posted on May 6, 2002 10:57:24 AM
One of my seller IDs starts auctions at 1 cent. Our costs and profit are built into the s/h charge, so if it ends at 1 cent there's no tragedy. (Most of them don't end at 1 cent, though.) S/H is spelled out up front along with mode of shipping. And we do not combine auctions.
Some new hotshot has discovered our auctions this morning and sent me this note in reference to each one:
--
hi.. all these emails are for different items
hi.. i EMAILED you regarding these a few days ago..
I'm very interested in purchasing 500-2500 at a time from you.
Please let me know what's the absolute lowest you'll go on these. I'll pay my own shipping charges.
Thanks... looking forward to your reply.
P.S - this would be an ongoing situation not just a one time deal..
--
Oh, I'm so frickin' impressed with your business acumen. "What's the absolute lowest you'll go on these?" Yeah, one cent is so unreasonable, doncha know.
Let's see, you want me to sell them to you in quantity at less than 1 cent apiece. And you'll pay shipping! Where do I sign up? Obviously you're the next Warren Buffett of the business world.
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on May 6, 2002 10:59 AM ]
posted on May 6, 2002 11:22:56 AM
This reminds me of something that happened a couple weeks ago to me. I too get the lowball offers, all the time. Ebay people are always wanting to know how much I'll give them for nothing. Then, a couple weeks back I got an email asking a similar question. How much for 20 of item X (which I've been selling for around $120 each). So, expecting yet another lowballer, I just wrote back saying that I wasn't too interested in his offer, but he was welcome to make an offer on 20. To my astonishment, he actually came up with a reasonable bid. He paid me $2250 for the lot of 20 items. Nice.
posted on May 6, 2002 11:32:22 AM
I've just gotta ask....What is your S/H for these $.01 widgets????
As to your "wheeler-dealer" just give him a quote for a minimum buy of 1000 widgets (including your profit) and let him pay the shipping.
I would have assumed he has figured out you don't make anything on the bid, your profit is in the shipping but perhaps he is wondering if you would be willing to sell the item a bit less than your 1cent + shipping for a large quanity and you could make a modest profit and he can re-sell them for a profit too.
posted on May 6, 2002 11:35:44 AM
Sounds like a nice deal. You got lucky.
I've never had one of these queries that wasn't a time-waster. Simple logic and a little basic research would eliminate about 95% of these stupid emails.
"Is it a Dutch auction?" Well, no. It's a regular auction for one item. So why does this ninny think we might have 500-2500 of them to sell?
"Does this seller have a few auctions that s/he runs over and over again?" That would indicate an inventory of identical items. Again, the answer is no.
"Does the seller state that s/he is the manufacturer of this item?" No, we do not.
posted on May 6, 2002 11:36:57 AM
sulyn1950: We don't *have* these in quantity. The most I have of any one item is 3. As I said above, simple research would have shown that.
posted on May 6, 2002 11:39:10 AM
fluffythewondercat,
Personally, I don't think I'd just shrug this guy off. He may realize that you are making your money off of the s/h, and that you might have to charge him more than 1 cent a CD when he buys them in bulk. What I would do, if I were you, would be to offer him your CD's in bulk at cost + 15-20%. If he accepts.... great.. you make some money! If not... he's not worth dealing with. Either way, I'd at least make the guy a reasonable offer before you determine whether he is serious or not.
posted on May 6, 2002 11:40:59 AM
Nearly all our customers buy two or more different items from us at the same time, for which I'm grateful, otherwise I'd go nuts processing all those small orders.
