day the same buyer offered less that his first offer. It was that time I just 'let it ride' and didn't even respond.

Just saw an example that made me think of this thread. I am helping a buddy find a t3 Cobb in low grade that looks nice (let me know if you have one for sale). That is a particularly good card to find with those specs because many are graded low because of minor paper loss on the back, despite being otherwise beautiful cards. So I find one on eBay for $3,750 obo. It is an SGC 10 with one torn corner and tack holes on every corner. It is not a particularly nice example, but has a decent image. T3's in particular, as I mentioned, have grades-within-grades that people will pay a premium for (a gorgeous 1.5 is currently at 3k on Heritage, but is graded that low only because of minor paper loss on the back and SGC is unreasonable about paper loss regardless of where it is). Vcp is only instructive if you compare apples to apples and not just look at grades.
I know the market well on this card. I can tell you that it isn't more than a $1500 card. But it is at $3,750 obo! So is $1500 a low-ball if it is what I know the market price to be? The crazy thing is that he may well accept $1200, but we won't know unless we try. On the flip-side, he may be insulted at a 1,500 offer because it is so much lower than his obo price, despite the fact that it is fair market. I am advising my buddy against this card, but I thought it was a good example of the issues we have discussed here today.
The eBay card and the heritage card are pictured below. The fact that these 2 cards are a half grade apart is an indictment of the whole grading system in my opinion, but that is for another post.

If you accept a buyers offer, even if its lower than you had hoped for, always add the message to the invoice just like Tom Cruise said, "Sometimes you gotta say WTF". :D

Agreed..

What are you disagreeing with?

I wouldn't even call it a guideline, as it is a caveat and terrible explanation of not locking others out of contention for your item.

My interpretation of what they are getting at with that statement is, "just because you made an offer, it doesn't mean someone else can't buy the item out from under you while you are negotiating, so if you want the item just put in your best offer and hopefully you will win it".

That said, it is definitely written there though, which is what I was skeptical of. Connotation is everything.

I have made an offer on a card at roughly 50 percent. It was a 300 dollar card at asking price. The seller dropped the price almost down to my best price but wouldn't budge on 15 bucks roughly. About 2 months went by and some new precedence on pricing was set, albeit, not by much and I offered a lower amount that was accepted.

I think that the one thing we can all agree on is that regardless what the obo price is, if you offer somewhere in the vcp range, you are not being a jerk. And if the seller thinks your fair market offer is an insult, then he is being unreasonable.

my thoughts with the "or best offer" ordeal:

For example, card is listed at @ $2599.99 or best offer

If you don't want to accept an offer below a certain price, then I'm fine with getting the automatic denial of my offer.


But when I put in a fair offer ($2150) for what the card has sold for and then some and the offer goes through to the seller with the option to counter. seller counters with a minimal reduction ($2449) from asking price stating that this is my bottom price.

Why did the offer even go through to the seller if it was about $300 less than what seller actually wanted.

man even when my store is packed, the MAO's take me a grand total of 5 MAYBE 10 minutes a day.

And that 5 to 10 minutes are valuable to me. That's almost an hour of my week if I have to deal with that every day. No thanks.

I'll just set my threshold on every item when I list it and laugh at the stupid offers that get auto-denied once I do actually check to see what's been offered.

but then you will be wasting your time. :)

Yes but of that 35 -70 minutes a week 75% of it is legit business. to me sacrificing less than 20 minutes a week to some unnecessary offers is no biggie. That's also a high estimate. I just got offered $8 on a 1971 Nolan Ryan it took me well under a minute to read it and reject it.

On a happier note, the gentleman who was made an example of earlier in this thread has now bought a dozen T206's from me.

Would you take $99 on the Kidney?

LOL, OK I've got one. Had a bunch of items closing last night. I love the guys who make an offer less than 5 minutes before an item closes. Yup, I'm sitting there with my fingers crossed as my items end hoping for some last minute action.