A much desired vintage watch, part or accessory pops up on eBay. If it’s fairly priced will you immediately “Buy It Now” and lock it up?
Or does the hope/need of the better price (and risk of losing) require you to “Make Offer”?
Or some combination of the two?

Me, more often than not, I’m hitting the BIN button and not sweating through my shirts.

WHAT’S YOUR STYLE?

 

B I N, not worth sweating a few cents here and there, won't make much of a difference in the long run

 

If fairly priced - and that's the operative word here - I will BIN and lock that puppy up.

 

x2

But when overpriced I'll make a lowball offer, and when refused then I'll make a fair offer my second try, and if refused then my final offer is usually slightly more than a normal person would pay but less than what they want, so that if they refuse that VERY reasonable offer then screw them I wont BIN at all.

 

Everything depends on the asking price. If I really want the watch and it's a fair price, I'll hit BIN. However, since I've pretty much owned most of the watches I've really wanted at least once (except for a few high end pieces) I'm willing to try to buy at the price I want. If that means haggling and losing out to somebody who did BIN, so be it. I don't have that "Oh SHIT, I missed out" feeling very often anymore.

 

Yeah, if it's the right piece and right condition, and the price isn't exhorbitant, it's BIN. At the end of the day, getting that *right* piece is more important.

 

Reasonable price with BIN, then BIN it.

Make an Offer, then make an offer that I believe will be enticing for Seller, though not excessive.

Auction, snipe at my max price.

On the auction style, I have definitely learned to just put in the actual max I'm willing to pay, not what I'd like to pay.

 

Sage advice from the man who called me silly during one of our phone conversations when I mentioned I was making an offer on a Centenary 2500 instead of hitting BIN at the seller's very reasonable asking price.

 

Seconded. I'd much rather have a piece that I have no reservations about than one I felt I was rushed into overpaying for.

 

I usually offer 15% less. I think that’s reasonable and if they don’t like it they’ll counter. If they didn’t want to take offers they wouldn’t have made that an option for buying.

It does go back to the psychology of eBay where sellers who do traditional auction style sales at no reserve almost always do better than the BIN people. I saw two older Rolex subs on eBay. One had no reserve and started at a dollar. The other was a BIN for $11,500. They appeared to be in similar condition (same model, same condition). The auction one sold for $12,100 and the BIN remained unsold. It’s riskier for sure but they always sell whereas many BIN linger forever because the prices are too high

 

I hate the ones that reject so fast that it must be an automatic reject below a certain price, even when it's like a very reasonable price, and the 3rd auto-reject kills it for me. This "3 tries and you're out" on offers sucks, but it also lets you know when the seller is unreasonable.

Example - lets say someone is asking $1600 or make offer for a Bond Quartz 2541.80 and you know you could find one in slightly worse condition for under $1250 if you wait long enough. But in really good shape $1400-1500 could snag one, and this one is decent, where $1600 is the max price.

So, you make an offer of $1350 and it's rejected immediately. Then you come back and you offer $1450 and it's rejected immediately, even though it really was a fair offer. Then on your 3rd offer you bump it to $1500 which really is $50 more than you thought you'd ever spend on it but $100 less than they asked for, but it's rejected again immediately. WhyTheFk would the seller even use make offer, when someone comes in so close to your asking, and eBay automatically rejects the offer without human intervention?

This happens way too often, especially with spare Omega parts that are being sold for highway robbery prices, even just pushers and crowns or hands.

 

I use the "Jump on it like a fat kid in a candy shop" technique if it's a new listing and in great condition.

Happy to pay a bit more for condition and correct crown etc

 

For me the amount of time that the listing has been up is an important part of the strategy. Just listed, I am more likely to forego the offering route. For a day or longer, I will start negotiations if the seller will consider offers. I have picked up a few very nice watches that were listed for weeks at a very high BIN. The seller ultimately gets tired or loses confidence in their pricing and caves.

 

Done both, sometimes the "Best Offer" is kind of subjective as the seller will set a minimum and anything below gets insta-refused.

 

Depends on what country the seller is from...

I lost a silly good full set 18K Seamaster Chronometer 352 recommended on here once because I wanted a better deal (was extremely well priced to begin with...), but I've also made even better deals on VERY low priced rarities by haggling. I can't help it, it's in my blood

Substantial discounts on both of these:

 

When I spotted the Speedmaster on eBay I wanted, it was already priced about a third less than others I’d seen. I still made a best offer, another 10% off, partly because I was drunk at the time, and partly because well, y’never know. I was happy to pay the BIN and would have gone to that had they rejected the offer, but they didn’t.
If they’re offering Best Offer, it kind of suggests they’ll go lower, right?! So why not try.

 

+1
Made an offer recently that was the max of what I would pay, basically cover $30 shipping - and the seller rejected. Why give me the Make offer button?

On watches I want - I'm with @oddboy BIN or snipe in the last few seconds.

 

if it a fair price I'd "buy it now" then stick it away for a rainy day .the amount of time i've spent trying to save a £ or 2 B.I.N and be done wee it.