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It was noted on another thread that a seller saw that ebay noted on a best offer item that the seller responded to offers within an hour. I see the same thing on my best offer listings and on others, so I just wanted to offer to make sure your response time is one of your selling points and not just something that needs to be done within the ebay window of time (48hrs?). If buyers realize they only have to wait an hour or less to hear back from a seller about an offer, they are more likely to wait on the item instead of finding one like it or simply spending their money on something else.
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Look on your Best Offer listing. It’s noted below the estimated delivery time and above the blue BIN button on the left side.
Jay, I just did a comparison of phone verse PC and found that it is only a feature when you search/buy on the phone which would make sense with mobile shopping being on the rise.
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Spidey. Sense. Tingling.
I’ve said many times that I like to try to be out in front on ebay changes. I’ve seen the phrase AdventureE is talking about, and also , if I recall correctly, another one sellers have been complaining about, “seller does not respond to best offers” which apparently has been applied to sellers who average longer than 24 hours to respond. Per ebay rules, we have 48 hours to respond to a best offer.
Here’s some speculation: Within a year or two, one or more of the following will happen:
1. ebay will reduce the official time frame from 48 hours to something less,, perhaps 24 hours.
2. ebay will provide a carrot and/ or stick for sellers to respond within 1 hour (or another short time frame).
3. ebay will provide us with info in Seller Hub so that we can track our response times (I suspect this would also include responses to messages , not just formal Best Offers).
Obviously, ebay views a one hour time frame as a “Best Practice” of sorts.
My recommendation: if you’ve been taking longer to respond to offers and/or messages, consider changing that now. If you don’t like really low ball offers, and routinely let them expire after 48 hours? Change it up: either counter offer or decline quickly. Also, whenever practical, respond to all messages quickly.
Over the years, I’ve seen sellers advocating slow response times as an effective tactic in dealing with best offers. If you are one of those sellers, I would suggest you at least consider where we seem to be headed and ask yourself whether you want to continue with that tactic.
Just offering some food for thought.
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We’ve always responded to offers immediately. Our thinking is that there’s a person online ready to do a deal at that instant so engage them.
I’ve never understood purposely waiting to respond to offers.
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Jay I have seen sellers who think having a best offer pending a response pushes that item up in search
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Jay,
I’ve seen a few rationales given over the years. Some sellers NEVER reply to low ball offers, believing that allowing the offer to expire after 48 hours will “teach the buyer a lesson.”
Not sure if this is still true, but ebay used to show prospective buyers the number of offers outstanding on an item…so the theory was, if it’s an offer the seller isn’t too thrilled by, let that buyer wait in the hope that another buyer will come along, see that there is an outstanding offer and will perhaps offer more because he knows he has competition.
I think there might be one or two other theories.
My own view is that buyers prefer a quick response (even if it is a decline), and so that’s what I do. But as i say, I would add that if ebay is now tracking response time, well, that’s just another reason to respond quickly.
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Understood. We get plenty of low-ball offers that go no where. But we get the occasional low ball offer, who then accepts a much higher counter offer. I think they were just testing the waters.
Some sellers act as if they spend all day dealing with offers. With over 6000 items listed, we might have five offers in a single day. We like the action. Reminds us that our store still works.
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I’ve had some really low ball offers turn into sales at very reasonable prices. I’m always willing to counter, and the buyer is free to reject it and co or just decline and look elsewhere. As you say, I don’t get so many offers that I’m overwhelmed….and if any seller is getting that many, they really should be using the automated response tool.
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It absolutely SHOULD be a selling point – I noticed this on my mobile listings and commented on another thread – even had a screenshot. Driving across southern Ohio now so will look for that pic later.
Listen – don’t believe free shipping is so important, vehemently oppose the encouragement of returns – so someday, eagerly handling offers is my THING!
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