Making an Offer

Many sellers on eBay and Reverb have "Make an Offer" in their listings. I occasionally make an offer, and it's rejected, accepted, or ignored. I always wonder about the ones that are ignored. Is it that the seller just hasn't checked the site, or is my offer too low to deserve a reply?

Jerryc41 said:

Many sellers on eBay and Reverb have "Make an Offer" in their listings. I occasionally make an offer, and it's rejected, accepted, or ignored. I always wonder about the ones that are ignored. Is it that the seller just hasn't checked the site, or is my offer too low to deserve a reply?

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Generally means a negligent seller. The offer is also emailed to the seller so unless there are extenuating circumstances, the seller knows of the offer. An offer may be too low to accept but it still deserves a reply, IMO

As a seller, the possible misses could occur when I get a reply with no way to respond, ie facebook. contacting me at my email spongeuke@yahoo.com works every time, I do provide it at all my posting on the sites I use.

Jerryc41 said:

Many sellers on eBay and Reverb have "Make an Offer" in their listings. I occasionally make an offer, and it's rejected, accepted, or ignored. I always wonder about the ones that are ignored. Is it that the seller just hasn't checked the site, or is my offer too low to deserve a reply?

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I think the same way that you do, Jerry. When I make an offer, I never lowball. It may be less than a seller wants for an item but it is never ever a lowball offer. I can't figure out the no-reply. Now, there are times on craigslist and sometime ebay if I post an item for sale and the reply is one of those scams where they will send a courier to pick it up, or a truck, or they send me a phony paypal. Then I don't reply, but for all legitmate offers, I reply. If you're not going to reply then don't solicit offers.

efiscella said:

I think the same way that you do, Jerry. When I make an offer, I never lowball. It may be less than a seller wants for an item but it is never ever a lowball offer. I can't figure out the no-reply. Now, there are times on craigslist and sometime ebay if I post an item for sale and the reply is one of those scams where they will send a courier to pick it up, or a truck, or they send me a phony paypal. Then I don't reply, but for all legitmate offers, I reply. If you're not going to reply then don't solicit offers.

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One of the sites (I forget which) keeps track of the bids, and if I bid at below an offer that was rejected, it tells me.

I was prompted to begin this thread because I made two offers yesterday, but there's been no response. In a way that's good because I really don't need two more ukes.

Jerryc41 said:

One of the sites (I forget which) keeps track of the bids, and if I bid at below an offer that was rejected, it tells me.

I was prompted to begin this thread because I made two offers yesterday, but there's been no response. In a way that's good because I really don't need two more ukes.

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Whenever I put anything up for sale, I alway stop to think about my own time and if my schedule would allow me to reply adequately. Nothing takes more time than responding to Disney vacation club points when I put them up. I am constantly replying -- turns into a full time job. Ukulele is nothing compared to that.

efiscella said:

Whenever I put anything up for sale, I alway stop to think about my own time and if my schedule would allow me to reply adequately. Nothing takes more time than responding to Disney vacation club points when I put them up. I am constantly replying -- turns into a full time job. Ukulele is nothing compared to that.

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I remember the days of selling a car by putting an ad in the newspaper. Then there would be the phone calls with stupid questions and people who didn't show up when they said they would. Now I sell on eBay. It's gone in a week.

Jerryc41 said:

I remember the days of selling a car by putting an ad in the newspaper. Then there would be the phone calls with stupid questions and people who didn't show up when they said they would. Now I sell on eBay. It's gone in a week.

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I can't handle the combination of eBay's fees and then PayPal on top...at times, that ends up being 30% of the sale price. They get an awfully big check for not doing very much.

Jerryc41 said:

Many sellers on eBay and Reverb have "Make an Offer" in their listings. I occasionally make an offer, and it's rejected, accepted, or ignored. I always wonder about the ones that are ignored. Is it that the seller just hasn't checked the site, or is my offer too low to deserve a reply?

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Only you can tell if it was too low, but an offer that is ridiculously low is often perceived as not worth a reply. When I've receive low offers for stuff I sell, I'll either give a snarky reply or ignore them. There are many hoping to score way below market goods. Why waste more time than was used opening the offer to respond other than to give them the response they deserve?

it's been a long holiday weekend (assuming sellers are in the US). Give it a chance until tomorrow or Tuesday. I guess.

