topic Re: How not to write an ad in Selling

How not to write an ad

springyzone — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 22:09:27 GMT

Just musing here, I have no complaint or anything.

I recently (well, yesterday) bought an item off a big volume seller with quite a classy, professional looking ad.

Excellent, clear photos Tick

Dimensions clearly listed Tick

Quick communication Tick

But I noticed a couple of things about the ad & wondered what your thoughts are on these?

Firstly, the ads were quite long. They were divided into sections eg product details/payment/shipping etc (big tick) but each section was quite wordy.

I would have said that usually I read ads carefully but I overlooked one bit in the shipping info where it said to provide a contact phone number or else shipping would be delayed. It is all good as I have done it now but I would have thought if a buyer paid and didn't provide some necessary detail, a seller should probably message to ask.

And it's probably not a great idea to put a condition like that in the middle of shipping details with about 4 or 5 other paragraphs, it can get lost. Sometimes brief is better (says I-but then, this is a message board, not an ad)

Secondly, I seriously wonder about the wisdom of putting unenforceable terms & conditions into an ad. From my perspective as a buyer, it comes across as confrontational to some extent and puts my back up a bit. Plus I tend to think-rubbish, you would have no way to enforce that.

eg Serious buyer only, DO NOT bid if you don't intend to buy, non purchases after a winning bid will require 20% for management and eBay re-listing fees.

There was a lot more, paragraphs more, but you get the picture.

To me, it would make more sense to shorten ads & concentrate on more relevant details.

But,, the seller has thousands of sales behind him, so maybe I am wrong.

Re: How not to write an ad

*tippy*toes* — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:04:49 GMT

I'd like to know how he's going to get 20% from the buyer. If he can't get payment for the item, he's got buckley's chance of getting 20%! Maybe it's a scare tactic? Although a pretty watery one at that.

Re: How not to write an ad

curraone — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 01:33:38 GMT

not to do with nothing, but I hate ads like that with black background in the description.

and I also hate listings that say 'free postage" but the description says otherwise.

Re: How not to write an ad

thesoulyearns — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 02:04:24 GMT

I think some people like to make long descriptions with lots of terms is because of experience. Especially for large sellers, although they sell alot, they also have alot more negative feedback and non-payers. So as part of their descriptions about the actual product, they just feel it's worth adding things about 'serious bidders' to try and lower the potential non-payers.

Re: How not to write an ad

digital*ghost — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 02:22:47 GMT

Requiring a phone number is enforceable, there's a setting that will not allow payment to go through unless a phone number is included, so any seller who genuinely requires that for postage purposes has a means to require it.

I tend to think many sellers don't expect a buyer will read all of their T&Cs, but they put them there to cover themselves if certain things eventuate (eg buyer approaches seller with an issue, seller can refer to terms if need be). The other thing to remember is that just because eBay can't enforce certain terms, it doesn't mean the terms are actually unenforceable (though attempting to enforce them via other means, legal or otherwise, can be unviable).

I think terms (should they be read) like fees for non-payment are intended to be more of a scare tactic than something the seller will genuinely attempt to collect, I don't see the point, to be honest. I'd rather concentrate on the benefits of buying from me than the consequences 🙂 and minimise the time and energy I spend on buyers who turn out not to be buyers after all.

Re: How not to write an ad

shiver_me_shrimp — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 05:34:06 GMT

I don't like the sellers who in regards to un-tracked items put, "I am not responsible for items lost in the post." I think PayPal would disagree. I will not buy from a seller who writes this, as it makes them sound as if they would be difficult to deal with.

Re: How not to write an ad

lyndal1838 — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 05:40:50 GMT

I just ignore it when sellers state they are not responsible for items lost in the mail.

In the unlikely event that the item does not arrive I notify the seller....if they are difficult to deal with I just go to a paypal dispute.

Re: How not to write an ad

springyzone — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 08:26:25 GMT

not to do with nothing, but I hate ads like that with black background in the description.

and I also hate listings that say 'free postage" but the description says otherwise.

-----------------------

How did you know which ad? Just curious as neither of us has given feedback yet so I wasn't sure how you could see what I bought or what the ad was like.

Yes, it did have a black background.

To me, a good ad has a detailed description but doesn't go into reams and reams of terms and conditions or threats.

Probably the clearer & less confusing it is, the better.

Re: How not to write an ad

digital*ghost — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 09:47:58 GMT

@springyzone wrote:

How did you know which ad? Just curious as neither of us has given feedback yet so I wasn't sure how you could see what I bought or what the ad was like.

Advanced search can include text from the description, so if you have an exact copy of unique wording found in someone's description, a search on ebay will turn it up (hence why I never mention my TOS verbatim when posting on the forum ).

Re: How not to write an ad

*tippy*toes* — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 10:23:01 GMT

I like the bit where they say they only post to the eBay address and to update that before buying. I know they've got 100% feedback, but I wonder how many disputes they've had open against them because it was sent to the eBay address and not the one in PayPal. I'm also wondering if they use postage labels, aren't they printed from the details you'd see in the order details? Meaning if they change the address in checkout to where they want it delivered, isn't that what would show up to print?

Re: How not to write an ad

springyzone — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 15:54:40 GMT

At least my address is the same on both so I should be right, and touch wood, I haven't had things go astray in the post. A bit late at times yes, but never had anything go missing.

To my mind, if any seller can reach over 4500 without a single neg feedback, it's a minor miracle!!

I noticed they had one neutral that said "Thanks"-which to me, sounds as if it should have been a positive.

