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Is the art of negotiation gone?
I would like the opinions of my fellow board members in regards to a question I have about eBay's "best offer" option. My question is whether or not you as a seller always counter an offer or if you only do based on the merit of the original offer? I'm not inquiring about an offer that is already within your predetermined acceptable range instead I am referring to offers that are outside your predetermined range. An example would be an item listed for $100 and you receive an offer of $50 but your lowest acceptable price is $80. Do you counter the offer or just reject it? Is this not an acceptable way to bring both parties to the negotiation table? I mean there has to be a starting point, right?
I've been selling on eBay since 1999 when my sole reason for selling was to get as much extra cash as I could to use for quarter draft beer night at my local college bar. I can say with 100% certainty that I have never rejected an offer instead I've always countered no matter how ridiculous the initial offer may be. This also use to be a great sellers tool before eBay did away with buyers being able to see whether or not an item had an open offer. Correct me if I'm wrong about my previous statement because I would love to know if there is still a way to see this. I've always been of the opinion that if someone wanted an item badly enough they wouldn't want to wait and see if the outstanding offer was accepted they would either use the BIN option or put in their top offer the first time.
My reason for asking this question is because it has become increasingly more common for my offer to be rejected than to be countered. Where as a couple of years ago I would almost always receive a counter, if not, then the first offer was just outright accepted. I have been rejected on offers of $50 for $100 item, $210 for $300, $140 for $200 and the most intriguing a $450 offer on a $500 item. In one instance I was contacted by the seller a couple days later inquiring if I still had interest in the item, to which I replied no. No matter how badly I may want an item if the seller shows no interest in selling it to me then in no way do I want to give this person my money.
I would really like to hear everyone's opinion on this even if you completely disagree with me. I am just really confused and left wondering if I have just been unlucky or if this is happening to others as well.
Cheers,
Joe
I've been selling on eBay since 1999 when my sole reason for selling was to get as much extra cash as I could to use for quarter draft beer night at my local college bar. I can say with 100% certainty that I have never rejected an offer instead I've always countered no matter how ridiculous the initial offer may be. This also use to be a great sellers tool before eBay did away with buyers being able to see whether or not an item had an open offer. Correct me if I'm wrong about my previous statement because I would love to know if there is still a way to see this. I've always been of the opinion that if someone wanted an item badly enough they wouldn't want to wait and see if the outstanding offer was accepted they would either use the BIN option or put in their top offer the first time.
My reason for asking this question is because it has become increasingly more common for my offer to be rejected than to be countered. Where as a couple of years ago I would almost always receive a counter, if not, then the first offer was just outright accepted. I have been rejected on offers of $50 for $100 item, $210 for $300, $140 for $200 and the most intriguing a $450 offer on a $500 item. In one instance I was contacted by the seller a couple days later inquiring if I still had interest in the item, to which I replied no. No matter how badly I may want an item if the seller shows no interest in selling it to me then in no way do I want to give this person my money.
I would really like to hear everyone's opinion on this even if you completely disagree with me. I am just really confused and left wondering if I have just been unlucky or if this is happening to others as well.
Cheers,
Joe
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