Ebay Etiquette: how do I do that?

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Hello all!

Been a crazy long time since I’ve been active on the fourum (and before you ask, no, I’ve not melted a PSA slab as of late)

But I figured this would be a good place to ask a few questions. After a good while away from the hobby I’ve decided to try my luck on ebay. I’ve never listed cards before, and as a result almost all of my listings have a “make an offer” option. As such I’ve started to get a series of messages and offers. I’ve noticed a lot of the same general questions come in and wanted opinions on how people deal with this aspect of selling.

Scenario one:
Potential Buyer: “Hello, what is the best price you can do for this card?”
Me: “Just feel free to make an offer!”

Is my response in anyway beneficial to moving the product along? Is this considered “rude” or potentially “unhelpful”? How would you guys answer this question? Give a firm number? Play the “game” of negotiating? Just let them have the opening volley?

Scenario 2:

A potential buyer offers a “lowball” offer on a card. Lets say a card that is listed for $100 bucks, sold a couple times at auction for 80 bucks, and the offer that the buyer gives me is $50.

My current response is a hard decline as in my mind, if we are that far apart, it’s likely a waste of my time. Should I change my thought process here? Should I take the time to pull auctions/documentation of price to cement my point? Is that actually successful? Is an open dialog a better option here to get them closer to where I want to be? Thoughts on this would be great!

Scenario three:

A buyer puts in an offer of 30% less than my list price. I reject and they immediately bombard me with: “how come you’re not taking best offers like it says in your listing?” My response is to just block them.

Is my response too hasty? Should I invest the time in trying to work through the deal, even if the buyer has a more “emotional” response? Are buyers like this salvageable and worth the effort?

Any other thoughts on “ebay etiquette” would be great here too! As I’m just starting out on the platform, I’ve got a lot to figure out. For this however, there is no guide I can read, just make due with the best opinions E4 has to offer. So, thoughts?

*Edit: For those curious: my ebay is here. I did a bit of grading back in 2011-14 and have some fun cards, as well as some WOTC era cards I’m trying to get up online as well. I also dabble in graded jumbo cards which a lot of people really seem to like which surprises me.

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It’s totally up to you how you’d like to handle. If you’re selling lower volume trying to grow your business, or someone showed interest in a low-demand card, maybe it’s worth the time to see if they’ll meet in the middle.

If they’re low-balling you on stuff that will sell in a couple weeks or auction at a decent price with low effort on your part, probably best just send a copy-paste message of “Thanks for reaching out. Feel free to make an offer on the item’s listing page or buy it now. Hope you have a nice day.”

I occasionally make an offer on ebay items, but if a seller doesn’t respond or doesn’t seem interested I just move on. People that want to argue with you about how you run your business probaby aren’t worth the time 99% of the time.

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With slabs I’ve been putting an auto decline on the lowest price I am willing to take. That seems to help a lot with not looking at low ball offers. I don’t respond to the what’s the best you will take questions.

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*Let me preface this by saying I usually don’t have offers enabled (even though the algorithm prefers that you do), so I mostly get offers via messages. As well, I’m definitely not a shining example of customer service. My block list is definitely longer than average :sweat_smile:

Scenario 1: I think your answer is fine. Any number is essentially negotiating against yourself. If they’re straightforward, I’ve dealt with them before, and I actually have a price in mind then I might give a number, but the vast majority of people won’t follow up. As such, I mostly just ignore these messages.

Scenario 2: I usually hard decline. If their aim is to start low and gradually creep up to a fair price then it’s not worth the back and forth imo. As for showing them evidence, they likely already know the market price and you’d be burdening yourself for no reason. One exception could be if the item is very niche and has little sales data; even then, if a price is very different to what the buyer expects then realistically they’re unlikely to shift much.

Scenario 3: Block if they’re rude. If they frame it politely and you feel like they’re messaging in good faith maybe explain. I usually ignore these types of messages.

My primary aim now is to evaluate the risk of getting scammed/non-paying buyers, and to insulate myself from them. IMO ebay etiquette has shifted over the years. It feels like today buyers are more blunt, and more keen to get a deal rather than the card itself. It feels like there’s been a bro-ification.

I will say that, especially for US sellers, there are more helpful tools for selling now than ever before. Ebay International Shipping/Global Shipping Programme are great for sending overseas, and if your cards go through their Authentication Guarantee then you’re 100% safe. There’s also the eBay Vault, but I couldn’t comment on how useful it is.

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When I sell its mainly auctions, but I get messages on occasion for my BIN items. Generally, I just ignore all messages and any offer below 90% my asking price.

I do this because when there is a card I really want, I just click buy - no messages, no offers, no back and forth, just a click. My hope is that I receive buyers who also do that when i’m selling (hasnt worked out so far).

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There are 2 types of buyers. Buyers who want the item and buyers who want a deal.

I exclusively engage with the former. Every second you spend on people who only want a deal is time wasted.

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I sell to all sorts of buyers: collectors, resellers, and parents buying gifts for their children. The collectors and parents are the most fun to engage with. Resellers can be quicker with a purchase, but they’re often arrogant and rude. At the end of the day, I will sell if the buyer reaches my cutoff price for each item and I don’t care who it goes to. If they waste my time or become rude, I will block them.

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@pfm Hit it on the head! The market is too big to cater to bad buyers. Statistically speaking, people who ask, “what is the lowest you will go”, and “can I have more pictures” are not actual buyers. If I had to guess the amount of times one of those two scenarios ended in an actual sale, it would be less than 10% of the time.

Also phrasing matters. Someone immediately asking, “why didn’t you accept my offer?”, is just wholesale not worth your time. Where someone asking a more pointed question, like “hey this card is prone to x problem”, or “would you meet at or accept x price” is more productive. In fact while typing this response, I had someone ask, “whats the lowest you would take” and “would you take $175”, the latter ended in an actual sale!

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I feel like the, “what’s the lowest you would take” question has become way more common in the past 2-3 years and most of the time the best offer option is on the card. If you’re a serious buyer submit a offer!! This question frustrates me so much.

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Thanks, this is what I figured and was just not sure “how it’s done” or at the very least a “best practice”.

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I’m finding this to be more and more true, and I don’t think it’s specific to ebay either. I just sold my ecommerce business and found we were getting more and more requests for discounts on items that were already in the “economy” tier. It’s amazing how many people want to negotiate on just about everything these days.

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I’ve had both of these within the first week i revived my 14 year old ebay account, and your right, both parties were not really interested in a purchase.

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Its annoying how bad buyers are that ask for more pictures are and makes the rest of us look bad. Whenever I ask for pictures it’s because I’m decently interested in buying the card and just want a bit more clarification on the cards condition before buying and I probably buy more than half of the cards I ask for pictures on.

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I set minimum offer and auto accept offer to the same number, that being the minimum value I’m willing to take for the item.

In all honesty I don’t get a lot of “what’s the best price on X” messages, but that’s probably because I’m not selling many things worth over $100. When I do get those messages, I just respond that the listing is set up to take offers.

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Anytime I get ‘what’s the lowest you will take?’ I just hit them right back with ‘what’s the highest you will offer?’ :person_shrugging:

In a quieter market buyers will often try the tactic of making you sell to them. My recommendation is to stick to your guns and let the buyer come to you if they genuinely want the item :slight_smile:

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