eCommercize Strategies for Your Online Success

Every item I sell in my eBay store is listed at auction first. If the item doesn’t sell the first or second time around at auction I put the item into my eBay store. I generally list the items in my store with a higher price than I was asking for at auction then I add the Best Offer option.

What is Best Offer? It’s an optional selling feature that gives potential buyers a chance to offer you less than you are asking for your items. You can accept their offer, make a counter offer or decline their offer all together. It’s like negotiating at an antique store or a garage sale. You have a price, they offer less, you request a little more, they accept or make a counter offer again. The potential buyer can make up to three offers on an item which you either accept or decline.

Currently, about 15% of my eBay store listings are purchased through Best Offer. I would rather someone make an lower offer than I am asking, than have merchandise sitting in my shop collecting dust.

As a seller, I have up to 48 hours from the time the offer comes in to make a decision then the offer expires. I check my eBay account often during the day so I can get back to potential buyers as quickly as possible. Once a seller accepts an offer, it is a binding transaction that the buy is obligated to complete just like a normal Buy-It-Now.

Here is a quick look at the Best Offer process.

Step 1: The buyer looks at your item, decides they would like it but see that you accept offers so they click on the Make Offer button.

Step 2: The buyer types in their offer. There is an add Additional Terms link that opens a text box for the buyer to send a message to the seller along with their offer. Common messages I receive are ones requesting free shipping.

Step 3: The seller receives an email in their My Messages area on eBay and also to the email address eBay has on file for the seller. I recommend you only answer eBay emails from within the eBay My Messages area due to the prevalence of spam emails that may look real but are just trying to steal your information. The offer message will look something like this:

Open the message and see what the offer price is and then click the Review and Respond offer. Don’t just ignore the offer even if it is ridiculously low. Always make a counter offer if you want more for the item. You never know when a buyer who offers you $1 for an item you want $10 will take you up on a counter offer of $8.

eBay screenshot Review and Respond

Step 5: This page is the one where you can accept the offer, submit a counter offer or decline an offer. You can also see a little about the potential buyer on the left of the screen. I have erased the buyer’s info but you can see their user name, their feedback score (which you can click on to go to their feedback page). Above the Accept Offer button it shows the zip code and state of the potential buyer which is very important when making a decision to give them free shipping when requested. You don’t want to miss this and be liable to pay for shipping to Germany or Australia for free if you ship internationally.

eBay screenshot Accept Offer

Once you have sent a counter offer, your potential buyer has 48 hours to review and accept or decline your offer. They may just ignore it and then the offer will just expire. When your buyer accepts your offer, or you accept your buyer’s offer, the item will show up in the Awaiting Payment section in your My eBay and you can send them an invoice.

The rest of the transaction follows the same process as if you had sold it at auction. Best Offer is a great way to generate sales on items you may not have had luck selling at auction. Best Offer can be used on Fixed Priced listings as well as Store Inventory listings which makes it a great option to use even if you don’t yet have a store. There are some simple eBay seller requirements that you need to meet in order to use the Best Offer option in your listings. You can read about those requirements on eBay.

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Tags: bartering, best offer, counter offer, eBay best offer, listing at auction, selling offer

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.