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eBay: people who ask for discounts on fixed price listings
As a seller, how do you feel about people on eBay messaging you asking about discounts on fixed price listings?
I used to not mind it, but it seems like it happens more and more...sometimes it starts to annoy me....your thoughts? |
Thoguhts...
Any transaction has to happen when a buyer and seller agree on a price.
As far as your question, I guess it depends. As a seller, I would want to know if there was a buyer out there for my item even if it wasn't at my asking price. Gives an option to make a deal on something. That being said, if you get a bunch of folks offering you 20% of your asking price, that gets annoying. |
If the price is listed and no other offers are to be entertained. I’m good with that.
One that bugs me is a seller that lists a price ‘or OBO’ and then sets an offer drop of $5.00 less and auto denies lower offers. Just set the price $5.00 less and make it a buy now and stop with the OBO nonsense when they don’t really mean OBO. Butch |
I'd think being unwilling to negotiate would limit sales. I'll always send a reasonable offer to any fixed price seller, and I'd say 80% of the time they respond favorably. If someone sends a truly stupid offer, I wouldn't waste time responding.
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Opinion
An offer of 75% or more of an item that has run repeatedly with no bidders or buyers should be greeted with thanks and a polite refusal , or better yet a counter offer. I recently had a seller respond to my offer of 80% of his MB on a listing that had run for months with no action with a terse “I didn’t ask for offers! If you want it bid on it.” It’s still on eBay no sale. Since when is it an insult or a bother when someone offers you money for something you’re selling? Sheesh…….
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I don’t mind when people send messages with offers. If their “offer” is ridiculous, I’ll just reply with “sorry, no” and block them.
Case in point. I had an item listed, buy it now or best offer. Offers of less than 50% (offering less than $75 on my $150 item) would be auto-declined. The “buyer” sent me a message to tell me eBay was no longer letting them make offers. They told me they “could do $50” for the album. I checked eBay active listings. Yep, mine was still the only one for sale. I checked Discogs. Yep, the handful available were all still more expensive than mine. So, the “buyer” made five super low offers. They all got auto-declined. Since they couldn’t send any more, they went fishing with a message. Sorry, no. Go away. |
If a seller uses OBO, does ebay allow the seller to to place an auto decline on the offer if it's below a set threshold that ebay allows a seller to setup in application?
Are unsolicited offers to sellers allowed in the application? I'm assuming that if someone uses the "ask seller a question" that ebay has something in place that doesn't allow for the buyer to send an email address (blocks that content). How would an ebay buyer ask the seller to take a lower offer if OBO is not used? |
I tend to treat shopping on eBay the way I shop at an in-person card show, where negotiation is part of the culture. I don't always know how much they paid for the card, how long it has been in the case (and getting stale), and if they need money in the moment.
Plus sooooo many eBay listing are waaaaay too high. I find if I'm willing to still go over a recent price (the dreaded "comps" word) that is a discount from the listed price, I have a good chance at making a purchase. That tells the seller I'm putting it into my collection and not planning to flip for a profit. Like at a card show, an eBay seller can say, "i appreciate the offer, but my price is firm." They always can say no. Part of the fun in this hobby is that buyer-seller interaction. I've made collecting friends from such messaging. IMHO, the keys on both buying and selling sides are politeness and respect. Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk |
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They can send messages. For example, “would you take X” messages have hit my inbox. Buyers do not get the seller’s email address; eBay will alert the seller (via traditional email) that they have a message in their eBay Seller Hub. |
I don't sell much, but when I do I :
1 - set a price that will net me an amount I am happy with 2 - counter or accept what I consider to be reasonable offers 3 - ignore or counter offers that I consider to be unreasonable Easy peasy |
eBay: people who ask for discounts on fixed price listings
Most unsolicited offers I receive are not even in the form of a sentence, or not formatted as a question, or not even formatted as money…those annoy me and are an instant block. Example on a $6k card::
Some idiot: 4200 If they can write an actual sentence I will usually reply. |
One has to remember, when a seller has a ridiculous selling price on an e-bay listing, it is not always the buyer making the offer that is unreasonable if below 50% of asking. The buyer offer may be much more in the ballpark of market value than the seller asking price. Buyer isn't always the one in the wrong with these scenarios. I've done that a number of times, with my main intent being to stress to the seller that their asking price is way out of line. I have no delusions that they might actually accept my offer. Although I have seen best offers accepted at 25% of BIN price on occasion (when the seller knows they are shooting for the moon and agree to take just reaching the clouds instead).
