Make an offer

[SingingBabooshkaBadly]

This sounds like a stupid question but can anyone tell me what make an offer means on an auction item? It’s not buy it now or best offer so are they saying the starting bid is the lowest they will accept but you and make a higher offer to get them to end the auction before anyone bids or is it just like best offer and they are expecting offers under the starting bid?

I’ve not seen this option before and I’m a little baffled by it.

Thanks

It’s literally just that... make an offer of what you want to pay. You could offer lower than the starting price if you like,
I’d assume that they are looking for more than the starting price, but it doesn’t hurt to try your luck.

Thanks Lottie just didn’t want to commit an eBay faux pas. I did a bit more digging after posting and it looks like this is something eBay adds rather than the seller. Strange...

Ebay adds it in case seller has chosen an unrealistic start price. I think that happens a lot.

Ebay software has started adding this automatically and a seller repeatedly has to go into their settings and switch it off. It has nothing to do with a seller setting an unrealistic price. If a seller is happy to continue with the make an offer function, they can set a minimum offer price that can be submitted or they can let Ebay set one.

As an occasional seller, I find it really annoying. I switched it off in my settings but when Ebay renews a 'buy it now' listing, the offer gets switched on again. This is misleading for buyers who then think a seller is open to offers when they may actually be firm on price. It is yet again way in which Ebay is becoming less and less popular for sellers - although this offer function isn't as bad as Ebay taking a percentage of the postage charged as well (so sellers now make a loss on postage unless they inflate their prices).

It's up to you how much you offer. You might know that the item has delisted several times and try a cheeky offer. Likewise if it's newly listed they may not be interested in any offer unless it's a fair bit over the asking price.

Thanks everyone. It does seem that eBay is determined to annoy sellers these days. Appreciate your answers.

Long gone are the days when you could list an item on your terms, and re list if you wanted to.
They auto relist 7 times for free, once that 7th time is up Ebay don't automatically relist it, which is ok I suppose.
Ebay now literally force sellers to accept offers. But my way around that is to list the item for more, that way when the buyer puts in an offer they think they are getting a good deal, when really it's around the price you wanted all along.
To the PP, best offer on auction can swing both ways, it can be higher or lower than the starting auction price. I think sellers mainly mean more than the starting auction price tho. I'm a seller and it depends what the item is, mostly I've accepted less than the starting auction price because I want rid of it, don't want stock loads of stuff sitting around, but sometimes I've had an offer of quite a bit more than starting auction price. There is no set way really.