Question Askers

[flowingmanenotahorse]

I have noticed a pattern, maybe it is just me , but over the years I have found the more questions somebody asks the less likely it is to be a pleasant outcome. Ivejust spent another round of questions, then offers, acceptance, then more questions, streteching out two ddays of time. She was wanting me to  tell her  what the item was in cm, as i had it in inches?  Does anyone else find that buyers who are the most needy end up being the ones to complain much more often? Also in every case their feedback left for others confirmed it.  Sadly im at a point where question askers rarely end in sales, when a sale starts withh a questons, i know its over

[digital*ghost]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:

A lot really depends on the items. With some items you could ask lots of questions but with other items there's really nothing left to ask.

I'm learning to ask questions of some askers to save myself a lot of time, eg. those who ask how much I've got of an item.  They may only want a metre and it's not worth measuring a 5m piece only to find out they only wanted a little bit.  They're the ones who rarely buy so if they don't answer my questions I've saved a lot of time.

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I tend it find it depends more on what the customer wants from the item, more than the item itself.

Using the tea cup as an example, if a buyer wants something that holds tea that they can drink from, they're generally just going to buy the cup and be happy. If they want something that's going to match a particular colour scheme that they're finnicky about, they might ask questions about the exact shade, even if it's a well lit stock photo. 

[digital*ghost]

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@flowingmanenotahorse wrote:

just to clarify, the item is $29.95 and she knocked $10 off it. As of 5 minutes ago Im still being messaged, she has sent me 10 questions ranging from feel, texture, if my item clearly advertised as vintage was "like new", and now its nearly a week. Most of what he has asked has been covered and 

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in ad, yet she comes at varying angles.I blocked her but cant block her contacting me . Today I had enough and asked her to quit it please, now its self righteous indignation. Im sorry but a week of this over a paltry sum is too much. I knew from "inches to cm" that it was not right, cant she use a converter on the net that ebay is on? she feels stalkerish almost, its bizarre..of course she has not paid for item the offer she requested ran out and he is still going

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This is where you just say "I appreciate your interest in the item, but it is definitely not going to meet your needs. I hope you're able to find what you're looking for".

Sounds like your measurements for a clothing item were in inches? Just as an aside, as others have mentioned, in that kind of case I'd generally use cm's for an Australian market. I use mm's for my items becauses it's industry standard world-wide, but I do get a lot of US buyers who are more familiar with imperial measurements, so I understand the "why can't they just use a conversion online" thought, but one of the purposes of a listing description is to keep the buyer on your page and interested in purchasing without having to go elsewhere, so you could always use both. I have a little conversion chart of common lengths that I copy / paste into descriptions on sites where my items are viewed by US buyers, so all the work is already done for everyone. 

[flowingmanenotahorse]

the inches were for a large tablecloth. Myelf and buyer both australian. Turns out she sells similar stuff to me, so not sure what she is up to

[digital*ghost]

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@flowingmanenotahorse wrote:

the inches were for a large tablecloth. Myelf and buyer both australian. Turns out she sells similar stuff to me, so not sure what she is up to

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Ah, well that definitely puts a different spin on things. 

If there was still an opportunity to tactfully withdraw, rather than the "item won't meed your needs" tactic, you (or sellers in general) can try the "unfortunately I'm unable to provide further assistance as I have exhausted the extent of my knowledge" route. 

[purplemon18]

2 things.

First, just stop engaging with them. I'd suggest at this point you just delete any further messages unread. You have already blocked them, so at some point their ability to message you will also get blocked. I beleave it's 2 weeks, but I could be wrong about that.

Second, if you feel they have stepped over the edge to harassment, you can try reporting them using the service on this page:

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/report-issue-buyer?id=4084&st=12&pos=1&q...

If you make a report, I suggest you also ask if they can block them from being able to message you. No idea whether they can, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[chameleon54]

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@purplemon18 wrote:

2 things.

First, just stop engaging with them. I'd suggest at this point you just delete any further messages unread. You have already blocked them, so at some point their ability to message you will also get blocked. I beleave it's 2 weeks, but I could be wrong about that.

Second, if you feel they have stepped over the edge to harassment, you can try reporting them using the service on this page:

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/report-issue-buyer?id=4084&st=12&pos=1&q...

If you make a report, I suggest you also ask if they can block them from being able to message you. No idea whether they can, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

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Sellers need to check a tick box in account settings to prevent blocked buyers from contacting them. Even then, it takes some time after active questions lapse before the communication block starts to work.

If the tick box is not checked, blocked buyers can still contact sellers. There is also a simple "work around" for the message block, but most buyers would not know how to access it. Just saying it is still possible to recieve messages from a blocked buyer if they go through a different process to normal.

[springyzone]

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@flowingmanenotahorse wrote:

just to clarify, the item is $29.95 and she knocked $10 off it. As of 5 minutes ago Im still being messaged, she has sent me 10 questions ranging from feel, texture, if my item clearly advertised as vintage was "like new", and now its nearly a week. Most of what he has asked has been covered and in ad, yet she comes at varying angles.I blocked her but cant block her contacting me . Today I had enough and asked her to quit it please, now its self righteous indignation. Im sorry but a week of this over a paltry sum is too much. I knew from "inches to cm" that it was not right, cant she use a converter on the internet , despite hundreds of feedback? she feels stalkerish almost, its bizarre..of course she has not paid for item, the offer she requested ran out and he is still going

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Okay, so if I have it right, she hasn't actually committed to buy. The good news is the offer expired so you now don't have to sell at that price and you don't have to sell to her at all.

And I wouldn't. If you can block her from bidding, I'd do that.

As I said earlier, a person who asks a question or even a couple of questions might very well turn out to be a good buyer but you've got someone here who is waving not one, but two red flags. A deluge of questions PLUS she wasn't happy to pay the original price in the first place.

I'd say that now she is thinking--that seller sure knocked a lot off the price, I wonder if something is wrong with it.

My own experience with selling (from recent years where I haven't sold all that much) is that when they start expecting vintage items advertised as good condition to be 'like new', you can almost bet they won't be happy when they do receive it and they'll want a further partial refund if there's the slightest mark and even if there isn't, they'll find something to complain about.

For under $20, you don't need the hassle.

Good luck. She's not the only fish in the sea, you might easily end up selling at full price or at least without having to knock off $10 from the asking price!

[snowbunnies2016]

I had on member ask a series of questions on a pair of boots I was selling. I answered all questions, she bid, she won, she was a non-payer. I don’t get it!!

[flowingmanenotahorse]

so I blocked her and tonight I have someone ask me another silly question, asking me via a live buy it now auction if its still available, well obviously??? Then i realised its a variarion of first question askers name, this truly is getting queer.....whats their fixation??? I looked them up on fb and i gotta admit they dont look the full bottle but why me?!?! This id is an extension of her name, and it appears her real name in an id that had bought nothing for over a year and 3 things since 2013....so big rat

[brerrabbit585]

If she buys it on a different ID, report her for malicious buying (assuming you've blocked her first ID. If the IDs are similar I'd block the second one as well, and I wouldn't answer their question at all.

@ digi, don't get me started on people who want to colour match. I had one person who wanted me to match up a few things to sell them - they have no idea how much time that takes! I also had another one wanting to know whether one of my items was a similar colour to something she sent me a picture of. She just couldn't understand that because her picture looked accurate on her screen, it may have looked different on mine. I had to be quite firm in the end and tell her I DO NOT DO COLOUR MATCHING.

Edited to add:  take note of the suburb/town shown on the first question and see if it matches or is close to the suburb/town shown on the second question (from the other ID).