Listing Information

[stormy53_2000]

I have heard buyers complain in this forum about how difficult it is to make a profit.  Well as a buyer, I buy a lot, here is my biggest pet peeve, sellers who are to lazy to include pertinent information.

The word “Used” tells me absolutely nothing.  Is it chipped, cracked, repaired? Does it have crazing?  Or the size of things.  Sellers don’t know what they have.  They call demis minies Or they just call it a cup and saucer and it could be anything from a mini to a breakfast cup and based on their pictures it’s impossible to know.  Put in the measurements.  Instead they fill the description with adjectives that mean nothing. I should NOT have to ask.  It’s your job as a seller to tell me.  You do not know how many times I just pass the item up because it’s too much trouble to ask.  There is bound to be another item that does have the information.

[janetpjohn_la]

I hope you feel better, because you're preaching to the choir.  Let's don't get started on all the things people do wrong with their listings.  And, BTW, this is not the forum where people complain about not being able to make a profit.

Janet

[stainlessenginecovers]

Item Specifics coming to a Theatre near you....

[glasser]

@stormy53_2000 I am 100% with you on this!

I see so many crazy and unhelpful ways people discuss condition ( mostly glass which is what I am interested in). There is no such thing as a piece of glass being in good condition. What does that even mean? Some people say good vintage condition? Again not a thing. 

If you sell anything in antiques and collectibles it is either undamaged or not. Other than on the base of a piece of glass, there is no such thing as expected scratches for something of this age. Or expected wear ( few exceptions here).

Condition is everything. There is no grading structure like good/VG/excellent. What makes a piece of glass good vs Very good? There are no commonly accepted standard measures.

I have always found its better to be extremely specific about condition issues. It helps build buyer confidence. If there is damage there is damage. Buyers know how to take that into consideration.

I can give you numerous examples of people calling something in good condition when it's actually damaged.

Unfortunately, this is not just limited to eBay. Online auctioneers are even worse.

And one more thing, item specifics in these categories are useless when it comes to these issues. You can't have specifics around condition issues on pottery, glass, and many other collectibles. Only can be evaluated by eye.

[2013grotz]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

Item Specifics coming to a Theatre near you....

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And how many of those are/will already be wrong because it's simply too hard or time consuming to go through all those boxes?

[Anonymous]

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@stormy53_2000 wrote:

Well as a buyer, I buy a lot, here is my biggest pet peeve, sellers who are to lazy to include pertinent information.

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Simple, find another seller that does.

[donsdetour]

It would help if the seller knew anything about what they sold so the could tell you.

A lot do not know. So keep asking them questions if it is one you might be interested in.

[2013grotz]

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@donsdetour wrote:

It would help if the seller knew anything about what they sold so the could tell you.

That's another thing.  A lot of people might not genuinely know.  There's versed dealers and then there's people that just simply have an item they want gone and may not know what they have (like OP says).  And it's not that they are being lazy or whatever on their listings, they really don't know.  Sometimes (speaking on the buyer end), you gotta do a little education and ask some questions.

[madamezulu]

Agree with all the above, but as a seller with multiple accounts since day one of ebay, what about the buyers who don't know what they're purchasing and expect Amazon free returns because "the vase color doesn't exactly match their drapes."

Or the buyers who don't even read the carefully worded, explicit descriptions with multiple measurements and condition descriptions.  Every day I get "what are the dimensions" and "any damage" and I have to respond with direct quotes from the descriptions.

Going back to brick and mortar.

[jrkirk]

Item specifics have just made it more confusing for buyers, IMHO. Too much to search through, and not enough knowledge on what to look for in the first place. And as others have pointed out, condition is everything. Don't list it if you can't describe every nick, chip, or anything else that could be considered a flaw. If you don't have time to do that, and learn enough about the item to properly describe it, then don't list it.

[stainlessenginecovers · Accepted solution]

Item specifics is NOT something a buyer has to deal with. They all become 'keywords' for search engines, including on ebay. 

If you're title says 'Women' High Heel Shoes-Black' and one of the item specifics is 'open toe' or 'lace up' or 'size 7' then when a buyer searches using one of those keywords, that item 'could' come up (along with 10,000 others- but that's another story)

As far as listing with damages, issues etc. IF the listing does not mention any of those, and buyers ask about more details, there is really nothing more to say and nothing more to put in the description.

Are sellers supposed to put every problem under the sun that this item does NOT have??

[stormy53_2000]

I hit reply and it accepted as solution when it DEFINITELY IS NOT.  My reply was yes a seller should list every bit of damage.  I don't want a chip, no matter how small, or I want to make an informed decision about whether to buy a damaged item.  Not everything shows up in pictures.