General Forum

I won't be buying cards from oldsportcollectibles, an Ebay seller, as I just made an offer of $2.00 for a card he was selling for $2.94, with the intent of countering to about $2.50 if needed. Well I changed my mind on countering since he raised the price to $4.94 after declining my offer. Maybe he mispriced it to begin with, I doubt it since the card and it's condition (a long back crease) wouldn't merit much higher than what was originally set, at least orginally for tonight. Maybe it was wrong on my part to get upset over that and that it was simply a case of a mistake in pricing, but it's hard for me to believe that since he didn't share that on the email he declined my offer with.

I completely agree with you, Joshua. I hate when that happens. It really ticks me off. Any seller that immediately raises the price after seeing one person interested in the card makes me mad. Even worse when it is low-priced/valued in the first place. I had a similar issue last month but for much more money. A seller had a card listed for exactly the Beckett BV. I offered 1/3rd (as is normal) to see what he would come back with in a counteroffer. The following day he countered for only $5 less than the BIN price. My car broke down that same day so I wasn't sure what I could afford. I rejected it. When it ended, he relisted the card for exactly my offer on top of what he wanted before! I immediately removed it from my watch list. What's worse is that there were 2 more of the exact card listed for cheaper BIN's. I only contacted him b/c he had Make an Offer and the others didn't. None of the 3 cards sold that round. But one of them did just sell a few days ago for about $75. That's half of what he is asking now and he's asking for over-BV too.

i get that with sellers more often now a days. i don't get it.. i do think some people though aren't aware of ebay auto changing the Best Offer and/or actual price auto setting. You have to decline that function otherwise the site will drop the price if it doesn't sell. What gets me is people like you said that don't counter even if you submit a reasonable offer or counter for a fraction of what the list price is. i actually had someone list a card for $40 i think it was, so i sent an offer for $30- the 2 day expiration was about to end and then he declines with a message that he was told that the card was worth more, so he ended the listing and relisted it for $120. I tried to explain to him about past sales and what others have sold for but he didn't want anything of it.. i watched if for a while, after 2 cycles (60 days), i know it didn't sell- don't know if it ever did. 

A certain COMC seller has done that multiple times (not just to me, but he has done it to me).

Additionally, an ebay seller has an item I want for a player collection, card books at $12, they had it listed at $19.95, no best offer. So I e-mailed them asking if they would like to make the sale at BV, plus their shipping price. "This is our price" was basically all I got back. After it was listed for a year, I tried again, same response, but then the next time it was listed, it was for $24.95. More than double BV. It's still up there, and it's almost up there for 2 years now. They'd rather it sit there for 2 years than sell it. Some people are fools.

(edit to fix typo and clarity)

As a seller, on ebay I rarely use the best offer feature.  I put a price on an item but will be flexible if I get a nice message from a potential buyer.  An example, I had an old local dairy pamphlet listed and the potential buyer nicely asked that they would be interested in it at a lower price.  Politeness goes a long way in my book.  I lowered the price and sent a message back indicating the new price.  The item sold immediately.  On the other hand, I have gotten messages that sound like "I give 5 man."  Those types of messages get deleted tout de suite.

That's reasonable, and good business practice. I open it up to the best offer for my fixed price sales, and have it auto-decline below a certain minimum I'd accept. But I have had those responses too who don't understand the art of negotiating. It's a back-and-forth.

For example, I bought a 1949 Bowman #67 Alvin Dark RC from wallstantiquesmidland on Ebay at the beginning of the month. It listed for $15 (free shipping) with "Make an Offer", so I checked previous sales based on condition and saw one that sold for $6+ (including shipping) and another for $9 (with shipping). So I offered $9. They countered with $12. I sent a message back that simply said, "I'll meet you halfway, and offered $10.50, and they accepted. Very civil, and a little back and forth. That's good business.

Oh yes!! i absoultly hate that on COMC.. that drives my blood pressure up more than the people on ebay. why the heck set a sale price for $4, have someone send you an offer (because as a seller, you HAVE to set a percentage offer range) for $3.75 and then jack the price up another dollar or two. I refuse to ever buy from somone on there again regardless of the card, ill pay more to someone else instead. This is that time when i wish there was a email or chat feature to send the seller a message. I have written to thier Admin on that issue, and they pretty said, they are aware it happens, but can't really do much about it. psssh 

I like to tell people that if you want to see just how poorly people understand basic concepts of economics, go to eBay.
My favorite was a few years back, a seller had the base card and all four printing plates for Casey Printers from the 2003 Atomic (CFL) set. When I first found it on eBay, I think the seller had it priced at around $400, BIN. Now, I have pretty good knowledge of the scarcity vs demand for most former TCU players and  I can tell you, nobody wants Casey Printers CFL cards, even 1/1 printing plates, for $400.
I watched it and kept watching it as it was relisted and relisted, eventually coming down as low as, I think, about $150 BIN.
At some point, I'm pretty sure I messaged the seller about it and tried to persuade them that the price was way too high and even made an offer of like $50. No go. So I kept watching. After several years of this set not selling, I guess the seller finally gave up and put it up for auction starting at .99. I had a not very heated bidding war for it but I'm fairly certain the seller was disappointed that I ended up winning the auction and paid about $8.50.

As far as COMC is concerned, I very rarely reject an offer for a card.  I have my minimum set to what the card would sell on ebay or amazon so if an offer comes in 99% of the time the accept button is used.

I will say I do like the no chat or message feature on COMC, i get enough messages throughout the day to deal with another source LOL.

"A certain COMC seller" I think I know to whom you are referring,