6 Ways to Optimize Best Offer on eBay and Increase Sales

Young woman counting money that she made by optimizing offers on ebay and increasing sales

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eBay has the Best Offer feature that can increase sales without any additional cost or time investment. Sellers can add Best Offer to their listings to alert buyers that they will accept offers below the asking price.

Best Offer is free to use and provides an effective way to engage with buyers and increase profits. Many sellers include Best Offer on all Fixed Price listings to allow buyers to start a conversation that may result in a sale.

1. Auto-decline

This is a feature that allows sellers to decline offers below a specified price. To increase sales, read about auto-decline on eBay's Help Page so that you avoid missed opportunities.

Sellers can miss a sale if the offer is $1 below the auto-decline cut-off point. For example, if a seller sets auto-decline at $25 and a buyer offers $24, the offer will automatically be rejected, and the seller will not even see the offer. If a seller has had this item for six months with no offers and paid $2 for the item, $24 would be a reasonable and welcome offer.

Sellers with thousands of items in the inventory may like to use auto-decline if they receive a large number of offers daily. While manually responding to such volume each day does not equate to effective time management, smaller sellers would benefit from personally reviewing and responding to each offer to avoid losing legitimate offers.

2. Counteroffers

Always counter an offer if the buyer’s offer is too low. Some buyers are testing to see if a seller has the auto-decline option set. They may offer $1 to see how quickly their offer is declined. If the offer is rejected immediately, they may not continue with other offers because they know that the seller is not monitoring offers below a certain level.

Smaller sellers should embrace the counteroffer feature. Many buyers do not want to receive an automated response but prefer to negotiate with a real person. While automation is a benefit in many respects, it can result in lost sales.

3. Shipping Terms Not Included

Best Offer centers on the price of the item only. Make sure to carefully read the offer to ensure the buyer has not included shipping terms. Sometimes a buyer will add free shipping, a specific dollar amount, or a request to combine shipping with another item. If the buyer has included shipping terms, respond with a counteroffer and a message that says:

“Thank you for your offer. Per eBay policy, Best Offers are only concerned with the price of the item and do not include shipping terms. Please refer to eBay Help for more information on submitting to Best Offer.”

4. Odd Pricing 

You may see some strange prices for Best Offer for a variety of reasons. For instance, buyers may require a particular price and may base their offer on the shipping cost. For example, if you receive an offer of $20.86 and shipping is $4.14, the buyer is clearly trying to limit the total outlay to $25. 

5. When the Buyer Fails to Pay

You will encounter buyers who do not pay. This is the nature of eBay. Enable the Unpaid Item Assistant to handle unpaid cases within the number of days you specify. By automating unpaid cases, you can focus on moving forward with your business and real sales and not waste time chasing buyers who owe you money.

6. Determining the Price of an Item That Sold on Best Offer

Researching items sold on Best Offer can be tricky. eBay does not display the price of an item sold on Best Offer. On the listing, the price is shown with a black horizontal line through it. For both buyer and seller feedback, the asking price has a strikethrough line. However, it is possible to work around this convention. The website, WatchCount.com, contains this valuable information. Visit WatchCount.com, enter the item number from eBay in the keywords box, and click enter. WacthCount provides the selling price of the item and other details including the end time and view count. The actual selling price is helpful for sellers researching historical pricing for similar items they want to include in their inventory. The actual selling price is helpful for buyers who want to make offers and determine what price sellers may accept. 

Remember that negotiating is a way for both sides to emerge happily from a transaction. Best Offer is a way to start a conversation about the price that can lead to a sale. The buyer obtains the product at a desirable price, and the seller makes a sale. Keep the lines of communication and your mind open when receiving offers.