Is That Your Final Offer?

There’s another option if the seller chooses to list an item with a fixed price, rather than listing as an auction with the Buy It Now option: Best Offer. Again, this is pretty much what it sounds like – an opportunity for a bidder to offer their own best price to the seller rather than accepting the fixed price. While you usually find this option attached to high-ticket items like jewelry or cars, it’s often available on listings with a smaller value – but it’s permitted only in certain categories and may not be used with the auction-style format. Basically, if you’ve chosen a category and listing type that allows the Best Offer option, the system will display it on the listing form.

Best Offer may sound a little like an auction, but it’s more like the buyer and seller of a house going through the offer/counteroffer process. Some things to know about this option:

• A Best Offer bid is only good for 48 hours at most.
• When creating the listing, the seller can have the system respond automatically to Best Offer bids based on her preferred price range, rejecting any offer under the lower threshold and accepting the first bid greater than the upper threshold. The seller cannot use the automatic feature to respond to bids within the preferred range. Example: if selling a sapphire necklace for a fixed price of $5,500.00, with $3,750.00 as the lower threshold and anything above $4,750.00 being in the “I’ll take it” range, the system would automatically reject a bid of $3,500.00 and accept the first offer of $4,750.00 or more.
• If the seller includes shipping in the listing, the Best Offer price covers only the item for sale, not the item plus shipping. If the bidder has to contact the seller about shipping, the Best Offer bid may be for the item alone, or the item plus shipping, which the bidder should make clear in the offer.
• After receiving a Best Offer bid, the seller can:
o accept the bid and end the listing.
o decline the bid with or without providing a reason to the bidder.
o decline the bid and make a counteroffer, even if the bid was automatically declined. If the bidder doesn’t respond, the seller can let the counteroffer lapse. Note that the seller’s counteroffer must be less than the Buy It Now price.
o allow the offer to expire after 48 hours or the end time of the listing, whichever comes first.
The seller requirements to use Best Offer are the same as those given above for setting up a fixed-price listing – or the seller must have gone through the ID Verify process. Aren’t you glad know one more way to get or offer a good deal on eBay?

By: Greg Kusch - Ebay Guru

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Greg Kusch has been dubbed "the eBay expert". He is the most quoted eBay expert on national news. You can ask him questions about how to make more money on eBay at www.AskTheEbayExpert.com.