@springyzone wrote:
@digital*ghost
I'd wager very few ebay buyers would think of most of those eg title of the ad etc when they see the word 'communication'.
I know ๐ That's why I keep saying it whenever a thread like this pops up - this is actually one of the few eBay initiatives that makes perfect sense to me, because communication does not = conversation, though a conversation is certainly a form of communication, and my intention is not necessarily to change how other people think about it all the time, but to at least highlight the reasoning behind why eBay will award an auto-5 in those circumstances, since - without fail - most people will say it makes no sense.
If you think about what reasons a buyer has for messaging a seller directly, thus starting a conversation, it is nearly always to gain information that is not available in a listing* - if a seller has eliminated the need to ask any questions, be it because the buyer only needs all the important, major details, or because the seller has paintakenly laid out every detail through images, description etc, provided a list of FAQs that answer most general questions (that they used to get messages about all the time, but now have it directly accessable, thus saving everyone time), then the information a buyer needs has been communicated to them in exactly the same way as it would have been through a message - with words and / or pictures.
I have an additional blurb in my listings confirming that I combine postage, and explain what the postage discounts are and how to access them so that they apply automatically - I could wait until every buyer messages me to ask if I combine etc, (some still do, anyway), or I could make things a lot easier for most occasions by communicating that info without the need to message me - a seller who provides these details doesn't really deserve low stars just because the buyer didn't have to go out of their way to ask about them. (I never get auto-5s, BTW, my handling time is too long and most orders don't ship with tracking, plus I did actually used to be one of those sellers that messaged every single buyer after a purchase - it wasn't something I could maintain after my sales increased, though).
*I understand sometimes buyers message sellers for information that can't be in a listing, or is not practical to include, but the basic principle still applies in those scenarios, however I also know that some buyers just like messaging a seller for various non-sale related reasons; I'm more referring to circumstances where a buyer needs to contact a seller before they can / will buy.
