topic Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS in Buying

ANSWERING QUESTIONS

inalaboy1961-9 — Fri, 10 May 2019 04:38:33 GMT

IT ANNOYS ME THAT EXPERIENCED SELLERS EITHER CAN'T OR WON'T ANSWER QUESTIONS

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

k1ooo-slr-sales — Fri, 10 May 2019 04:47:08 GMT

@inalaboy1961-9 wrote:
IT ANNOYS ME THAT EXPERIENCED SELLERS EITHER CAN'T OR WON'T ANSWER QUESTIONS

Can you define "experienced sellers" for me?

Do you mean sellers that:

- have been on eBay for a long time, OR

- have high feedback score, OR

- have lots of items listed

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2019 04:49:53 GMT

Are you yelling at them too?

Are you giving them enough time to respond?

Is what you are asking already covered in the item listing?

Are the sellers registered in China (if so, it is not uncommon for them not to repond to messages at all)

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

brerrabbit585 — Fri, 10 May 2019 05:24:19 GMT

IT ANNOYS ME THAT SOME BUYERS ASK QUESTIONS THAT ARE A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND EXPECT ME TO ANSWER THEM.

Yes, I always answer genuine questions but if they're rude (unsolicited offers, etc) or really stupid I feel absolutely no compulsion to answer them.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

kopenhagen5 — Fri, 10 May 2019 05:49:53 GMT

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

springyzone — Fri, 10 May 2019 06:17:58 GMT

I haven't struck that problem at all. In fact, quite the opposite. If I ask a straight forward question, I usually get a clear answer within 24 hours.

Could you give us an example of the sort of question you have had unanswered?

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

countessalmirena — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:51:22 GMT

Some reasons why a seller may not answer your questions:

The seller is a major retailer, and their eBay "arm" is not tasked with responding to questions. In most cases, this is because the listing contains the same amount of information as is on the major retailer's own website, and if a buyer has a specific question, he/she can phone the major retailer and ask for the relevant department to get any additional information.
The seller is quite a large seller in Australia, the US or the UK, and expends all energy and time on processing orders, packing them and getting them sent out. Questions tend not to be answered except for post-sale "I haven't received my item" questions or things of that sort.
The seller is a Chinese eBay seller, and volume of sales on the listed items is the primary focus. Possibly the seller hasn't the English to respond to "Does this item have blah blah blah? Does this item do blah blah blah?" questions. The only sorts of replies you could expect is if you tell the seller the item arrived damaged or hasn't arrived, in which case the seller may have pre-canned or google-translated responses such as "Dear, best assure your item will arrive! Just in kindly response please wait another 10 days. Always if problem after this time you will get full refund, we give honesty guarantee!"
The seller is a hobby seller and isn't on eBay often. This is particularly the case with auctioned items.
The question you asked should be clear from the listing, and the seller has long since made a policy not to respond to questions which really just require that the potential buyer read the listing clearly.
The question you asked has already been answered very clearly in the listing with a "No, we do not etc., etc."
The question is considered by the seller to be amazing cheek - for instance, asking for an outrageous discount or something extra.
The question is completely silly in the seller's opinion, such as "Will this fit in my cupboard?"... with no measurements of the cupboard given... or "Will this suit a petite blonde wearing a spangled top?"
The seller simply could not be bothered to respond, for whatever reason it may be.
The seller is undergoing health issues and is limiting their interaction to only the absolutely necessary.

There are no doubt other reasons.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 10 May 2019 10:12:42 GMT

I am an experienced seller and I answer questions promptly, even in the middle of the night. However, if I got a message screaming at me like the one you left here, then you would be ignored, and immediately put on my blocked buyer list. If this is how you speak to sellers, then it's no earthly wonder you are being ignored.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

countessalmirena — Fri, 10 May 2019 10:33:06 GMT

I should have included that...

