I quite often use best offer on eBay, especially for electronics as I find bidding on such stuff is a real PITA. You have to be prepared to watch a bunch of stuff for a few days, you never know quite what it's going to go for, there are often several people bidding frantically; I find it a real nuisance. Whenever it comes to something important like a replacement (in my case, used) PC, laptop, phone, storage drive, or whatever I invariably use BIN, as I find auctions for such stuff a real drag, and the professional sellers I prefer to buy such stuff from are usually selling at fixed-price (possibly with best offer) anyway.
Plus here in the UK, the UK distance sellers act only applies to fixed-price goods, not auctions, so you have better buyer protection. My preferred sellers for my used electronics is invariably domestic commercial sellers such as the companies that recycle office electronics. I used to have a guy who could bring me a printer the same day! :D
This is how I do 'best offer' . I always use it if it is available for an item I would have bought at full price anyway, and I guess I get a reduction roughly half the time. It is a very simple strategy. You have 3 offers:
1) Offer 75%
2) Offer 85%
3) Offer 95% for high-value items, or 90% for low-value items
Here is an example: https://i.imgur.com/GqjXjKG.jpg
1) I offered 75% (£6) 2) The seller declined
3) I offered 85% (£6.80)
4) The seller counter-offered £7, which I accepted (My next offer was going to be £7.20)
That's only £1 saved, but honestly I quite enjoy the 'thrill' of seeing how it plays out, and OFC that is even more worthwhile for a higher-value item. And IMO a lot less hassle than auctions, at least the ones where you have counter-bidders. Actually I tend to find clothes, footwear and other less desirable used stuff often only has 1 bidder, so I just run the clock down and bid my maximum with about 7 seconds to go.
Anyway, hope someone finds that helpful.
Edit: here is another nice example: HSGT 4TB Hard Drive (3.5") Desktop HDD used, down from 53.45 to 45.43 (85%)
July 31, 2022 at 06:09AM
