As an entrepreneurship consultant who assists countless small and medium businesses with ecommerce, I highly recommend using eBay‘s "Best Offer" feature to boost sales. Sending customized offers to potential buyers is an easy yet powerful negotiation tool for securing deals.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share insider tips to master offers as an eBay seller, using my decade of experience in the industry. Whether you‘re an existing business or just getting started selling online, follow these steps to take advantage of offers.
Setting Up Your Seller Account
Before sending any offers, you first need an eBay seller account. Fortunately, signup is fast and free. Just head to www.eBay.com and click "Register." Enter your basic personal and contact info to create an account.
With hundreds of millions of active buyers on eBay, creating an account opens your business to a massive global customer base. As you list more items, your account will gain positive feedback to establish credibility.
Enabling Best Offer
Once signed up, create listings for the inventory you wish to sell. Make sure to enable the "Best Offer" option for each listing. Over 64% of auction-style listings have this enabled to encourage buyer negotiation.
You can choose to accept offers automatically or manually approve each one. Automatic acceptance saves time if you wish to focus purely on sourcing and shipping orders. However, manual control allows you to counter or decline lowball offers.
Listing Competitively
Conduct research to set competitive listing prices aligned with current market demand. I recommend browsing eBay‘s sold listings in your product category to gauge typical selling prices.
Additionally, use services like Terapeak to analyze historical price trends and set an optimal starting price:
Price competitively to attract buyers who will make reasonable offers. This enables quicker sales with fewer extreme lowballs.
Crafting Offer Messages
When submitting an offer as a buyer, you can include an optional message to the seller. I highly recommend adding a friendly, personalized note highlighting your enthusiasm and reliability as a buyer.
For example:
Hi! I‘m excited to purchase your {item name} as a birthday gift for my wife. Please let me know if you can match this offer price. I can pay immediately via PayPal. Thanks in advance!
Messages humanizing yourself stand out from generic offers. Be polite and willing to negotiate fairly. This encourages seller acceptance and counteroffers rather than declines.
Managing Offers and Negotiations
Once receiving offers as a seller, carefully review each one. Check the buyer‘s feedback rating to gauge reliability. If the price seems fair compared to your profit goals, accept the offer to finalize the sale.
However, don‘t rush to decline below-expectation offers. Instead, counter with a price between their offer and your listing price.
For example, on a $100 listing with a $60 offer, counter at $80. This continues the negotiation while signaling the lowest acceptable price.
If counters are still unsatisfactory, then decline the offer or let it expire after 48 hours. Another buyer will eventually make a reasonable offer worth accepting.
Finalizing Transactions
Upon offer acceptance, you must complete checkout payment through eBay within the stated timeframe. Processing delays can cancel the transaction, so pay promptly.
Likewise, sellers must ship the item within their specified handling time after receiving payment. Use tracking numbers and communicate with buyers to exceed expectations.
This level of reliability and responsiveness helps accumulate positive reviews. In turn, other buyers become more likely to purchase from and make offers to proven sellers.
Maximizing Success With Offers
Sending and receiving offers as an eBay seller enables deals benefiting both buyer and seller. Effectively leveraging this system to drive profits involves:
- Competitive yet profitable listing prices
- Willingness to negotiate fairly
- Quick handling times and communication
- Consistently positive buyer experiences
Implement these practices, and your small business will thrive on eBay‘s marketplace. Sending offers facilitates deals to convert listings into sales.
As an entrepreneurship consultant, I cannot stress enough how vital Best Offers are for any eBay seller. Please reach out if you need any assistance getting started or improving operations. Now is the time to start selling online and growing using these ecommerce best practices.
