posted on March 14, 2002 04:45:46 PM new
I tried this out this past week on two items that sold well above what I normally get for them. Both parties accepted pretty quickly, and paid before the real auction winners. It's nice to be able to do this without worrying about going behind ebay's back and possibly having someone turn me in...
posted on March 14, 2002 08:00:36 PM new
BUT!!!!!!! DON'T YOU PAY E BAY STILL? I HAVE A MUCH BETTER WAY. I HAVE HAD NOOOOOOOO PROBLEMS. NOPE! AIN'T GONNA DO IT.
posted on March 14, 2002 08:14:08 PM new
Yes, you pay ebay, and if your better way is to just offer the 2nd person around ebay, go right ahead. It just takes one person to turn you in to get suspended. I can lie on my taxes too, only 2 or 3 percent get audited. Is it worth it though? I don't think so...
posted on March 14, 2002 08:19:25 PM new
O.K. AS OF THIS PRINTING I SHALL CEASE AND DESIST FROM ANY FUTURE PRACTICE. NEVER KNEW THAT, SORRY. THANK YOU. I WILL GO RIGHT TO THE MAKE AN OFFER FROM NOW ON. BOY THAT SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME. THANK YOU!
posted on March 14, 2002 08:37:19 PM new
I have multiple items. I make my own and they are unique, so I have no competition. However, I also have a limited buyer pool, so I like to maximize the price of each sale. I like using this feature when one goes real high. If I get a sale on an offer, I wait extra time before the next auction to make people think I may not offer it again. It seems to keep the price higher.
Here are a couple of questions with my 2 cents. I am interested in hearing what other "offer" users have to say.
(1)What time limit do you use (and why)?
I use 3 days. I figure they have already had 7 days to ponder the item. A short time forces them to make a decision. Also, a faster time means less wait to offer to another bidder.
(2) Do you offer immediately or wait a couple days?
I wait a couple of days to let the customer think they have lost the opportunity. Hopefully, they will be more anxious. I feel if I offer immediately, the customer will think I have an unlimited supply and he will hold back.
posted on March 14, 2002 09:01:41 PM new
Last week, I thought it was preety cool! 2 out of 3.
This week, I have 5 offers sitting out there...waiting. Onr of the items I could now have sold to 2 totally different people. Oh well!
I wish that the bidder could click a "not interested" button which would end the offer. So, once they decided you could but the item up for auction without waiting.
I have been doing my offers immediatley after the auction ends. Hoping they have not gone somewhere else already. I use a 3 day limit.
Of course, I too only use it when the price is still GREAT! If it is only an ok price I will auction the next one, hoping for a great sale again.
posted on March 14, 2002 09:09:39 PM new
I only used this on two items this past weekend for the first time. I did it right away. I figure they were bummed they did not get the item, and that they might jump at the possibility of getting the item. Since there was a lot of bidding, I figured that might be the case and it was, both accepted very quickly. I won't put these items up for a little while on ebay now, I don't have that many left in stock anyway...The Buy it now was a good 50% higher on both items than I have sold for in the past.
posted on March 14, 2002 10:33:47 PM new
Sounds great, but how do you do this? Do you only pay a FVF? Can you only make an offer to your under bidder, or can you do it to anyone who inquired about item but item got snapped up before they bid?
[ edited by quickdraw29 on Mar 14, 2002 10:37 PM ]
posted on March 14, 2002 10:40:59 PM new
There has to be an underbidder. If you go to the auction page you see make an offer. You can choose how long they have, 3, 5, or 7 days. I am actually not sure if more than the underbidder can acquire it.
posted on March 14, 2002 10:48:38 PM new
You can send the offer to any under bidders. They offer goes out by email to each of them with their high bid.
#2 high bid $19.50
#3 high bid $15.00
#4 high bid $10.00
If you had 3 more of the item and sent 3 personal offers each one would indicate THEIR high bid. The PROBLEM with sending it to more then one at a time is if anyone looks at your seller list the personal offer is there and they can do a buy it now (which is the only option on a personal offer). So if you had 3 more of the item and sent it to all 3 under bidders and bidder #2 looks at your seller list -why would he want the one for $19.50 when he can take the one for $10. Actually, ANYONE can take the offer on your seller list.
I suggest sending only one at a time.
If someone inquiries by email that did not bid on it in the first place you can direct them to your seller list and the can buy it now but the person you sent the offer to may have wanted it and may not understand what happened but like I said you have no control over who actually takes the offer.
You do not pay listing fees but you do pay FVFs. If you use AW to host your pictures they will charge you 10 cents a picture - like you launched an auction on ebay using AW to host your pictures (that's what AW told me).
posted on March 14, 2002 11:03:10 PM new
You guys have totally lost me; I can't figure out exactly what you're talking about. Is this only for Dutch auctions?
posted on March 15, 2002 12:26:47 AM new
Roadsmith - Look at a closed auction - in the top section under High Bid you will see a section called seller services. In that section it has Relist this Item and MAKE A PERSONAL OFFER.
MAKE A PERSONAL OFFER is what we are talking about. It has nothing to do with a dutch auction. Personal Offer can be used if you have more than the one item you sold or if the high bid turns out to be a deadbeat.
Personal Offer is the "legal" way to sell to the under bidder.
