eBay Best Offer Strategy 2026: Rules That Maximise Profit

What Best Offer Does

Best Offer adds a button that lets buyers propose a lower price. You can accept, decline, or counter each one — or automate the whole thing with thresholds so offers are handled instantly, even while you sleep.

Why It Can Help

Some buyers will not click Buy It Now but will make an offer. Best Offer captures those fence-sitters, and the extra engagement can nudge your Cassini ranking. The trick is to price with a built-in negotiation buffer so accepted offers still hit your target margin.

The Threshold Formula

Set your list price slightly above your real target, then automate two lines:

Auto-accept at your true minimum acceptable price — the lowest figure that still clears your fees and margin. Any offer at or above this is accepted instantly, so you never lose a ready buyer to a slow response.

Auto-decline below the point where the sale is not worth it. Lowball offers are rejected automatically without a counter, saving you time and protecting your floor.

The band between those two is where eBay sends you the offer to decide manually — usually worth a quick counter.

A Worked Example

Say your cost plus fees plus target profit needs £18. List at £22.99 with Best Offer on. Auto-accept at £18. Auto-decline below £15. Offers between £15 and £18 land in your inbox to counter. You capture deal-seekers at £18 to £22 that you would otherwise lose, while never selling below your floor.

When to Turn Best Offer Off

Skip it on very low-priced items where there is no room to negotiate, on fast-moving products that sell at full price anyway, and when your margins are already thin. Best Offer shines on mid-priced items with a comfortable markup.

Keep Margins Honest

Your thresholds are only as good as your cost data. Know your true landed cost and fees on every product before you set an auto-accept. UnicornDS calculates eBay fees and target pricing as you list, so you set thresholds on real numbers, not guesses.