Offers - didn't I just read something...

[JoHunley]

I just received six offers for use licences. Three are for $7 on articles I have priced for use at $30-35. Three are offers of $6 on articles I have priced for use at $10-25.

The only one I consider even remotely reasonable is the offer for $6 on the one I had priced for $10. The other five are all asking that I take 50-80% off my listed price. All offers came from the same buyer.

Aside from the fact that I'm now annoyed this buyer's being a cheapskate (sheesh, if you like my portfolio enough to ask for six of my articles, then you like it enough to pay more than a quarter what I ask), I'm fairly certain I read that recently all articles must sell for a minimum of $7 for use licence.

What do I do about this? Besides tell them no, of course.

[Debbi]

Just tell them no. There's no way to make a counter-offer or talk to the person making the offer anyway.

[JoHunley]

What I mean to say is, should I be reporting it to someone? Or is it fine for the customers to make any offer they want, and only a violation of the rules if the author accepts it?

I found the bit where it says the articles must sell for $7 use but it doesn't say anything about what to do in this situation.

[4rumid]

Interesting question. Maybe the site shouldn't allow offers under $7 to be entered in that field.

[Antonia]

In my understanding, authors may not post articles for under $7. But there's nothing to say buyers can't make offers for under $7. I could be wrong though.

[4rumid]

That's what I thought, too, but then I reread the post, and the statement, "having a minimum price for articles is required to make sure that we can continue to provide the editorial oversight and plagiarism checking while still providing reasonably priced articles" sounds like articles need to be sold for at least $7. Don't know though.

[Gailwriter]

Hi, I could not agree with you more. I have written my own post because I felt so strongly about the subject. We must all stick together in rejecting these offers. Unfortunately articles are being sold every month below the $7 usage amount. I was offered $4 for a full rights article and I saw in the recently sold articles that someone has actually sold a full rights for this amount. I have no doubt it is to the same customer who tried to purchase from me. This customer has requested a mother's day article for $5 - when are we going to stop this insult and not allow such requests to be posted?

[jak]

I just added my 2 cents to Gailwriter's other post. Unfortunately, as someone else has already said, all we can do is decline the offers. But as long as some people accept them, buyers will keep trying, unlss CC sets a minimum, which then might turn potential buyers away. It's a dificult one, especially as some old content is still for sale at ludicrously low prices.

[Lysis]

I had an article receive 2-3 offers for the 6ish months it was up. The offers were for use for ridiculous amounts like $5. I rejected them, and it sold a week or so ago for fullrights. I quit using best offer, because I think it's just a way for users to low-ball, and I'm not desperate for the $3 profit. I thought that having a counteroffer option would help, but honestly, if someone is offering you $5 on a fullrights article then they aren't interested in a counteroffer for $30, which is probably the lowest I'd go for some of my articles. And, if I went that cheap on some of my articles, I'd only do that for use.

That's just me though. That's the beauty of CC. We can make our own rules.