Don't Ask eBay Sellers Questions!

[AtariLeaf]

I'd say for me it's about 50% of the questions I ask sellers that I actually have answered. I also double check that my question isn't answered anywhere in the listing before I send it since I realize the frustration of having to answer a question that's clearly in the listing. I do like to ask questions on high dollar items and there have been times where no answer really is an answer and I back away from a purchase.

[derFunkenstein]

Or they are saying, another person wasting my time asking me 20 question who will not buy regardless of the answers given. I get annoyed as well when someone keeps asking me questions I think are dumb and/or are already answered in the listing.

 

Just curious what items are you asking where they got it from and why does that really matter. I have found first hand especially on this forum to NEVER post that you found an item at a thrift store or sale for and post how much you paid as people will expect you to sell it for way less than market value just because you got a deal.

 

 

 

No, 90 percent of questions I get asked are from people who do not buy from me. I generally answer all questions but I know it will not result in a sale.

 

I think 90 percent is conservative. I don't think I've ever had a listing end where the top bidder was the one asking a hojillion questions.

 

Most of the time it's stuff like "will you ship to Cambodia" or "will you end the listing early" stuff, anyway, and those questions I ignore. Sorry, I already have my terms listed. Love it or leave it.

[CrazyChris]

I have been burned a number of times and have learned to ask a lot of questions. The ownus is on the buyer.

[Shadowgate]

Glad to know I am not the only one who gets their questions glossed over. I think it's reflex of responding to questions on phones. They barely read your questions and just use auto corrected responses.

 

Some sellers even block people who ask questions. I've had it done to me a few times. The reason given is that the question askers are generally the same people who open disputes. The people who turn ebay into a career also tend to be the most aggressive. I guess if you expose yourself to that 24/7 it just becomes another job they hate. That whole, "This job would be great if it wasn't for all the people." feeling.

 

I don't sell full time so I guess I still tolerate it okay. Even the ones who ask too many questions that I already have answered in the description. I'm just happy they if they do it before buying. Phones and other browsers actually hide the description unless they manually go to it. Ask away

 

I also don't mind the where did you get this kind of questions. I certainly get curious when buying and I've had some pretty crazy stories told to me about the history of the item I am bidding on. Retro games especially are more interesting with a back story. Not to mention I'd much rather buy someones personal collection that has been babied the last 20 years than some crusty game the seller found while dumpster diving.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Shadowgate

[CrazyChris]

I also like to hear the back stories about the items I am buying. A few years ago I bought a Commodore printer

from a woman, and she said, she used it in college to print papers. I still enjoy thinking about this.

Edited January 7, 2018 by CrazyChris

[+LS650]

I read eBay descriptions carefully, but I find sometimes they are vaguely or poorly written, especially with sellers whose first language is not English.

I sometimes ask questions, and I sometimes bid. I guarantee you that if I ask a seller a question and I get no reasonable response, I will not bid on that item.

[AtariLeaf]

I guarantee you that if I ask a seller a question and I get no reasonable response, I will not bid on that item.

 

Exactly, or no response at all. I don't think I've ever bid on or bought an item where the seller didn't get back to me. That's a red flag IMO. There was a boxed 2600 game that I was kind of interested in a couple months ago but the picture looked like it was shot with a potato cam and only showed one angle with a simple description of "good". I asked for a more detailed description other than simply "good" and never got a response. IIRC there were no bids on the item.

[towmater]

 

I always ask where they got the item from, and this is the one,

that I can sense fumes, coming from the screen.

 

 

 

The force is strong in this one.

[homeboy]

Lookout for the term ..... New/Other ..... always a red flag. I've been burned with so called "new" joysticks but, most sellers gladly refund all or partial refund so not to get bad feedback

[Video]

I think a lot of the deal is, most people (not just eBay sellers) do NOT appreciate it when someone opens their mouth and stupid falls out. This is compounded when typing out a question, as you have to take time and thought in order to do it, meaning stupidity is intended rather than accidental.

 

I don't know how many times back in the day I'd post a listing, have it described, and pics (this is before eBay had "stock" photos for everything (god what a dumb idea, cameras used to be expensive, not any more) and people would have questions like "does it come with instructions?" Or "is this the version with x label" uh, naw, I figured I'd just say what it is and post pics for shits and giggles.

 

I eventually just posted a general disclaimer that eBay was a hobby not a job so I'd be unlikely to answer questions. Oh, this was back in dialup days too, not exactly fast. Now if it was a question about something unlisted, or I just never thought it would come up, yeah, but for general "I didn't look at the listing and ask questions already answered" hell no.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Video

[+OLD CS1]

I do not mind answering questions of a legitimate nature. Does this particular function work or is this particular piece present? You know, I honestly do not know and since it is apparently important to at least one person I will check and leave that question public or update my listing to include the information.

 

As a buyer I have asked similar. For instance, when looking for TI-99/4A consoles with a "QI" motherboard the pictures may not show so I will ask the seller if a metal shield is visible through the bottom vents or if the expansion port has silver- or brass-colored grounding fingers. Almost every time I get a response of them actually looking or even the few "it's already boxed and I really don't know." Fair enough, and I will not ask if I do not have an intention of at least bidding on the item.

