eBay "make an offer" option

@Gavin Richardson

FWIW

When I was actively buying coins and medals on eBay, I made offers on items many, many times even when it wasn't listed as "Make Offer", "OBO" or "BIN". Most of the time, my offers were accepted or opened the door to further negotiation. Just try to be polite and avoid making a ridiculous offer. You'll never know unless you try.

Chris

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

If I see a coin I like I first check auction archives to see what comparable examples sold for; especially slabbed coins which are listed much higher on eBay. Raw coins are more of a risk as one has to feel confident in their grading skills and to be able to separate details coins from seller pictures; several sellers are good at making a lesser coin look good and hide problems. A couple sellers no longer get my business, even though they sell many nice looking raw coins; over half that I purchased were cleaned. I'm sure some of you can guess the seller(s). I've never got a seller to agree on an offer on a slabbed coin unless there was a significant markup from what he/she purchased it for. Most of the time i can go the Heritage or Great Collections route and buy a similar or better example for less money.

 

The "make an offer" sort of confused me when it first showed up on eBay for non-"buy it now" auctions. If I am understanding it correctly, it is supposed to be higher than the listed starting (not "buy it now") bid. The theory behind this is that the starting bid is pretty low (say $30) on a $100 coin; as a bidder you are supposed to offer $100 and thereby get the coin before you have to compete with other bidders (when it might go higher). I've rarely used this option because the starting bids are usually too high to begin with.

However, on "buy it now" auctions with "best offer" options, I have had some success. The seller will usually knock a couple bucks off the "buy it now" price. A $20.00 "buy it now" coin with "best offer" option can be had for $18 or even $15 sometimes. On the other hand, I remember being turned down on a $9 offer on a $10 buy it now! Not sure what the seller was thinking on that one...

This is low-price bottom-feeding stuff, of course.

 

Me too! I agree - it never hurts to ask... I would say that over 50% of the time (in my cases at least), they either accept or make a counter offer. Sometimes, I get a very rude reply. But heck... "it never hurts to ask..."

 

Yes, and I do bottom-feed from time to time. Just this morning I offered $27 Canadian for a coin listed at $35C. The seller countered with $32C, and I accepted. So I saved myself about, what, $1.75 US for my efforts? “Oh garcon, I think I’ll have that extra Diet Coke with my caviar after all.”

 

You sound like my wife! She will spend an hour looking at sales papers, travel the extra distance, spend more time, just to save 50 cents. I'm somewhat different. Give me a list of what you need, and I'll tick it off without looking at prices.

As for the Buy It Now or Best Offer, I've used it to my advantage often enough.

 

That's funny - I've done some real scrounging for a couple bucks too. It reminds me of something I read somewhere once that if Bill Gates drops a $20 bill, it actually costs him money to stoop down and pick it up. I'll stoop for nickels and still come out ahead.

This sestertius of Julia Domna with naked Venus came up on a Czech eBay auction for $17 "buy it now" or best offer. I offered $15 and they accepted. I guess 2 bucks is 2 bucks, but sometimes I am a little embarrassed about how low I will go - sometimes the bargain-hunting thrill eclipses my pride:

 

I don't see how that casts all Make Offer listings into doubt. You've certainly got to know what you're shopping for, and what price to expect.

I buy US coins, often "junk silver" (random 90% coins). I occasionally make an offer below melt, and occasionally those offers are accepted. On what grounds should I have avoided those listings?

 

On the grounds that I want it

 

I generally have found that coins on which a 10% discount would make a difference on whether I want to buy or not end up being coins I will soon wish I did not buy at any price. Remember this post is in the Ancient section of Coin Talk. You who 'collect' 90% silver have different rules. Most of the coins I buy are things I wanted and did not have a long list of similar coins that were equal. If I wanted the coin for $90 but not for $100 and knew where I could get another for $99, things would be different. If I see a coin at $100 that I would have paid $200 for and have not seen another for ten years, playing games over $10 makes no sense. I just wish I would remember this and stop biding on coins I do not really, really want. Sellers who offer decent material at fair prices develop a following of regular customers. Those who try to make a killing on every sale make us talk about them as jokes here on CT even when the accidentally have something that is worth owning.

 

Same here

 

I’ve done that.

 

Some really great posts in this thread.

There's actually a lot of psychology at play here. A little dance between buyer and seller.
One the one hand, I almost always make an offer if the option is available. It's never ridiculous, but maybe 10% under ask. It's usually accepted. These savings add up over time.

Careful of coins when you don't want it at X but might buy it at Y. If you don't want that coin at full retail price, you just don't want it enough. It's not going to be your favourite. Ever. Move on.
@dougsmit said it best

Particularly with 'character' examples that simply won't turn up again, I'll happily pay a little over retail and not fuss about the price.

I always use several archive databases to see just what retail is before I buy a coin. Heck with slabbed coins you can usually find what the dealer paid in the HA archives

One more thing of note:
Many sellers list their items on multiple venues like eBay, vcoins, Ma-shops, and their own website.
The prices are NOT always the same across all venues, and often one venue will have a 'make an offer' option while another will not.

If you're into saving money, buy only what you love and remember there's no substitute for due diligence.
These 2 things will save a lot more than the odd discount off sticker price.

 

I said "rarely" because I rarely encounter such listings AND those that I do are generally priced so high that I know my offer would be refused.

 

There are two scenarios where I do not make an offer when the option is there. The first is when the price is already so low that it's not worth the time to haggle over a few cents. The second is when the buy it now is way under the market value already, and it's not worth the risk of someone else getting it if you delay.

 

I recently bought a nice quadrigatus. It was priced on the high side but of all the examples I had seen, it was the one for me.
In this case I did hold out for a better price on a coin that I love.
It was a risk and I would have been annoyed had it sold.
I made a price offer that was rejected and countered about a month ago.
I held firm and made the same original offer a month later, and the dealer accepted.

 

I only go to ebay if I can't find what I am looking for anywhere else. I have some sellers that I keep an eye on to see what he/she has. I have seen OBO or make and offer, but I haven't ever used it. Now, I am going to try it if I see something that appears over priced. I just bought an 1837 half cent looked good and when I got it in the mail, I was pleasantly surprised. I have bought a couple of penny rolls on ebay and I will never do that again. Thanks, guys for all your info.

 

I use the Best Offer feature unless it is a coin I think is underpriced and I'm afraid a knowledgeable buyer will buy it before I do.

Ordinarily this is not the case and in the ordinary case, one thing you can do so you don't feel cheap is search sealed items, and you will inevitably find that the "$20" item you are looking at sold for less than that.

 

If I believe the price is too high, but an offer is in reasonable range, I offer what I think it is worth, less a little. Sometime I get it, some i get a fair counter offer, and some I walk. It is all part of the market.

 

There is definitely a difference between a BIN/Best Offer, and a listing with an opening auction bid, attached to Make an Offer.

I don't know what coin Paddyman98 was interested in but I would bet the seller found a book or online site that valued it close to his $200 figure. That is, the seller had an opinion of value that is not in sync with today's values.

Recorded coin values are not keeping up with slowing, declining coin markets for many coins, and some sellers lag behind as well, holding onto higher, historical prices.

An example of this was a coin that recently sold on eBay for $2,750. It was a raw, 1872-CC seated half. The seller listed it as UNC; in my opinion it was AU.

In AU it was listed at $4,000. Sale price didn't come close.