This is what I thought. You’d be getting a benefit and he gains nothing. Normally a deal should benefit both sides. Otherwise why should the seller waste time messaging back and forth just to save you money?
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I may be part of the minority of this one; however, I have also declined multiple “off-site” transactions that are based upon my BIN minus eBay / PayPal Fees. Here is my thinking behind this type of situation - granted, it’s not the exact same type of situation.
The vast majority of my eBay Business is low-value cards - ranging from $1.00 to $10.00. Just to give a really rough ballpark figure, I would say that my average sale is around $20.00 - so we’re not talking one card for a couple hundred dollars like in the OP’s Example. Additionally, I have my eBay Store / Inventory organized PERFECTLY - everything that I want listed is listed with the exact quantities that I have / want to sell-off. Anyway, I have had multiple buyers approach me asking to purchase 10+ low-value cards ($1.00 / Ea. BIN) off-site for 15% less than my BIN. In general, my answer is always “Thanks, but No” (in nicer terms of course) simply because it takes up a lot more of my time! Now I have issue an invoice via PayPal and/or make sure they actually made payment on what they agreed to purchase, I have to go adjust my eBay Inventory to reflect these off-site purchases, I have to go to a separate website in order to get the mailing address / upload tracking information, and being a “business” that has to report income, it throws yet another monkey-wrench into my book-keeping at the end of each month!
Sure, I might loose-out on a few sales here and there, but that really doesn’t bother me at all! It would bother me having all that added work put onto me in order to give the buyer the full discount for eBay / PayPal Fees. It just doesn’t make sense for me to “avoid” these fees and create 100x more work for myself - I could use that time to list new inventory and make more money!
Now, if I were a different type of eBay Seller, someone who didn’t sell as many items per month, but each sale generated $100.00+ - I would most likely have a different opinion. I wouldn’t have the massive inventory and/or number of sales per month - making everything just a little easier on the seller’s end.
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Dude, this sounds like a lot of effort just to save a few bucks. Maybe a 3000.00 item would justify so much attention but not this.
Like I’ve stated many times, i offered $5 more then what - 10% would be, and he would be losing even more on eBay at - 13% in fees.
And the other advantage is i would pay friends and family and I’m a trusted seller/buyer.
If i was to sell privately i would love to give someone a good deal and gain a little instead of letting eBay get all the money they don’t need 
Pokemon collectors should help other Pokemon collectors sometimes as well.
I’m not even interested in the item anymore, thats not the point at all anymore. I wanted to get people opinion on this subject. I wasn’t sure if i was in the right or wrong. I have seen many good points here and a lot of people have different opinions. And just because a certain amount of money isn’t that big of a thing to you doesn’t mean it isn’t to other people.
I agree with everything you said, but this guy isn’t a business. He is just an average seller on instagram and ebay here and there. All that would happen would be i would get his email, pay him and send a screenshot that i sent the money, send him my address and then all he has to do is send it and take it off ebay. Not that much hassle for him.
Is he a high-volume seller? If so, then perhaps he’d rather pay the $15 to eBay knowing that he’s still getting exposure from the card being available, and thus more potential customers for everything he sells.
EDIT: I posted my reply without realizing that there was a whole second page of responses. Gary and oldskoolpokemon are exactly right.
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No, I’m with you too. Actually for all amounts. Maybe this buyer should offer the seller 30.00 more than the buy it now. He’d be giving up 30.00 to the hard working seller which would be very nice.
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Very great point! but no he is not. plus the card is priced to sell so i assume he wants it sold quickly.
Maybe if 30.00 is a big deal to someone they shouldn’t be buying 350.00 cards;)
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I think it is completely wrong to say that a $350 sale doesn’t warrant this discussion.
While it seems the time wasn’t worth it in this instance, there are a few points to takeaway, which are about the principles of these transactions.
A sale benefits the seller. If it wouldn’t benefit the seller in any possible way, they wouldn’t post an item for sale at a certain OBO price.
If the seller wasn’t going to receive that 10% anyway, an offsite transaction should take off the eBay final value fee.
When the buyer offers OBO price - final value fees, but not less, the seller is receiving more than they were willing to through eBay, so they should take it.
