OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

[Birdbats]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Jeff,

I don't have a good story for you on this particular ebay subject, as I list probably 99% of the items I sell on ebay under the auction format, starting at a penny. They are usually items that hold their own as far as value so they usually always reach the price I paid for them. But I don't sell very often anyways.

I would like to know if your Puckett bat is still listed? I'd love to see it. I was a huge Kirby fan.

Thanks, Steve P.S. Have I mentioned lately that I hate ebay?

Yep, it's still listed. Sure didn't sell it for $200.

I rarely use BIN, Best Offer or a reserve. I simply list at the lowest price I'd accept. That price typically is below market value and often less than I have into the item. I guess that's why I feel insulted when someone offers a price offline that's a fraction of what an item is worth. It's not like I'm asking $2,495 for a bat that's worth $495.

[otismalibu]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Alot of people on Ebay are bargain hunters who want to get items as cheap as possible and then relist them themselves to try to make a profit.

The thing to do would be to use eBay to get it cheap, then come here and post it in the Pickups section and say it's now the centerpiece of your collection. That seems to be a popular way to bypass the $500 limit in the Collector To Collector Classifieds and avoid eBay selling fees.

[legaleagle92481]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Alot of people on Ebay are bargain hunters who want to get items as cheap as possible and then relist them themselves to try to make a profit. To me it is disrespectful to the seller and wastes everyone's time. I don't even bother responding because if someone wants to insult me by starting off with a low ball offer in the hope that I am some chump who can be duped into selling the item cheap then I have no desire to deal with that person. When I make an offer I always try to make sure it is fair to both parties and I expect the same from others.

[frikativ54]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

I'm not into being a hater......I just can't find an alternative....LOL

You crack me up, Steve.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

I know it has. I was giving Steve a friendly kick in the butt on the grand virtues of eBay. We had discussed that baseball before. Its amazing it is still up on eBay and some unsuspecting person hadn't bought it w/ the Best Offer.

Didn't want to take Jeff's discussion too far off base. Just was trying to have a good laugh with my buddy Steve.

Andrew, what can I say? Couldn't have posted a more blatant example of what it's all about than this auction.

Ebay is the fraudulent seller's playground. You've got to be smarter than the "Buy it Now" button on the screen. Unfortunately it takes away from all of the decent guys who try to do it right. But that life.

This guy selling the ball is a bit seasoned, however. Notice how he states nowhere that this ball is the "actual home run hit by Alex Rodriguez" for career #341. He throws in some garbage mumbo-jumbo like "historic" and other nonsense to throw off a potential bidder, with the intent, IMO, of making someone mistake this ball for one of his actual home run balls. That crapola wouldn't fly in a major sports auction for too long.....someone would call or email the auction house and demand they fix the listing. Ebay doesn't police their auctions, and since this guy isn't actually claiming in words that this is THE home run ball......there really isn't any infraction.

And that's why I always throw my little "Did I mention lately that I hate ebay" crack in. I'm not into being a hater......I just can't find an alternative....LOL

Thanks for the laugh Andrew!!!

[Astros7]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

I had something listed once at around the market value ($150 or so)...someone offered me $5 and since I had forgot to set up the auto decline I simply modified my listing to have a price of $1999.99 and countered with $1998.99. Then reset the price. I know this was a waste of time, but at the time I felt it needed to be done. Are these people serious?

[allstarsplus]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Andrew this ball we have discussed on this forum before. I am 99.9% positive this is the same ball.

This was one of the ESM balls from that game but not the actual ball.

I remember we had a whole thread on it and I even spoke with the seller at the time (not sure if it was the same seller) but the seller of the time I posted there responses.

I know it has. I was giving Steve a friendly kick in the butt on the grand virtues of eBay. We had discussed that baseball before. Its amazing it is still up on eBay and some unsuspecting person hadn't bought it w/ the Best Offer.

Didn't want to take Jeff's discussion too far off base. Just was trying to have a good laugh with my buddy Steve.

[suave1477]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

This is an inside joke because we don't believe that was the actual HR baseball for which the price is ridiculous but you can make a BEST OFFER! The hologram says:

Hologram number MR250461 was located in the MLB Authentication Database under BALLS.
Session Product Description: GAME USED BALLS
Game: 9/14/03

Session Name: OAKLAND ATHLETICS @ TEXAS RANGERS
Session Date: September 14, 2003
Autographer:
Authenticator: AUTHENTICATORS, INC.
Additional Information: GAME USED BASEBALLS, ATHLETICS VS. RANGERS

As most of you know, Steve and I collect HR baseballs and when I originally saw this that it was a HR ball that was MLB hologram'd and inscribed it appeared to be the real deal based on the inscription. Then you do a little bit of research to find it was "used" in that HR game.

Every once in a while you find some real gems on eBay. On those items, you have to be quick!

Andrew this ball we have discussed on this forum before. I am 99.9% positive this is the same ball.

This was one of the ESM balls from that game but not the actual ball.

I remember we had a whole thread on it and I even spoke with the seller at the time (not sure if it was the same seller) but the seller of the time I posted there responses.

