Do you block low ball buyers?

[kav]

I mean, you could have sent links to completed auctions at near your price point to counter his arguments....selling is talking people into stuff. A good seller makes the buyer like and trust him. Joking works good. Establishing rapport, etc. There are techniques you can use to get a buyer to buy. You don't just throw up your hands and say 'he's unreasonable-not worth my time'.

[Comicsarefun]

YOU GUYS ARE MISSING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Selling is an art, man! Holy mess doesn't anyone know this???

 

I find great humor in all salespeople and marketing professionals that take themselves seriously. Sales is not an art, it's a joke on stupid people.

 

And I'm a sales professional for a fortune 200 company. People that take sales training seriously are insane, and are wasting their lives. It's all a game.

[Comicsarefun]

I mean, you could have sent links to completed auctions at near your price point to counter his arguments....selling is talking people into stuff. A good seller makes the buyer like and trust him. Joking works good. Establishing rapport, etc. There are techniques you can use to get a buyer to buy. You don't just throw up your hands and say 'he's unreasonable-not worth my time'.

 

Perhaps you are trying too hard. eBay is simple.

 

1. Price your items fairly.

2. Set your auto decline at 50% of the asking price.

 

If bidders are not willing to offer 50% of a fair price, they should be slapped declined immediately, and you the seller never even have to see it.

 

If they offer at least half your asking price, give them a counteroffer.

 

If they skip the traditional channels and send you a message, just be polite and answer honestly. Don't get emotional, and don't get fancy.

 

[dupont2005]

I absolutely hate sales, and I do it every day. Sometimes, on some things I counteroffer. On other things and to other people I just give them a "Nope." And on some things I'm simply not budging. The grocery store doesn't bargain for food, sometimes I don't bargain for what I have either.

[quicksilver]

I just had an ebay user message me an offer of $350 on a $1000 book. I'm good to work with reasonable offers, but... Do you guys block bidders like this?

He has low feedback, and I honestly feel like I'd end up dealing with lots of ebay drama from someone like that if they were to end up 'buying' one of my books.

Thoughts?

 

For ebay, 35% is positively generous in my experience as a seller.

[Ryan.]

Do sellers haggle with lowballers here on the boards? There are some buyers here that have taken the art of lowballing to a level unseen even on ebay.

[fastballspecial]

Auto decline works great.

 

If you book aint selling in a month or two you are not getting offers either your price is to high or the book just isn't in demand.

 

Low Ballers are everywhere. Some take great pleasure in trying to get a deal on any book. Its become an art for some.

 

Set you decline amounts for what you think is an acceptable offer to negotiate with.

 

Or just keep complaining.

 

 

[budsbundy]

The last time I was offered that much of a price cut on a book, was from a 12 year old WHOWASSUPEREXCITEDABOUTEVERYTHING. So I'm wary.

Well I'm 55 and I do it....just sayin....

WHAT???????

I'd have bet the farm that you were 22-23 tops

[techvoodoo]

I've been annoyed by the other side of this coin, tons of times. Seller lists book/item for top dollar, say it's $100 for easy math, I make an fair offer and they come back with a counter that is like $5 below their asking price. I just auto decline these and move on. Why does the seller have the best offer option turned on if they aren't really willing to entertain reasonable offers?

[passion4comics]

Someone offered $900 for my TMNT 1 9.8 and then he countered with $925. I went to his own auctions and he has 5-10k watches, antiques, so I best offered $20-$40 on everything he had. I never heard back from him.

[Conan_Aficionado]

Someone offered $900 for my TMNT 1 9.8 and then he countered with $925. I went to his own auctions and he has 5-10k watches, antiques, so I best offered $20-$40 on everything he had. I never heard back from him.

 

[FineCollector]

Does anyone else get the feeling that it's not the collectors who are lowballing, but flippers scrounging around for a big payoff? I wouldn't dream of insulting a seller with an offer of 50%

[Gsims718]

I'm actually just curious what some of these books Kav is getting for 50% of Bin are.

