eBay "make an offer" option

So occasionally I purchase coins on eBay, at least from sellers I trust or for coins that I don't have any suspicions about. Sometimes the seller has an "make an offer" option. Sometimes I exercise that option; sometimes I just pay the listed price, especially if the coin is inexpensive. But is it just throwing away money to bypass that option even on an inexpensive coin? I feel kind of cheap offering $20 for a listed $25 coin, but if the listing has "make an offer," maybe the seller is expecting such a gesture. Thoughts?

 

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If they have a Make Offer option I would always exercise that option. If they have that option I assume it means they are not expecting to sell it at the asking price.

 

The only time I wouldn't make an offer is if it was something scarce or mis-attributed that was worth more than they're asking, and that would disappear as soon as someone else spotted it.

 

That's my take on it. Why have the option if you're not willing to accept a lower price?

 

I always use it if it's there... If they are steadfast in their price, they wouldn't use it, so they have some wiggle room and still walk away with profit. It's like dealers face-to-face on the bourse offering you deals below the listed price, but on Ebay they can't see you browsing, so that's how they can allow you that option.

 

That's a good point!

 

I send messages to the seller with offers even on Buy it Now coins. Sometimes it works, sometimes I get no reply, and sometimes I get a reply, “ sorry, price is firm.”
It never hurts to ask, and it’s always good to try to get a little deal. In my opinion, anyway.

 

I can say I've done that before too, even just a couple days ago. No luck on price, so bought it at listed price.

 

I had a discussion with a seller that has a coin that has a starting bid of $35.00 but with a make an offer option. I put $30.00 because I thought it was not worth that much. He came back stating that it's worth $200.00 or more and that he wouldn't sell it for less.. I told him good luck but your coin will never sell!
It's been listed for weeks!

 

And I believe he has a reserve on the price!

 

For one thing, you might want to give it a bit more time to see if someone else will make a higher offer, or buy at full price. I'll sometimes make an offer on something newly listed, but I certainly don't take offense if the offer is rejected.

 

If it's always available, I will use it.

There has only been a few times I didn't because I would be afraid it would get snatched up fast.

 

I agree that if make an offer is available, the seller is willing to come down in price, so I definitely use it.

 

I'd never have thought of that because I'm not sure I've ever seen such a scenario for an eBay ancient coin auction listing. Usually the scenario is a seller who is unrealistically optimistic about the value of the coin!

 

I've used it before. Sometimes if a coin is a good deal already I just pay the fixed price, if it seems a bit high then I make an offer.

 

I have items listed with the OBO option, but I also set a limit of how low an offer I will accept. This let's eBay sort out the ones low balling me.

If it's an option, why not use it?

 

I would warn against any listing with a "make an offer". There's abundant data that some of the largest ebay ancient coin sellers routinely list the coins at three or four times what they paid (three or four times full retail) and then offer discounts that seem substantial along with the option of making an offer. They sometimes accept offers 30% less than original listed price - but that's often still double or more "usual" retail.

Instead I prefer to deal with coin sellers that offer low everyday prices and don't actually accept offers because their markups are so small.

One tip to browsing eBay is to select within a price range. So if browsing only coins costing $200 to $300, they should all be of comparable value. That's when the fixed price sellers stand out. They tend to offer much better coins at much lower prices than the triple-price scam artists who invite you to "make an offer". Whilst not everyone who invites offers is a scam, it's what I presume from experience. So if a seller, I do think it's best to list your lowest price up front and forget about asking for offers. It doesn't come across well to buyers.

 

My feelings as well. I'll use "make an offer" occasionally to save a few bucks if a coin is relatively reasonably priced and I can wait a bit, but I've skipped straight to "buy it now" on some rarities where I couldn't risk them being bought by another collector. One collector told me that I only won a coin by about 30 seconds as he saw it listed on eBay the same time I did but got distracted by a text message and by the time he looked back up it was sold. Sometimes that's all the time you have.

 

I will always make an offer if it is an option. I use 10-20% as a rule of thumb if I think it's reasonable. Sometime I will make an offer that at least covers the cost of shipping. I never lowball and I hate it when someone does that to me. I won't even make a counter offer if someone lowballs me, I simply decline their offer.