Is the art of negotiation gone?

[xsentrixsupra]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

Like people have said its also about context. If an offer is low, but within the realm of reason I will counter it. If like someone said, something was listed for 5k and they offer 100 I just reject it and won't even bother countering or speaking to them.

The other thing that does piss me off is if someone includes a super low ball offer and then "I saw such and such item going for this amount on this site so this I feel is a fair offer" well then great, go buy it over there.

[Jags Fan Dan]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

I will flat reject stupid offers. I once had a $200-300 jersey for sale and a guy offered $100. His comment in the conditions section was "not a penny more." Douchebaggery at it's highest form.

[danesei@yahoo.com]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

I offered $105 for a $100 bat, and the seller was asking $300+. i was rejected with a statement about lowballing.

[whoman]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

I had an offer of $100 for a $5,000 item. I rejected right away. Please don't waste my time.

[SEAFAN76]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

I always counter no matter what their offer is. And I usually counter with my lowest I'll take and THEN reject anything after.

[Juicyfruit66]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

I once got a cardinals cool base team issue jersey for 10$ cause I offered a lady a crazy low bid thinking she may or may not counter high. She took it. It all depends on an item though, I wouldn't waste a sellers time offering 10$ on a babe Ruth game bat...I'd deserve a decline

[Juicyfruit66]

Re: Is the art of negotiation gone?

I had a guy go nuts on me because I started with a low offer, he countered high, I raised mine. I was down to my last offer so I sent a message countering and he went crazy. Went off about my initial low offer and said he didn't want to sell anything to me. That he would have accepted 100$ if I had offered it first bid but now there's no way he'd accept it...how does that make sense? I agree some sellers can't negotiate without getting their feelings hurt.

[Wrigley2010]

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