Nothing could be more exciting than seeing Submit Best Offer on a listing with an already great price. We click on the auction, have genuine interest, and then see a chance to get an even better price!

A  bargain hunter would love to get something for nothing. And they heard this story once about how Aunt Martha got a Depression glass bowl worth $8,000.00 for only a penny on Ebay. Every buyer wants one of those deals. And sellers want a winning bid that could fill up their children's college fund.  Getting something for nothing or receiving an unexpected king's ransom is a rare occurence, and when it does happen, it is usually in an auction format, not in the Submit Best Offer deals.

 A gentle bidder makes a reasonable offer after researching completed auctions, and uses polite, complete sentences for his proposal. For example, the gentle bidder would like to purchase one Polar Express Cookie plate.  He clicks on the Advanced Search button located at the top right corner of our Ebay pages. He enters his keywords: Polar Express plate, then checks the box: completed auctions.  He will see a list of closed auctions. Auctions with prices in red have ended without a winning bid. The listings that have the closing prices in green are successful auctions.

The gentle bidder should write down the first 5 successful prices he sees. He should be using the criteria, most recent, to get an accurate estimation of what the current price trend is. He sees: $41.00, $13.87, $18.50, $4.00 and $12.95. The shipping price needs to be added in. Turns out that $4.00 plate cost $30.00 ship, and wasn't a bargain after all. The highest price plate seems to be a bit high. Why is that? Look to see if it was the result of a bidding war. Maybe Veruca Salt told her daddy she wanted that plate and she wanted it now! Ooops, sorry about the Willy Wonka tangent.

Remove auction prices that seem out of the ordinary. A Polar Express plate that sold for $80.00 is probably a charity auction and the high price was just a generous donation. We should also ignore one that sold for a very low $3.00 because the seller had a low feedback score. After we weed out the unusual, we add the total combined prices and divide by the number of auctions to get the average price of the plate.

Perhaps we are only left with three prices to average:  $13.87 + $8.00 postage,  $18.50 + $5.00 postage,  and $12.95 + $3.85 postage. Adding $21.37, $23.50 and $16.80 together equals $61.67 This total, divided by 3, equals an average price of $20.55 for one plate, with shipping.

Let's go back to that fun auction with the Submit Best Offer button. Postage cost is $3.85. If we offered $16.70, we would be paying the average combined price ($16.70 + $3.85 equals $20.55). They have a $14.95 Buy It Now price, which is already lower than the average price. Should we be satisfied with this great price or should we submit our best offer?

You gotta play to win! Button pushers are fun people. Nike told me to tell you to just do it! The answer is yes! (Unless....there is only one left, and you don't want to risk losing to another buyer who jumped at the Buy-It-Now price.) You decide.

In my opinion, when the Buy-It-Now price is already below average price, your best offer should be in the 90-95% range of that price. In our Best Offer example, the stated price is $14.95. In my opinion, your reasonable offer of $13.50 to $14.25 would likely be accepted.

Another listing accepting Best Offers might have a Buy-It-Now price of $20.00 and $5.00 shipping. The seller would probably also accept the 90-95% range offer. However, when the Buy-It-Now price is above average price, I would suggest submitting an offer equal to the average price. Example: We have already figured our average combined price is $20.55. This seller's shipping price is $5.00. A reasonable offer would be $15.55

There are many factors to consider before placing an offer. Take a look at the seller's feedback.  Have they sold other Polar Express Christmas plates? How much was the total combined auction price? Is there a trend in the closing auction price showing an increase? In our example, we might expect the price to increase as we get closer to Christmas. Should we risk the possibility of prices increasing?

We also need to follow all of our usual criteria when we buy from an Ebay Seller: What is their feedback rating, how long has the account been registered, is it important to us if the seller offers PayPal Buyer protection? Do they accept your preferred way of paying? Are the seller's terms of service and shipping and refund policy and insurance method acceptable?

In the 60's, pop culture posters depicting big-eyed children were very popular. These teary eyed toddlers are no longer in style. Submitting a Best Offer should never include a hardship story about a big-eyed child whose cancer can be cured if only he gets this auction at ten cents on the dollar. The Submit Best Offer feature  has a built-in filter for fiction writing and automatically deletes offers with these key words: cancer, child, disabled, one wish, and most words found in Charles Dickens' novels. If your heart-tugging Best Offer somehow gets through, don't be surprised if the seller responds asking if there are no Poor Houses, or with just: "Bah Humbug!"

Are you surprised that the Submit Best Offer suggestions are so conservative? Were you thinking you could bid half of what the Buy-It-Now price is and maybe get lucky? Were you thinking there is no harm in trying? In my opinion, gentle bidder, these wildcard attempts could be a deal-breaker. If a seller is insulted or perceives you to be a prankster, he could block you from bidding on his future auctions after declining your nuisance offer.

Submitting Best Offers is not for thrill-seekers. Like bidding, submitting a Best Offer is a binding contract -if the seller accepts your proposal within 48 hours. Unlike bidding, each offer submitted requires the seller's individual attention, time, decision and action. The Best Offer is a maximum bid and is not a feeler or question. It is not polite to use the Ask Seller a Question  to test an offer, and it is never okay to submit a Best Offer unless this option is available. If this feature is not showing, it is safe to assume the seller does not want this type of question. 

Good sellers will respond politely to your offer. If they decline, they may suggest a reasonable alternative. A seller might offer you free shipping if you pay the full Buy-It-Now price, or send you a discount coupon as a thank-you. As of this writing, only one offer can be made in most categories. In the Business and Industrial categories, up to 3 offers can be made. It is extremely important that your offer, and the seller's alternatives, are within eBay's guidelines. Buyers and sellers lose protection policies and risk losing their privileges if they violate any of the eBay rules.

Sellers are here to sell and truly value your business. The way they usually do business is by listing what they have, and the price they want. This format usually involves limited contact with their buyers, especially with items priced under $50.00. Before you submit your offer, read the terms and description of the listing carefully. Ask questions before you bid and only use the Submit Best Offer feature for money offers, not to negotiate any other terms.

 In my opinion, you increase your chances of winning if your offer is RPR: Researched, polite, and reasonable. Research the average price in closed auctions. When the Buy-It-Now price is already below average price, your best offer should be in the 90-95% range of that price. When the starting price and the seller's feedback are above average,  your best offer should be the current average price.  Nuisance offers would be anything lower than 80% of the original Buy-It-Now price.

And that is all I know about How to Use the Submit Best Offer feature.