- Joined
- Oct 18, 2016
- Messages
- 2,872
That said the seller of my rotary table accepted my 20% offer straight away. So who knows.
If the listing says make an offer, I always make one, and I always pay less as a result. What's not to like?
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Prices on eBay Lately
- Thread starter projectnut
- Start date
If the listing says make an offer, I always make one, and I always pay less as a result. What's not to like?
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
- Messages
- 2,138
Whenever I see the "best offer", I plug in some value appropriate to the situation. If time permits, I may make the offer and then come back later and pay the asking price if it's something I really want. Others I just pay asking price when I need it. I'm running about 1:4 or 1:5. 20-25% acceptance. As a rule, I keep the "loaf of bread" in mind when this takes place.
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- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,609
I sell a fair amount of stuff on eBay. They charge me a flat 10% sellers fee. PayPal gets another 3% on top of that.
Bruce
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2016
- Messages
- 1,953
I asked one seller why he had such a high shipping price,(was like $42, or so), for an item that will fit in a medium flat rate box. His answer was to buy the item, then ask for him to ship it the cheapest why possible. Like yea, I will close a deal, with the hopes that you may be nice to me and lower the price later.
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
- Messages
- 323
I find that I have MUCH more success with best offers when I include a few words in the comments section about why their product isn't worth as much as the listed price lol.
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2020
- Messages
- 765
I agree with both MarkBa633csi and ShootyMacShootFace.
With longer times to ship from overseas, this has caused a shortage in the market of tools/parts. For many people, when they cannot get the less-expensive Chinese products, they then compete for higher end parts and tools. Add to this, more people are exploring at-home activities, often in crafts. Demand has likely ratcheted up measurably. With the shifts in "supply" and also "demand", increased prices were almost a foregone conclusion. Some bigger ticket items (like dividing tables with chucks) have stayed relatively flat, but then, there isn't a huge line of people clamoring to purchase items like that.
We have a third complicating factor, as many resellers and wholesalers are having trouble predicting demand after January 20th of 2021. Some are not as ambitious with the quantities they have recently been ordering; they want to get a better feel about how the winds will be blowing for the next 6 months. I don't expect these markets to stabilize until mid-summer 2021.
It is certainly not just the Machining market that is chaotic right now. My wife asked me to consider purchasing a gun. There are a lot of empty shelves (both ammo and guns) in the shops these days. Even online shops are largely wiped out of inventory. Our problem in machining supply is simply emblematic of many industries these days.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2018
- Messages
- 1,400
I am a competitive shooter professionally and a heavy equipment mechanic as a hobby. I may have mixed something up there. Reloading supplies are extremely hard to get right now. I hope that I don't have to go back to casting bullets again, oh, then there is the primer shortage.
Heavy equipment and truck parts are spotty. I usually have good luck getting common things, like brake and suspension parts. I have also struggled to get some very common things as well.
Right now, I am waiting for a part for a road grader. The manufacturer has to make one. When I placed my order 3 weeks ago, I was told that if I didn't order it soon, then I wouldn't be able to get it until next year because they were shutting down.
The reality is that they could charge us whatever they want for almost everything and we would eventually give in and buy it, except for us machinist types. We could make almost anything if motivated enough
Heavy equipment and truck parts are spotty. I usually have good luck getting common things, like brake and suspension parts. I have also struggled to get some very common things as well.
Right now, I am waiting for a part for a road grader. The manufacturer has to make one. When I placed my order 3 weeks ago, I was told that if I didn't order it soon, then I wouldn't be able to get it until next year because they were shutting down.
The reality is that they could charge us whatever they want for almost everything and we would eventually give in and buy it, except for us machinist types. We could make almost anything if motivated enough
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2015
- Messages
- 71
As far as Make an Offer, I recently listed an item on eBay for a Buy It Now price only. After a few days, eBay started nagging me to update my listing and lower the price. Then, they enabled the Make an Offer option without my enabling it. At least they sent me an email afterwards, but I immediately logged in and disabled it. So, eBay is pushing vendors to do whatever it takes to move items for eBay's benefit. Are we surprised ?
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 11,475
Of course not , they want their $$$$$$ in a hurry . I generally list stuff 20% less than most of the identical items listed on Ebay , and they usually sell pretty quickly . I find it funny where people expect to purchase top quality USA tooling for half the price of the Chinese crap . I shoot them down in a hurry .