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Oh, and nothing irks me more than a seller with a OBO listing that doesn't bother to respond to an offer, even one that is a lower percentage of their asking price. Offer declined isn't that difficult of a button to click on, we're all capable of doing it (or we shouldn't be listing items for sale on e-bay if not). This stands out to me even more when we are talking about a 5-figure offer. If I am willing to spend that kind of money on an e-bay item, it deserves the respect of a reply.
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If you make a crap offer, you don’t deserve even a “decline” and it helps the seller to let your offer rot as it will show as a “competing offer” is active to other prospective parties. So….tough luck. |
I do not mind offers at all. It might be something I am willing to part with at a discount. However, stupid offers like less that 50% of my asking will be ignored.
Bob |
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To all - Besides that resource (Vintage Links) which has ebay users, is there a list anywhere else in N54 which allows N54 members that ACTIVELY sell on ebay to make themselves known? Hey, I understand that ebay needs to make money, but they make a ton already - why not offer the stuff in the BST with a prices sans the reasonable ebay fees. . . . |
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Even if $4200 was the price I’d actually sell for, I would not sell to someone who could not write a sentence or format numbers as a price, or format their offer as a question. But I’m not a dealer and nobody needs to buy stuff from me anyway, I just don’t care. |
I appreciate all the replies. It's interesting to read different perspectives.
If someone offers me a price close to asking, unless it's a brand new listing, I will not get annoyed and will often accept it. The ones that I don't love are: - Just a price, like CardPadre mentioned ("$300?") - "Will you take less for this?" (or some variation, not actually offering a price) - Ones that want to debate you about your price ("This other one just sold for $X") - OK, but mine is nicer! To NiceDocter's point: if my listings were in the "museum' category, I would definitely be more open to lower offers. However, I try to be conscious so as not to be that seller. I don't think I've ever had a listing up more than a few weeks without doing some sort of adjustment to it. In fact, I tend to take things down if they don't sell after some period of time. Also, if someone offers me a lower price on here, I'll always entertain it. Buying and selling here feels more like an in-person environment where you are dealing with real people. There's a kind of anonymity to eBay where I feel like people act a way that they wouldn't in person. |
The only ones that are annoying to me are messages asking me what my rock bottom price is.
Make me an offer!! I’m not going to bid against myself. So typically I will let them know that my asking price is already listed, but invite them to make me an offer. |
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I am an eBay seller and get tons of messages from people offering on cards that already have a “make offer” option. I have a preset response basically telling them that all price concessions are managed through the make offer system.
I can count on one hand how many cards I have sold out of thousands by people messaging with offers. Serious buyers will use the make offer system. Geoff Bedine Premier Card Collectors Since 1977 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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As a buyer my record for making an offer and having it accepted was in the 20 to 25% range, I politely explained my logic for the offer and said no hard feelings if the seller thought I was delusional. They may have thought I'm delusional, but they accepted. |
I don't get the hostility to getting offers. I regularly get offers that are ridiculously low. I use it as a point to start negotiations. I explain that their offer is way too low and potentially point out recent comps. Sometimes they respond positively... Sometimes they don't. But I'm no worse off.
As a buyer, I'll make offers on fixed price listings... Especially if they've been up for a long time. But it's disappointing how many times sellers are just rude. |
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ebay
seems fine to me..you can always say no
I see guys do it at shows all the time...Nothing is set in stone |
I put things up on ebay because I want to sell them. If someone makes an offer, they are a potential buyer.
