Buyers not reading...

[iart]

Buyers not reading descriptions or condition info (even though the condition info is high up on the item page), is becoming more of a problem. Some don't even seem to be looking at all the photos.

They're probably on their cell phones and don't know how to scroll around.

We take more photos than most other sellers and we try hard to accurately describe our items and note their condition. This takes a lot of extra time. Which would be fine if all that info was actually read.

We're getting increasing returns and 'positive' feedback that complains about the exact same issues that we detailed. Luckily, our returns have been low value items. So far. But what happens someday when a buyer who didn't read the info we provide and wants to return an item that cost $50 or more to ship? (Free returns have worked well for us so far, but we're considering getting rid of it).

Are other sellers seeing this? Have you come up with a fix? Not sure how ebay could fix this but I wish they would try.

[bexhilleastbourne]

Yeah I have experienced this a lot more & more people just reading the item specifics only at just looking at the first picture. Been dealing with it for 3 years now. They should put the description in the item specific to avoid issues.

[7606dennis]

Alas!  That has always been a problem here on eBay.  As the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."

[beautyinterrupted]

7794heather ~ same sentiment when you said you want to say "Did you even look at my listing?" Usually when I reply I say.. "As stated in title and description size is xxx... As stated in description this is xxx.. even if I am saying that 3 times in the reply.. I stay polite but hopefully the person is like hmm..maybe I should start looking at those things.. Maybe not though. LOL.. I get a lot of replies of "Silly me! I overlooked that!" or something like that.. It's annoying but it's part of the job. 

[hurryagain]

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@beautyinterrupted wrote:

7794heather ~ same sentiment when you said you want to say "Did you even look at my listing?" Usually when I reply I say.. "As stated in title and description size is xxx... As stated in description this is xxx.. even if I am saying that 3 times in the reply.. I stay polite but hopefully the person is like hmm..maybe I should start looking at those things.. Maybe not though. LOL.. I get a lot of replies of "Silly me! I overlooked that!" or something like that.. It's annoying but it's part of the job. 

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LOL!

That is EXACTLY what I do when having to answer some question that is always answered in all of my listings...

...like shipping discounts...

[iart]

This is more of an eBay issue than a seller issue. And, I admit, we've messed up on this before (everyone makes mistakes, what matters is what you do to fix the mistake).

But, for example, when selling a book without an isbn (usually older books), there are almost two dozen fill in fields. Some of them required, many of them unnecessary and a few of them silly. We've been selling books on eBay for about 15 years, most all of our books are unique and each one needs to be entered individually. So, if I want to list 30 books on a Sunday I go through about 600 of these fill in fields. It's very tedious and mistakes happen. I imagine that new sellers make even more mistakes.

To help counter the possibility of mistakes we put our important info in the descriptions.

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@ed8108 wrote:

Manny sellers have reason to suspect that manny buyers do fail to read everything present in the listing, so some sellers may perhaps have become a little sloppy in the item information they provide, one recent example is where the item was stated as signed & dated but also claimed it as being unsigned. Accuracy is still of importance.

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[evelyb30]

I got two questions last night from the same person on the same item.  First she wanted to know how big it was.  "As stated in the description the size is..."  The next one was "Will you take $xx.xx because of the damage?"  I replied to that two ways.  First, the current price was due to the  described condition.  Second,  straight to my no-thanks list.  If a buyer is this annoying before making a purchase, I don't want to know what she'd be like later.  

[justafemster]

I seem to be getting those "customers" more and more frequently.  I blame the ebay app, it's useless.  

I sell discontinued items.  My usual customers know they're discontinued, that's why they're looking for them on ebay at outrageous prices.  I state discontinued in the title and in the description.  

I actually had one person complain that the item was discontinued, return it (at their expense).  I blocked them for stupidity (more to it than that, but you understand).  They made another ID and ordered it again!  Only reason I knew, is I recognized the address (2 towns from me) and the name was the freaking same.  I cancelled their order and blocked the new ID.  

I don't get it, if it was discontinued the first time you ordered, it's still discontinued the next time you try to order.  And to make another ID?  LOL!

[costumeparts · Accepted solution]

This is a huge problem with mobile users.

If I search for an item in ebay mobile,  and click on a listing, The first thing I can see is ALL the pics can be thumbed through, the whole title under that followed by the price and the shipping cost, delivery time, my buyer satisfaction, how many I have sold and finally the tab to BUY IT NOW.

And most do just that (buy it now) because they think that is all there is.

Because under all that are loads of Ebay ads called "more like this" and a bunch of other items completely unrelated to the listing that this searcher just clicked on.

Scroll down past "more like this" and also more ads: "Similar picks for you" and BEHOLD, "about this item" is finally there, totally lost in a the sea of ads and it's not even the whole description. You have to click on a tiny "see full description" to get the whole story. But really, I don't think they ever even get to the description or might scroll right past it. It took me a while to find the "see full description" link and I was looking for it.

I really wish this link was right under the photo with the title above the photo

NOW, If I am clicking on a listing from the search, why am I not just seeing everything about just that listing?

Ebay needs to address this immediately.

Everyone please send a complaint to ebay via this page (click on selling when you get there)

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/unsolicited-idea-submissions-policy?id=4...

You can copy and paste my post into the "Please provide a brief description of your issue." field if you don't feel like composing your own.

[evelyb30]

(bangs head on desk)  I've had renters like that too.  They buy something that's exactly as described and then return it for being as described.  But then to buy the same thing and expect it to be newly manufactured?

I don't get it. Mind: boggled.  

[soh.maryl]

He believes the states are arranged, for convenience, in alphabetical order.

Alaska and Alabama should completely blow him away.  

[soh.maryl]

"You can head a horse to water but you can't make him drink".  Or read apparently. 

[iart]

I've never seen the site on a phone app. Thank you for explaining it so well. And yes, that sounds horrible and should be fixed ASAP.

I have a lot less anger at buyers now and a lot more for whoever designed this mess.

I encourage others to send in a complaint following costumeparts link. (tho I'm not sure the link is correct?)

[costumeparts]

Me either! I never use my phone and discovered this on an intentional fact finding mission after receiving multiple questions about one specific listing. They all wanted to know dimensions of something that I actually took the time to measure and put that info in the description. And I thought, These people aren't seeing the description for some reason.

The number of ads on what should be an item listing are just comical. Aside from what I already listed above, there is  "You may also like..." and "customers also considered..."

Everything but what the buyer should be shown before being presented with that buy it now button.

That link

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/unsolicited-idea-submissions-policy?id=4...

is to the suggestion page and I don't know another place to complain although I have utilized the "what do you think of this page" link when I see it.

I just didn't want to spout off about it and tell people to complain but not give a place to go do it LOL.

[evelyb30]

The next question is : what does eBay do with these suggestions?   

[auctionpet]

The problem is the description fails to be easily to find.

On the app you need to click read full description. If you don't, your reading a partial butchered description that may leave out pertinent information.

On a laptop or PC, your competitors and sponsored listings show up before the seller's description! It's ridiculous how far a buyer must scroll down to find the description. It's easy to think there isn't one, when all they see are row after rows of other sellers items.

If I take the time to click on a sellers listing, I'm interested in it, the first thing I want to see along with the photos is the description. Ebay fails to comprehend that. I don't expect to see other sellers items showcased! But ebay doesn't care whose item someone buys.