This is assuming the seller is rational and actually want to sell the item. It also disregards time, which becomes more relevant with smaller transactions, or with excessive communication/offers.
edit: (additionally) A seller places an item for sale at an a price, because they are willing to sell it and take in that price minus all fees (paypal, ebay, shipping+handling)
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can’t a seller get a break? maybe I am just lazy.
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I see very good points made here from both sides. At the end of the day the seller owns the item and they can sell to whomever they please and how they please. The main point I see is that it is an or best offer posting which unless that was an accident means the seller is willing to negotiate on price, so someone coming to the seller and offering to give them their asking price minus fees for an offline transaction is a win-win. I understand the seller needing incentive to save the buyer fee money but here the incentive is getting your full asking price as opposed to settling for an or best offer price. If I were the seller I would most definitely take that offer.
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If you want to pocket $100 for your item, it shouldn’t matter whether it is on eBay or Facebook (no fees), what matters as a seller is how much money you receive, not how much the buyer pays.
There shouldn’t need to be incentive to save the buyer Final value fee, because that doesn’t change how much the seller gets.
Why should the buyer have extra leverage? When they will pocket the exact same amount of money, the amount they chose…
Obviously the fees can be split, and do that kind of negotiation, but especially with OBO, to go 10% down, if willing to do an offsite transaction should be a no brainer.
I would not choose to lose a sale on an item, because of trying to use my leverage, to pocket more, than I would have originally.
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The leverage is actually making the sale, relevant more in niche items that don’t sell often. If you need liquidity to make a move on more items, then you list at a price where you can make the sale. Its a sliding scale between buyer/seller, sellers need for cash and buyers willingness to pay a price for a card.
'Else every item would just get listed at ridiculous prices and never move because hey - you have the item you can just wait till someone comes along and pays your sky high price right?
In the end it all comes down on what your goals are:
-
Building your Ebay account
You will sell on Ebay for in this case 350 and lose 10% in fees keeping you 315 USD, you do get feedback and also more sales data. Ebay users will be more inclined to buy an item from you if they see you have had lots of sales. -
Getting a quick sale to get an X amount of money
In this case the seller could indeed sell for 315 USD outside of Ebay, it would nett the same amount but you would not get any of the benefits from point 1.
Conclusion:
If the seller is in no rush to sell, option 1 is definitely the better option. You have to be patient but you nett the same amount plus you gain all the other benefits. You gain more visibility on your Ebay account, gain trust from potential other buyers and also gain positive feedback. This is important as a highly appreciated and exposed account could potentially sell other cards for more money due to it’s status.
As a seller I could defenitely understand that he wants to split the benefits. Since the seller does not seem in a rush to sell he gains nothing more than money on his bank account and none of the other benefits.
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I think his offer is fair, OP. You’re saving $20, and he’s making $15 extra assuming he’d 10% fees selling on ebay.
Just a tip though… Next time if you want to pay $315, try offering $300. 
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The card isnt worth $330 though thats the thing, im offering what it sold for a few days earlier and he would be fine with it on ebay so he should be fine with it privately. if i paid what it sold for on ebay he would of got less then $300
I can’t blame a seller for haggling with a buyer, it’s all part of the negotation process… As I said, I think your mistake was offering too much. You end up with a situation where you think the seller is greedy and they’ll probably think you’re trying to nickel and dime over $5-10 on a $300+ purchase.
I guarantee you if you had offered about $300 or even slightly less, it would probably have been a done deal in your $310-320 range. 
The discount varies a lot. Sometimes there’s no discount at all, other times you can save up to 25% or so if you deal in private. There,s not set rule that one should expect 10% off when buying off ebay.
This is all soooo unnecessary and a complete waste of time from beginning to end.
Unless you need more pics or have a shipping question LEAVE THE SELLER ALONE…especially if he has an OBO on the listing. Just offer what you’re happy with paying through OBO and bargain that way.
DONT LOOK FOR WAYS TO SCREW EBAY when you’re dealing with a stranger. That’s scamming. When your dealing with e4 members or other friends etc then okay, save the fees. Are you the type to scam Walmart by shoplifting or returns? Do you scam your landlords? How about your family and friends?
Ebay is the best thing going to help you fill your collection and maybe make a few bucks. Support the process.
Final point, your trying to game the system just to save 30 bucks but then you cry when the seller does the same to make 15.00? WTH?
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