Annoying questions buyers ask.

[patmos-8]

It's not a great time to be an eBay seller.  Judging from the posts on this forum, I'm not the only one struggling with low morale.  I thought it might be fun to share our favorite common/annoying questions we get from buyers.  I'll start with two and I'm genuinely excited to read some of yours.

1. "What's the lowest you'll go?"  So you're basically saying you want to do business with me, but you want it to be as unprofitable as possible for me as well.  Nice.  Imagine going to a job interview and the interviewer says "what's the lowest wage you'd accept?"  Yeah, I'll pass.

2.  "Any rips, holes, stains?"  Yes, this item is covered in blemishes, but I purposely hid them in the photos and didn't mention them in the description.  With my 60-day free return policy, I figured that would be prudent.  You've uncovered my diabolical plot to make my fortune.  

[richard1rst]

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@patmos-8 wrote:

It's not a great time to be an eBay seller.  Judging from the posts on this forum, I'm not the only one struggling with low morale.  I thought it might be fun to share our favorite common/annoying questions we get from buyers.  I'll start with two and I'm genuinely excited to read some of yours.

1. "What's the lowest you'll go?" 

My response is always: "We believe our prices are fair as they are. They are not open to negotiation."

2.  "Any rips, holes, stains?" 

I don't sell clothes so this doesn't apply to me.

But a couple of ones I get are:

But I amused by questions such as "what are the dimensions" even though they are specified in the listing.

Or "what is the brand name" and/or "is this (name of brand)" even though the brand name is spelled out in the specifications screen that eBay berates us into filling out.

OR feedback that says "It's smaller than I thought" even though dimensions are clearly stated in the listing.

 Clearly people have forgotten how to read.

[vintagecraze50]

Mostly I get the I buy from you if you take 50 percent off at which I block and ignore.

[samanthasb0utique]

🤣 This made me laugh! I get these annoying questions like 50 times a day. Love your answers to them haha

[fab_finds4u]

The one that annoys me is when they want it sent to a different address after they've paid.

[farmalljr]

I get some dumb questions every now and again, but I never really give it much thought. If it's just an ignorant question, I'll just block them so I don't have future problems.

I find what some sellers state in their listings or the false descriptions more concerning. I get what the point of this thread was, but honestly, some of the sellers I have ran across over the years, makes me understand WHY eBay has (what seems like) and unfair MBG. It really seems like I run into more knuckle head sellers, then I ever do buyers. 

[soh.maryl]

Do you believe they've forgotten how to read, or they just feel like it's a skill they don't need to use often? 

[completepuzzle]

Evidently this is an annoying question I ask from time to time.

Hi. When this ends will you sell me just one of them? I only want the one that's complete.

It seems like I always get a snotty answer back.

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[toysaver]

I vividly remember the dumbest question I ever had... "Will this fit my daughter?"

[sakic92710]

I would just be repeating what others are saying but I do have 1 original question that was ridiculous.  I had bottles of soda posted that had Dale Earnhardt etched on them.  From the late 80s.  Guy asks me how does it taste.  LOL!  Ignored.

[whorunbartertown]

Just yesterday, I got a bunch of Questions from the same potential buyer. They were annoyingly nit-picky, as if they didn't want the item. Then, "Would you accept $8 for it?" It was listed as Buy It Now, not Best Offer. So all they did was waste their (and my) time. I saw this type of tactic all the time, when I worked at a pawn shop.

[soozeeq1]

Your post is funny, but hit the nail on the head! I've gotten messages stating, 'I only can afford $20' (for an $85 Coach Handbag), ok, so contact me when you have the remaining $65 + shipping! Or, 'Do you offer a Layaway Plan?'  Its getting tiring selling on eBay as well as Poshmark ;-(

[pennysdream]

Hi there, this seems like fun. Got a good smile out of some of the answers. 

I have gotten many of those same ones, the others have stated.  My two favs were, 

" Will you please cancel the bids"... on several items and "I will buy them from you for $8.00 with free postage."

I got my new fav yesterday, It wasn't a question.  It was from someone who as far as I can tell had never bought anything from me. Not someone I had been chatting with, just out of the blue.   It just said, "don't want this".   

I just replied... Ok...

Thank you for posting this idea.  It was a nice way to lighten the day

Penny 

[luckythewinner]

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@patmos-8 wrote:

It's not a great time to be an eBay seller.  Judging from the posts on this forum, I'm not the only one struggling with low morale.  I thought it might be fun to share our favorite common/annoying questions we get from buyers.  I'll start with two and I'm genuinely excited to read some of yours.

1. "What's the lowest you'll go?"  So you're basically saying you want to do business with me, but you want it to be as unprofitable as possible for me as well.  Nice.  Imagine going to a job interview and the interviewer says "what's the lowest wage you'd accept?"  Yeah, I'll pass.

2.  "Any rips, holes, stains?"  Yes, this item is covered in blemishes, but I purposely hid them in the photos and didn't mention them in the description.  With my 60-day free return policy, I figured that would be prudent.  You've uncovered my diabolical plot to make my fortune.  

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#1)

IMHO this question arises because of past seller behavior, not because buyers are annoying. 

If a seller has intentionally added Best Offer to his listing, he is essentially announcing to the world that his item is overpriced and he will probably take less. Because so many sellers have intentionally added Best Offer to their listings and do accept offers, buyers have been conditioned to assume that all eBay sellers are open to offers. 

If I put an item on my watch list, I would estimate that 1 in 3 times I will get an "offer to buyer" for that item in the next week. 

#2)

Once again, IMHO this question arises because of past seller behavior, not because buyers are annoying. 

Enough sellers on eBay have disguised damage or omitted flaws that buyers can never assume that a listing is accurate. 

I recently had a seller advertise a CD and the seller specifically mentioned it included the rare bonus disc that was only included with the first pressing. I did not think to ask "Does it really have the bonus disc, or are you lying?" but I wish I had because the SNAD and the return to Japan was inconvenient and disappointing. 

[frecklesfinery88 · Accepted solution]

Enjoyed reading the examples. I have had many questions, I have always tried to quickly answer, provide photos, & clear answers. Yes we can only lower our price quote so much. We always want to do our best, but with postal prices and all as sellers we are all doing the best we can.

My hope is they as buyers will read the description and view all the photos. That seems to be the true issues.

We are very clear and even state things such as "AS photos show" and describe exactly, then we still have to take returns over nothing.

Wishing for clarity these days.

Blessings to you