Buyers who ask questions typically do not buy

[calistas_closet33]

I sell women’s clothing accessories and some home goods, and have filled about 4000 orders in a little over a year.  I realized that less than 2% of people that ask questions actually buy. I have people asking for more photos...more than once because they forgot they asked me and call them out in it, Im not sure if the potential buyer thinks it demonstrates real interest vs it being a PIA?Also,   I think knowing sellers can make an offer in a reply drives stupid questions that waste time.  As an experiment I turned off the ask questions feature tonight and will see if my sales decline. I would be more inclined to offer a discount if someone asked me upfront versus have me do extra measurements and photos then to follow up with, will you take xyz for the item? i’ll buy now..you know the lines buyers give thinking it actually makes a difference. Curious if anyone else has encountered some nutty serial question shoppers and if there is an alternative pathology/psychology I am missing  

[calistas_closet33]

Your answer is not failing to make a sale, it’s the buyer asking a question that you already answered in the listing, black shirt is black, not another color. So those are the questions I “question”, because of the reply with offer feature.  I defintely will report back with my mini experiment.  I was hoping that someone may have experienced the ridiculous amount of questions asked followed by will you sell it for less? as the last question...maybe my experience is unique ? But thank you! 

[rosie247]

I don't sell much on eBay so I don't get many questions but I sell a fair amount on another site and I have found that people who ask for information that is already included in the description pretty much never buy. I have also found that most questions I receive are for information already included in the listing. 

[kmjparts]

Hey

what i have found is if your reply fast, hopefully the answer given is what they require they will purchase there and then, sometimes offer but we find most the time they just buy it straight away. so its a mixed response you will get from buyers, but always rememeber you arent the only seller so other users will message multiple sellers to try and get a quicker answer. 

[tunicaslot]

You are selling items with stock pictures and no size chart - of course you're going to get questions as people may not be familiar in how the brand runs. 

I also sell clothing and I put measurements or a size chart in each and every listing. When shopping online or from a catalog - measurements are a must.

[calistas_closet33]

I realize some buyers may be genuine, so it pains me to not answer, but it is painful to go jump through hoops for serial question askers that are seeking an offer. From a seller perspective, if a buyer won’t pay the buy it now price and wants to ask for a lower price that would be the first question before asking additional because nothing else matters if the buyer wants to pay less than the seller agrees to. But I hear you on the replies and every so often I encounter a very inquisitive and grateful customer, it’s the 98 questions I answer to get that one customer that gets somewhat time consuming when selling many items. 

[calistas_closet33]

Yes, i think my mainstay customers know the sizing of the product they are buying, which is the type of shopper I am. And I do answer size questions but the vast majority of the time it’s followed by will you accept less for an item and it gets old, and unfortunate for the buyers who are serious at the price offered. The measurements are important, but if the actual item looks exactly as it does in stock photos I do not photograph If there is a color variation or something else different then I do. And when I do I still get accused of not accurately describing and that putting a note to look at photo for color in bold italics was a trick. Maybe I just need a few weeks of no questions then Ill get my spirit back

[kaelykat]

Well that is understandable. I never bother a seller with questions about lowering the price. I didn't even realize that was a thing. Seems rude to me.

I do ask questions if I need clarification on the listing. Using the same example of the micro sd card I bought, The listing had a picture of an Evo card but the listing stated generic card. While Evo cards are relatively new, I know they are made by Samsung so would be well worth the price of the seller's buy now listing.

So I guess the nature of the questions make a huge difference.

[calistas_closet33]

Rosie..glad someone else has experienced. well not glad, but at least my suspicions may have merit. Also often if I do not answer a question the person buys anyway. I sent a photo and someone asked can you describe the colors in the photo...and they were not colorblind..i ignored the follow up question and they purchased It isn’t the customer service I prefer, but realistically I’m not sure if answering often matters statistically To the individual buyer, yes I am sure if they are sincere and not trolling, then it does negatively impact their perception, it’s trying to balance out what makes business sense

[calistas_closet33]

geez i wish my potential buyers were more like you. I just got a question followed by will i sell for less because others are...of course it’s a lie because the person would buy from someone else, but I checked and yes indeed it was a lie. A dress retailing for 150 than I am selling for 50 including shipping and the buyer wants to pay 42. If $8 is a dealbreaker, and others are selling for more, it seems silly.

[calistas_closet33]

reallynicestamps
i don’t use the best offer option but ebay added a feature “reply with offer” to sellers reply and I suspect buyers think asking more questions makes them look more interested and then when I do not offer for less they ask...it’s more common than not

[calistas_closet33]

i agree that too many questions can indicate trouble down the line. On another site that is even less seller friendly, after one red flag comment I will block the buyer. No one has the sellers back so I need to feel comfortable the buyer isn’t going to cost way more in time and aggravation than the minimal profit

[grasshopperx]

I think your right! I used to be a waitress, and it always worked that way. The people who asked the most questions were always a pain. And left the least tip. Never understood the psycology behind it, but it's true. Maybe they just want to be hard to get along with. Buyers like that always raise a red flag with me. Danger... Trouble. get rid of them.

[bigdeals.etc · Accepted solution]

Being a one man operation at that scale is tough. You have to make tough choices on what to spend your time on for the sake of your business. I battle with it everyday. Forego processing returns/refunds immediately and let them pile up just before the deadlines (so you can process a group of them vs individually) and use that saved time to ship out your packages on time. Sacrifice updating your existing listings in order to list new items that you got to generate more sales.

You can't do everything flawlessly so you have to make the choices that have the biggest impact and benefit. And sometimes that does mean writing off a buyer who has too many concerns to free up some time.

And btw, I do get a good amount of the buyer who asks a question (sometimes even trying to negotiate) only to see them buy the item minutes later without any reply from me.

So I'm curious now OP, how many messages do you get a day on average?

[chrysylys]

Would you rather they ask question s and NOT buy, or would rather they buy without asking, then return the item?

I ask a few questions.  Usually I buy, but not always.  Sometimes (as noted above) the answer shows me the item is not what I want.  Sometimes I do it if the listing looks questionable in some way and I just want to see how (or IF) the seller responds.  That can give me more confidence in the seller, or make me turn away.

[chrysylys]

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@calistas_closet33wrote:
The measurements are important, but if the actual item looks exactly as it does in stock photos I do not photograph

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That's a HUGE red flag for me.  Stock pictures ONLY with no photo obviously taken by the seller makes me think dropshipper and that the seller does not actually have the item in their posession.  And that's one of those cases as I mentioned above .. . If I really want that item, I will ask the seller some sort of specific question about the item to see how they respond.  If they don't have the item to be able to look at it, they won't be able to answer the question properly.