Appropriate language is not appropriate!

[nestvey-3]

In an attempt to get infomation from an amateur seller I have attempted to send a message multiple times, but ebay's inept "language police" keep flagging it because their program cannot handle proper language and/or grammar apparently.

Here is my message in full without any changes made:

"Hello, Do you have photos of the details? There are plenty of full bike views, but no detailed photos of any parts (nor were any make/model/dimensions listed except 56), frame conjunctions/lugs, fork/crown, drop-outs, decals, underside of bottom bracket, etc. Is the steerer tube reinforced? What tubing type is the frame? What size is the seat post? What length are the cranks? What sizes are the gears? What is the OLD dimension? What is the bottom bracket assy threading type? What is the length of the bottom bracket shell? What is the length of the top tube (center to center)? Was the 56 (I assume cm) measured center to center, or center to top? Do you know what year it is? To me "stock build" means factory stock bike no replacement parts (or factory correct parts if not original), original paint and decals. Correct? I may interpret things differently, as I have been riding Colnagos for 40 yrs and I want to know exactly what I am getting for the money; thus my questions.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,"

If the algorithm is consistent this message will not send due to the "inappropriate" language in my initial message. If this sends; it juzt proves how screwed up ebay really is.

How can I modify a message that contains no offensive, threatening, and/or derogatory language? Every time I come to ebay it is a freaking waste of time (and I do not even buy/sell on ebay; they have enough money; all transactions are buyer-seller direct at a savings to buyer and more profits to seller)

[nestvey-3]

Yes, my "inappropriate" language was not flagged in this message system so does ebay use different algorithms depending on where a message is posted? Insane!! So f'd up!

[gator08041971]

@nestvey-3 

For starters, eBay and the forum here are two completely different systems.  They are not linked.  What one blocks and the other blocks have nothing to do with each other.  In fact the forum is run and maintained by a different company.

Secondly, that question is rather wordy.  Shorten it.  Stick to the bare facts that you need to know, rather than lengthy discussions.

Remember, the e-mail filter is not only looking for words that are inappropriate, but words that indicate things like website address, or intent to conduct business outside of eBay.  But they won't tell you exactly what the flag was about.  The response you got was generalized on purpose.

Including the word "Money" might be enough to trigger it.

Just simplify it, make it less aggressive sounding and try again.

Finally, I might add that if you are going to be that fussy about this one listing, you may want to move on and find a listing that has more of the appeal for you.

If the seller is new, they might not want to sell to a buyer that confronts them with that much questioning, regardless of your intention. It comes off a bit....  Intimidating and aggressive.  Especially that last sentence:

I may interpret things differently, as I have been riding Colnagos for 40 yrs and I want to know exactly what I am getting for the money; thus my questions.

Just my two cents.

[kensgiftshop · Accepted solution]

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@nestvey-3 wrote:

  assy

 assume

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The bot just looks for letters and it might have picked up these two words.

[nestvey-3]

Thank you. Do I did nothing wrong other than a poor algorithm being used to pick apart harmless language. The other response was fluff.  I will use 2 different words now. Maybe "Hello" is also bad. I cannot take someone saying that asking specific questions about an item costing thousands of dollars would be considered aggressive when the seller who gave no information (actually is a fraudulent sale, the item is a fake! And what I was trying to pin down) is aggressively trying to get my money with autogenerated **bleep** offers and not a sincere business relationship via communication as I was attempting to do. I seem to hit all the bad sellers. If you do not get educated you make the same mistakes. So thanks for educating me on online word play. I have a vast vocabulary where I can suitably get past a computer if need be.

[nestvey-3]

Thanks, but not much help there. First (an

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@gator08041971 wrote:

@nestvey-3 

For starters, eBay and the forum here are two completely different systems.  They are not linked.  What one blocks and the other blocks have nothing to do with each other.  In fact the forum is run and maintained by a different company.

Secondly, that question is rather wordy.  Shorten it.  Stick to the bare facts that you need to know, rather than lengthy discussions.

Remember, the e-mail filter is not only looking for words that are inappropriate, but words that indicate things like website address, or intent to conduct business outside of eBay.  But they won't tell you exactly what the flag was about.  The response you got was generalized on purpose.

Including the word "Money" might be enough to trigger it.

Just simplify it, make it less aggressive sounding and try again.

Finally, I might add that if you are going to be that fussy about this one listing, you may want to move on and find a listing that has more of the appeal for you.

If the seller is new, they might not want to sell to a buyer that confronts them with that much questioning, regardless of your intention. It comes off a bit....  Intimidating and aggressive.  Especially that last sentence:

I may interpret things differently, as I have been riding Colnagos for 40 yrs and I want to know exactly what I am getting for the money; thus my questions.

Just my two cents.

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d please do not think I am being aggressive, geez!)

[kensgiftshop]

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@nestvey-3 wrote:

Thank you. Do I did nothing wrong other than a poor algorithm being used to pick apart harmless language. The other response was fluff.  I will use 2 different words now. Maybe "Hello" is also bad. I cannot take someone saying that asking specific questions about an item costing thousands of dollars would be considered aggressive when the seller who gave no information (actually is a fraudulent sale, the item is a fake! And what I was trying to pin down) is aggressively trying to get my money with autogenerated **bleep** offers and not a sincere business relationship via communication as I was attempting to do. I seem to hit all the bad sellers. If you do not get educated you make the same mistakes. So thanks for educating me on online word play. I have a vast vocabulary where I can suitably get past a computer if need be.

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You're welcome.

