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I’m sure I’ve made sub starting price offers and had them accepted. Not often but I’m sure it has happened.
BIN or best offer can be a bit wired too. I get it on high value stuff where you might be a bit flexible on price but on stuff at a fiver where I offer £4 and get a counter offer of £4.50, was it really worth the sellers time to-ing and fro-ing over 50p? It’s worth it to me coz I’m only buying one thing but it can be powersellers that are selling huge volumes of stuff. Just lust it at what you want to get surely.
M_V-
I’m sure I’ve made sub starting price offers and had them accepted
Oh yeah, me too. I think it was usually after the item had been relisted with no bids for a few times, and the seller had lost hope anyone would accidentally put a first bid in.
but on stuff at a fiver where I offer £4 and get a counter offer of £4.50, was it really worth the sellers time to-ing and fro-ing over 50p?
I don't get that either! The only thing I'm thinking of - are there maybe some kind of plugins that do it automatically for larger volume sellers? I could imagine having a 'best offer' button entices more people to buy things, i.e. thinking you negotiated 50p off £5 leaves them happier than just paying £4.50 straight up. But you're right, it can't be worth it if it's all manual.
SwissChap
I think it's essentially gambling on different expectations of the final price. You offer something that is lower than what you think the price might go up to if there is a bidding war, but which is high enough to make it worth it to the seller to go "fuck it, I'd rather have this money now for sure than hold out to see whether the price will go higher during the actual auction".
Also, in general, if there is an 'offer' option, I make use of it. But then, I usually offer something vaguely reasonable. I have a suspicion that might still come across as 'lowballing' to some sellers, because some sellers seriously overestimate how much their stuff is worth. Some of those guys eventually realise it, after lowering their 'buy it now' price £20 at a time, over months and months.