I read on this site a few months ago that the most important thing a person wants when he makes an offer is a quick response. So I try not to be annoyed at lowball offers and just make a prompt response. If I get a second low ball offer, wcich happens often, I just ignore it. But I have gotten to a lot of deals by countering with a small discount. I've also had a couple times where my counter offers expired , and then the person came back and bought at my listed price a week later. Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk |
I’m a reseller and almost all of my auctions are buy it now with best offers left open to be made. Many times I buy items where I don’t exactly know what the value might be so I take my best guess and let a potential buyer make an offer.
Sometimes I will do an actual auction, but those don’t do nearly as well as the buy it now sales. The key for me as a reseller is buying something so inexpensively that I can clearly make a profit on it. For example, I recently purchased a bank charger for handheld price scanners like you’d see used in a department store for $8.00. I saw similar ones selling online for between $75 and $115ish. I priced mine at $89.99 and someone offered me $75 so I took that. Maybe I left a few bucks on the table, but a $67 profit for a big, bulky item that only sat in inventory for about two weeks is a win in my book. |
I don't mind the messages because they indicate that there's at least some level of interest and, in some cases, help me gauge the market. That said, the vast majority of my listings are set to not allow offers because I'm usually selling at cost and have priced the item exactly where it needs to be for me to break even (or lose only a little). I don't mind if an item sits because I priced it exactly 12.7% higher than cost.
Lately, I've been getting more messages from people who seem aggressive and unhinged, which makes me wonder if the breaker/flipper bro culture is crossing over into the vintage market. They'll show me comps (usually selectively filtering out the higher sales). They'll tell me that my card actually sucks and they're doing me a favor by offering to take it off my hands at 30% of asking. They'll tell me it's their son's or dad's or dying uncle's favorite player, and they hope I can find it in my heart to do them a favor. Sometimes if I don't respond within the hour, I'll have several messages from the same person: "hello?!?!?"... "at least u cud answer"... "take 50?"... "take 55 final offer u won't get better" Sometimes, when I explain that I'm priced where I am to break even accounting for fees, I'll get responses that they don't care about my fees and I'm going to be sorry I didn't take what I could get when the card drops in value. They can't seem to understand that some people who list on eBay don't need to sell to survive. I seem to be a magnet for this crap, and I only have a handful of listings at any given time. I can't imagine what it's like for sellers with real inventory. |
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But if people are pleasant, reasonable, and coherent, I don't mind them sending an offer. |
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I make offers on fixed price items many times.
What I am getting from this thread is that I need to start offering at least 51% of the fixed price :cool:. And a stamp sheet for no apparent reason except it's bright and colorful. From the bay about a year and a half ago... |
As a Seller , I like the "Dutch Auction" Option if you don't really know the price of an item and it has several sells at various prices. For example: Start the Sell at $100 and you can have the price lowered by any amount and any time frame. For Example: lower the price by $ 1 every 30 days until your minimum price is reach ( $ 75 ). This is done automatically so you don't need to relist or reprice an item.
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:confused: On fixed price offerings I don't submit bids. I find that the sellers themselves send me discounted offerings when I put their offered item on my Watch List. ;) |
The issue for me is items that are listed 2x market and/or retail price. Ive made strong offers over auction and above retail in many cases and sellers want to come down 10% when they are 100% overpriced. I've reached out with strong offers on non OBO listings and didn't even get the courtesy of a reply to my inquiry. (Think $15k cash offer as a starting point on an item valued at 12-13k auction with a BIN of $27k).
