How about a "Best-Offer" or a "Haggle" option?

[bykimbo]

LOL, then I'd say we would agree to disagree, but we probably wouldn't agree on that

Oh yes we would!!

Oops.

[ucanbeasurvivor]

Coming from EBAY as FROGGY is I love personally that I can now give my customers a choice to bid or buy it now at a fairly reasonable price to my customers . Personally myself if EBID had a section make a offer I would not use myself but could attract more coming over to EBID if would become offered . For people are use to this type of feature on auctions being there avaiable espically to sellers to offer to their customers to entice them in .
But its simplily something FROGGY does'nt personal need .

[TiasTreasures]

LOL, then I'd say we would agree to disagree, but we probably wouldn't agree on that

There appears to be a permanent division between sellers who offer items like coins, stamps, and well-known brands where listings by other sellers and price guides are easy to obtain, and those of us who are selling obscure, sometimes unique items where there is absolutely no way to get a grasp on the fair value.

We are only using BIN in our stores. We have a few items where our asking price is a sheer guess. "Make an Offer" would be useful for those, but we can live without it.

What I still don't understand why there is so much anger about a requested OPTION that no one would be forced to use? I agree it would be pointless to use it with an item that is being auctioned, especially if there is a BIN amount of the item.

[marschenegger]

Because the debate never progresses and we always end up back at Square One. No matter what was said in the first 350 posts, there is always someone posting the same old comments, i.e., why can't we have it as an option, blah blah blah. The poll was meaningless for many reasons, in particular the fact that a large segment of the Yes side is people who don't actually want to use the option for themselves. They just voted Yes to have the option available. Had the poll been phrased differently, such as to ask "Would you use Best Offer if it was made available?", then I have no doubt the No side would have won. Even if most people wanted it and planned to use it, it would be a bad idea given eBid's very small buyer base. The assertion that having the option would attract buyers is a red herring. The few extra buyers we would get would only be here to catch bargains, and their increased buying activity would just be offset by lower offers from the buyers who were already here. In other words, increased sales would come at the expense of profits, and that's not appealing to any seller of collectables. I didn't invest in my inventory just to throw it away. I have used Best Offer on that eBid alternative site, and it doesn't generate better results. If anything, it's proved to be a waste of time. The recession is just compounding matters. I'm making more sales here than on that alternative site.

The horse is still dead.

[bykimbo]

Had the poll been phrased differently, such as to ask "Would you use Best Offer if it was made available?", then I have no doubt the No side would have won.

Well, that's easy enough to check.

[moonwitch]

I think both questions about the best offer are valid and I would say 'yes' to both.

I would say it was a good idea to have the option available

And I would use the option because I have sold lots more using that option than without it there on another site.

[papagran40]

MY OPINION....a best offer only means ( 1 ) you are over priced at the start....( 2 ) you are desperate to get rid of it......( 3 ) you want the buyers to rule the roost....like that other place......as said......MY opinion.....papa.

[kedo]

My guess is that accepting offers is already widespread here. I will certainly consider any offers I get.

There is one development of the 'Best Offer' idea that would make it a very useful tool. I'm thinking that if you could 'attach conditions', for want of a better phrase, it could be used to influence buyer behaviour. A good example of a 'condition' would be something like 'you can make me an offer but you must be prepared to pay by my prefered payment method' (eg. free method like a cheque rather than online payment methods). I don't know about others but if a buyer is willing to send me a cheque rather than use Payp@l I'm quite willing to give them a 5% discount for a start.

[TiasTreasures]

I'm not confused. You're assuming that prospective buyers will always negotiate a price that is between the auction start price and the BIN price. What about offers below the auction start price? You can't set the BIN price below the auction start price unless you also lower the auction price too, and at that point, you're not really using the auction format because you're start price, which is supposed to be your lowest accepted price, is flexible. Why bother with the auction format if you're going to do that?

Since an offer would be only that, a non-binding offer, the seller is free to decline if it's ridiculous (such as below the starting price).

I also won't use phrases such as "You can't", "you're not", "you're going to do that" until I become a telepath. I only predict what "I" will do (see the above paragraph).

[TiasTreasures]

My guess is that accepting offers is already widespread here. I will certainly consider any offers I get.

There is one development of the 'Best Offer' idea that would make it a very useful tool. I'm thinking that if you could 'attach conditions', for want of a better phrase, it could be used to influence buyer behaviour. A good example of a 'condition' would be something like 'you can make me an offer but you must be prepared to pay by my prefered payment method' (eg. free method like a cheque rather than online payment methods). I don't know about others but if a buyer is willing to send me a cheque rather than use Payp@l I'm quite willing to give them a 5% discount for a start.

We're already doing that. Recently changed our terms and conditions to offer a 3% discount off the total invoice if a buyer pays by check or money order in U.S. funds.