If the question was something like "WHY DON'T YOU SAY WHETHER THIS IS CREAMWARE OR YELLOWWARE???", it is unlikely that the seller will respond other than by considering that the buyer is trouble, and acting accordingly.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

jellybirddesigns — Fri, 10 May 2019 12:12:58 GMT

In 16 years of online selling on Ebay and other platforms, I have only ever not replied to a handful of questions out of the thousands that I have had.

There are a few reasons I may not respond:

1) The buyer is completely discourteous and/or the tone of the message is rude. I just won't waste my time and energy.

2) Buyer feedback shows a pattern of negatives left for sellers - they go straight on my blocked list

3) Writing in ALL CAPS is considered "shouting" on the internet, and unless your message is polite, I may not answer it.

4) Buyers who do not read my descriptions and ask several questions all of which are answered in the listing. If they're not reading what they should be reading it's not my job to re-write it all out again for them.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

jellybirddesigns — Fri, 10 May 2019 14:36:56 GMT

Just to highlight what I was referring to in my post above - in the 40 minutes from when I posted the message to doing a shutdown of my mail, I had an enquiry asking me if a cushion cover they are looking at just includes the insert.

1) The title tells them it's a cushion "cover"

2) The description mentions that the insert is not included, cover only.

And yet I still get the enquiry.

When I get questions like this and I do bother answering, inevitably they don't buy because they go back and read what they should have read the first time and then probably feel foolish.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

countessalmirena — Fri, 10 May 2019 15:03:58 GMT

I know what you mean; people may feel that they've lost face, and head off to another seller without asking any questions.

You could always reply with a simple, "Thank you for enquiring; this cushion cover is cover only. (No insert.)" without pointing that your listing description states this same information... but it's hard to feel that there's any point in replying to those sorts of questions where clearly the eBay member hasn't bothered to read the description at all.

It is possible that ebay's ruthless insertion of "Similar sponsored items" and "Related sponsored items" (two rows of other stuff) give buyers the impression that there's no further information under the Postage / Delivery / Payments / Returns section. Was your questioner a relatively new eBay member?

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

jellybirddesigns — Fri, 10 May 2019 23:14:34 GMT

Thanks Countess - the enquiry came from another platform, where there is no indication of how long they have been a member.

I have written back to her, but I'm not holding my breath for a purchase.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 11 May 2019 04:06:08 GMT

I feel your pain. Some people are complete idiots and I'd rather not sell to those people. A few years back I listed a "Vintage Green Malachite Pendant on a Silver Chain". I got a message from a buyer asking what colour the green Malachite was. My first thought was, are you for real? I replied with "the green Malachite is Heliotrope". They bought it before I could block them. Obviously Heliotrope was an acceptable colour to them. These days I block before I reply. That said, they did leave great feedback and 5 stars for everything (in the days when you could check what stars buyers had left).

I also had another buyer asking what colour the yellow tea cup was. I replied that it was purple.

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

countessalmirena — Sat, 11 May 2019 08:02:06 GMT

I think I may just have found it irresistible to go "full lyrical":

❝Have you ever seen a fresh young buttercup, tenderly rising from the sweet grasses? Have you ever churned the new butter in the morning when the sun has just opened its sleepy gaze over the rumpled bedsheets of the sky?

I have wandered in the wide garden where bright lemons hang gaily from the low-hanging branches among the sharp green of the leaves. The pretty goldenrods flower with quaint courtesy and charm along the creamy weathered stones. Nesting overheard is a great horned owl with its magnificent eyes of golden yellow. I ruffle the head of an indignant hen as I take one of the freshly laid eggs. When I crack open the shell, out spills the vibrant xanthophyll-rich yolk and swiftly frilling half-transparent white. Within minutes the omelette is done, and I slip it onto a creamy yellowware plate. I note idly that the unrest in France is still ongoing; how enraged those gilets jaunes are!

The yellow of this tea cup is none of these. I would perhaps describe it as "tea-cup yellow". I hope that you find this reply informative and a blissful journey among the tender-to-glorious shades of yellow that dot the landscape around us.❞

Re: ANSWERING QUESTIONS

Anonymous — Sun, 12 May 2019 02:49:59 GMT