You found the coat. Camel wool, nipped waist, a label that makes your pulse do something small and specific. The price is fair. It could be fairer. Just under the Buy It Now button sits a quieter option called Make offer. Here is exactly what happens when you press it, and what happens after.
Where Best Offer lives, and where it doesn't
Best Offer only exists on fixed-price listings, the ones with a Buy It Now price, and only when the seller has switched it on. If you can see the Make offer button, the door is open. If you can't, it isn't. No amount of polite messaging changes the software.
Auctions don't take offers at all. You bid, or you wait for the hammer and hope it relists.
Most of what we feature at Foundry sits on eBay with independent sellers. We hand-pick the pieces. The offer itself happens on eBay, between you and the person who owns the thing. We can't haggle on your behalf and we never see your offers. Which, frankly, is how it should be.
The mechanics, step by step
- Open the listing and press Make offer.
- Enter your price. Add a short message if you have something useful to say. More on that in eBay Counteroffers, Timing and Messaging Sellers.
- Review and submit. If the seller accepts, eBay expects you to pay, so price it like you mean it.
- The seller now has 24 hours to accept, decline or counter.
- If they accept, pay. If they counter, you can accept, decline or counter back. Each counteroffer shows its own expiry on the offer itself.
You get up to three offers per item in most categories. Three. Not thirty. That limit shapes the whole game. A careless first number costs you a third of your chances, which is why we wrote a separate post on what a fair offer looks like.
What the seller sees, and what you don't
Sellers can set automatic rules. Any offer at or above their auto-accept price is accepted instantly. Any offer below their auto-decline price is declined automatically, usually before a human has glanced at it. The auto-accept price has to sit below the Buy It Now price.
You never see these thresholds. That is the point of them. But the response still tells you something.
- An instant decline means you were under a floor the seller drew in advance. Not personal. A setting.
- An instant acceptance means you cleared their auto-accept line. You could probably have gone a touch lower. Such is life.
- A slower reply, or a counter, means a real person looked at your number and thought about it. Good sign.
For everything that happens down in auto-decline territory, read our piece on lowball offers.
An accepted offer is not a reservation
This is the one that catches people out. When a seller accepts your offer, the item doesn't freeze. It stays available to other buyers until you pay. Someone else can press Buy It Now while you're still hunting for your card.
With autopay turned on, eBay collects payment the moment the seller accepts, and the item is secured instantly. For a one-off vintage piece, where there is no second size in the stockroom, autopay is worth switching on. If you'd rather not, keep your phone close and pay as soon as the acceptance lands.
The flip side. Once you've made an offer, taking it back is hard. eBay only allows a retraction in limited cases, for example when 12 or more hours remain in the listing and your most recent offer was placed less than an hour ago. A typo counts as a good reason. A change of heart does not. Treat every offer as something you intend to follow through on. If you'd feel relief at a no, don't send it.
When the seller makes the first move
Offers run both ways. Sellers can send offers to buyers who are watching an item or have it in their cart. A seller's offer must be at least 5% below the Buy It Now price, and individual offers to interested buyers last up to 96 hours. One detail worth knowing. Seller discount offers apply to the item price, not shipping.
The practical upshot is that watching an item is not passive. It puts you on the list of people the seller can reach. On a piece that has been sitting a while, pressing the heart can bring an offer to you, no nerve required. It is how plenty of good bags from our designer vintage bags under $400 change hands without anyone sending the first number.
Before you press Make offer
Two minutes of checking saves a lot of regret. Run through this first.
- Shipping. Add it to the price. A $20 saving means little next to $35 postage.
- Returns. Check the policy. Many vintage sellers don't accept them.
- Photos. Zoom in on cuffs, collars, linings, corners and hardware. Flaws shown in photos are part of the deal.
- Sold prices. Use eBay's Sold items filter to see what similar pieces actually went for, not what they are listed at.
- Measurements. Vintage sizing runs its own way. Compare against something you own.
Frequently asked questions
How many offers can I make on one eBay item?
Up to three per item in most categories. Make the first one count.
How long does a seller have to respond to my offer?
24 hours to accept, decline or counter. If they counter, the counteroffer shows its own expiry.
Can I make an offer on an eBay auction?
No. Best Offer only exists on fixed-price listings where the seller has switched it on.
Is the item mine once my offer is accepted?
Not until you pay. Turn on autopay if you want acceptance and payment to happen in one go.
That is the machinery. The craft is in the number, and the number starts with a piece you'd actually wear. Browse the latest vintage arrivals or the designer coats and jackets, pick something that earns a place in the wardrobe, then keep reading.
Next in the series: Lowball Offers on eBay: What Happens and Why They Fail. What a Fair Offer Looks Like on Vintage Designer eBay Pieces. eBay Counteroffers, Timing and Messaging Sellers.