At that point as a seller I cross you off the list of people I am willing to deal with. |
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Thanks for doing that! Mine is premiercardcollectors just like my user name on Net Geoff Bedine Premier Card Collectors Since 1977 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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I did this just last night and got a deal out of it. I find this works best when there's an item up for bidding at a relatively competitive price (intro bid) that I'm interested in that closes without bids. There was an example of this last night. An item with a starting bid of $24.99 was closing with no bids, but I forget about it and it closed with no bids. So, just before I went to sleep I sent a very short message to the seller: "$22?" and then I woke up in the morning to find that he was game. So then I looked into his catalogue and found another card out there with no bids yet and we settled on a price for that one as well (initial bid of $47.59 and we landed at $42.50). Might as well since I already had shipping factored in, right? Obviously dealing with peanuts here, but it was all quite amicable and every bit of savings help when you're buying cardboard.
I have done this various times and the response tends to fall into 3 categories: 1. No I think the price is fair. 2. Sure. 3. No response at all. So far nobody has ever been rude about it. |
I personally look at any fixed price item as having about 20% wiggle room off ask depending on how reasonable/ridiculous the ask....atleast that's the way I look at it. And I may offer even less based on recent comps/my whims or whatever reason. It's a negotiation! and you can't go backwards once you've thrown down a #!
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Case by case basis I guess. Usually they just amuse me.
Just today I got a simple “7.00…?” for an item I have listed at about 15.00 including shipping, and have sold a couple dozen at that price in the last 6 Months or so. I just ignore. Anybody ever get “Will you take blank dollars for it…I can PayPal you right now” on an auction item that already has bids well above what they are offering? This has happened more times then you might think and it’s not because they sent their offer before the bids got put in. :confused: |
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And there is nothing wrong with asking or being asked about a better price on a fixed priced item on eBay…,we do the same thing on all other platforms. If the seller doesn’t want to do that and is set with the price, they will say so. More than not , sellers have worked with me on price as I have worked with others buying my stuff. Again, I hate the OBO , mentioned above when it’s only a few bucks( not even $5 off)
Remember….its a hobby |
Whether fixed price or those with best offer option, I think there's a lot more people with ultra-high starting prices these days because of how hot the hobby is and how much cash from dumb people is flying around. There are plenty who'll take an actual market-price offer if you send it.
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As an ebay seller, very few of my listings are Best Offer and most are Fixed Priced listings. I take and accept offers via ebay messages all of the time, so I am definitely open and happy to receive offers from potential buyers asking about discounts. I reply to every message from a potential buyer even ridiculous low ball offers. For the low ball offers or what I consider low ball, I usually just reply by telling the buyer that my list price is my best price. For others that give offers within my ballpark, I try to negotiate with them or even just agree to their offer right away. I do this all of the time.
The reason that I don't have many best offers on my listings is that I think that if BO is an option for a listing, most buyers automatically assume that the list price is not your best price and immediately give a lower price to try to get your lowest price. Therefore, my idea is that as a seller, you can get a higher overall sell price by not offering BO. I don't know if this is the best sales strategy, but just my thinking. A lot of other sellers offer BO regularly and they get more sales throughput and turnover. That is a perfectly reasonable sales strategy also. |
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Unless of course the seller has a price that is about 5 times the going rate. Then a 20% offer seems reasonable to me. Brian |
If someone makes a halfway reasonable offer, I give them a polite reply. Offers aren't the only, or the most annoying, questions I get asked.
A few days ago, a guy who had made an offer on my BIN listing made a follow-up offer even lower than his first one, which I had rejected. I blocked him. Yesterday, a guy who had made a couple offers which I turned down went ahead and bought the item at my listed price. It was a courteous exchange beginning to end. So, sometimes it pays off, sometimes not, but since one never knows which tire kickers will become buyers, it's worthwhile, and the right thing to do I think, to be courteous. At least up until they become obnoxious. |
I get offers for cards I list on the B/S/T even if I don't indicate I would consider offers. I have no problem with that happening and respond to them with either an acceptance, rejection or counter. I don't see that as any different from eBay and don't understand why it would bother anyone as long as the communication is reasonable.
