When a marketplace listing is marked negotiable, you don't have to pay the listed price. You can make an offer at a different amount, the seller can accept it, decline it, or counter with their own number, and you can keep going until you both agree (or one of you walks away). This article explains every step.
How do you know a listing is negotiable?
On the listing detail page, look for the small "(negotiable)" badge next to the price. Negotiable listings show two CTAs:
- Buy Now — pay the listed price immediately, same as any other listing.
- Make an Offer — propose a different amount through the structured offer flow.
If you don't see the "Make an Offer" button, either the seller didn't mark the listing as negotiable or they haven't set up their payout account yet. In the second case, you can still message the seller — but no payment can flow until they finish their setup.
Single-unit vs multi-unit listings
Listings come in two shapes:
- Single-unit — one cow, one tractor, one specific item. The price you see is the total price; if you offer ₦X you're offering ₦X for the whole thing.
- Multi-unit — a quantity-based listing like "100 tons of yellow maize" or "500 bags of fertiliser". The price shown is per unit (per ton, per bag, per kg, etc.) and the listing tracks how many units are still available. Multiple buyers can each take a portion. You'll see a stock indicator like "75 of 100 tons available" near the price.
On multi-unit listings the offer flow asks for two numbers: your price per unit and how many units you want to buy. Total = price × quantity. Counter-offers can change either number, both, or neither — but to send a counter at least one must differ from the previous round.
How do you make an offer?
- Click Make an Offer on the listing detail page.
- Single-unit: enter your offer amount (in ₦). Multi-unit: enter your offer per unit (in ₦) AND the quantity you want.
- Optionally write a short message — this is where you explain context. "I'm a bulk buyer, I'd take 5 bags at this price." Or "Off-season discount, can you meet me at this price?" Sellers see the message alongside the amount.
- Click Send offer.
The offer goes to the seller. They get a notification, an email, and the offer shows up in their Received Offers queue at /marketplace/offers?role=seller.
You'll be redirected to the offer thread page (/marketplace/offers/<id>), where you can watch for their response.
What can the seller do?
Three things, in any order:
- Accept — agrees to your price. The listing moves to "awaiting payment" and you have 24 hours to complete payment. Once you pay, the sale is locked in and the listing closes for everyone else.
- Counter — proposes a different amount. The thread continues; now you can accept their counter, counter back, or decline.
- Decline — turns down the offer. The thread is closed. You can submit a new offer if you want to try again.
What can you do as a buyer?
While the seller is deciding (or after they counter), you can:
- Accept their counter — agrees to their price; same payment flow as if they'd accepted yours.
- Counter their counter — keep negotiating.
- Decline their counter — closes the thread.
- Withdraw your own offer — pull it back at any time before payment. The seller is notified.
How long do offers stay open?
Two timers:
- Pending or countered offers expire after 7 days without a response. The 7-day clock resets every time someone counters. So an active negotiation can keep going as long as someone responds within a week.
- Accepted offers expire after 24 hours if the buyer hasn't paid. This protects sellers from being held hostage by an accepted offer that never gets paid. After 24 hours of no payment, the listing reopens for new offers and Buy Now.
When an offer expires, both parties get a notification. The buyer can submit a fresh offer if they still want the listing.
What happens after the seller accepts?
You'll get a notification with a "Pay now" link. Click it; you'll be taken to a checkout page that runs the standard Monnify payment flow at the agreed offer amount (not the listed price). After payment:
- The order is created at the offer amount.
- The listing closes — no other buyers can Buy Now or submit offers.
- All other pending offers on the same listing are auto-expired (with the reason "listing sold").
- The seller is notified to ship.
- The escrow + delivery flow continues exactly like a Buy Now order: ship → confirm delivery → funds released.
If you don't pay within 24 hours, your accepted offer expires and the listing reopens.
What happens when the listing is closed or sold?
If the seller closes the listing manually, or someone else completes a Buy Now purchase before your offer was accepted, all open offers on that listing auto-expire with the reason "listing sold" or "listing closed". Both parties are notified.
This is single-unit semantics — first accepted-and-paid offer wins. If we add quantity tracking later (for bulk listings), this rule will change.
Where do you see all your offers?
Go to /marketplace/offers. Two tabs:
- My Offers — offers you've submitted, sorted by most recent activity.
- Received — offers on your listings (only visible if you're a seller).
Each row shows the listing, the counter-party, the offer amount, the listed price, and the current status. Click a row to see the full thread including counter-history.
Can other buyers see your offer?
No. Only you, the seller, and AgroYield admins can see the contents of your offer thread. Other buyers see the listing and its public price; they don't see how many active offers exist or what amounts have been proposed.
Common situations
Multiple offers on my listing. Each thread is independent. You can accept one, counter another, and decline a third — they don't interact until one accepts and pays. At that moment, the others auto-expire.
Buyer countered before I responded. The thread now shows their counter as the active round. You can accept, counter back, or decline.
I want to renegotiate after declining. Either party can submit a new offer thread on the same listing. Each thread is a fresh slate; the declined one stays in the audit trail but doesn't affect anything new.
I withdrew my offer by mistake. Submit a new offer; nothing stops you. The previous one remains in the audit log marked "withdrawn".
The seller's listing was closed while my offer was pending. Your offer auto-expires with the reason "listing closed". You'll get a notification. If they relist later, submit a new offer on the new listing.
Trust and safety
Every offer round is logged with timestamps, amounts, and messages. AgroYield can review threads if there's a dispute. Offers don't move money until acceptance + payment, and the same escrow + delivery confirmation rules apply as any other marketplace order.
If you suspect abuse (spam offers, fake listings, etc.) report it through the listing's report option or contact support@agroyield.africa.
Questions?
Email hello@agroyield.africa or open the chat at the bottom-right of any page.