make an offer

I hate resurrecting another rehash on this "auction vs. offer" issue but I've hit a few hard cases when it comes to urging folks to follow the spirit of AM's TOS on this point. I continue to see many ads, old and new, without a price listed and "make an offer" or "or best offer" selected. And many of these ads are by long time AM members with many, many excellent ratings. If one is expected to put a price on an item for sale (or else put it up in the auction category) then why is "make an offer" even a choice when placing AM Classified Ads? And why not force an entry in the price field? (I acknowledge that might present problems for ads with multiple items....) At least make this "set a price per item" requirement clear in the instructions...in simple terms.

And I'll be the first to point out and/or agree that the TOS rule:

4.2.3. Additional prohibitions include misleading offers that do not list the total purchase price or a “bait & switch” of products, advertisements listed in the incorrect category, make-money fast schemes, pyramid or chain letters, fraudulent or criminal offers including but not limited to registering another email address other than your own, or placing a fraudulent ad;

...does not clearly state that NOT putting a price on a (truly honest, in the intent of a seller) classified ad is expressly prohibited. And citing this as the rule is not well received by folks after-the-fact. They think they are being accused of shady dealings. This is a key point of confusion.

....and maybe this post belongs in "I like to complain about everything...."

I agree with you Gary. If someone has something to sell, I'd just as soon prefer that a seller make up their mind what they want for it. But if I were looking at one of those ads, I'd research Astromart ads for the same item, see what the item has been going for, and make an offer based on that. If they don't like the offer, then I'd say the seller can keep it

Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

Sonny and Cher: "And the Beat Goes on....."

Alex

How much do you want for that scope?

I dunno, make me an offer.

Ok, how about ten bucks?

I don't think so. That's not enough.

How do you know? You said you didn't know what you wanted. I think you wanted ten bucks.

Be reasonable. The scope is worth more than that.

Not if nobody wants to buy it.

This is a waste of my time. Do you want to buy it or not?

Yeah, how much are you asking?

Make me an offer.

Look, I'm the buyer. You are the seller. If you want me to do your job you will have to accept the way I do it. I'd sell the scope for ten bucks. Do we have a deal?

No.

Why not?

I don't like your price.

What price do you like?

I dunno..............

I never bother with an add that says make an offer. Ain't worth the trouble. The person selling should know what he/she needs to get out of the item. Then there is the wait until the person is sure they will get the most for it. Count me out.

Gary Carter said:

I hate resurrecting another rehash on this "auction vs. offer" issue but I've hit a few hard cases when it comes to urging folks to follow the spirit of AM's TOS on this point. I continue to see many ads, old and new, without a price listed and "make an offer" or "or best offer" selected. And many of these ads are by long time AM members with many, many excellent ratings. If one is expected to put a price on an item for sale (or else put it up in the auction category) then why is "make an offer" even a choice when placing AM Classified Ads? And why not force an entry in the price field? (I acknowledge that might present problems for ads with multiple items....) At least make this "set a price per item" requirement clear in the instructions...in simple terms.

And I'll be the first to point out and/or agree that the TOS rule:

4.2.3. Additional prohibitions include misleading offers that do not list the total purchase price or a “bait & switch� of products, advertisements listed in the incorrect category, make-money fast schemes, pyramid or chain letters, fraudulent or criminal offers including but not limited to registering another email address other than your own, or placing a fraudulent ad;

...does not clearly state that NOT putting a price on a (truly honest, in the intent of a seller) classified ad is expressly prohibited. And citing this as the rule is not well received by folks after-the-fact. They think they are being accused of shady dealings. This is a key point of confusion.

....and maybe this post belongs in "I like to complain about everything...."

Potential buyers don’t like the “make offer” ads for various reasons, and I don’t disagree. But that seems beside the point here.

Gary, you’ve answered your own question – Astromart’s classified template has “Make Offer” as one of the options for creating the ad in the first place. How is it then that this practice is “expressly forbidden?”

I think this is an over-interpretation of the above quoted TOS. An example of “misleading offers that do not list the total purchase price or a “bait & switch” of products” would be a seller saying, “hey I’m selling this Obsession telescope for $200” and then saying “oh, I only meant the mirror, the total price is really....” or “oh sorry I already sold that but can I interest you in....”, etc. I do not believe this refers to “make offer” ads at all.

When a person places an ad using the very options given by Astromart, and then receives a message that speaks to fraudulent and misleading practices, you can hardly blame them for being put off. Especially, as you note, many are long time members with expansive ratings. They didn’t get there by acting fraudulently.

People may not like “make offer” ads, but are they in fact against the TOS? It seems that if something is expressly forbidden it should expressly say so.