Guess what I just found out.
It turns out…if you decide change any of your “Buy It Now” items to ALSO allow people to make a best offer, you CANNOT change them back to Buy It Now only.
[**UPDATE** Turns out you can, but not if you are selling multiples of that item and already sold to a “best offer”, as was the case with my listing. See update explanation below.]
This may not seem like such a big deal, but now I’m screwed. Here’s why.
This guy wanted a handful of my items (set at 30-day Buy It Now’s), but all at a slight quantity discount. Overall it sounded like a good deal to me (I’d rather make a slight profit now and re-up then wait for those uncertain full price sales). So I offered to add “Best Offer” options to each of them he wanted. That way we could stay legit and go through eBay at our agreed-upon total price. [Note: you are not supposed to sell a listed item outside of eBay — details here]
So everything went great; mission accomplished. But I happened to have MANY of those items left to sell on the listing, which are now forever stuck with a Best Offer option. Now NOBODY is going to But It Now at the set-price. It only serves as a comparison point so people can send an enticing offer.
**UPDATE**
Well, I found a part of my answer. It turns out you CAN change/remove Best Offer options on your listings, but only under certain circumstances. The Best Offer FAQ states:
Can sellers remove the Best Offer option from their listing while it is still active?
Any content changes to the listing are subject to current listing revision rules. However, Sellers may revise their listing to turn off the Best Offer option if they have 0 Best Offers already made and 0 pending Best Offers.
So since I already accepted one best offer, my listing is locked for the remaining time period (making it fair for other buyers). Poop.
Now the question is…how can I still make bulk deals with buyers without using my ill-advised Best Offer method? Expect another update soon.