It would be nice if they told you what the problem was so you can fix it, but they don't.

The bot doesn't really look at the words or spaces , just letters.

I was trying to leave feedback for a seller a few years ago and kept getting that message and it took me awhile to go through everything to see what the problem was.

Ebay and the forum uses two different programs.

Ebay might block something, but you'll probably be able to post it here.

When I'm looking at a listing, if they don't care enough to give a good description of what they are selling, I just look for another seller.

I always check the sellers feedback and it'll tell you a lot about the seller.

Not just the feedback they receive, but the feedback they leave for buyers and any replies they leave to negative feedback.

[powell-collectibles]

**bleep** - that is **bleep** odd.

[albertabrightalberta]

Personally, if I got a question wanting the kind of details being asked, I'd probably block the potential buyer. That type of buyer sounds way too high maintenance and picky. 

Someone who needs that much detail should be buying from a specialized bike store where employees are more likely to be way more knowledgeable than the ebay seller who owns the bike and wants to get rid of it. 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@nestvey-3 wrote:

 the seller who gave no information (actually is a fraudulent sale, the item is a fake!

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I don't believe you.....if this was your inference, you'd have said it up front. 

And if indeed the listing has "no information," find a seller who does tell you more about the item.

[kensgiftshop]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

Personally, if I got a question wanting the kind of details being asked, I'd probably block the potential buyer. That type of buyer sounds way too high maintenance and picky. 

Someone who needs that much detail should be buying from a specialized bike store where employees are more likely to be way more knowledgeable than the ebay seller who owns the bike and wants to get rid of it. 

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If that information was in the description, the buyer wouldn't have to ask for it.

If a seller wants to sell their item, they should provide as much information as they can.

[christworks]

I realize this goes beyond the scope of the OP's issue, but I must agree that is a lot of information for a buyer to ask. Maybe that information is customer and standard for that type of item and that any buyer would want to know all of that.  If so, then the seller should certainly add it. My hunch is that this is information is important to this specific buyer. So many questions sends up a red flag to me that says, "Block!"  I think if the seller provided that information to this buyer and was even off by a small amount on something, this buyer would be quick to return it or cause other issues. 

As a seller my rule of thumb is if you ask one or two questions about something not in the listing, I'll add that information to the listing and inform the buyer. More than two questions or questions that seem odd, you go on block. Or, if you ask one question, I answer, then you ask another, you get blocked, unless that second question is a follow-up to the information I provided. 

I once had a guy ask five separate questions over 7 days. I patiently answered all of them, though towards the end I started feeling like he was pulling my string. Then, the guy wanted the offer that I had sent to him two weeks prior. I refused, he didn't buy, and I think he ended up being the first one on my block list. 

Some people just want to waste other's time.

[nestvey-3]

If you only knew. Of course your belief or disbelief is of no consequence; absolutely meaningless to tell you the truth! The only topic requiring your response, and you could not even cannot answer it. Why bother with the meaningless reply (if I could vote worthless I would). I work for others to find items, and information about them. Not my fault a seller is trying to cover up trying to sell a fake item by providing no information (which they could not without contradicting their own listing). That was why I needed info for my clients who do not wish to spend thousands of dollars without an expert doing authentication work for them; believe me I take no joy in being on that site. Probably why I never sell on ebay. 

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@nestvey-3 wrote:

 the seller who gave no information (actually is a fraudulent sale, the item is a fake!

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I don't believe you.....if this was your inference, you'd have said it up front. 

And if indeed the listing has "no information," find a seller who does tell you more about the item.

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their own **bleep**. That provides definitive proof to ban the seller from our dedicated forums and warn off those without knowledge. I bring the truth to buyers anscexpose the scammers. Found another! Yeah!! 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

Personally, if I got a question wanting the kind of details being asked, I'd probably block the potential buyer. That type of buyer sounds way too high maintenance and picky. 

Someone who needs that much detail should be buying from a specialized bike store where employees are more likely to be way more knowledgeable than the ebay seller who owns the bike and wants to get rid of it. 

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If that information was in the description, the buyer wouldn't have to ask for it.

If a seller wants to sell their item, they should provide as much information as they can.

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@kensgiftshop 

I agree that good listings are important and I try to "describe as if there are no pictures and photograph as if there's no description." 

But the questions posted in the OP go way beyond.

[nestvey-3]

Well Ken, if I shopped on ebay I would certainly be able to deal with someone such as ypurself who does not make assumptions beyond the informtaion provided. You are correct; if the seller had provided actual imagery that showed of their valuable item instead of hiding all the telltale views which are regularly provided by honest and knowledgeable sellers most of my questions would have been answered. If any description of value was provided, again normal info included by sellers of the same type ite in their listings, then I doubt I would have required any contact (preferrable).

I notice some here (I assume sellers; ones I would not ever buy from) who are completely judgemental in a negative bias about a buyer who is intelligent and diligent enough to ask questions and educate themselves instead of blindly forking over loads of cash while being in ignorance of what they are actually purchasing. Instead, those folks would block someone who is trying to get their item purchased. I guess those folks never ran an actual store because you cannot j6st "block" someone who enters your busines and asks questions unless you want to fail quickly. Easy to play that **bleep** online; but not in real life where you have to look that person in the eye. 

With being said; any seller welcome block since that indicates a lack of professionalism which is something I do not need to deal with anyways.

Take care all. I will never bother this platform ever again. I'll pay someone to take the judgemental abuse over coming here to read it. I guess in essence I am "blocking" the community; as it willingly seems to want to block me with prejudice and without cause.