Ben;

As a very active listing agent, I get lowball bids on my properties frequently. The homes I represent often get multiple offers for much higher than the listing price. It is not uncomon to get 20+ offers on a listing.

I inform my seller of the offers and give them an option of either reviewing all of the offers, or the top 3 or 5. Most of the time, the sellers only want to see only the top offers.

Because of time constraints, I do not always call the agents with the lowball offers back. However, if they call me, I am more than happy to explain the process.

You say that the listing agent told you your offer was rejected. Were you using a buyers agent? Why were they not involved in the follow-up>

The listing agent should provide the buyer with the first page of their rejected offer, with a big ol scratch across it that says "Rejected" at the bottom next to the Seller initials.

This way, the buyer knows the Seller has seen it, and elected to reject it, as proven by their initials. This may not always be feasible with bank owned homes, or seller with lots of homes for sale (like builders).

But for an organic Seller is is certainly an option. Please see the samle rejection in the link. The buyers and buyers agents have been stripped, to protect the innocent. (or guilty)