Ebay best offers

[spongedog]

Wondering if I have misunderstood what Best Offers now means on EBAY.

It used to be item listed for opening bid of eg £20, no bids, you offered £18 and it might be accepted. So Best Offer was less than the opening bid.

Twice this week I have placed a Best offer (10-15% below) and the seller has replied with a best offer of more than the opening bid. There are no bids on these items and they have rolled for several auctions.

Just puzzled why the seller has set things up with a Best Offer.

I've been on ebay a long time so wondering if convention has changed and I am upsetting everyone!

It's them, not you!

No, best offer is similar to buy it now. It means you can buy it straight away instead of waiting for the auction to run if your best offer is high enough and they're willing to accept that. You obviously pay a slight premium for it but if it's a popular item then your best offer may still be below the eventual winning bid. Your best offer might be 5-10 % below the but it now price (I think that's where you're getting confused) but it's never lower than the opening auction bid!

Thank you both.

I think @FeedTheFish it must have changed. Thank you for the clarification. I have been on Ebay nearly 20 years and that wasnt its original form. I have seen a lot more Best Offers over the last 2-3 years - they starting charging fees for BIN - so Best offers would avoid that for the seller.

I think that best offers is now applies as standard by eBay, and a lot of the time sellers don’t even realise this, hence why they won’t accept any offers less than the asking price.

I've been in eBay a v long time too, and it definitely was for when a BiN wasn't selling and you could make a cheeky offer to a seller.
I suppose this is part of the move away from individuals selling their used items to professional/corporate sellers.

I thought there was best offer which is what you describe where you can go under which goes with buy it now, or there’s make offer which goes with auction and you’re basically saying will you take it off now for this amount. I have had the same confusion.

I understand it as...

Buy it Now or Best Offer: Seller lists for £100 but may accept a best offer of £80.

Auction or Best Offer: Seller lists item for £10 hoping to get £100 but would be happy with £80. Seller doesn't want to pay a fee to have a reserve price or to list as a Buy it Now in addition to Auction. The Best Offer allows a seller to end the auction early if a Buyer comes along who doesn't want to wait or risk being outbid so offers a decent enough amount to satisfy the Seller.