I have added the Best Offer option to several of my listings. I have also taken advantage of this feature as a buyer, with good results. I'm writing this to point out some (hopefully helpful) guidelines for making and accepting Best Offers.

Best Offer is available on Buy It Now and Store items. Once made and accepted, your offer is a binding agreement and you are required to pay for the item.

Since in most cases eBay limits you to one offer per item, make your Best Offer one the seller would consider reasonable. What is reasonable? That would depend on how badly you want the item, as well as what the seller would consider a fair price for it. If you really want the item but also want to get a deal by making a Best Offer, you should offer 90-95% of the listed BIN price. If you are lukewarm about the item, please refrain from making a low-ball Best Offer of, say 20%-50% of the BIN price. That is an insult to the seller and a waste of time for both buyer and seller. Generally speaking, most sellers are likely to consider offers in the range of 80-95% of the BIN price.

In the past I received, and declined, an offer of $5 for a new with tags Tommy Hilfiger Logo Satchel that retailed for $55 and had a BIN price of $24.95. Another offer I didn't accept was one of $12.88 for a Sigrid Olsen top (new with tags) that retailed for $78 and had a BIN of $24.95.

Sellers, how do you go about deciding whether or not to accept an offer? Several things to consider are your original purchase price, the length of time in your inventory, and how much interest there is in the item. Does the item have many watchers? Have you tried listing the item in an auction format without a BIN? It's easy to weed out the ridiculously low offers; but it may be more difficult to decide on what is reasonable.  For example, I recently accepted an offer that was below my normally accepted "best price."  The offer was reasonable in my estimation, because the item had been listed at auction twice and had languished in my Store for several months. I decided it was more important to move it than to hold out for a better offer (which may not have materialized).

I hope this guide is useful to you in making and/or accepting Best Offers.  Click the following link for more information on making Best Offers.

Best Offer Overview