4 issues inside of 24 hours due to buyers simply not paying any attention to pictures/titles:

Posted 6 months ago·Last reply 6 months ago

30 comments

tobaccocardyahoo

·6 months ago

5533 View listings

What kind of Special Sports Car can you get for $50k? Certainly not a new one. 50K is below the average New Car price.

Read a recent article in the WSJ on how the auto industry wants to bring back sedans to lower the average New Car price.

whitepcb

·6 months ago

158 View listings

Yeah, maybe eBay should bundle a basic reading comprehension test with every checkout

soh.maryl

·6 months ago

By then, it's probably too late. They already bought the 1980 starter for their 2015 Taurus.

the_fancy_fox

·6 months ago

2400 View listings

Something I learned when I started back in the mid 90s, write your ads, as if there are no pictures and take pictures as if there are no words in your ad.

it solves a lot of problems.

soh.maryl

·6 months ago

My granddaughter teaches reading comprehension to 3rd graders (mostly) in a public school.

She also tutors children privately to help them with this same thing.

Sometimes it seems like she should offer her classes to adults.

roccotacodad54

·6 months ago

This is a reply/opinion of mine from another post--->

"It's estimated that 54% of American adults read below a sixth grade level. It's estimated that more than 60% of K-12 students read below a level required for learning. It's getting worse.

Even if they find the description whether they can comprehend it is questionable...A shame..........."

It sometimes seems that as a culture we are going backwards.................

gurlcat

·6 months ago

@roccotacodad54 wrote:
This is a reply/opinion of mine from another post--->
"It's estimated that 54% of American adults read below a sixth grade level. It's estimated that more than 60% of K-12 students read below a level required for learning. It's getting worse.
Even if they find the description whether they can comprehend it is questionable...A shame..........."
It sometimes seems that as a culture we are going backwards.................

@roccotacodad54 Where did you find these data? Someone's "opinion" in another post? Sounds made up.

soh.maryl

·6 months ago

Don't know where that data came from, but I would bet it's fairly accurate, based on my granddaughter's more than 10 years in the classroom.

These are 3rd graders for the most part. She has had more than one parent remark to her that reading readiness will become less and less important because of the internet and cell phones. That one is a lost cause.

stainlessenginecovers

OP6 months ago

@soh.maryl wrote:
Don't know where that data came from, but I would bet it's fairly accurate, based on my granddaughter's more than 10 years in the classroom.
These are 3rd graders for the most part. She has had more than one parent remark to her that reading readiness will become less and less important because of the internet and cell phones. That one is a lost cause.

@soh.maryl I'll bet over 80% of my customers are pushing 60 years old. Probably less than 5% are under 30 yrs old.

But, I do remember 3rd grade and more than half the class got a 'C' or worse in most categories; and of course everyone remembers that 13 yr old sitting in the back doing 3rd Grade over again for the 5th time....

soh.maryl

·6 months ago

Just my personal opinion on this, but I do believe that the educational system is trying hard to help these children. My granddaughter's class is rather small, limited per the state board of education to only about 20 youngsters, although it does exceed that at times. She has an aide as well as sometimes a student teacher.

I also think more should/could be done at home to help these youngsters.

The first five years of my school education were spent in a building that contained all 12 grades and a good many of the students were bussed in from the surrounding farms. Each room had two classes with two teachers. Imagine what a challenge that must have been! Was never aware of any older students in my classes, but then what did I know?

stainlessenginecovers

OP6 months ago

@soh.maryl wrote:
Just my personal opinion on this, but I do believe that the educational system is trying hard to help these children. My granddaughter's class is rather small, limited per the state board of education to only about 20 youngsters, although it does exceed that at times. She has an aide as well as sometimes a student teacher.
I also think more should/could be done at home to help these youngsters.
The first five years of my school education were spent in a building that contained all 12 grades and a good many of the students were bussed in from the surrounding farms. Each room had two classes with two teachers. Imagine what a challenge that must have been! Was never aware of any older students in my classes, but then what did I know?

@soh.maryl oh, I'm not saying they are NOT trying. Cali tried the '20 kid' thing and

a.) it didn't help

b.) it didn't last.

