posted on July 13, 2002 08:58:50 PM new
I've had at least two instances with Personal offer where I have made an offer to one of my bidders, and then I have received an e-mail from a different bidder saying that they received a personal offer notice from ebay but could not complete the transaction. It makes sense that they can not complete the transaction, because they should never have received the personal offer to begin with! In one of my cases, it was the high bidder who actually received the Personal Offer notice. Of course, he was rather upset to learn that I was willing to sell an identical item for less money then he won the auction for. I have contacted ebay's Powerseller support about this issue. They responded rapidly, but said that I am the first person to report having this problem. I thought I had seen people post threads on this forum about this issue before. If anyone else is experiencing this problem, please let me know and I'll pass it on to eBay so they can know that this it is not an isolated incident. Thanks for your help!
posted on July 14, 2002 04:20:37 AM new
Well, I have made about a dozen personal offers, and have never had ONE reply, even after a fierce bidding war, maybe that is the reason!!
posted on July 14, 2002 09:07:50 AM new
Hello tammy65
If the winning bidder does not complete the sale you may offer your item to the underbidder or you may offer it if you have more than one item for sale.
I have tried it four times and was successful three times. Here is the ebay info on it.
posted on July 14, 2002 10:19:47 AM new
I've used Personal Offer many times with great success, as I often have multiples of the same items to sell. For my items where the bidding went well, I actually plan ahead to sell another with personal offer, as often the second highest bid is 25 cents less, yet ebay doesn't charge me the 30 cent listing fee.
ebay says that your personal offer will not show up in ebay's search, but I have had one instance where someone other than the personal offer user pulled up the item - I asked how the non-PO person "found" the personal offer, and she said she accessed when she clicked my "view sellers other auctions" from one of my closed auctions. It's only happened once, so I never reported it to ebay.
For those getting no "nibbles" on PO, you might try searching completed items to see what the going rate for your item is, as well as to see how many other current auctions for your items - then choose your personal offer bidder who bid close to the "going rate". It's a great way to save on listing fees, IMHO.
posted on July 14, 2002 10:25:57 AM new
I don't like the personal offer system. I e-mail the second place bidders directly. Yes I know about ebays rules and fee avoidence, but it is more personal and I have a much higher sale rate that way. If I get a deadbeat, I almost always am able to sell it to the second place bidder if it falls through. I always include a link to the old auction so they can refresh their memory. I would say I am at about 95% sell through that way.
posted on July 14, 2002 11:12:40 AM new
Thanks for everybody's replies so far. Looks like I'm the only one with this specific problem (so far). If you're having this problem, though, please post about it!
Technerd: Thanks for your insights. In both these cases, the bidders who were not supposed to receive the personal offers told me that they had clicked on a link from a Personal e-mail offer they had received from eBay. Seems to me that eBay's e-mail system is accidently sending the e-mail to the wrong person. Your suggestion of contacting the bidder who is supposed to receive the offer to make sure they really got it is a good idea. I will certainly do that in the future.
Caffeitalia: Since you already know that what you are doing is against eBay regulations, I am sure it will be no surprise to you if eBay shuts you down. They don't take kindly to sellers who skirt the system. Maybe you should make the personal offer, and then send a personal e-mail in addition to the bidders. That way, you're playing by eBays rules, but are also getting that personal contact in. All it would take would be one bidder to contact eBay about your actions to end your eBay career. Be careful!
posted on July 14, 2002 08:55:38 PM new
"For those getting no "nibbles" on PO, you might try searching completed items to see what the going rate for your item is, as well as to see how many other current auctions for your items - then choose your personal offer bidder who bid close to the "going rate". It's a great way to save on listing fees, IMHO.
ashtonne"
Ashtonne is correct. I find that if an item sells for $40 - $50 and I get a bid of $100., Personal Offers near $100 go unclaimed. However if the bidding stops at $40-$50, I can sell a second and/or third in that price range. Since I am happy with the starting bid of $24.95, I like those extra sales (item cost me $3.00).
posted on July 15, 2002 08:58:35 AM new
I use about 10 PO's a week. I sell between 3 and 7 of them. Sometimes I get people who did not get the personal offer email me telling me that they can not buy the personal offer. I advertize my sight Dejapooh.com a bit, and it just flashes to my "About Me" page on ebay. This lists everything I have up for sale including the Personal offeres. I believe that if someone tries to buy a personal offer and it is not the person you made the offer to, they are not able to make the BIN, and I think that is your problem.
