Sellers come to me daily and ask , “Kathy how can I sell my products faster?”
A huge part of writing a listing that will sell on eBay is chosing the best selling format!
On Amazon, Etsy and other sites there is only 1 selling format used and that is fixed price. eBay offers it sellers a variety of selling options.
eBay sellers can chose to sell items in auctions or at a fixed price which is a Buy It Now. When using fixed price, sellers have the added option of offering buyers a listing on a Best Offer basis. Using Best Offer sellers get to engage with their buyers. Online merchants spends hundreds of millions of dollars on social media to get engagement or interaction with shoppers. This sought after engagement can lead to sales. Using eBay’s Bulk Edit Tool Best Offer can be added to listings for many sellers in less than 5 minutes. You do NOT need an eBay store to use Best Offer.
eBay offers this potential to interaction with shoppers for FREE.
Sellers will say to me, “Kathy I use Best Offer, but all I get is low ball offers.” First, we all have different businesses. You might be in a situation where Best Offer does not work for you. It’s good to try Best Offer. You will need to tweak it a bit to find the mix that works for you. While writing this, I had 2 Best Offers come in, and when countered 1 ended in a sale!
This is what I do to increase my sales on eBay with Best Offer.
When I list, I price the item 20-30% higher than I’m willing to accept. This gives me wiggle room. Next, I set auto accept on my Best Offer listing. This saves me time and gets me sales. With auto accept established, if a buyer makes an offer on an item that is an amount I indicated I’d accept, eBay takes the Best Offer for me! The sale is executed immediately. I do not set up the Best Offer auto decline feature. If you use auto decline that means a potential buyer gets a decline notice immediately if they make an offer lower than what you’ve indicated you’ll consider. For most buyers that will send them looking to buy with someone else. A potential sale for you just got away.
When I get a low offer I professionally and politely counter with a price I am willing to take.
I let the buyer know if the offer I send them includes free US shipping. 2/3 of my buyers will counter with a higher price. Many result in sales. There are others that will not raise their offer and they move on to shop elsewhere. By countering and messaging with the buyer, I have increased my contact with my potential customer and have greatly increased my opportunity to get a sale. Many folks like to save a few dollars. Best Offer lets shoppers save with you, and you get a sale. Auto decline loses you sales.
Sometimes when I counter a low offer I lose the sale. I will think a day or 2 later, that I should have accepted the buyers offer and by not doing so I lost money.
This is my Ninja Best Offer Tip.
I will search my eBay messages and find the message with the Best Offer. I will note the seller’s eBay ID. I then contact the buyer through eBay using eBay advanced search to find the buyer. I will politely message them saying “Hi, if your still interested in item #, just make a Best Offer of X $ and I’m glad to accept.” At least 1/2 of my lost sales will turn in a sale!
A final bonus of selling using eBay’s Best Offer is that many, many buyers won’t send an offer, they’ll just buy at your full asking price!
Price your items with wiggle room. if you need to raise your prices to use Best Offer , you can do that with eBay’s Bulk Edit Tool. Don’t use the auto decline feature, losing the opportunity to haggle with shoppers. Do set Auto Accept to free up your time and gain sales.
Best Offer sets you and eBay apart from many other selling platforms. Enjoy engaging with customers and getting more sales! After all, all sellers love the sound of Cha Ching!
