Private Listings & The Effect On Feedback Usefulness

[aspidistral*bliss]

I understand the reason for private listings for things that people might be embarassed to buy but...

It's obvious some sellers are taking advantage and use private listings for ALL their listings, meaning that it is impossible to use their feeback effectively.

For instance I want to buy a dog bed.

One seller that sells them has all their feedback private listings. Plenty of negs and neutrals. But I can't tell which feedback is for these beds. So I can't judge what I will get.

Clearly I'm not going to buy from this seller.

This is really annoying and I question the fact that ebay allows this to occur.

I think private listings should only be available in limited circumstances.

[putney32]

quite frankly if they have ..."Plenty of negs and neutrals'''. there shouldn't need to be a But I......

why would anyone buy from a seller with Plenty of negs and neutrals at all??

[aspidistral*bliss]

One example is if the negs are for electrical items being chinese rubbish but the thing  I am buying is not an electrical item and has all good feedback for that item...

[the3coopers]

Clearly I'm not going to buy from this seller.

This is really annoying and I question the fact that ebay allows this to occur.

I think private listings should only be available in limited circumstances.

I think that Private Listings are THE perfect way to determine which sellers NEVER to buy from.

So I like them, because it makes my purchasing decisions a lot easier.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

If the private lister is listing the same brand product at a lesser price then I can understand why the OP (or another buyer) may consider buying off the private lister, the amount of negs and neuts that could be considered to excess cannot be determined without also taking into account the overall positive sale count ie

20 negs and neuts on a private listing account that also has 10 gazillion positive sales is only a small percentage

20 negs and neuts on a private listing account that has only 100 sales.

....well .............

that is not a very good average at all.

If the private lister has a competitor that always tries to undercut then I can understand the private listings to an extent.

My bet is that the OP's post was originally motivated by a price difference between the Private and public lister

[***super_nova***]

If I would leave NEG for somebody with private listing, because the product is carp, I would name the product.  Like:  "the dog bed fell apart in 2 days, refused to refund"  🙂

Unfortunately, many people do not describe well what the problem was.  But if there are lots of NEGs and neutrals, the comments should give you some idea if the problem was because the item did not arrive, took weeks to arrive or what else went wrong.

[the3coopers]

If the private lister has a competitor that always tries to undercut then I can understand the private listings to an extent.

A competitor would simply look at CURRENT listings to determine the prices that they needed to undercut.

There is NO reason for sellers to use Priavte Listings on general merchandise, except to be hiding something.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

A competitor would simply look at CURRENT listings to determine the prices that they needed to undercut.

There is NO reason for sellers to use Priavte Listings on general merchandise, except to be hiding something.

Simply Coops....... best offer means that I can throw my competitors whatever price I like in the current listings..... and accept where it suitsHow simple is that? Simon

[the3coopers]

 

Simply Coops....... best offer means that I can throw my competitors whatever price I like in the current listings..... and accept where it suitsHow simple is that? Simon

It's not really that simple at all... let's say that you quote $100 in your listings, with Best Offer.

Your opposition lists at $90 BIN (or even with Best Offer), which undercuts you considerably.

Because they are cheaper, you won't even GET the inquiries from potential buyers in order to offer your "best price".

I always sell BIN + Best Offer. I can't remember the last time somebody actually made an offer, even though I have "PRICE IS NEGOTIABLE, PLEASE MAKE AN OFFER in huge writing in the listing.

So maybe your tricky selling techniques to hide your real prices are doing your sales an injustice? If you really are using Private Listings, then you are already losing a significant number of buyers (like me) who instantly click BACK when they see what the seller is up to.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Simply coops there are legitimate reasons why sellers employ private listings in their business strategy.....

which is in direct contrast to your statement above that there are NO reasons for sellers to use private listings...........

My tricky business practices ???? Keh ???

Where did I say that I used private listings??

It's ok to be wrong every now and then coops.. it's how many people learn........

That some lookers may find it suspicious is to be expected.... lucky there are zillions of buyers...

 If you set your prices correctly then best offer and goofbays best offer % acceptance tool are a great aid.

I sell almost everything to offer so I find exactly the opposite and I do not have MAKE AN OFFER in big writing......