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sellers
Why don't most of them return messages?.
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Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Why don't most of them return messages?.
eburtonlab
Mentor2 years agoSome sellers do not respond to questions, or disable the feature entirely.
Asking a drop-shipper about a listing is unlikely to be fruitful. The drop-shipper may not know enough about the product to answer. Or may not speak English. Or may rightly calculate that any honest answer is unlikely to result in a satisfied sale. Not answering saves the drop-shipper effort and time, and avoids a potentially difficult transaction with a picky customer.
Asking a mega bookseller about whether a particular $5 book includes an appendix is unlikely be productive. Almost any time at all spent answering such a question would cost more than the transaction is likely to profit the seller. The same question to a small-time seller with a dozen listings is much more likely to be answered. More so if it is a $50 book, or a $500 book.
In general, if no response is forthcoming, you should assume that the answer is not a favorable one where the value of the item is concerned.
If you ask a seller whether the $5 book they are selling is the standard edition or the ultra rare gold-leaf edition, there are three potential scenarios: 1) The seller politely answers that it is, in fact, the standard edition; 2) the seller does not respond at all; 3) the seller ends the listing and relists at a much higher price.
Executive summary:
Most prospective buyers ask a question because they are seeking information that will help them put the correct value on an item.
A seller that does not answer a simple, polite request that is not already answered in the listing itself -- or one who blocks all questions entirely -- particularly when the question is regarding a very expensive item, is providing valuable information, whether it is recognized as such or not.