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Ebay low balling
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Started by Ed Hanes,

67 posts in this topic

Ed Hanes

Ed Hanes

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is this a thing on Ebay and do people actually make it work?

Over my last few Ebay auctions, people have offered me extreme low ball offers ...like 25 on a book worth around 200 or 300 on a book worth 1200...I decline , then they make another offer for ten dollars more than last time. So annoying I have just started  setting automatic limits. (Ebay doesnt seem to 'not allow 'offers) . I wonder if people actually accept these low ball offers enough to make it worthwhile for those offering low ball offers...where they do it over and over. 

Edited by Ed Hanes
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MAR1979

MAR1979

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On 11/12/2022 at 7:56 PM, Ed Hanes said:

is this a thing on Ebay and do people actually make it work?

Over my last few Ebay auctions, people have offered me extreme low ball offers ...like 25 on a book worth around 200 or 300 on a book worth 1200...I decline , then they make another offer for ten dollars more than last time. So annoying I have just started  setting automatic limits. (Ebay doesnt seem to 'not allow 'offers) . I wonder if people actually accept these low ball offers enough to make it worthwhile for those offering low ball offers...where they do it over and over. 

Those are very extreme - wow.  10-40% I feel is fair depending on item and initial price if seller has "make offer". 

I offered $225 on a $240 fixed priced item that seller had enabled "make offer" last week and was declined. So no shortage of d-bagery on either side of fence.

One thing to keep in mind; Given the economy and what will be coming today's perceived low ball might be tomorrows very fair offer.

Edited by MAR1979
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Dick Pontoon

Dick Pontoon

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On 11/12/2022 at 7:56 PM, Ed Hanes said:

. (Ebay doesnt seem to 'not allow 'offers) .

Sure it does. None of my listings use the "Make Offer" feature. Somewhere on the listing page, which ebay seems to be eternally and infernally monkeying with, is a check box.

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jimbo_7071

jimbo_7071

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On 11/12/2022 at 7:56 PM, Ed Hanes said:

is this a thing on Ebay and do people actually make it work?

Over my last few Ebay auctions, people have offered me extreme low ball offers ...like 25 on a book worth around 200 or 300 on a book worth 1200...I decline , then they make another offer for ten dollars more than last time. So annoying I have just started  setting automatic limits. (Ebay doesnt seem to 'not allow 'offers) . I wonder if people actually accept these low ball offers enough to make it worthwhile for those offering low ball offers...where they do it over and over. 

You may be listing books with reasonable prices, but many sellers do not. It isn't unusual for eBay sellers to list books for many times what they are worth. That's especially true for raw books for which there is really no demand at all. I routinely see books that I would expect to see in the $3 bin at my local LCS priced at $50 or $100 on eBay.

I don't usually bother offering less that 50%. If a seller is asking more than twice what I think a book is worth, I just figure the seller is delusional or not really motivated to sell.

Even with pricier books, it isn't unusual to see absurd asking prices. I've seen $5,000 books priced at $50,000; I've seen PLODs or GLOD priced just like they were blue-label books, etc. Maybe there are inexperienced buyers out there who will pull the trigger on books like that, but most of the time the books just sit there for years.

Speaking of best offers, one thing to note is that when a book has a make-offer feature enabled and the seller accepts the offer, the book will show up in GPA as having sold for the asking price. So if a book is listed at $2,000 OBO and sells at $1,000, it will show up in GPA as a $2,000 sale. That's why you have to take GPA sales from eBay with a grain of salt.

If you are pricing your books based on GPA, make sure that you aren't relying on GPA eBay sales, because some of those may not even be real sales. Aside from the best-offer issue, some eBay dealers use different shenanigans to try to get fake sales into GPA.

Edited by jimbo_7071
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Chaz G.

Chaz G.

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On 11/13/2022 at 10:32 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

Speaking of best offers, one thing to note is that when a book has a make-offer feature enabled and the seller accepts the offer, the book will show up in GPA as having sold for the asking price. So if a book is listed at $2,000 OBO and sells at $1,000, it will show up in GPA as a $2,000 sale. That's why you have to take GPA sales from eBay with a grain of salt.

I've bought and sold various books based on the Offer price. In my experience, the final Offer selling price is what's listed in GPA.

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jimbo_7071

jimbo_7071

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On 11/13/2022 at 10:50 AM, Shake N Bake said:

Are you sure about this? I think they have a deal with Ebay to get the actual price. Even if they didn't, wouldn't they just use Watch Count or https://130point.com/sales/ like everyone else?

@gpanalysis

I am sure that that was true as of a few years ago. I have seen it with books that I've sold and books that I've purchased. It's possible that it has changed in the last couple of years because technology changes all the time.

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MAR1979

MAR1979

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On 11/13/2022 at 11:15 AM, Chaz G. said:

I've bought and sold various books based on the Offer price. In my experience, the final Offer selling price is what's listed in GPA.

It's how it's still done at 130point, but is GPA currently paying eBay for that API call to do so?  They may have in past, but question is it still the case?

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jimbo_7071

jimbo_7071

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On 11/13/2022 at 11:48 AM, Shake N Bake said:

Oh so your warning is a couple years old and not current? You should've mentioned that.

Did you even know about those two sites? If so, why not mention them?

I hadn't heard anything about it changing (prior to Chaz's comment above). I've never heard of 130Point.

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Chaz G.

Chaz G.

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On 11/13/2022 at 11:29 AM, MAR1979 said:

It's how it's still done at 130point, but is GPA currently paying eBay for that API call to do so?  They may have in past, but question is it still the case?

Yes. I just checked 2 books I bought within the last 30 days and GPA shows the offer price I paid, not the original asking price.

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Ed Hanes

Ed Hanes

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On 11/13/2022 at 7:32 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

You may be listing books with reasonable prices, but many sellers do not. It isn't unusual for eBay sellers to list books for many times what they are worth. That's especially true for raw books for which there is really no demand at all. I routinely see books that I would expect to see in the $3 bin at my local LCS priced at $50 or $100 on eBay.

I don't usually bother offering less that 50%. If a seller is asking more than twice what I think a book is worth, I just figure the seller is delusional or not really motivated to sell.

Even with pricier books, it isn't unusual to see absurd asking prices. I've seen $5,000 books priced at $50,000; I've seen PLODs or GLOD priced just like they were blue-label books, etc. Maybe there are inexperienced buyers out there who will pull the trigger on books like that, but most of the time the books just sit there for years.

Speaking of best offers, one thing to note is that when a book has a make-offer feature enabled and the seller accepts the offer, the book will show up in GPA as having sold for the asking price. So if a book is listed at $2,000 OBO and sells at $1,000, it will show up in GPA as a $2,000 sale. That's why you have to take GPA sales from eBay with a grain of salt.

If you are pricing your books based on GPA, make sure that you aren't relying on GPA eBay sales, because some of those may not even be real sales. Aside from the best-offer issue, some eBay dealers use different shenanigans to try to get fake sales into GPA.

these were auctions, not "buy it nows"

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Ed Hanes

Ed Hanes

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On 11/13/2022 at 5:56 AM, MR. Pontoon said:

Sure it does. None of my listings use the "Make Offer" feature. Somewhere on the listing page, which ebay seems to be eternally and infernally monkeying with, is a check box.

I figured but i couldnt find it

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