Got a B9 for $5 one time  (mint condition).

I never ask to got outside ebay, though. Just if they would put a BIN on item. Works about 5% of the time.

i managed to get beholder 26 to 29 for a good price - not mega cheap but i think a good price. prb one of my bettre deals.

tho i did pick up 32 T&T books for £22 too which was a great bargain imo.

Al

Beyondthebreach wrote:I've done it a few times . . . however, only if the auction hasn't received any bids.  I try to make a fair offer - mostly I do it when the item is overpriced (from my point-of-view, anyway)  and has been running for 3 or 4 days.

Then it's something like - "instead of your opening bid of $60 plus shipping, will you take $45 including shipping?"

yeah i have just said something similar on another thread in reply to something Frank M said.

Al

I used to ask the seller if they had a BIN in mind. I actually had the sentence in a text document that I would copy and paste. I don't recall ever saying "I'll give you $X for it". I have, though, gotten some extremely low BIN's from sellers. I did make the mistake of posting that I used this practice, and it seemed to skyrocket from there, so I usually don't bother anymore.

MShipley88 wrote:Most sellers seem to regard these offers as nusiances and brush them off without thinking.

"Nuisance" pretty much hits it on the head — I delete all such offers with extreme prejudice. If I wanted a BIN on the item, I would have placed a BIN on the item.

Part of the problem is that the amount of offers has been escalating for many sellers. It's no one's fault, really — it's more of a by-product of eBay's growth, the popularity of the entire BIN concept, and buyers who tend to be more knowledgeable than the buyers of, say, three or fours years ago.

Of course, I've sometimes turned down BIN offers and then gotten sawed off at the knees on the final auction price, so my stubborness has obviously cost me some money. But I believe in the auction concept in general, and I'm willing to take my chances. I will never end an ongoing auction early.

I have asked the question maybe 6 times over the years and it has worked out once.  Although the last time I tried started the whole Necromican fiasco.  

What sucks about that one was that although I received a refund, with the currency exchange of buying vs selling (because the banks want a cut on both directions) I ended up losing about $2.

I've done it on a few items, usually on items that either didn't sell the first or second time around or had not been bid on yet.  My best deal was on a huge collection of miniatures in an "army transport case".

i only do it if there are no bids.  i have had a result three times with this.

once it worked fine.
the next time i got stiffed and had to chargeback
the third time it worked fine, but the buyer listed it as buy-it-now on ebay (while i was in the pub) and someone else nabbed it first  

I've never done it, but have been approached a couple of times.