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For those who’ve been doing this for a few years.
Like Jay and Ryanne I have always gone with the Best Offer feature, usually a few weeks after listing it.I’ve been thinking recently that perhaps a large number of buyers could be intimidated by a big price tag even with a Best Offer available and shy away from making an offer as that is not something they’re used to.
I’m just starting a conversation on this as I have not done any comparisons but how many times have posters right here on the blog stated that they’re uncomfortable bartering for a better price at a garage sale where I think it’s almost expected.
I’m thinking that instead of listing it high with Best Offer and just waiting we might do better by adjusting our prices a bit as time goes by on these types of listings.
How many times have we taken a fairly low offer after 30 days or more? I know I have a few high priced items that have been up for awhile that I’d even consider a half price offer on.Perhaps starting lower will encourage more interest.
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I agree that not everyone likes to haggle and other people don’t like the waiting after an offer is made. I’be been using best offer when I’m not sure of market value or I see variation in the selling price.
Making offers to watchers is the new way to offer a lower price. The weird thing is when when I can make an offer on something with best offer available. If I lower the price too far, then the potential buyer might think I’m willing to go even lower. I’ve been careful on those, only offering maybe 10% off.
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I hear you.
Often bidders will give a half price offer. You can start negotiating if that is too low, but some buyers give one offer and that’s it. So, should I set my BIN as twice the amount I want?
I have something set at $699 because I want at least $350 for it. I’ve had two low ball offers, so I know it is at least desirable. I think I’m scaring away potential buyers, but I haven’t decided what to do.
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If I want $300 for something, I’ll list for $350-$375 and start working the price down as time goes on. I stop lowering the price once I’m able to send offers, after which I do about 2 rounds of offers (low, then lower) before going back to lowering the price, sending offers again, and so on. When I hit my low threshold (ideal price + $xx), I stop micro-managing it and let it sit, continuing to sending offers for my ideal price. I’ve been doing this with great success for the last few months.
I don’t understand the logic in listing multiple hundreds of dollars over your target price. I know some antique dealers who do that, but that’s all in-person haggling and part of the experience to some degree (as I understand it.)
I see best offer as a way to get 10% off an item, not 50%.
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If we know an item is worth $300, it would make no sense to list for $600 with Make Offer.
“Make Offer” comes in handy in two scenarios:
–We dont really know how much its worth. Not enough comps out there. So we’re pricing high and letting offers tell us what its worth.
–We know an item sells for a range of $20-$100. We price on the high end ($100) and add “make offer”. Instead of dumping the item for $20 like some sellers do to burn through inventory, we’re more patient and wait for a higher price with a little flexibility on offers.
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I never was one to go crazy overboard on price, but I have been forcing myself to put a higher price tag on things this past year. My latest strategy is to go about 20% higher than a comparable sold item. I often after two weeks start sending offers to watchers in the 15-20%. And if the item has been around for a year or so, I’ll consider up to 50% off offers, and I’ll pretty much never say no to a 25% or lower offer from someone. It seems to be working pretty well.
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It’s a fair question.
If you’re hungry for sales, why not do an experiment.
–Remove “make offer” on all items
–put a store-wide 20%, 30%, or 40% sale on everything. Whatever you can stomach.
–See what happens.The thing to remember about Long Tail items is we need to wait for the right buyer. Do you think there are buyers just waiting to buy if the price was immediately lower? Only one way to find out.
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Personally I don’t have an issue making an offer, but I think I don’t do it as readily in person in the setting of a garage sale as I would online. I also think the public is getting more confortable shopping online and making offers. Certainly those that use other platforms like Mercari and Poshmark are probably expecting and looking to make offers. So, that would be an argument for higher with BO.
In the past the “listing me” is always wanting to get top dollar, but then the offers come in sometimes and the “selling me” just wants to move more product. I love having the Terapeak year data available now so I can price near the top and with best offer. I think reviewing that data keeps me from totally overpricing except maybe on rare and unusual items. I should probably be pricing more on the 60-75% of solds because I have so much backlog and sales are good with Cassini.
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I don’t use Best Offer much but I have started adding it to listingw with the 16 month no sale flag. Easier to do that now that it can be done with bulk editor.
When I get a lowball offer I will respond with a reasonable counter-offer, if they come back with another ridiculous offer I will just ignore it.
On the buying side, I have had other sellers go off on me and respond with a childish rant when I made what they thought was a ridiculous offer. A sure sign of a rookie in my opinion so I just move on and don’t make another offer for that item.
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Is it just me? I get tons of offers! All the time! A huge portion of my sales go to Best Offer buyers. I should actually do a check to see the exact percentage, but I’d say at least half of my stuff goes out on offers. Sometimes the offers just totally baffle me, like $10 on a $12 item (??) but the person making the offer feels like they got a deal, and 2 bucks off doesn’t bother me, so yay!
I used to get really peeved about the $5 offers on a $50 item, but I stopped that by putting in an auto-decline for the higher dollar items when I know I’d be hissy about a low offer. Some items, though, as Jay mentioned, are just thumb-suck prices because I have no idea what they’re worth. I’ll leave those open and give all offers some consideration.
But yeah, I get lots of offers, every week, and almost daily.
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My thought on creating this topic is mainly for items in $100 and up price range.
If you’re not sure of it’s real value it’s common practice to price t high with Make an offer turned on, but I think those items should be revisited after a month or so as the initial high price might scare off potential buyers and offers.
I know that if seller is asking $300 for an item that has say, a $50 value to me I won’t bother with an offer, as that is a steep discount, but what if that seller just priced it too high and really would take it?
I think that pricing high with Best Offer and then forgetting about it might be a mistake, after a period of time it should be edited to a lower price with or without Best Offer depending on how much you lower it. I’m not at all for trying to sell at the lowest price but rather to fine tune your pricing so as not to scare off potential buyers.
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