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--- In general, a fixed price listing should be taken literally IMO. It doesn't matter what the seller's price is. Prospective buyers have the right to refuse the price if it doesn't suit them. Everyone is familiar with the OBO feature after all these decades. If they wanted to take less, they would have used that option. If they wanted to hear why you want to pay less, they would have used that option. If they wanted to barter, they would have used that option. It's pretty simple. Saying any of this is a waste of breath; it won't change anyone's tactics. On a related note, if someone lists anything on any platform and specifies things such as "price is firm", "no trades" and/or any other specifics, it's obviously considered good form to stay within those parameters since they were clearly specified. I'm sure most of us have experienced our share of dealing with people who don't read such things in our listings, or pretend they didn't see it (or simply don't care). Marketplace and Facebook groups are certainly the worst for this. The often complete lack of moderation is certainly not doing sellers any favors. Some groups are moderated better than others, but Marketplace is just the Wild West. |
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This guy understands. I sell on eBay; however, I don't have a ton of time. If I'm lucky, I'll list a couple items per day. It's the long, slow process of downsizing. It's certainly not something I rely on for income. I sell mostly vinyl records and comic books. The records are fairly static in price, other than the occasional news item (artist passes away) causing a brief bump in demand. Comic books, on the other hand, are as fluid in price as sports cards. I could try to stay on top of shifting prices; however, I don't have the time. Re-pricing the ~1,000 comic book listings on a daily/weekly basis would feel too much like a job. So, I price the items slightly below market at the time I list them. If somebody buys something...great! If it doesn't sell right away...no problem! If someone messages me - and they're polite about things - I'll consider what they've written. Otherwise, I'll just reply with a "sorry, no" and move on. Life is too short to entertain people telling you why they think you deserve less. |
I've been on eBay since 1999...I've found that sellers will almost always list BIN prices rather high leaving some room for mild negotiating. I've asked sellers hundreds of times over the years, "What's your best price?", and I'd said about 75% of the time they'll respond with a number that's lower then their BIN price. Can't hurt to ask, worst they can say is "no".
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Unless something is priced low I make offers all the time and on just about everything. The only thing I expect is a polite response, if there is a response. If we can come to an agreement, great. If not, it's no problem with me. Every dollar I can save on a piece is a dollar towards the next item. With that being said, if what I'd offer is not within say 15% of the original asking price, I don't even bother and just move on.
As far as eBay is concerned. When I do list there I have zero issues with people making offers as it takes less than 30 seconds to respond to a reasonable offer, and 1 second to ignore a ridiculous lowball offer. |
Simple enough, assuming your prices are reasonable:
An offer of under 50% on a card is not a good faith offer. Ignore. An offer of at least 80% on a card is serious and we will likely reach a deal and close. An offer between 50% and 80% gets a response. It may be a polite "no" or a counteroffer. Just depends on the item. I don't discount Babe Ruth. No point in that. 714 isn't going to change. Shohei Ohtani (he's a current player with the Dodgers--who play in Los Angeles now, BTW--in case anyone in our vintage silo doesn't know) just reached 50 HR for the second straight year and has a very good shot at a 4th MVP. I'm not inclined to discount a card of his right now. If he'd stunk out Chavez Ravine this year, I would probably discount. |
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I know what I want to pay, but I'm not pushy.