I had 4 kids in school, 1 genius, 1 average, 1 below average and 1 in 'special ed'. I did homework with them all and there was a difference. My problem is, I am dealing with grown adults and I called 2 of them, they were nothing but 'apologetic' about not paying attention and did not sound 'less than'. I still wanted to ask- the Title is CLEARLY not your Car! as stated in the First 4 words- so HOW do you simply order stuff for NOT your car??

Would ANYONE here order a 1969 1300 engine Volkswagen Starter for their 1975 1800 engine Volkswagen??

roccotacodad54

·6 months ago

National Literacy Institute, for all that's worth...............

stainlessenginecovers

OP6 months ago

@roccotacodad54 wrote:
This is a reply/opinion of mine from another post--->
"It's estimated that 54% of American adults read below a sixth grade level. It's estimated that more than 60% of K-12 students read below a level required for learning. It's getting worse.
Even if they find the description whether they can comprehend it is questionable...A shame..........."
It sometimes seems that as a culture we are going backwards.................

@roccotacodad54 I get the fact that

a.) people don't read descriptions

b.) people don't know there IS a description (thank you ebay for burying it)

but people can't comprehend the first 5 MOST IMPORTANT words in a Sentence (which is a Title)???

roccotacodad54

·6 months ago

"but people can't comprehend the first 5 MOST IMPORTANT words in a Sentence (which is a Title)??"

Unfortunately many literacy challenged people rely on pictures and symbols instead of struggling with the written word. Restrooms, elevators, no smoking, traffic signs, hazard warnings etc. all designed with literacy challenged people in mind. Just an unfortunate fact.......................

gurlcat

·6 months ago

TRUE. And it's not all just education system failures either. Dyslexia is shockingly common. I say shockingly because back when I was a kid in the 80's the broad "understanding" was that it consisted of "seeing letters backwards" and that it was quite rare; certainly none of my classmates "had" it.

Of course in subsequent decades the presentation turned out to be a lot more complicated, as was the ability to identify it in a child. Kids are so good at figuring out ways to "mask" something wrong with them, and that's particularly true with dyslexia because childrens' books are perfectly suited for reading "by context." The short words, simple sentences, even pictures, all make it easy for a kid to "read" when really they could do a lot of guessing and get it right.

But an eBay listing .... OOF, that's about as far from a Curious George book as it gets. Due to character limits, they must be written more cryptically, kinda like newspaper headlines, leaving out prepositions, irregular verbs, pronouns, (etc.) to make room for model numbers, years (etc.) and of course prioritizing the word order for Search Intent Optimization.

So, @stainlessenginecovers it is quite possible that some buyers really can't read any of the words in your titles because titles are actually nothing like sentences at all. -Not saying that's your fault, and honestly if someone has severe enough dyslexia they should get help from someone to make sure they're buying the right thing. But I can also picture a macho sports car guy figuring he'd rather do a return than reveal his illiteracy to any of his buddies.

roccotacodad54

·6 months ago

Dyslexia. Yes it can show itself in unexpected ways sometimes. I read just fine but when I type it's common for me to type slef instead of self for instance. I have to proofread everything I type on a keyboard and almost always find a few words "inverted" like that. I believe it's a form of dyslexia. My mind telling my fingers to type it that way.

It seems to have come with age. When young I could type 60 words a minute on a typewriter in high school without errors, usually. Not now...........LOL...............

the_fancy_fox

·6 months ago

2400 View listings

@roccotacodad54 wrote:
Dyslexia. Yes it can show itself in unexpected ways sometimes. I read just fine but when I type it's common for me to type slef instead of self for instance. I have to proofread everything I type on a keyboard and almost always find a few words "inverted" like that. I believe it's a form of dyslexia. My mind telling my fingers to type it that way.
It seems to have come with age. When young I could type 60 words a minute on a typewriter in high school without errors, usually. Not now...........LOL...............

Happens to the best of us I think. My best fumble finger is I was selling women’s clothing and I had a whole load of bras. I had some pretty satin ones. So when I went to type the word satin, I actually fumble fingered the A and the T.

So my white satin bra became a white stain bra.

Notified the buyer and they still wanted it. Paid nearly double what the other ones went for. It’s funny now, but wasn’t at the time. lol

stainlessenginecovers

OP6 months ago

@gurlcat wrote:

...So, @stainlessenginecovers it is quite possible that some buyers really can't read any of the words in your titles because titles are actually nothing like sentences at all. -Not saying that's your fault, and honestly if someone has severe enough dyslexia....

