Ridiculously Low Ebay Offers

Actually a really low offer isn't such a bad thing. Just let it sit there, and don't respond. Now you have an "offer pending" for a couple of days, and it makes your coin look desirable to other potential buyers.

From the perspective as a buyer:
IF I need/want the item I'll normally make a reasonable(to me) offer. I have had counteroffers that are only $5-$10 less than the original BIN, I usually pass when that happens. On the other hand I've had several who were willing to work with me on a price. I even try to negotiate the shipping at times.

Natchez is correct. The only time I have lowballed is on a lot where the person is asking far too much over market value, but I am interested in the items. Just not at that price. I wouldn't offer like the person you encountered though.

Sellers are all over the place on what kinds of offers they will sell at. I deal with a number of guys who I know from experience absolutely will not sell at less than 10% off even through they use the "Make Offer" option. On the other hand, I know of a large currency dealer who starts very high and is generally comfortable with a bid of 65-70%, and sometimes even 60%.

Otherwise, low "nuisance" bids just go with the territory.

You can set a level to automatically refuse low bids on your listing page, of course.

I don't sell on ebay, mostly because I don't sell my coins once I buy them. I have however sold quite a few coins on craigslist for friends and relatives. Everytime you put a coin up, in come the lowball offers. People offering spot for collector silver. 10% of value on collector coins.

If you are going to be a seller, you better develop a thick skin. Think of the effort vs reward for these guys. It costs them nothing in time or effort to "give it a shot" and the reward is, at some point they are going to get someone to bite, be it out of ignorance, time constraints or lack of any other interest. They take ten minutes to throw out a couple of lowball offers and spot offers for specialized or graded bullion. You get ignored or twenty rejections, but just once you a MS70 Panda for spot or a CC Morgan for the price of a P.

These people don't really think you are going to sell it to them, but to them, there is only upside to making offers.

I had 2 dollar gold leaf bills in a leather display case. Some are sequential. They usually go for 20 but I'd be happy to accept 14-15. Had a guy offer a dollar per unit. Told him the two dollar bill was worth two dollars face. Then he offered 2 dollars. And told me it wasn't worth more than two dollars. I didn't want to rouse him becuase I was afraid he would cyber stalk my ebay listings

Me too Ed, me too.