Making Offers to buy items on Ebay can be an invigorating experience, but can also be disappointing to both the buyer and the seller.  I'd like to show you how to successfully navigate the process.

Psychology of Offers

Offer too low and the seller can refuse your offer, with no chance to reoffer, or even worse, ignore it!  Offer too high and the seller might accept too quickly, making you believe that you could have offered lower.  And then there's the time limit- offers expire in 2 days, just 48 hours, not at the end of the listing, when you would expect them to, so they put the seller in the position of accepting an offer and ending the listing before it has run for the full period.

Roadblocks

As a buyer it is important to understand that for non-motor category items, only one offer can be made, with no chance for making a second offer on that item, even if the first offer is refused.  Sometimes you can talk to the seller through Ask Seller a Question, and negotiate a price for them to set up a duplicate Ebay listing at the agreed on price, if your first offer is refused.

101 Ways to Annoy a Seller

All it takes is one to get your offer refused!

The offer does not include shipping, that is added on extra, per the terms of the listing.  Many sellers will ignore or immediately discard any offer with terms that state shipping included- this is not looked on positively by sellers unless the offer price is high enough to cover shipping as well.

Offers that are less than half the stated buy-it-now price will usually be ignored, refused, or worse yet, you might even be added to seller's Blocked Buyer List, and never be able to do business with them again.

Including unrealistic demands in the terms of the offer- like "Please respond by 5PM on Wed 9/14" which is earlier than the actual expiration of the offer.  Sellers particularly don't like offers that come in right before the end of the item- its likely they'll never even see the offer before it is too late to respond.

Ways to Succeed with an Offer

Be polite, friendly and sign your name in the buyer message/ terms.  Makes the seller more comfortable dealing with you, and you never know, that might swing their decision making in your favor.

Email the seller before offering and find out what price they are looking to get, so you can see if your precious single offer will be in the ballpark.

Do some price shopping on completed listings- make sure you know what a reasonable price would be based on past sales.  This gives you the information to make a better offer.

Here's to your future success!  Please vote YES below if you think this guide was helpful- I appreciate it!

This article remains copyright 2006 BrickSale.