8mm Forum: Best offer option ...

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 22, 2016, 12:31 PM:

Sometimes it's fun, but more often than not, it's annoying when someone has a "best offer" option, you make an offer, (and i can't think of a single time when I made a silly, way to low offer), and they won't take it. What are they expecting? They have a buy it now of 300.00 and thier best offer they'll take is 299.99?

Hmmmmmm ....

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on September 22, 2016, 12:44 PM:

Not everyone plays by the rules i suppose.
Here is how it is 'supposed' to work but not everyone plays along:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-to-Use-the-Best-Offer-Option-And-How-NOT-To-/10000000014829075/g.html

The seller should come back with a counter offer as long as a lowball has not antagonized them too much- he hee. \Some people think a couple bucks off is a lowball [Smile]

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on September 22, 2016, 01:06 PM:

I've always had a counter reply, if I thought their original asking was higher than standard - As of late, someone had a few cartoons (Color/Silent), wanted as much as if they were sound, then they were discounted by twenty dollars, but I still feel that was also high, when I countered, the reply was they were discounted already by twenty dollars and that was it - Still they won't move because you can't hear them Anyway, I relayed my best offer to no avail, and those were the ones I wanted, but the price has to be more realistic to me - Shorty

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on September 22, 2016, 06:42 PM:

If they have the Best Offer option I almost always make an offer. Usually I start at about 3/4 of their asking price or less if I think it's way overpriced. Sometimes they accept it, sometimes I get a counter offer and other times they don't respond or just deny it. It's worth a shot unless your worried about a rare item selling to someone else. Maybe some people didn't mean to offer that option.

Posted by Terry Sills (Member # 3309) on September 23, 2016, 01:54 AM:

The advantage of using the best offer option is that is listed for 29days, which of course gives the seller much more exposure and I think it is quite obvious that the seller is looking for a price not too far away from the asking price.
I have only used this option once so far and it worked for me. I stuck out for the asking price and got it.

Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on September 23, 2016, 06:59 AM:

I think you do get some discounts ... I believe Twins of Evil 200' was listen at 39.99 or so, I believe I paid just over twenty for it. If you don't make a silly 1 dollar offer on a 100 dollar item, they usually come down a bit. Better than paying full price. It means they consider selling cheaper

Posted by Tom Spielman (Member # 5352) on September 23, 2016, 08:43 AM:

I like seeing "Best Offer" options and I think it works better for those items that you can buy more than one of. The seller is usually more willing to substantially discount the price on 3 of something as opposed to 1. I prefer it over an auction anyway because you usually don't have to wait for days to figure out whether the ultimate selling price is going to be more than what you're willing to pay.

The article that Mathew linked has good advice for both borrower and seller. Don't get mad if you get what you consider a low ball offer or if a seller won't take what you consider a good offer, - counter offer instead.

I do agree though that it's bad form as a seller to use a "best offer" listing if you aren't sincere about being willing to negotiate on price.

Yesterday I bought 10 rolls of recently expired 35mm film. The seller's listing had them at $8 for a lot of 5 and you could buy multiple lots. I offered $10 for 2 lots and that was immediately (and I'm assuming automatically) rejected, so I went up to $12. This offer went to the seller for consideration.

In the meantime I noticed that Amazon was selling the same exact expired film in lots of 100. In fact the seller had used the same pictures. Apparently they bought one or more of these and were trying to profit by selling them in smaller bundles, - totally legit in my book. I certainly didn't want 100 rolls. They were providing a service. Anyway I was able to figure out what they paid per roll and was comfortable paying a certain amount over and above that. They eventually came back with a counter offer of $13, - a whole dollar more than what I'd offered. I took it.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 23, 2016, 11:53 AM:

That's what I do, 75 percent of the starting bid. When it becomes painfully obvious that they're expecting you to do a buy it now for a dollar or so under the the starting bid, whether i want it or not, I kiss it goodbye.

(well, I might not do that in the case of a certain "grizzly"0

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