Responding to offer

[4rumid]

Hi all,

I'm sure this has been covered a million times, but I couldn't find the answer with a quick search and I'm too eager to handle this to keep looking. My apologies . . .

I just got my first Best Offer offer, and I'm not sure how to respond. It seems my only options are to accept it or reject it.

(1) Is there any way I can make a counter offer?
(2) Once the price is determined, do I change the price in my listing, or can the customer just go ahead and buy the article at the new price?

Thanks!

[Debbi]

quick answer:

1. No
2. You don't have to do anything except accept the offer. The customer pays the price you accepted.

Don't be too disappointed if the offer falls through. About half the offers I have accepted never go through, maybe because I was too slow in accepting them or maybe because the customer found something else suitable.

I hope yours works out

[4rumid]

Thanks for the quick -- and quickly delivered -- response.

Follow-up question:

If I refuse the offer, what are the chances that the requester will come back with a higher offer? I'd like to make the sale, but would prefer to sell higher than what they offered. But I'm not sure I'm completely unwilling to go with their price.

[Antonia]

That's a tricky one. I've had a buyer come back and pay my price, and I've also had a buyer come back and make a better offer that I did accept. But I've also had buyers disappear into the pampa, never to be seen again! I think the key is to decide ahead of time the minimum amount you'd be happy with, and don't take a penny less. Don't get into a "well, at least it's better than nothing" mindset, because that's a slippery slope.

However, you could always refuse the offer and then lower the price on the article, hoping that the buyer will notice the new price and buy it. Just be sure that you won't feel seller's remorse if someone else snaps it up at that price.

[4rumid]

Thanks, Antonia. I definitely got into the "well, it's better than nothing" mindset, especially because I thought this article would sell right away, and it's been up for a few months. But I ultimately decided that the offer was just too little (I'd net $0.06/word). I refused the offer, and I'm hoping that if that person doesn't buy the article, the fact that he/she was interested means someone else will be too.

I think I will try lowering the price a little, at least for a little while, and see what happens . . . Thanks for that advice.

[Celeste Stewart]

.06 per word net on CC isn't all that bad. . .

[4rumid]

Ah . . . that's why I put it; I was wondering if anyone had some input on that. This is for full rights, by the way -- they offered the price I had listed for usage.

At first I was surprised to hear you say that, Celeste, but then I realized, when I look around at what people charge here, I've been forgetting to calculate net for the author, rather than the price the buyer pays. So I see you're right, 6 cents isn't that little here. But it feels like a small amount to me. Some of my articles I'm very proud of and think they've got something unique, and those I would really like to earn more on. The one in question isn't incredibly special, I suppose, but where to draw the line? I also think that underpricing -- at whatever point that occurs -- hurts all writers.

Anyhow, now you're making me reconsider that offer . . . If I were to change the refusal to an acceptance, would the requester be notified?

[Celeste Stewart]

Well it depends on several different things. How much time did the article take in terms of what you'd net per hour? If you sold it right now at the proposed price, would you still have made a decent hourly rate for the article? How much of a cut is the offer compared to your asking price? Are you insulted by the offer or is it reasonable? For example, if you're asking $100 for the article and the offer is for $15, then that's pretty dramatic. If you're asking $100 and the offer is for $85, then that's not so bad. Another consideration is if you think the client might be a potential long term customer. And finally, are you willing to wait for a full price purchase or would a quick sale now at a reduced rate help you meet your financial needs right now? If the offer feels too small and you're willing to wait, then let it ride without looking back. That's what's nice about this site, you get to choose your price and what to accept.

I don't know if you can reverse an offer or not. I don't use best offer, so I have no clue.

[Celeste Stewart]

As far as where to draw the line, it really helps to know exactly how much time you spent on an article and how much your "bottom line" hourly rate is. I keep a spreadsheet and can easily go and look at any article in my collection and determine the lowest price I'm willing to accept based on the time it took and my lowest possible hourly rate. My lowest hourly rate that I'm willing to accept is my old corporate hourly rate + 30 percent (which accounts for my increased tax burden and other expenses). I figure if I can't get that, I might as well go back to the corporate grind . That's where I draw the line anyway.

[4rumid]

(As I just previewed this, I saw you posted another reply. I'm going to post this one anyway, then take a look. . .)

Those are all helpful things to consider . . . except what I'd net per hour. I am not a speedy writer, and if I were to charge what would net me a good rate per hour, all my articles would cost over $1000. That's probably my biggest weakness as a writer, not being able to crank out articles and send them off.

The offer is a little under 80% of the full price, so I'm not insulted, but I'd still like to make a little more. I think this is one of the problems with not being able to make a counter offer -- was the requester just throwing out a number and hoping it would stick, or was that amount really his maximum? No way to know.

Anyway, my thinking now is a combination of (1) it turns out to be a reasonable rate for CC, so I should accept it (if I still can), (2) it's more than nothing, and (3) I should wait and hopefully someone else will come along and buy at the higher price (which I just lowered somewhat). And perhaps (4) could this be a potential long-term customer, which, since I don't know anything about them, is impossible to say. But that possibility may make it worth taking less for the article.

I'm just thinking out loud now, but thanks for giving me more to think about. And no thanks for turning me on to that owl. As someone in the chat said, I've become an owlcoholic and spend too much time watching those dang birds!

[Celeste Stewart]

I know, those darned owls! A second baby hatched today. No one's getting any work done thanks to Molly and McGhee.

I just looked at your article list. Based on your asking prices for full rights and word counts of each article, you would net an average of .054 per word (after the CC cut) at full rights if each of those articles sold right now for full rights. That gives you a number to work with. In my opinion, accepting an offer that nets you .06 per word is reasonable based on your collection. Of course, I have no idea how complex the topic is and what not, but that's what I'm seeing numberwise.

[4rumid]

I missed the second baby?! I was so hoping to catch that. I guess I have two more to go.

As for my prices -- wow -- I really need to look at those again. I know I priced a couple of articles low because they were originally for requests and not very deep or interesing, but I still thought I was charging more. I think I must be thinking more about the price per word for the authors and what they'd be willing to pay than my net when I price the articles. Now you're making me think I should raise some of my prices. What to do, what to do . . .

As you can see, I still have a small portfolio and not a lot of experience. Does pricing get easier as time goes by?

[4rumid]

I just went back and accepted the offer I had refused. Moment of weakness? Good business sense? Who knows.

But for anyone who's interested, when you go back and change your decision on an offer, the requester IS notified of the change. At least that's what it says on your screen.

[Celeste Stewart]

Yeah, it gets easier. It really helps to know your stats. Use a spreadsheet and start keeping track of your word counts, time, and prices. Don't obsess over analyzing them but as your spreadsheet grows, periodically look and see if you notice any trends. What is your average article length? What is your average per word price? What is your average sales price. Which articles are selling? Filter the list based on sales and then calculate your averages again. Stuff like that. You may be surprised at what you discover. Since time isn't something you want to factor in, work strictly on the per word rate and determine what your ideal per word rate would be and your absolute rock bottom rate. Write those rates down and use them to help you decide if a future offer is worth considering or not.

Owls are squawking, gotta switch screens <OvO>

[4rumid]

<OvO> <-- love it!

Well, the requester came back and bought the article at the price he/she offered. I'm satisfied with that (and who doesn't like a sale?) -- thanks for all the input!