Trouble with all these sites is , when selling a tool for a buck or two , it'a minimum $8 to ship it . Can't get away from it . It only pays someone to purchase large quantities of small change items and absorb the shipping costs between them .
If I put them out at yard sales or CL or FB , there's no shipping costs , and the buyer is holding it in his own hands when making an offer .
I had a boring / facing head sell on the bay for .99 cents one time because of an Ebay fu . I had to fight them to cancel the item .
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2016
- Messages
- 3,279
"After a few days, eBay started nagging me to update my listing and lower the price. Then, they enabled the Make an Offer option without my enabling it."
^^^I have never heard of that happening^^^ There is a an automatic lowering the price option that may be check and you need to uncheck it. I have sold a fair amount of items on eBay and that is definitely and option that you can choose. I have never had eBay purposely change it. I currently have 15 or 20 items for sale.
As far as making an offer, it works both ways. As a seller, I have my "Make an Offer" items set to automatically accept an offer defined as a certain amount, and automatically reject an offer if it is way too low. I recently "sold" a 16 port Ethernet switch. I had it listed for $185. The guy made an offer, which my automatic settings accepted. A day went by with no payment. Two days, then three then four days without payment. I don't get too excited about stuff but I sent him a message about non payment, including an invoice. His response was that he was trying to pay but couldn't because there was a glitch and PayPal wouldn't take his money (yeah right). Finally, after 8 or so days I filed a non-payment complaint with eBay so at least I could get my sellers fees refunded. Yes, we get charged sellers fees if the item sells but the buyer doesn't pay. He sent me another BS message about he couldn't get PayPal to take his money. He then asked me if I had relisted it, which I had and forwarded the item ID to him. My guess is he thought he could shoot a low offer and I wouldn't take it. When my settings took it, he was probably going "oh crap, I don't have the money for that".
Another dude made an offer for a Trumpf laser part that I have. I am about 99% sure he is from India. I don't ship to India. He sent me some crap message about he will take it if it is good shape or new, blah blah. Like he is doing me a favor by taking it off my hands. I ignored him. Later, I get another offer from a different eBay user, but I think it was actually the same guy. My gut told me it was the same dude. Ship to Poland now. Both eBay users had 0 for a feedback score and both had just signed up for an eBay account.
So, as an eBay seller, there are quite a few scammers out there, and it seems to be getting worse. I have never had an eBay purchase go bad on me yet though.
^^^I have never heard of that happening^^^ There is a an automatic lowering the price option that may be check and you need to uncheck it. I have sold a fair amount of items on eBay and that is definitely and option that you can choose. I have never had eBay purposely change it. I currently have 15 or 20 items for sale.
As far as making an offer, it works both ways. As a seller, I have my "Make an Offer" items set to automatically accept an offer defined as a certain amount, and automatically reject an offer if it is way too low. I recently "sold" a 16 port Ethernet switch. I had it listed for $185. The guy made an offer, which my automatic settings accepted. A day went by with no payment. Two days, then three then four days without payment. I don't get too excited about stuff but I sent him a message about non payment, including an invoice. His response was that he was trying to pay but couldn't because there was a glitch and PayPal wouldn't take his money (yeah right). Finally, after 8 or so days I filed a non-payment complaint with eBay so at least I could get my sellers fees refunded. Yes, we get charged sellers fees if the item sells but the buyer doesn't pay. He sent me another BS message about he couldn't get PayPal to take his money. He then asked me if I had relisted it, which I had and forwarded the item ID to him. My guess is he thought he could shoot a low offer and I wouldn't take it. When my settings took it, he was probably going "oh crap, I don't have the money for that".
Another dude made an offer for a Trumpf laser part that I have. I am about 99% sure he is from India. I don't ship to India. He sent me some crap message about he will take it if it is good shape or new, blah blah. Like he is doing me a favor by taking it off my hands. I ignored him. Later, I get another offer from a different eBay user, but I think it was actually the same guy. My gut told me it was the same dude. Ship to Poland now. Both eBay users had 0 for a feedback score and both had just signed up for an eBay account.
So, as an eBay seller, there are quite a few scammers out there, and it seems to be getting worse. I have never had an eBay purchase go bad on me yet though.