Eugenio

AQUATOPAZ said:

Only you can tell if it was too low, but an offer that is ridiculously low is often perceived as not worth a reply. When I've receive low offers for stuff I sell, I'll either give a snarky reply or ignore them. There are many hoping to score way below market goods. Why waste more time than was used opening the offer to respond other than to give them the response they deserve?

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Make two or three boiler plate replies. Such as: "Thank you for your offer. But it is below my minimum for this item." Then you just copy and paste them as appropriate. It will save you a ton of time and aggro.

Choirguy said:

I can't handle the combination of eBay's fees and then PayPal on top...at times, that ends up being 30% of the sale price. They get an awfully big check for not doing very much.

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Gosh the 25% the music stores want sounds Cheap now.

Jerryc41 said:

Many sellers on eBay and Reverb have "Make an Offer" in their listings. I occasionally make an offer, and it's rejected, accepted, or ignored. I always wonder about the ones that are ignored. Is it that the seller just hasn't checked the site, or is my offer too low to deserve a reply?

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People and their reasons for selling are so varied that it would be unwise to read anything particular into a lack of response.

As a seller I politely respond to all offers, if it’s too low for me I send a counter offer and if it’s near enough I accept it. Some sellers just don’t understand that that’s the way to go about things or have other issues demanding their time. Some sellers - and some buyers too - have unrealistic expectations too or are just plain greedy, an offer simply opens negotiations from one side but after that it’s best to expect variability in what happens.

I've made a couple of offers - one was countered & I accepted, the other was countered & I didn't think it worth another counter offer, as they clearly wanted too high a price, as far as I was concerned - but I wasn't worried whether I got the items or not really, as I was just adding to my collections.

Choirguy said:

I can't handle the combination of eBay's fees and then PayPal on top...at times, that ends up being 30% of the sale price. They get an awfully big check for not doing very much.

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Yes, the fees are annoying, but I remember paying $20-something to put an ad in a newspaper, whether the item sold or not. If I sell a uke for $1,000, I'll pay eBay about $40. That's substantial, but I come away with $960, which is a lot more than I had before.

Selling on UU or Fleamarket Music is always better, but more of my sales have come from Reverb, which has slightly lower fees. I tend to avoid eBay for good ukes.

I got a response last night for an offer I made. The seller lowered the price by $25, but he said that shipping would not be included. In other words, I would pay the same or more to get the uke. I had already bought another uke in the meantime, so I thanked him and went on my way. He has since lowered the price by $10.

Another thing to consider when making an offer is the counter offer. If the seller is asking $600 and you offer $575, you can expect him to counter-offer $580 or more, so the amount you offer is unlikely to be accepted. At least, that's been my experience. Looking back, I think I've bought six ukes by "making an offer." When someone makes me an offer on a uke I'm selling, I tend to take it. I can accept a little less money, or I can wait indefinitely. Since I'm not going to live indefinitely, I prefer cash to uncertainty.

For a while I was using Craigslist to sell stuff. There got to be too many scammers there. The last couple of times this summer I've used Facebook Marketplace. That has been for a couple of old motorcycles and clearing out all of the extra parts I accumulated over four decades. I get a lot of weird people on Facebook. They message me all hours of the day and night. A lot of them want to trade something. They also argue with me. One guy wanted to trade me a dirt bike and when I said that I didn't want a dirt bike he got snippy about it. So I just quit replying. I guess that wasn't fair to people who thought that they were making serious offers, but I wasn't going to take less and I got tired of thinking about them. Besides, one fellow offered me half what I was asking and his reasoning was that was all the money he had. I guess he felt that he was giving me everything he had, and that was a sacrifice on his part. It kind of made me feel bad.

As far as UU Marketplace, I think that a lot of people come there looking for a deal. They know about UAS and how it takes over one's reasoning. I mean that's all we talk about. There is always a UAS thread going. So I believe that people think that everyone selling their ukes on UU are desperate to sell so that they can buy the next one. So they go at it from that angle lowballing everything. So that generates some somewhat insulting offers. But honestly, when I myself sell something I just expect to get some offers, so why encourage them by saying that this is my price, but I will accept offers. I guess just to get the ball rolling. And if someone says that they will take offers, then they should pretty much expect that they are not going to get asking price. The worst I think is OBO. That just says, "I really need to get rid of this."

