eBay Best Offer Strategy: When to Use It and How to Set It Up

Why Best Offer Is Underrated

Many eBay sellers either ignore Best Offer or enable it without any strategy. Both are mistakes. Used correctly, Best Offer increases your sell-through rate by 15-25% on eligible items — because it lets price-sensitive buyers negotiate without you having to list at a lower price.

When to Enable Best Offer

Best Offer works well for:

• Items priced above £20 — below that, the negotiation isn't worth the effort
• Slow-moving inventory — items listed for 14+ days without selling
• Products with flexible margins — where you can accept 10-20% less and still profit
• Higher-value items — buyers expect to negotiate on items over £100

Don't use it on fast-selling items at competitive prices, very low-margin products, or items where you've already priced aggressively.

Setting Auto-Accept and Auto-Decline

The auto settings are where the real strategy lives:

• Auto-accept: Set this at the lowest price you're happy to sell at. If someone offers this or above, the sale happens instantly without you needing to respond. I typically set this at 85-90% of the listed price.
• Auto-decline: Set this to reject lowball offers automatically. I set this at 60-70% of the listed price. Anything below that isn't a serious buyer.
• The gap between auto-decline and auto-accept: This is where offers come to your inbox for manual review. You decide case by case.

Handling Manual Offers

When an offer lands between your auto-decline and auto-accept thresholds, you have options:

• Accept — if it's close enough to your minimum and the item has been listed a while
• Decline — if the margin doesn't work
• Counter-offer — this is often the best move. Meet the buyer halfway. Most buyers who make reasonable offers will accept a counter that splits the difference

Respond quickly. eBay tracks your response time, and buyers who make offers are often ready to buy immediately. A 12-hour delay means they've probably bought from someone else.

Psychology of Pricing with Best Offer

Price your items 10-15% above your true target price when using Best Offer. This gives buyers the satisfaction of "getting a deal" while you still hit your margin target. For example, if you want £50 for an item, list at £57 with Best Offer. Auto-accept at £50. Auto-decline at £38. Most buyers will offer £45-50, and you counter at £50-52.

Tracking Performance

Review your Best Offer acceptance rate monthly. If you're accepting over 80% of offers, your auto-accept threshold is probably too low — you could be getting more. If you're declining over 60% of offers, your listed price might be too high relative to market value.