[allstarsplus]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Come on Steve, don't be a hater! LOL Where else can you find HR baseballs like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alex-Rodriguez-S...item45ef83ffa3

This is an inside joke because we don't believe that was the actual HR baseball for which the price is ridiculous but you can make a BEST OFFER! The hologram says:

Hologram number MR250461 was located in the MLB Authentication Database under BALLS.
Session Product Description: GAME USED BALLS
Game: 9/14/03

Session Name: OAKLAND ATHLETICS @ TEXAS RANGERS
Session Date: September 14, 2003
Autographer:
Authenticator: AUTHENTICATORS, INC.
Additional Information: GAME USED BASEBALLS, ATHLETICS VS. RANGERS

As most of you know, Steve and I collect HR baseballs and when I originally saw this that it was a HR ball that was MLB hologram'd and inscribed it appeared to be the real deal based on the inscription. Then you do a little bit of research to find it was "used" in that HR game.

Every once in a while you find some real gems on eBay. On those items, you have to be quick!

[allstarsplus]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

P.S. Have I mentioned lately that I hate ebay?

Come on Steve, don't be a hater! LOL Where else can you find HR baseballs like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alex-Rodriguez-Signed-Home-Run-341-Baseball-PSA-DNA_W0QQitemZ300371148707QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item45ef83ffa3

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Jeff,

I don't have a good story for you on this particular ebay subject, as I list probably 99% of the items I sell on ebay under the auction format, starting at a penny. They are usually items that hold their own as far as value so they usually always reach the price I paid for them. But I don't sell very often anyways.

I would like to know if your Puckett bat is still listed? I'd love to see it. I was a huge Kirby fan.

Thanks, Steve P.S. Have I mentioned lately that I hate ebay?

[ahuff]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

I know that this post is probably just to vent frustration...I so want to do that often. However, its a tough call. I think most people on this forum have legitimate prices on their GU stuff listed on the bay. However, there are a few people on ebay (that I don't think are forum members) that have HUGE prices noted on their items. A few come to mind, but I am not going to call them out.

Its odd, but rarely do I put offers in on items that have a "Make an Offer" option. Mainly because I don't want the sellers to think exactly this type of thing.

However, I must say that I have used the option twice that I can think of. Once on a 1952 Topps card, that I won for 50-75% off their asking price - if I recall correctly. This simply brought the price down to where other similar items were selling. The second was most recently on a GU jersey this weekend. I got it for 50% off of the listed price. I think I might have overpaid, but it was worth it to me. It is the first example of this jersey that I have seen on the market, ever!!! I'm sure the seller possibly thought they sold it too cheap. My thought was that this was certainly not a superstar player, and commons were selling in the $75-125 range. So I paid more than a common, but certainly less than a superstar.

[allstarsplus]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

Jeff - I have 2 stories of complete opposite sides of the equation on ridiculous offer w/ a message, and then awesome offer w/ a message.

So I have one of the marked Barry Bonds balls from his 700th HR game at a BIN at $7,300 w/ Best Offer. So this is what I typically get.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200150226442

22jeff( 310) US $3.99 You automatically declined Jan-13-09 22:06:45 PST90638-1402 Buyer message: to bad Barry was such a jerk. i would have made a real offer. jeff-

Then on the opposite side of the equation, I just put up over the weekend this sweet Randy Johnson ball from his 300 Win game at $995 and I got a Best Offer for $985 which I accepted and he paid for already and then I got the following note: Thank you for making this historic baseball available at such a reasonable asking price!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Randy-Johnson-Autod-Game-Used-300-Win-ball-6-4-09-MLB_W0QQitemZ200426330633QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2eaa571a09

[xpress34]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

I think that my prices on Ebay are fair, but I still get offers 75% or more off my price. I either don't even respond or I'll reply "No thanks." I won't even counter offer those low offers.

And when I use the Best Offer option, I'll set it up so those low ballers are automatically rejected.

-Chris

Chris -

I do the same thing with the Best Offer 'threshold'... but I also set the threshold to automatically accept offers over a certain amount. That way I have my 'what I'd like to get' (BIN), my 'what I'd accept' (auto accept threshold), my 'are you kidding' (auto reject threshold) and then there is the 'grey area' between the Auto accept and auto reject where I can consider the offer or make a counter-offer. Then I don't have to even deal with the DAs (and I don't mean District Attorneys) who offer $1 or whatever... I don't even see their offers or get an eMail unless I open the auction and look at the 'offer sheet'.

I have also had stupidly low ball offers from other eBay SELLERS who are selling the same or similar item. I go to their auction and lowball them right back and then they actually counter (like my example below) with an offer that's just a few dollars less than their BIN. And they don't seem to get that the offer came from the Seller they just tried to lowball???

As a rule of thumb, when I am going to make an offer - the MINIMUM I will start at is 50% of BIN, usually closer to 60% - 75% of BIN.

What irritates me is a guy has an item for say BIN $399. I offer say $250. He comes back with a counter or $389. REALLY? At that point I make no other offers. Why not just reject my offer? I've had many sellers contact me after their auction ends to see if I'd still make the same deal because their item didn't sell and I was the ONLY offer.

The other one that irritates me is guy has a BIN of again, say $399. You make an offer (of ANY amount) below his BIN. You get a rejection with a note to the effect, "The BIN is the lowest we are willing to go on this item, etc."... the why the hell did you put a BEST OFFER option in your auction?!

Ah, the fun, the fun...

All the best -

Chris

[5kRunner]

Re: OT: Ridiculous eBay offers

I hate when I get one of these low offers, counteroffer and tell the offeror this is the lowest I'm willing to accept right now. Just to have the offeror send me another offer for slightly higher than their first one. Stop wasting my time!