If an offer I make is rejected outright that's the end for me. Either the seller thinks I'm far away from where he needs to be or he's not interested in selling for less. If a counter-offer is made and it's excessively too high I reject it, explain we're really far apart, and thank them for their consideration. That's also the end for me. This has led to near total lack of drama for decades. I could have maybe hustled to make some deals happen that I missed out on not being more aggressive, but I also probably would have ended up on some seller's ban lists if I did take that route. |
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And there's no negotiation at a fast food drive through, or hardware store, or gas station. So, maybe nobody likes to pay full price, but there are many arenas where paying full price is simply how it's done. I'll respond to reasonable ebay offers, but I'll rarely budge for that reason. If the offer is close, then the buyer can go all the way to full price. |
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I could probably start with an absurdly high price to play into the psychology of negotiations, but I prefer to cut to the chase, even if it costs me potential sales from people who just want the dopamine rush from scoring a discount. |
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On the other end, higher priced goods, like autos and furniture, are usually negotiable because the profit to the seller is significant enough. Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk |
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I put an item that had a BIN of $225 with no "best offer" on my watchlist and the next day received an offer from the seller with an 8% discount. The offer was good for 4 days. I responded to the seller that I appreciated the discount but that the price was still too high and asked if the seller could do $170 (75% of the original price, or 83% of the new offered price). The seller didn’t respond, so on day 3 I declined the offer with a message saying I had asked the seller if they could do $175 (actually increased my offer a bit) but hadn’t heard back. They didn’t respond to this message either.
To me, it isn’t about whether the price is fair or not for the item, but the anonymity of the internet allows sellers to do things that they wouldn’t normally do if they were set up at a show. You wouldn’t just ignore someone making you a reasonable offer for an item at a show, you would respond with some sort of answer (i.e. “no, can’t do that”). In this case, the seller is an experienced seller with a 100% positive feedback of over 7,500, yet couldn’t take the time to respond to a potential customer. To me, it is just plain rude and bad business. But I guess the seller just doesn’t care. Remember, they offered me a discount first. Rick |
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From my Substack article The Price Lice:
"The Price Lice are the most common form of eBay troll. You know this type of pest if you sell on eBay, because odds are you encounter them regularly. When an item goes up for auction, the price lice are on it like crabs on a sailor on leave in port, trying to stick their beaks in and solicit a price to end the auction immediately. Now 99% of the time they don’t accept the offer when you name a price, but they always ask. They’re also the sort who will unabashedly say that they are looking for top quality cards at a discount. Yes, and I am looking for something that tastes like bacon and is good for me. *** If you really want the price lice to swarm, list a very valuable card for sale. eBay is running a promotion offering 50% off its fees for cards that sell for over $1,000.00. That is a hell of a deal, one that no auctioneer will match, so I decided to take advantage. I posted a very valuable high-profile card for sale. My listing says: “Please don't contact me directly with any offers; the minimum bid or BIN is the least I will take.” Does that deter the price lice? Not in the least. I got a trove of messages anyway within hours of listing the card, so I figured I would give them awards: The JD Powers Quality Award: "I’m a very qualified buyer!" Uhh, that’s nice but meaningless. I don't need a 'qualified buyer'; everyone on eBay is pre-qualified. Just buy it. The Jim Rome Cheating Is Trying Award: A photo of a phone number. Reminds me of graffiti on a public restroom stall. Yeah, like I am going to sell a card to some rando off eBay and outside the authenticity guarantee program. Speaking of which, for all the bitching people do about the program, as a seller it is a huge comfort. With all of the stories of seller swindled by thieves who claim to have received an empty box or who switch and return cards, no way am I selling an expensive card on eBay. Not worth the risk. But with the Authenticity Guarantee, I get the card to PSA safely and I am DONE. I don't have to worry about any customer scams. I would never sell a really costly card on eBay otherwise. The Scum Sucking Bottom Feeder Award: "Consider $15,000?" On a card listed for $45,000? Just go away. The Don King Bag Of Cash Award: "Hi there! Theoretically what’s your cash price on this guy?!" Theoretically, what I listed it for, numbnuts. The Psycho Killer Award: "I have cash in hand that I’d rather use than PayPal. Where are you located?" Yeah, I am going to tell a stranger where I am and meet him somewhere with a $45,000 card to exchange for $45,000 in cash. Do I get robbed in the parking lot before or after the sale?" |
Depends on your investment cost taking B/O
I recently posted two cards on eBay for 8500.00, one was a card I didn't remember having in a box of cards, sent to PSA, came back a ten & up charged, the other I pulled out of a box of Topps 3mvp --sold them with B/O 7750.00--my investment cost was 300.00
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