i'm not a big fan of trying to auction off stuff on here, but what's wrong with trying to get the most out of an item that someone is selling? imo, there's absolutely nothing wrong with asking for offers on a piece... if you don't want to negotiate prices on something that you really want, don't whine about it, just keep looking and accept the fact that you're not going to get a steal on the grail you've been trying to pin down for the past 6 months. what next, set amounts for what individual pieces can be sold for?
once you start putting rules like this in the commerce section you're going to drive sellers to ebay where there are both shady buyers and sellers... that eliminates the part where you have a good idea of who exactly you're dealing with and adds annoying fees that could otherwise be avoided.
shai - if you don't like being put on the back burner while a seller waits for a better offer to come along? tell 'em where to stick it... noone is going to make you pay for it if a seller pulls that crap. look at it from a seller's perspective as well... i handle my 'offer' listings on a first come, first serve basis. when the first buyer makes an offer, then doesn't respond to my counter within a few hours, it's on to the next one.
if i'm looking for a quick sale, i'll post the price. if i'm just looking to make some room or i'm on the fence about selling a statue, i'll ask for offers.
once a 'no auction/offers listings' rule is enforced, people will just jack up their asking prices and include a note stating 'no offers please '
half the time people submit offers even if they aren't asked for. how do you fix that, make all PMs be submitted through a neutral party first to filter out those messages and then foreward it on to the seller? gimme a break