This Seller Must Be Doing Something Right!

[i-love-my-sheep]

My husband was looking around for a book earlier and came across this seller. 3.5 MILLION listings! Only got 48 negs in the last 12 months. Did you see the bit about 3.5 MILLION listings?!?!? Where would one find the time to list all those things? I've struggled to get 100 listed this weekend!

Some of the negs are a bit weak. One buyer negged him because "The buyer would not allow me to change the delivery address!!! I lost my money". Sounds like the buyer had the wrong address listed and didn't change it before paying. Another person just said 'thanks'. Someone else with wrong address issues. Someone else "made error with payment, only needed 1 copy. How do I fix this?". Must be that buyers way of communicating.

Someone else whinging because it took too long from Sydney to Brisbane......seller is in the UK! Someone else whinging because it was 2 days late..... Of course there were legitimate issues, but I'm guessing some could have been resolved with a message.....although it sounds like some tried that avenue.

Are you sure you saw the bit about 3.5 MILLION listings?????

171576301804

[twyngwyn]

the ones I looked at were in the USA (with free postage to Aust)...god help all of us Oz book-sellers....when one closes another opens...just a revolving door...but we have delivery time on our side if AP do their part :l

[digital*ghost]

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

Where would one find the time to list all those things? I've struggled to get 100 listed this weekend!

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That's because you take photos, measurements, and actually write a description. 😉

These sellers do none of those things, it's all automated with information pulled from catalogues etc. 

Check the one from the item number for example. There is actually no information at all in that listing about the book that comes from the seller. They even have a description tab but it's blank. Might be alright a lot of the time, but even for brand new items, they will often have the incorrect cover displayed (some of them don't provide images at all because there's none to be found in a catalogue - they'll forever have an "image coming soon" picture. 

Some of the big second-hand book sellers do similar, then just pick an average condition (eg good, or acceptable), to act as the description - a few don't even have anything in the listing except the default item specifics filled in by eBay.

With the quantity, also, they list catalogues, and may or may not be able to supply the book in question. This one seems a bit better than some others at fulfilling orders / not listing items they can't supply, though the new defect system and out of stock rules might have had a hand in that.  

[fred_fred_2004]

from the amount they have listed, looking at the feed back they are not selling much

[lyndal1838]

The ebay store name is just a coverall for sellers all over the US and UK.

Some of the books I looked at were listed in one area of the USA, others in other states.

 I have bought DVDs from them from the UK and been very happy...they have stock when other sellers don't and are very quick with their postage (and cheap if it is not free postage)

But you do have to watch their prices.....they are not outrageously expensive but just enough for me to buy elsewhere if I possibly can.

[dazzledayz]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

Where would one find the time to list all those things? I've struggled to get 100 listed this weekend!

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That's because you take photos, measurements, and actually write a description. 😉

These sellers do none of those things, it's all automated with information pulled from catalogues etc. 

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DG is spot on; these guys are fully automated and taking advantage of bulk postage rates we can only dream of.

They would probably run an electronic invoice for stock purchased against their listing/catalogue software.

Hey Presto, a few thousand listing up and running across 3 ebay venues, Amazon and their own websites at the press of a key.

It's just this type of seller that sees sales limited for small sellers.

They are running anchor stores on at least 3 different eBay sites so $1500 per month minimum.

We run a simple store at $20 or $50 per month.

Who do you think ebay would favour?

Here's another one with a bit more interesting feedback - 351161952702

When these guys started out they were even misrepresenting location.

They still multiple list with impunity.

If we had their ratings we'd get bumped!

[agoraagogo]

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@twyngwyn wrote:
the ones I looked at were in the USA (with free postage to Aust)...god help all of us Oz book-sellers....when one closes another opens...just a revolving door...but we have delivery time on our side if AP do their part :l

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surely thou dost jest.

you should read a recent post of mine in this thread; Increased number of not received standard mail...

unbelievable where my packages have gone.

[agoraagogo]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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That's because you take photos, measurements, and actually write a description. 😉

These sellers do none of those things, it's all automated with information pulled from catalogues etc. 

Check the one from the item number for example. There is actually no information at all in that listing about the book that comes from the seller. They even have a description tab but it's blank. Might be alright a lot of the time, but even for brand new items, they will often have the incorrect cover displayed (some of them don't provide images at all because there's none to be found in a catalogue - they'll forever have an "image coming soon" picture. 

Some of the big second-hand book sellers do similar, then just pick an average condition (eg good, or acceptable), to act as the description - a few don't even have anything in the listing except the default item specifics filled in by eBay.

With the quantity, also, they list catalogues, and may or may not be able to supply the book in question. This one seems a bit better than some others at fulfilling orders / not listing items they can't supply, though the new defect system and out of stock rules might have had a hand in that.  

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some sellers don't include a description.  harder to win a "not as described" case against them if there is no description.

there is one unrelated seller i've purchased from recently who never marks his items as sent.  again, i believe it may be for the same reason, to somehow avoid accountability.

[blue_arroz]

if anything, this proves to smaller seller's that listing 3-4-5x times that amount of items you have (including duplicate listings) doesn't guarantee more sales. 3.5 mill listings for only around 1500 sales a month? Not a good conversion rate.

[digital*ghost]

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@agoraagogo wrote:

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some sellers don't include a description.  harder to win a "not as described" case against them if there is no description.

there is one unrelated seller i've purchased from recently who never marks his items as sent.  again, i believe it may be for the same reason, to somehow avoid accountability.

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It shouldn't make it too much harder, as the condition specifics on eBay have some standard descriptive parameters.

Take the parameters for "Very good" in the digital media categories, for example:

An item that is used but still in very good condition. No damage to the jewellery case or item cover, no scuffs, scratches, cracks, or holes. The cover art and liner notes are included. The VHS or DVD box is included. The video game instructions and box are included. The teeth of disk holder are undamaged. Minimal wear on the exterior of item. No skipping on CD/DVD. No fuzzy/snowy frames on VHS tape. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.

That covers pretty much everything, with or without a word from the seller, although I know PayPal state items that have minor wear and have been described as "used" aren't considered SNAD, but if an item doesn't meet the above description, obviously especially in so far as function is concerned, the buyer would be eligible for protection (or so I assume). 

Marking an item as sent doesn't do anything for or against the seller, in all reality. The only way it can really help them is if it's marked as sent with tracking uploaded, which can help them qualify for auto-5 star ratings, but not marking as sent won't affect or limit their liability in any way.