 

I sell a lot of old hard drives I pull from retired servers and workstations. I check them for errors and wipe them with a three-pass wipe (over-kill for perpendicular recording drives) or the built-in secure erase. I had one guy ask me if I ran SMART tests on them, which I had not and do not because the unit I use to wipe does not. Then the fekker bought them a week later and asked again after purchasing and wanted a copy of the SMART reports. I cancelled his sale and blocked him. A couple of days later someone I suppose was his friend or him in another account asked me the exact same question then berated me for selling things I have no idea the condition of.

 

I do remember one item, though I do not remember what it was, the guy asked a question and I told him his answer can be found in the pictures I posted as I post high-quality pictures and I confirmed what he was asking was visible. This sounds like a dick answer, and it kind-of is, but my intention is to encourage him and other buyers to do what I do: scrutinize the pictures, the description, return policy, shipping, the whole bloody thing. Everything in an item listing constitutes a binding contract so you have to discriminate and ask about things which are not certain. Having all three screws holding a C64 case closed is important to me so I need to know but your pictures and description do not indicate -- fair question.

 

Good sellers also have to make up for the experiences with bad sellers so questions about obvious things have to be handled like you are the new boyfriend dealing with a girl from a bad break-up. Okay, while your last purchase of this phone did not come with the carry strap even though it was clearly shown in the pictures, yes, the one I am selling does show the strap in the pictures and will be included.

 

In my auctions I give enough information to make what I believe to be an informed purchasing decision and if not then I am happy to answer, but if you do not like the auction or my answers then this is not the auction you are looking for. Move along.

[+LS650]

One annoyance I've noticed lately: I see an item that is posted at an unusually low shipping cost, yet the seller is shown as located in the US or Canada. Hmmm, I think, I bet this very cheap item ships from China - which means a minimum of 4 weeks for shipping, and sometimes 6 or 8 weeks. I will ask where the item ships from, and the seller usually admits he is drop shipping from China.

 

I did this for a video cable not so long ago, and the seller wrote that the item would ship from Ontario. Great, I think, it shouldn't take more than 10 days. A couple of weeks later, I still haven't received it, so I write to ask the seller what's up. He then tells me, oh sorry, our warehouse in Ontario ran out so we have shipped from China...

 

What a lying sack of shit. The cable eventually arrived after 6 weeks. I gave the seller a neutral feedback, warning buyers that the seller actually shipped from China.

[Tanooki]

I've seen that stuff with China, it's very deceitful. It tends to happen when you see a listing that pretends to be local but only lists the country and not a state/city as a legit account will do. Even if they're priced lower I just won't buy from clowns like that. The other thing you can't avoid but I really don't mind it, are those with stupid cheap shipping who do, and they don't have the item either because they're using amazon as their fulfilling department and not telling me.

 

At first I was kind of pissed because I got this asinine AZN tracking number I couldn't figure out or google, but after a bit I figured out it was Amazons new internal mailing department where they drop stuff off themselves from their trucks and it's 100% untrackable without calling their company which is pretty crap. I've had this happen probably a half dozen times or so during however long ago into last year they started doing that. Usually I've found if it's a modern item I get it in under ebay's shipping guess as it comes out of an Amazon warehouse in state so it's like 1-2 day delivery which is cool. The problem is if it's not, slow, AZN untrackable, and takes awhile unless you luck into wherever they mailed their stuff for amazon to handle is near by.

[Austin]

This sounds like a dick answer, and it kind-of is, but my intention is to encourage him and other buyers to do what I do: scrutinize the pictures, the description, return policy, shipping, the whole bloody thing. Everything in an item listing constitutes a binding contract so you have to discriminate and ask about things which are not certain. Having all three screws holding a C64 case closed is important to me so I need to know but your pictures and description do not indicate -- fair question.

Couldn't have said it better myself, really.

[SignGuy81]

I bought a new digital camcorder for my daughter for Christmas. I've followed the instructions and fully charged the battery first. I fully charge it every time for her before she uses it. Each time the battery might last 30 minutes give or take. Now it was cheap($36) but either way this doesn't seem right so I thought I'd ask the seller a question. I'm not going to post the seller's ID but I will post my question plus the response I got.

 

Me

 

Hi,

I thought we would test this camera out for awhile and see how it does to see if there are any issues and I have a question.

How long is the battery life supposed to be on this thing? We let this thing fully charge like every time and the battery lasts like around 30 minutes. To me this can't be right but I wanted to ask if anyone else has experienced this issue with this camera?

 

 

Seller

 

Thank you for your message .
You should charge it fully power the start to use it .
But if have any problems , please email to us .
Jenny

 

 

Yes I copied and pasted that directly. And I did have problems I already emailed them. I haven't left feedback yet, I'll probably still leave positive as it was a cheap Chinese piece of junk I should have known what I was getting from the start but I'm still undecided just because of the poor communication but am also thinking it is probably a Chinese person who isn't good with English, even though their name is "Jenny"(doubtful).

Edited January 10, 2018 by SignGuy81

[Keatah]

It's an assumed name, much like the Indian-staffed call centers, the chicks are using American names so they sound familiar..

 

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Ebay was great when they first opened for business. Wonderful hand-typed descriptions for each item. Little or no stock photos. And personal responses from everyone. Now it seems like every seller operates likes a tiny corporation with terse and canned responses, stock photos, stock descriptions that are auto-populated.

 

Sellers want the benefit of buyers buying their stuff, but don't want to deal with the details humdrum that comes with it all. They are hiding behind the automation ebay is all too happy to provide. It's a goddamned store now!