What does "Make Offer" mean to you?

[Fitski]

Well I'll admit to throwing out low ball best offers! (more than 50% off) and a good portion of the time they've accepted it other times they'll come back with a decent counter offer no where near their asking price. You never know when someone needs a quick sale

When I'm selling on ebay I just put an auto decline on anything lower than I want to accept and then I don't have to deal with lowballers like me!

[TrekStar]

You also have to consider what there charging for shipping, so make an offer and include shipping.
when I sell I never add make an offer, to catch someone's eye, I might offer free shipping or just simply
sell at buy it now offer with free shipping. If I'm buying from someone asking to make an offer, I will
normally do it, if they meet in the middle, depending on how bad they want to sell it.

[MIB41]

As a rule if the price is in the ballpark of what I was willing to pay, but I can get some savings from an offer, I tend to take 10% off the top. I get most offers I make based on that thought process. I'm not going to haggle in my hobby. If someone wants to accept offers, I'll make them an honorable offer within the framework of reason and expectation. If 10% is too high, they weren't serious to begin with and I move on. I don't make bids on open offers because no one puts anything up for sale without some kind of expectation. As a buyer it's not my job to read minds and know when someone feels personally enriched on a deal. To me if you're selling something and have a number in mind, establish a ceiling around it and then negotiate.

[Hedji]

Good thread. I agree with Palitoy also. I can't figure why it's there if the seller is only willing to budge 5%. But sometimes, I'm such an impatient sucker, I'll take the 5% and say, "well, at least he budged a little".

[Donkey Hoatie]

I've used it as a buyer in the past with mixed results, but never as a seller. I like Palitoy's "20-25%" off guideline as well, but with some caveats. If it's a relatively lower-priced, common item, I'll usually go above that 25% threshold and max out around 33%. For example, if the seller's looking for $25 for an item, I'll sometimes come in around $17-18. For a higher-priced item that's not terribly common, I'll usually come in around 15-20% max.

I've had counteroffers to a 25% off offer come back in at a budge of less than 5%, and I'll just walk away from those. But, if they counteroffer around the 10-15%, I'm usually OK with it. I've also had offers of around 15% off a small item that just sit and languish and in those cases, I wonder why the guy even bothered to put that as an option.

[ubermanx]

Giving you the false hope of a deal engages you and puts the proverbial foot in the door. Makes you not dismiss the auction immediately.

I do like Palitoy's "20-25%" off guide line and will be using that.

- Marty

[palitoy]

To me, it's an invitation to dance.
You ask $25. I offer $15. We meet in the middle at $20, and we both feel like we had some input. I'll gladly pay that $20.
..

Yeah, I find that kind of fun. I don't mind putting it on as a seller because I figure people like to feel they got a deal.

[Gorn Captain]

To me, it's an invitation to dance.
You ask $25. I offer $15. We meet in the middle at $20, and we both feel like we had some input. I'll gladly pay that $20.

I've had sellers lower their asking price from $30.99 to $30.69.
That's not an invitation to dance, that's a rohypnol in your drink and a chloroform rag to the face...

[Joshua the Atomic Robot]

When I see "Make an Offer" I usually submit an offer 10-20% off. The exact amount usually depends on how much other sellers are selling it for. 90% of the time people accept my offer, or give me a counter offer that is still in that range. Occasionally someone will respond with a counter offer that is just silly, like 50 cents off or something, and I usually just buy from someone else in those cases, even if I have to pay a little more, just because it annoys me that they weren't serious about making an offer.

[huedell]

I must be in the minority because I use it as a seller and a buyer. I find in some cases people ignore it and just go for the buy it now, and for the low offers I always set a minimum that weeds out the low ball offers and I never even see them. As a buyer, again, I love it, I've been able to get really great deals on stuff before using it. Sometimes people only drop it down a little bit, but if I'm interested in it, any amount less than what they are asking is just fine with me.

I think like you do.
You may think we are in the minority.
And maybe we are---but, honestly, I don't know how anyone can see it differently than we do...
Yet, apparently they do.
it's a crazy world, I suppose.

[TomStrong]

I've never had good luck with it. Anytime I make a fair offer (a fair offer mind you) invariably the member emails me back like hes insulted! I don't like to use it. I always feel like its a trap to brow beat the buyer.

[drquest]

I must be in the minority because I use it as a seller and a buyer. I find in some cases people ignore it and just go for the buy it now, and for the low offers I always set a minimum that weeds out the low ball offers and I never even see them. As a buyer, again, I love it, I've been able to get really great deals on stuff before using it. Sometimes people only drop it down a little bit, but if I'm interested in it, any amount less than what they are asking is just fine with me.

[Mego Magyar]

It's kind of like the Pawn Shop shows, they start off low you start of high and see if you can agree in the middle.

As a seller I never use "make an offer" because it tells people right off that the starting price you listed isn't what you're really willing to sell it for. It would have to be something really special that someone really wants to pay full price when you are telling people that you will take less.

As a buyer I've had times when people only want to go a couple of dollars lower so I just move on.

[enyawd72]

To me, it means "I'm not buying your stuff."
I do not play the offer game.
Just put a fair price on whatever it is and it will most likely sell.

[warlock664]

As a seller, I've rarely used "Make an Offer"; for that matter, I rarely use fixed price or high starting price either. I begin 99.9% of my auctions at $9.99, and let them run their course, thus getting a true barometer of the item's "real" value. The few times I have used Make an Offer, I've received insulting offers.
As a buyer, I usually won't send an offer that is more than 20% off the fixed price. I figure that's usually the most a seller would accept, and I don't want to waste everyone's time sending unrealistic offers. If a starting price is ridiculously high, I won't bother sending and offer at all, because usually that indicates the seller has unrealistic expectations.
A couple of times I've sent offers on Hot Toys figures to Asian sellers, and received counter-offers that were less than $1 off their starting price! I don't understand the purpose of "Make an Offer" in that case!