Endless Seller Terms of Sale

[fashunu4eeuh]

Have been looking for a certain style and  color in a handbag. I am ready to purchase. Search results are good, have found several that will meet my needs.

But i have yet to buy, thwarted by a pet peeve: long terms of sale stuffed into many description fields. In some cases, there is no actual item description in that section of the listing, but is filled instead with off-putting and often unenforceable TOS.  

Here in the forum we see chronic complaints of low to no sales. And here i am, a willing buyer. But i cannot purchase an item in good faith when the seller is angry, or suspicious, defensive, complaining, or ill-informed on policy.

What is wrong with simply describing and detailing the item? Having a strong description offers far greater protection to a worried (or burned) seller than all these unrealistic conditions.

Ok, two cents shared.

[femmefan1946]

I've been around here long enough to know what my actual buying rights are,

Me too.

But I still avoid sellers whose ToS show that they are suspicious of buyers.

Because everyone thinks their attitude is the norm.

So if a seller thinks  every buyer is a scammer, it's likely because that is what he would do in their place.

[femmefan1946]

@luckythewinner 

What is wrong with simply describing and detailing the item?

There are 20 million active sellers on eBay. Some of them are not very good at it.

And they  are so often the ones who don't understand why there are Item Specifics.

Case in point:

The only REQUIRED IS for Books are- Title Author Language.

Which makes me think some sellers don't mention those.

There are about 30 Recommended and Suggested, but just three Required.

[inhawaii]

My favorite is "serious offers only".

Why would I make an offer if i wasn't serious?

[evelyb30]

Some people do it for fun, or to see if they can get something for nothing.  So... serious offers only?  I can see using it. 

[kathiec]

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@inhawaii wrote:

My favorite is "serious offers only".

Why would I make an offer if i wasn't serious?

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Even better is "don't bid if you don't intend to pay". Who would ever say "oh dear, this seller expects me to pay, so I'll just have to look for a seller who doesn't have such ridiculous requirements"?

[7606dennis]

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@alcoforever wrote:

There is a certain piano seller on CL that has in her terms:

"You may only look at the piano If I Trust You.   Send me links to all your social media accounts before trying to contact me."

Good luck with that!

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Actually, on that site the seller has to be careful about setting their terms with safety in mind.  The terms I use on that site are the same as most of my live auctions, "AS IS, WHERE IS."  I usually include "CASH ONLY" as well for CL listings.  You would be surprised at how many people ignore the clearly stated terms and want the item shipped or to pay with checks, money orders or plastic.

[blingfling123]

Yeah, and on some of them you can tell those exact terms have been in place and have not changed since 1999.

[spark-chaser1]

I tend to run from such listings. If I have to read through a list of conditions longer than the agreements on my mortgage and car combined just to buy a $20 item, I'm going to move on with my day. If you ( in general)  don't trust me as a buyer, don't sell.

I do admit, I often feel a guilty pleasure of reading some of those 6 chapter  long TOS... But for entertainment purposes only.   

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Know what you mean, but I doubt your seller can hold a candle to this one.....

Blue XXX  XXX is done by me to remove info that may possibly identify the source.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------....

.... If you didn't like my novella length Wordy McWordwords, well I'm sure with enough time and counselling you'll come to forgive me. Also, meh.

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Of course, all we have to do is a search that includes the Description, and search on one of his colorful phrases.

You neglected to mention that in many listings, this wall of text is centered, not left- or full-justified!

Yet somehow he has accumulated over 16,000 feedback, including a thousand in the past year.  I suspect that very few of those buyers waded through his blather. He puts a lot of effort into his feedback left, too; his replies to the negative and neutral feedbacks he receives are just as charming.