Poor Seller Etiquette

[theforumaccount]

Hi Everyone,

I've browsed these forums a couple of times, and thought it's time to contribute as well.

First of all - THANKS to all of the contributors - your comments, humour and advice have provided me with some good reading.

I'd like to share a recent experience:

Looked at an item listed from a seller that has a couple of thoused sales with 100% pos feedback. Stated in the listiing - with those 36pt ALL CAPS BOLD font - please ask any questions, happy to respond.

The item description was "1950's era", however the images on the item weren't actually built / created until the early 70's. Sent a polite message asking about the discrepsancy. No responce was receieved and I now seem to be on the blocked buyers list? Pretty poor service I thought.

I'm a small time seller myself. I have had this happen to me once when I'd dated the item incorrectly - I was very grateful that the buyer took the time to (politely) correct me and provided a link to the correct information. I offered that buyer a discount! I thought it was much better than getting a neg feedback

Just wondering how big "high volume" sellers deal with buyers? Just because you sell a lot of items should you block someone who points out an error?

Cheers.

[chameleon54]

First off, welcome to the boards. Hope you keep coming back as it is a great place to learn stuff.

I get this from time to time. Around half of the time the messenger is polite and correct. I usually send them a quick response thanking them for the information and advising them that I have ammended the listing. If the advise is a bit dodgy, I thank them for the info and either show their question at the base of listing or put a footnote to the description that says something like, "thanks to the ebayer who advised they think it may be ........ any other suggestions appreciated ". I use this often for rare vintage car parts that we are all guessing what they may fit.

Quite often I get "Know it alls",   who really have no idea, or think their own personal opinion on something subjective is gospel. These ones get no response and if they are a real pain, go on the blocked bidder list. I had one yesterday who was adament in CAPS that a guitar that I had listed, that he had never played could not possibly sound as described. I,ve only played guitars semi-proffesionally for thirty years, so what would I know. YES this goose went on the BBL.

I,m not suggesting you are like the guitar goose ( who wasnt very polite ). Sellers can be hit so easily with chargebacks, item not as described cases & returns by ebays new policies that we have all become a lot more trigger happy with the BBL than before ( and losing sales because of it ) . Some ebayers are working on the principle of "any sniff of possible trouble" and its onto the BBL.

While I dont necessarily agree with your seller, when you understand ebays very unfair seller policies, it makes it a lot more understandable why he has reacted this way.

[a_beautiful_room]

You know, honestly, each to his own.

If the item is mis-described the buyer has an opportunity to return it through the "not as described" ebay return system, or to get a partial refund if they work that out with the seller.

I have seen literally hundreds of sellers selling "original art deco" which are China-made in 2014 ... it's up to each and every buyer to do their own due diligence prior to purchase. I'm sure lots of the buyers of these items are not even aware or educated as to how to spot such a fake.

As also a seller of collectables I used to get a lot of messages (and still do occasionally even though I don't sell much these days) pointing out the error of my ways - sometimes it's a worthwhile email - but often it is vicious, rude and nasty and sometimes I put them on my blocked list as well.  You have to accept that SOME "online buyers" have very little courtesy, manners and often have a reason to attack or criticize - they might be a seller of similar items for example, they might just have too much time on their hands.

Case in point: this is an email I received recently:

I can see why you have this on hear for the last 12 months with that know it all attitude what really knows f### all! About any thing with class you ill bread convict I'd rather die now than buy your vase all I asked you was the gilding wore of and you know it has ! but you couldn't give me a straight forward Answer all mouth a typical Australian that doesn't know it's **bleep** to its elbow get the wore out vase and push it up your **bleep** you stupid parasite

Sigh. This is the type of advice you can sometimes get.

Yes your email might have been courteous and you believe helpful, but sometimes you just block disenters in case this is how it ends up.

So just live and let live .. it isn't any of our responsibility to try and control what people do.

[curraone]

Not sure I qualify to answer because I am not a "big seller",  but on my part I think it's great if some kind person takes the trouble to point out an error or typo in my listing.    

[kopenhagen5]

It's also possible the seller is aware and doesn't want to correct it. 

In other words a seller to stay away from. 

[i-love-my-sheep]

I had a low feedback member (3) message me the other day saying that an item I had listed couldn't possibly be right because no-one would sell it that cheap. It is listed as 'lab created', which means how it sounds, man made in a laboratory. He wanted to know if I had certification stating it was lab created because lab created of this particular stone sells for the same price as the real thing (which can be in the thousands).

I don't know that much about gemstones, but I do know that lab created stones do usually sell for far less because they are not the real thing. They are created so people can have what they want at a fraction of the price. You wouldn't see a 5ct lab created diamond selling anywhere near $10,000. More like $30 -100.

He was trying to tell me that  if I didn't have certification, then it was coloured glass and be lucky to be worth a dollar. Short of getting it tested, I have no way of knowing if what he was saying was correct, or whether he was wanting me to reduce the price so he could get it cheap. I bought it 6 or 7 years ago from a supposed reputable gems dealer on eBay (I have since seen their store name mentioned on gems forums, in a positive sense, when I've been trying to find out about other things I had here). I would assume that if they did sell coloured glass, instead of real or lab created stones, these forum guru's would know about it.

So, until I know otherwise, I have ignored his message.

[crazyplacecostumes]

I love buyers who tell me if I've made a booboo in a listing. I'd rather know than not know!

Last one I gave a $5 voucher too!

[scubadiver00]

Hi,

I really apprecaite it  if a buyer takes the time to let me know if I have made a ''mistake'' in the listing.   No harm done there and they deserve  a thank you.

[cq_tech]

It's not the message itself that's the issue but the manner in which it's delivered.

Overt rudeness is completely unnecessary and is generally counter-productive.