@gurlcat @roccotacodad54

But even someone with Dyslexia would NOT mix up

2005-2007 LS2 when they have an 2008-2013 LS3 ...

so I don't believe One buyer with these 'purchasing' problems has Dyslexia.

Besides; anyone that is into Cars knows the first words an Auto Parts Store counter person asks is
Year/Make/Model

adamcartwright

·6 months ago

46 View listings

@roccotacodad54

Have you ever seen the "man on the street" interviews where a guy goes to Times Square and asks people questions such as "Which two countries fought in the Spanish-American War" and "How many stars are on the US flag" and "How old would you be if you were born 20 years ago" ?

It's always a bloodbath.

broto_64

·6 months ago

0 View listings

A lot depends whether it's MQ or OOAK items, I personally have less problems with OOAK's.

That said, since many states adopted the legalization of marijuana I smell the stuff a lot more than in years past... So between drinking and smoking, perhaps mental states have a lot to do with things... Such as "I hope I didn't order the black one"

Then again the "free returns" nonsense isn't helping either.

I also tend to include this disclaimer in my description:
Please complete proper diagnosis of your situation and read full description, compare item specifics and view pictures to confirm on your own if this part or item is compatible and will work with and for you and your life circumstances as we are not responsible for cannibalization or compatibility/fitment/diagnostic issues.

Whether a buyer reads it or not, the disclaimer stands.

gurlcat

·6 months ago

@broto_64 cannibalization?? Also how does the disclaimer "stand," against eBay-enforced free returns?

broto_64

·6 months ago

0 View listings

Cannibalizing is what happens when parts of a product are removed, presumably for repairing a defective product, then what is left is returned for a refund.

I can not elaborate further.

soh.maryl

·6 months ago

Or when people eat people, according to the dictionary.

Just sayin'.

broto_64

·6 months ago

0 View listings

@soh.maryl wrote:
Or when people eat people, according to the dictionary.
Just sayin'.

Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food.

Cannibalization refers to the practice of using parts from one device to repair another similar device, often due to a lack of available spare parts.

Cannibalization is also what corporations often do to survive ("eating its own hand").

soh.maryl

·6 months ago

Thank you for that lesson.

kibble-net

·6 months ago

8276 View listings

@broto_64 wrote:
A lot depends whether it's MQ or OOAK items, I personally have less problems with OOAK's.

That said, since many states adopted the legalization of marijuana I smell the stuff a lot more than in years past... So between drinking and smoking, perhaps mental states have a lot to do with things... Such as "I hope I didn't order the black one"

Then again the "free returns" nonsense isn't helping either.

I also tend to include this disclaimer in my description:
Please complete proper diagnosis of your situation and read full description, compare item specifics and view pictures to confirm on your own if this part or item is compatible and will work with and for you and your life circumstances as we are not responsible for cannibalization or compatibility/fitment/diagnostic issues.

Whether a buyer reads it or not, the disclaimer stands.

Did you seriously just blame cannabis for this? SMH. Not everyone who uses cannabis is a braindead moron. Like alcohol, most cannabis users use it responsibly. I'd say more alcohol users are irresponsible on a per capita basis. With alcohol having been legal for a century, there's no shortage of people abusing that and making bad decisions. I think that is more deserving of your ire, strictly based on numbers.

Even more likely is the scenario that these were ordered by senior citizens who are technologically illiterate (and possibly completely illiterate).

But yeah, go ahead and blame those pot smokers who probably don't have thousands of dollars to buy expensive car parts with anyway.

gurlcat

·6 months ago

@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

What is WRONG with the human race?
Especially 'CAR' people that spent $50,000+ on a special Sports Car yet they can't even read a title??

I think you answered your own question right there. Rich motorheads are not the best specimens of the human race.

gurlcat

·6 months ago

In how much time span did these occur?

Not that you asked, but my favorite is the last one. "That's what all sellers say" is the weirdest and funniest response to a tracking number I have ever heard. 🤣

stainlessenginecovers

OP6 months ago

@gurlcat wrote:
In how much time span did these occur?

Not that you asked, but my favorite is the last one. "That's what all sellers say" is the weirdest and funniest response to a tracking number I have ever heard. 🤣

@gurlcat Past 24 hours.

I usually get a few in a year. 4 in a day?? Scary!

gurlcat

·6 months ago