 

I usually price my books with around 10% wiggle room. For some higher dollar books I give more wiggle room.

[Chaseman210]

I usually list a little higher than GPA on eBay, but it also depends on what I paid for the book and what I want to get back. I price it higher, because as someone said, you never know what the buyer will pay.

 

Another reason I list higher than GPA is so I can come down a great deal on a counter-offer to make it look like I'm really trying to get a deal done. On the other hand, if I have a book for $300 and somebody offers $75, I don't come down but maybe $15. If somebody offers $150, then I come down way more because I know they're serious about getting it done. I always counter no matter how low their offer is - along the lines of "Thanks for your offer. I'm willing to work, but I can't go that low."

 

I've never had a $1000 book to sell, though.

[Dr. Balls]

Does anyone else get the feeling that it's not the collectors who are lowballing, but flippers scrounging around for a big payoff? I wouldn't dream of insulting a seller with an offer of 50%

 

I think most of the time it's that. Someone tried to offer me $49 for a high grade Hulk 271, going on about how it's for their sons birthday. Lo-and-behold, they sell comic books on Ebay, at FMV prices. Blocked.

 

I don't want to sell a book to someone who is that much of a blatant liar, who knows what they'll try down the road.

[keldog]

Does anyone else get the feeling that it's not the collectors who are lowballing, but flippers scrounging around for a big payoff? I wouldn't dream of insulting a seller with an offer of 50%

+1

Craigslist is where these scum live. I had one person flame my listing when I told them the offer is too low and I cannot take it.

My inbox was flooded by with cursing and that I am a rip-off artist because I wanted close to FMV on some CGC graded book.

 

I never use that site again after that nut job.

 

I hope that buyer gets beat to death by some thugs or an angery seller.

[ChrisInBaltimore]

I don't think it is wrong to ask for a discount or better price on things. I try to make it reasonable though.

 

One thing I've found though, when selling things here it is amazing how little you make after shipping and paypal fees. I think a lot of buyers don't realize that when they make offers here. Someone in the state tried to make a lowball offer on some raw books and claimed shipping would be cheaper in the state. I'm not sure how they figured that though… I would have taken a huge loss.

 

On the flip side, I found a well priced book recently. It was from a well known dealer. I almost made an offer but figured his price was fair and I'd go with his price. Then I got charged sales tax because they are in my state

[Quake1028]

The last time I was offered that much of a price cut on a book, was from a 12 year old WHOWASSUPEREXCITEDABOUTEVERYTHING. So I'm wary.

Well I'm 55 and I do it....just sayin....

WHAT???????

I'd have bet the farm that you were 22-23 tops

 

There is no way in hell the person behind that keyboard is 55.

[incoflip]

Someone offered $900 for my TMNT 1 9.8 and then he countered with $925. I went to his own auctions and he has 5-10k watches, antiques, so I best offered $20-$40 on everything he had. I never heard back from him.

 

I did the same thing with my Dead Collection. I had it listed at $20 k obo.... I was hoping to get around $14-$15 k for it which at the time would have been a decent price. I had an offer for $4,000. I took slight offense at first because the #1 and #2 in 9.8's at that time were going for around $3,000 combined.

 

Rather than blast him I simply said "thank you, No" countered with $19,500 then went to his auctions and offered 1/5 of what he was asking for on several of his items. I, too, never heard back

[Conan_Aficionado]

The last time I was offered that much of a price cut on a book, was from a 12 year old WHOWASSUPEREXCITEDABOUTEVERYTHING. So I'm wary.

Well I'm 55 and I do it....just sayin....

WHAT???????

I'd have bet the farm that you were 22-23 tops

 

There is no way in hell the person behind that keyboard is 55.

 

man, and i thought I was an immature 38 year old. Tip of the hat to Kav.