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I’ve come up with a hypothesis, and I’m going to try at a semi-scientific method to see if this proves out or not.
My hypothesis: When a potential buyer messages a seller asking a random question regarding a listing, they are really asking for a discount. Many buyers will outright ask for a lower price, but some are maybe too shy to ask. If the seller answers the question and replies with a small discount, a sale is more likely.
Data without offer: I had 10 questions from October through December, but no sale was made. I had one question where a sale was made. That is about a 9% sell rate.
Data with an offer: Yesterday, someone asked me a random question, and I replied with the answer plus a offer giving about 15% off. I did end up with a sale. This is only one data point, so I need much more time to make this a “theory”.
Note: I have decided to exclude international sales because the higher cost of shipping stacks up the odds against a sale. Just for the information, I had four questions from international buyers where I didn’t give an offer and one where I did (in the same time period), but no sales were made.
In general, I price my items so that I can put them on sale for 10-15% off and still get about what I want. If someone asks me about something that isn’t on sale, then it is a no-brainer to offer them a discounted price. If it is already on sale, then I’ll have to think about it on a case by case basis.
I am interested to see if other sellers on this forum would like to “play along”. We could get data quicker since I’m a relatively small seller.
Thanks!
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Since my first post on this subject, I responded with offer twice and made a sale both times.
The first was for a framed needlepoint where the buyer asked about hanging it.
The second was for a wallet. The buyer first asked about a wallet and whether the bills would lay flat. When I showed that the bills had to be folded, she found another of my wallets that she like better. I tried to give an incentive to buy both, but she didn’t bite. Nevertheless, my responding with offer did end up in a sale.
So far my experiment is 3 for 3, but I was 1 for 11 before the change in tactics. I’m liking the results so far!!
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I am sure buyers are aware of this feature. They will keep asking and asking and asking questions. I know that what they truly want is an offer for a lower price. I guess I should give an offer but I get stubborn. Which is probably only hurting me.
Look forward to seeing how your experiment works!
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Whenever I answer a question I always respond with an offer. I usually just take a couple of dollars off if it’s a $20 item. I’ve had a pretty good conversion rate. The way i see it, a potential buyer is communicating with me. I’d be crazy to turn down the opportunity to encourage a sale from that buyer. Most of the time my buyers are faceless. Unlike a B&M store, I usually have no way to know when someone is looking at one of my items. Since the offers are only valid for 48 hours, it encourages action from someone who may be undecided.
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I think you are right. As a newer seller, I just hadn’t thought about it much. Maybe it was something mentioned on the podcast or maybe something I realized, but I decided to try it and document it in some way. Jay suggested to have data behind your statements, so I am gathering the data.
I have an offer out right now, but I’m not so sure about it. The question was about a sugar and creamer that I listed last spring, just as I was starting to make a go at the eBay thing. I looked at it closer today on request, and I found a defect. So, I offered more of a discount to account for the defect, and I’ll see whether she bites or not.
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