eBay Best Offer: How It Works, Seller Fee Rules, and Auto-Accept Strategy
eBay Best Offer is a listing feature that allows buyers to submit a price below the listed Buy It Now price for the seller to accept, counter, or decline.
Best Offer is defined as the eBay negotiation feature that enables buyers to propose a price below the Buy It Now listing price, and sellers to accept, counter, or decline that proposal. Best Offer activates on a listing when the seller enables it during listing creation or editing. Buyers see an orange "Make Offer" button on the listing page when Best Offer is active. The feature is not available on auction-style listings.
What Is eBay Best Offer and How Does It Work for Sellers?
Best Offer is an eBay fixed-price listing feature where buyers propose a purchase price below the Buy It Now price. The seller responds within 48 hours to accept, counter at a different price, or decline. A buyer whose offer the seller accepts completes the purchase at the accepted price. The Final Value Fee applies to the accepted offer price, not the original listing price.
The Best Offer negotiation process has 4 steps. Step 1: The seller enables Best Offer on the listing with or without automatic acceptance rules. Step 2: The buyer clicks Make Offer and enters a proposed price. Step 3: The seller receives a notification and has 48 hours to respond. Step 4: The seller accepts, counters, or declines. If the seller does not respond within 48 hours, the offer expires automatically.
Sellers can set Best Offer automation rules to accept or decline offers automatically without manual review. The auto-accept threshold allows the seller to specify that all offers at or above a minimum price are accepted automatically. The auto-decline threshold specifies that all offers below a minimum price are declined automatically without notifying the seller. Offers between the auto-decline and auto-accept thresholds require manual seller review.
A Best Offer listing can receive up to 5 active offers simultaneously from different buyers. The seller can accept only 1 offer per listing at a time. Accepting one offer removes the other 4 active offers without obligation to those buyers.
How Does Best Offer Affect eBay Final Value Fees?
The eBay Final Value Fee on a Best Offer transaction is calculated on the accepted offer price, not the original listing price. A seller who lists at $300 with a 13.6% casual seller rate and accepts a Best Offer of $220 pays 13.6% of $220 ($29.92) plus $0.40 per-order fee. The fee reduction from the accepted offer price lowers the absolute fee amount but maintains the same percentage rate.
The fee calculation on Best Offer is identical to any other fixed-price sale. The only variable is the base price. A buyer-paid shipping amount is added to the accepted offer price to form the Final Value Fee base. A $220 accepted offer plus $15 shipping totals $235, on which the Final Value Fee of 13.6% equals $31.96.
Best Offer reduces the seller's gross revenue on the transaction. A seller who accepts $220 instead of $300 collects $80 less in revenue. The fee reduction is proportional: the seller pays $10.88 less in Final Value Fees ($300 times 13.6% minus $220 times 13.6%). The net revenue reduction from accepting the offer is $69.12 ($80 revenue reduction minus $10.88 fee reduction).
Sellers evaluate Best Offer acceptance by comparing the net payout at the offered price to the probability of selling at the full listing price. A listing with a 10% sell-through rate at $300 has a 90% chance of not selling in any given period. Accepting $220 immediately may produce more value than waiting for a $300 buyer.
What Are eBay Best Offer Automation Rules and How Do They Save Time?
eBay Best Offer automation rules allow sellers to set a minimum auto-accept price and a maximum auto-decline price. Offers at or above the auto-accept price are accepted immediately without seller review. Offers at or below the auto-decline price are declined immediately without seller review. Offers between the two thresholds require manual seller response within 48 hours.
Auto-accept and auto-decline rules are set during listing creation or listing editing in the Best Offer section. The auto-accept price must be set at or below the Buy It Now price. The auto-decline price must be set below the auto-accept price. Sellers can set one or both rules independently.
A seller listing a $200 item with an auto-accept at $160 and an auto-decline at $120 processes any offer above $160 instantly (the buyer's purchase completes immediately) and declines any offer below $120 instantly (the buyer is notified immediately without the seller receiving a notification). Offers between $120 and $160 require manual review.
Automation rules reduce the time sellers spend manually reviewing offers. A high-volume seller with 500 active Best Offer listings who receives 30 offers per day can process most offers automatically and review only the borderline cases. This efficiency applies directly to sellers managing large fixed-price inventories.
Can Buyers Make Multiple Best Offers on the Same Listing?
A buyer can make up to 3 Best Offers on the same listing before eBay blocks further offers from that buyer on that listing. Each offer a buyer makes replaces the previous active offer. A buyer whose offer was declined can make a new offer. A buyer whose offer was countered can accept the counter, make a new offer, or decline the counter.
The 3-offer limit per buyer per listing prevents persistent low-ball offer harassment. A buyer who submits a $50 offer on a $200 item and is declined twice and countered once has used all 3 offers. This buyer cannot submit additional offers on the same listing.
Counter offers from the seller do not count toward the buyer's offer limit. A seller who counters a buyer's offer at a different price gives the buyer the option to accept the counter at the specified price, decline it without penalty, or make a new offer within the remaining offer limit.
Best Offer listings remain visible and available to all buyers while an active offer is under consideration. A second buyer can submit an offer or purchase the item at full price while the first buyer's offer awaits a seller response. A seller who receives a full-price purchase from a second buyer while a first buyer's offer is pending closes the sale with the full-price buyer. The pending offer from the first buyer expires automatically when the listing ends.
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*Source: eBay Best Offer Help Page. eBay Seller Fees Help Page, effective February 14, 2025.*
