I've gotten a handful of PM offers from my first seller's thread. (Yay!) Before I posted the thread, I was thinking I'd just wait a few days and take the best offer at that time.

What I didn't think of ahead of time was how PM offers are (or should be) handled here. It seems like there are some pretty strong pros and cons to different ways of doing things. So, what do you guys do?

• When a higher offer comes in, PM the others who were interested, in case they want to adjust their offer.
  OR
• Don't put any of the cards on the table. Let people make their offer and stand with it till the end, even if they might have been willing to offer more if they had known they needed to.

In the first case, I want to be thoughtful toward all interested parties. But I also don't really want to make it look like I'm trying to jack up the price of my item. And this method might seem too much like an auction, so I might have been better off putting it on the auction board if I was going to run it that way.

In the second case, keeping offers secret seems somewhat fair (or at least not unfair). At the same time, I feel bad for the folks with the lower offers who wanted the item but didn't know that there were higher offers out there. (Although you could say that if they really wanted the item, they should have just made their best offer from the beginning.)

Anyway, I'm just trying to handle my first sale in the right way (i.e., without making any enemies ), and this aspect of FO didn't seem to be covered in the FAQ.

I would say let their initial offer stand. To allow them to revise it after someone else offers more would be nothing more than an auction.

I've sold items for offer before. Usually when I sell for offer it means Im not sure what its really worth.
Basically what I will do is set a deadline this way everyone has a chance to put in a seriouse offer. This will give you and anyone looking to buy plenty of time to make a decision, and if there is no agreement made during this time you can try to move on to the next offer in line.

Thanks guys... I was leaning toward #2 anyway but just wanted to make sure that's the way it's done around here. As I was writing about option #1 I was thinking more and more how bad it sounded, so I feel pretty good about the "let the offers stand" type of deal.

I don't think there's anything wrong with PMing others and letting them know there initial offer was behind.
If I made an offer and got a PM saying mine was the highest offer atm but will give it another day to see other offer, and then they just went and sold it to someone else without giving me the opportunity to reconsider a higher offer I would be a little upset.
I know this is debatable and I'll probably get blasted for saying this. "There's an auction thread"... "List it as FS with a price then"... blah blah.

Eg 1)
A game only shows every 3-4 months. The last one sold for $1,000 and the one before $900.
With inflation it's hard to put an exact figure so I would offer $1,000.
I don't want to rip the seller off but not going to offer 2k just because I'm willing to pay that.
If there was a higher offer I'd expect a courtesy PM stating the highest offer and would expect to be given the opportunity to make one more final offer.
I wouldn't expect the seller to keep going back and forth because then that becomes an auction.

Eg 2)
An item is very rare and shows once every year but when it shows it always fetches around $30 due to it's unpopularity.
I'd make an offer of $30, even if I would be willing to fork out say $60 for it.
Sometimes it's about just having the item and not wanting to wait another yr for one to show.
If there's another feeling exactly the same way I feel and offers $40, I'd be cut if I didn't get a PM letting me know.

Ridicule me all you want but that's my opinion.

I don't have a problem with either way, there's no reason anyone should get upset over this sort of thing. Like you said, if they REALLY wanted the item, their initial offer would show it.

Some people do get butt-hurt when things don't go their way tho. If you are worried about everyone liking you, be polite, and don't waste their time. I think if you spend too much time going between potential buyers, whoever loses out will be left feeling like you wasted their time, and probably wont be too happy about it.

There is another option. Just simply counter offer them. Nothing wrong with a little haggling. It's your property, and you choose what it's worth to you. But the best advice I can give is to be straight forward, and timely with your reponses. Don't keep people hanging, waiting on a PM.

I agree woth Holy SNES 100%. As a seller I want the action and as a buyer I want to be in the action. As a buyer I can't dictate to the seller to open an auction so let me counter offer. That's how business is done in America.

I don't have a lot of sale feedback here, but I do on other boards. Quite simply, for me anyway, the best way to deal with offers is to be honest and communicate. #1 rule in my book, is to not ignore anybody. I know I get very annoyed when I'm trying to deal with someone (selling or buying, it doesn't make a difference) and I can see that they've been visiting the boards and have not taken a short amount of time to reply. If somebody lowballs you/you that to them, simply tell them that you would like a bit more than that, If you like the offer take it. If you really don't know a price, I'd say check sold eBay auctions or online price guides to get some sort of idea and post your stuff in the auction section. If you get conflicting offers take the high one or whoever PM'd first. Finally, if you deny somebody, but want your stuff gone, you can always contact one of the previous offerers and ask if they still want it. Worst they say is no.

Well, heck, I guess there's just not a single "right" way to do it Thanks for the additional input. The arguments are very convincing for either option.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give everyone at least one opportunity to raise their offer. I kind of feel like I would want the chance too, when I'm in the buyer's place.

This is the way I feel about these situations, I can't stand pm auctions.  Except it's even worse than a normal auction because you cant know for sure there is someone else actually bidding since it's all private. I usually say I'm no longer interested when these situations happen. 

If it is actually something really rare a fair way to take offers is let everyone know ahead of time how long you will take offers. If you want you could make a provision that you will only charge just above the 2nd highest offer, that way people would be comfortable making their true best offer.  You still have to trust the seller in that situation.

If it is a more common item I say just take the first offer you would be ahppy with, don't string people along in hopes of squeezing out a few extra bucks.

If it's an item that a handful of people show an interest in, I would put it up in the Auction thread, let it ride for four days and see who bids the most, and just sell it to them, so all the cards are out on the table and each bidder knows the bids of the other bidders, no secrets, no problems.

I usually tell people what I've been offered and give them a chance to counter. I don't see anything wrong with it, but I see how this can be used to artifically increase the price. I might not do "private auctions" unless I had a good reputation.

It depends how I get the message. If I'm around and I get one that I like right away, I will go ahead and accept it. If someone contacts me in the mean time before the first person gets back, I consider the deal struck. I will let the next interested party know that the first offer has not gone through yet, so if they back out I will give number two a chance.

If I don't get any offers while I'm online and I log in to a few different offers, I will find the best offer and accept it, then let the next few people know that a deal has been struck, but I will update them if it falls through.

If I offer someone something but get a higher offer after I've said "yes," even if I haven't accepted any money yet, the first person's offer stands. I sold a game for $40 once and the next guy said "I would have given you $80" after I told him it was sold... tough for him... I didn't put it up for auction.