Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post links to auctions and classifieds here
User avatar
Victrola-Monkey
Victor III
Posts: 704
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:58 am
Location: Florida

Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by Victrola-Monkey »

A new thing that eBay does now is when you list a "Buy it Now" item, then after a few days, they add the "Make an Offer" option even though I did not specify such. I find this very disrespectful activity by eBay. I figured one way to avoid this was to list it as an auction item. Now I discovered that when a potential buyer contacts the seller, there is an option to "Make an Offer" anyway.

I have been very loyal to eBay and appreciate their large member base, but this kind of relentlessness on their part, to undermine my listings's setup parameters, is really making me MAD!

52089
Victor VI
Posts: 3745
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:54 pm

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by 52089 »

Victrola-Monkey wrote:A new thing that eBay does now is when you list a "Buy it Now" item, then after a few days, they add the "Make an Offer" option even though I did not specify such. I find this very disrespectful activity by eBay. I figured one way to avoid this was to list it as an auction item. Now I discovered that when a potential buyer contacts the seller, there is an option to "Make an Offer" anyway.

I have been very loyal to eBay and appreciate their large member base, but this kind of relentlessness on their part, to undermine my listings's setup parameters, is really making me MAD!
Yes, this is quite annoying. What I do is let them add the "Make an offer" option, but I set the offer threshold to 1 cent below my opening price so that anyone trying to make a lowball offer is automatically rejected without my intervention. I also include a statement on the listing that says that offers below the opening amount will be rejected. So far, so good.

User avatar
Raphael
Victor IV
Posts: 1446
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:44 am
Location: Davie, FL
Contact:

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by Raphael »

I have not experienced this at all with my fixed-price listings. I wonder why.

Raphael

User avatar
marcapra
Victor V
Posts: 2180
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:29 am
Personal Text: Man who ride on tiger find it very difficult to dismount! Charlie Chan
Location: Temecula, CA

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by marcapra »

I did not experience it either, but Ebay took every opportunity and many emails trying to get me to put the Make an Offer option on my ad for my Amberola 1A. I have $3400 in my Amberola 1A and Ebay suggested that I had a better chance of selling it if I started the auction at $62!

epigramophone
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 5204
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:21 pm
Personal Text: An analogue relic trapped in a digital world.
Location: The Somerset Levels, UK.

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by epigramophone »

I am only an occasional seller, but all my listings include the statement "I do not respond to offers below the starting price".

Herman
Victor II
Posts: 243
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:28 pm
Location: Deltona FL / Brampton ON

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by Herman »

Does not make sense if you have an auction style item with a stated starting bid that you would entertain an offer below the opening bid. That is what or best offer is for.
I did not realize that is what Ebay did until I posted 11 items for sale and was flooded with low ball offers...

User avatar
Raphael
Victor IV
Posts: 1446
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:44 am
Location: Davie, FL
Contact:

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by Raphael »

The purpose of the "Best Offer" on auctions is to allow a buyer to make an offer between the opening bid and "Buy It Now" option. The "Best Offer" disappears once a bid has been made.

People that make offers below the opening bid are, in my opinion, not serious buyers. Nor are people who offer less than 50% of a "Best Offer" on fixed-price listing.

eBay has a "Block Bidder" option whereby you can prevent bids or offers from individuals. I have utilized it for years and have quite an extensive inventory of idiots who have made offers such as $200 on a $10,000 item. One can only wonder what possesses buyers to do that. It's like going into a car dealer and offering $10,000 on a $40,000 car; they will show you the door and ask you not to return.


Raphael

Victrolacollector
Victor V
Posts: 2693
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:23 pm
Location: NW Indiana VV-IV;

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by Victrolacollector »

I hate that offer mess by eBay. The don’t care if you can sell it for less , take a loss or even pay the shipping. eBay is out to move items at whatever cost. eBay fees are outrageous and they even charge 10% on shipping. The post office is another story, costs through the roof. Anymore eBay is a loss, by the time you buy the bubble wrap, tape and boxes, pay the shipping and fees there really is nothing left, basically a way to clean out the closets. :roll:

Victrolacollector
Victor V
Posts: 2693
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:23 pm
Location: NW Indiana VV-IV;

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by Victrolacollector »

marcapra wrote:I did not experience it either, but Ebay took every opportunity and many emails trying to get me to put the Make an Offer option on my ad for my Amberola 1A. I have $3400 in my Amberola 1A and Ebay suggested that I had a better chance of selling it if I started the auction at $62!
Now that’s crazy! $62.00 for an Amberola 1A.

donniej
Victor III
Posts: 904
Joined: Thu May 26, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Ebay's "MAO" is making me MAD!

Post by donniej »

Even after manually turning it off, I've occasionally found that it magically gets turned back on. It is very frustrating how difficult they make it to disable, and then to have it come back on shows poor quality of coding or simple fraud.

Post Reply