But their terms & conditions are a bit waffly & actually gave me a laugh.

Transit times may vary because of traffic conditions? Hardly worth putting in an ad.

And there's a long rigmarole about how if any part is faulty it is covered by a 60 day warranty but the customer is responsible for all return postage costs & they have to be in the original box etc

To be fair, the seller seems right on the ball-good communication, tracking details posted etc & I am confident all will be well.

They are probably really reliable sellers, I'm not trying to be critical of them, just some aspects of their ad.

I am just not sure all their terms & conditions are enforceable, especially if anyone ever did have a legit problem & went to ebay about it.

Re: How not to write an ad

curraone — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 21:02:56 GMT

I suppose it's worse when sellers give no description at all - it is like a lucky dip - "old book" for example - you have the photo and nothing else. Sometimes I must confess I have bought on just that - tho then I am not sure what to do about feedback - as described? when there is no description!

And yes, I did find the seller using your quote. Hope that's ok.

Re: How not to write an ad

springyzone — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 05:16:23 GMT

Not a problem.

I only asked as I was curious but I worked it out later on.

You're right, no description is worse than too much and it is probably better than confusing descriptions.

I know I got caught out last week. It was totally my own fault, but I was reading a whole series of ads, looking for a carpet runner for my daughter, and saw one that looked perfect for the job but was in a suburb a bit of a drive away. Then had another look at ads, came back to the good one and thought-why on earth didn't I bid? It's got a postage option that is very reasonable.

So I bid.

Then later when i went back and re-read the ad, I realised the owner really wanted pick up only, so I cancelled my bid, apologised to the seller & explained that they might be better off editing their ad to show pick up only (which they then did).

As I say, my fault, but it's easy to make mistakes if there are conflicting things in an ad.

Re: How not to write an ad

imastawka — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 05:30:16 GMT

To my mind, if any seller can reach over 4500 without a single neg feedback, it's a minor miracle!!

A sellers negs disappear in 12 months if they don't get any more, so it's not like

their whole time on ebay was without any - maybe it was. You can't tell

Re: How not to write an ad

springyzone — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 05:34:39 GMT

Must admit, I never thought of that!

I am not too worried though, they seem to be a pretty reliable seller from what I can make out.

A neg here or there doesn't usually turn me off a seller, depends what it's for though I guess.

Re: How not to write an ad

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 12:53:27 GMT

They've had 7 negs and 18 neutrals. Most sound like they are from buyers who didn't read the description, or failed to contact the seller if something went wrong, like being broken in transit. It wouldn't stop me buying from them.

Re: How not to write an ad

springyzone — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 06:17:38 GMT

Wow, I am impressed with your detective skills, tippy.

I don't know how you discovered all that without going through all the pages!

As it is a pair of lamps I have bought and I think they sell a lot of lamps, I suppose there is always the possibility of damage in transit. These things sometimes happen despite the best of packing. If I had a problem though I would always just contact a seller first, they can't do anything to help if they don't know.

I did have a look at some past FB. Noticed one neutral I think it was about how the lamps were smaller than they expected. Really, the poor seller puts the exact measurements in all the ads as far as I can make out. I do think some customers would be better off if they whipped out a tape measure at times and held it up against something else to get a perspective, rather than relying on memory.

Re: How not to write an ad

ozstockman — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 10:24:44 GMT

@springyzone wrote:

eg Serious buyer only, DO NOT bid if you don't intend to buy, non purchases after a winning bid will require 20% for management and eBay re-listing fees.

If I could I would make it ebay policy. You would not be probably surprised but some buyers do quite silly things. Most of them are done by new buyers with low feedback score

1)One buyer a few days ago asked me to cancel her sale because she did not want to buy it at all as she was just playing with how ebay works. I guess part of her play was to click buy it now and confirm. I explained to her that it is not a playground and asked her not to do anything like this again to any seller.

I agreed to cancel and asked her to confirm to ebay to help me to get fees credited back. She did not even care to do it and I had to wait for a few days for fees refunded without her confirmation

2)Just today, an US buyer bought an item from me, actually two of the same costing $18 plus shipping. I post worldwide but for the item she bought there was no postage cost set. I sent her invoice with $25 for shipping(registered letter with my handling fee included). She emailed me back asking to cancel because I " not inside of United States". Seriously, that the only way to check where the item is. I have cancelled it and expected for her to confirm it to ebay. She has not done it and I do not think it is time difference issue.

3)A few month ago a buyer from Puerto Ricko purchased from me an item where postage to her country was no set too. I updated their invoice and set the default postage to registered post with tracking. It was done because I do not want to post overseas without any confirmation for delivery. I also gave them a second shipping option which was just $12.50 for regular post and explained that this one is on their risk if they decide to go with it.

That buyer went nuts after it and gave me a neg feedback that I was changing item price(wth?) after they purchased the item. EBay refused to remove this feedback even that they clearly see that I was not rude and gave her two options for postage.

Re: How not to write an ad

davewil1964 — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 10:53:53 GMT

1) Open NPB

2) Open NPB

3) Open NPB

It's not hard.

If your items are made of wood, I would seriously reconsider offering international postage. Australia doesn't, generally, allow importation; I suspect other countries might have similar quarantine laws.

Re: How not to write an ad

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 12:58:58 GMT

I agree with Dave. No way would I have cancelled. Why let them get away with it? I only cancel in very special circumstances. Anything else, NPB. That way if they do try to trash my feedback, eBay removes it.