amandainvermont
VFG Member
I've never used "best offer" as I am so BAD at setting a price. Now I know I won't be using it! Here's an article pasted from Skip McGrath's "Auction Seller's Resource" Blog..
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eBay has been testing an enhanced version in the Jewelry and Watches category and, based on its success, they will be integrating the new features to Best Offer listings across all categories in the next few days.
The new features include:
Buyer can submit up to three offers per listing (increased from one).
Seller can counter-offer with a higher price.
Seller can auto-reject any offers that are below a specified threshold.
I actually like these new features. Best Offer has always been a little strange to me because I would get ridiculously low offers which are just a waste of my time. I stopped bothering with the feature because of that, so being able to auto-reject those very low offers makes it a more feasible option now.
I have mixed feelings about the counter offer. It is like buying real estate - you never put in your highest bid because you know the seller is going to counter your offer. The one-shot deal forced buyers to offer the highest they would go, now they have three offers and I expect most will plan on using all three during the negotiation process.
At the same time, it does mean a seller can barter with the buyer and doesn't have to decide between selling an item lower than they want or rejecting the sale entirely. I think this is going to be a good feature for smaller sellers or those with low volume high cost strategies because they will have more time to answer the offers.
Through the bartering process, the buyer is getting exposed to your eBay seller ID 6 times. It's like having an email exchange back and forth which gets the buyer familiar with you. Once you come to an agreement, they are more likely to look at your other items/web site and purchase other items, so this could turn out to be a good up-selling tool.
----- ---------- --------- --------- ---------- -----------
eBay has been testing an enhanced version in the Jewelry and Watches category and, based on its success, they will be integrating the new features to Best Offer listings across all categories in the next few days.
The new features include:
Buyer can submit up to three offers per listing (increased from one).
Seller can counter-offer with a higher price.
Seller can auto-reject any offers that are below a specified threshold.
I actually like these new features. Best Offer has always been a little strange to me because I would get ridiculously low offers which are just a waste of my time. I stopped bothering with the feature because of that, so being able to auto-reject those very low offers makes it a more feasible option now.
I have mixed feelings about the counter offer. It is like buying real estate - you never put in your highest bid because you know the seller is going to counter your offer. The one-shot deal forced buyers to offer the highest they would go, now they have three offers and I expect most will plan on using all three during the negotiation process.
At the same time, it does mean a seller can barter with the buyer and doesn't have to decide between selling an item lower than they want or rejecting the sale entirely. I think this is going to be a good feature for smaller sellers or those with low volume high cost strategies because they will have more time to answer the offers.
Through the bartering process, the buyer is getting exposed to your eBay seller ID 6 times. It's like having an email exchange back and forth which gets the buyer familiar with you. Once you come to an agreement, they are more likely to look at your other items/web site and purchase other items, so this could turn out to be a good up-selling tool.