But back to my motorcycles and parts, and offers. I don't know if the experience equates to selling a ukulele, although some ukuleles sell for more than I was asking for my motorcycle, I will admit that I was not very prompt about responding to offers, especially on the last one. The last motorcycle I'd had for over thirty years. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to sell it. It was taking up garage space and I put it on the market thinking that if I could get asking price then I would let it go, if not, it wasn't costing me anything keep it. So at first I responded pretty quickly because I thought that maybe they were just taking a shot and that they would get serious if I responded, but after a while I got tired of them. I hardly looked at the offers. It really boils down to how bad someone wants to sell whatever it is they are selling.

Anyway, the motorcycles were on Facebook marketplace for six weeks. I renewed the add twice. Got tons of offers. Finally, when I had almost forgotten that the one was even still listed for sale a fellow offered to take both motorcycles and all the parts for asking price. He showed up with a truck and cash. Interesting that after all the lowball offers and offers to trade, this guy thought that he was getting a deal. I'm glad he was happy. I almost cried.

Rllink said:

As far as UU Marketplace, I think that a lot of people come there looking for a deal. They know about UAS and how it takes over one's reasoning. I mean that's all we talk about. There is always a UAS thread going. So I believe that people think that everyone selling their ukes on UU are desperate to sell so that they can buy the next one. So they go at it from that angle lowballing everything. So that generates some somewhat insulting offers. But honestly, when I myself sell something I just expect to get some offers, so why encourage them by saying that this is my price, but I will accept offers. I guess just to get the ball rolling. And if someone says that they will take offers, then they should pretty much expect that they are not going to get asking price. The worst I think is OBO. That just says, "I really need to get rid of this."

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I hear what you are saying about the Marketplace here and I guess it makes sense, for some, but I see the UU Marketplace differently. I like buying and selling there because I see it as being populated by knowledgeable ukulele enthusiasts who know their stuff. Mostly, these are people who treat their ukuleles like treasures, and looking to get a fair value on a great uke, when either buying or selling. When you post on the Marketplace, you better have your facts correct and your price better be in the ballpark, or expect a correction to follow, almost immediately. I have done dozens of purchases on the marketplace and only once it occured that the uke delivered was not as described. I have found this marketplace to be the best and safest place to sell my ukuleles. As for purchasing, I have bought many older ukes that look brand new, and when there is wear, the seller usually goes out of their way to state it and show pics. Maybe I'm different than others, but I put a great deal of trust in buying and selling from UU marketplace and rarely is it because I am looking to score low price or a deal. What I like most is that I feel I will always pay a fair price here and that is important to me.

efiscella said:

I hear what you are saying about the Marketplace here and I guess it makes sense, for some, but I see the UU Marketplace differently. I like buying and selling there because I see it as being populated by knowledgeable ukulele enthusiasts who know their stuff. Mostly, these are people who treat their ukuleles like treasures, and looking to get a fair value on a great uke, when either buying or selling. When you post on the Marketplace, you better have your facts correct and your price better be in the ballpark, or expect a correction to follow, almost immediately. I have done dozens of purchases on the marketplace and only once it occured that the uke delivered was not as described. I have found this marketplace to be the best and safest place to sell my ukuleles. As for purchasing, I have bought many older ukes that look brand new, and when there is wear, the seller usually goes out of their way to state it and show pics. Maybe I'm different than others, but I put a great deal of trust in buying and selling from UU marketplace and rarely is it because I am looking to score low price or a deal. What I like most is that I feel I will always pay a fair price here and that is important to me.

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I'm glad that is working so we'll for you. My observation is not specific to any individual. I present it knowing that there are people who are exceptions. I can only comment from my own perspective.

Rllink said:

I'm glad that is working so we'll for you. My observation is not specific to any individual. I present it knowing that there are people who are exceptions. I can only comment from my own perspective.

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Yea- as I said, for some that may be true. I have been very fortunate. I wasn't sure when I wrote my post if we were not actually talking about the same thing "Deal" and "Fair". Sometimes, if I look on Reverb or even ebay, I find the prices are higher than they should be, and on the UU Marketplace I often feel it is a fair price- and in that sense I believe I got a deal.