Accept, decline or counter an offer

A seller has three options on an offer, and they do different things to the listing as well as to the offer. All three are in your inbox, on the offer itself.

Accept

Accepting marks the offer accepted and reserves the item for that buyer in the same moment, so the listing picks up a Reserved badge and no second buyer can send an offer on it. It also records a confirmed deal between the two of you, which is what later lets each of you leave the other a review. Reviews are double-blind and the window is 14 days, so neither of you sees the other's review until both are in or the window closes.

Accept is refused if the item is already reserved or sold for somebody else, if the listing is not live, or if the offer has already expired. That is on purpose: two buyers must never both be told an item is theirs.

Decline

Declining closes that offer and does nothing else. The listing stays exactly as it was, available and in the feeds, and the buyer is free to send a different offer. Declining is also available on an item you have already reserved for someone else, so you can clear out the offers you are not going to take.

Counter

Countering sends your own offer back to that buyer. It supersedes their pending offer, so there is only ever one live number between you, and only that buyer can accept it. If they accept your counter, the item is reserved for them exactly as if you had accepted theirs.

You can only counter somebody who has already messaged your listing. That stops a counter being used to push an unsolicited message at any address.

Doing nothing

An offer you never answer expires by itself after 48 hours and the buttons go away. That is a slow way to say no. If you are not going to sell at that price, decline and say why in a line, or counter with the number you would take.