Do you get advice from others on your listings?

[patternsaver]

Just was wondering if you all get unsolicited advice from others on eBay about something you have listed.

I do not mean detail questions about size, colors, etc.

I mean advice telling you the item cannot be authentic, comparing yours to similar items and their costs, questioning who made it when the label is clearly visible, and how your item is not any good for whatever reason? These are not potential buyers but people who like to "share" their opinions or "expertise".

I appreciate if someone corrects me or knows more about a product that me (which is not hard), and often their observations are noteworthy.  But I wonder what compels a person lecture someone they do not know and criticize them.

Do you get these and what are your thoughts?

[jack_bucks_ghost]

I sometimes get the "it will never sell for what you're asking, so better take my offer if you want it sold" messages (for the most part, I sell sports cards). my favorite was the buyer/offerer who said "let's be honest here, there's only one decent card in the lot"...that lot sold for double what he offered. second favorite was the one who said "one just sold for half of what you're asking"...I simply replied "you should have bought that one"...he actually wrote back with a "lol, yeah I should have." seriously though, I think it best just to ignore the voices and just look at the numbers.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Occasionally I will get someone stating a price is too high. I pretty much ignore these since I price fairly and know what the market will bear. (I spend a good amount of time in research.) They'll say "you'll never get that asking price" but I usually do, so no skin off my nose.

[imakesugar]

My Bad? Sometimes I have given someone the name of a glass pattern or jewelry name.

When I have received a new product I have given advice on changing the item specific of a product to match the product. I don’t follow up on my suggestion and I give good feedback. Usually it is someone with excellent service and a new Seller. 

Before good word processors that corrected My “poor” spelling, a poster corrected my TOS. I was forever grateful...

I love writing but I admit I am not always good at semantics. When I first started posting I was corrected on form etc. I appreciate all of you that helped me. Posting on here has furthered my writing career. I honestly didn’t realize I liked to write. 

So I am probably not really talking about the same thing. I never write to anyone about their price, business practices. Etc. 😉 Sugar 

[dizzardx]

I had a "complaint" buyer message  that the shoes I listed were not authentic.  I messaged back that they were.  I then got a message from Ebay saying they received a complaint of non-authenticity of my listing.  Ebay pulled it and suspended me for a short period.  I believe it must have been a competitor filing the complaint.  I had proof of authenticity but no one asked for it before I was suspended.

[lamber9347]

@patternsaver - I understand what you are saying, unsolicited advice about how you wrote your listing. Ironically I just went through something similar regarding this message board, where someone has begun to write me privately about advice I left on a recent post. This person is a long time poster in this community and confessed that this is what he does. When he sees a comment from someone who he thinks was incorrect, he takes it upon himself to castigate them in private messages. He has made himself the Gestapo of the eBay community.... 

These people are narcissists who believe that only they have the wisdom to speak to others. There is nothing one can say to them because they cannot hear you. Best to just ignore them and hope they leave you alone. Best of luck to you.... 

[chapeau-noir]

Some people are what I call 'over sharers'.

I had a guy once try to romance me for a discount on a coffee grinder I was selling for parts. It was kind of cute - he had a slick approach and tried to hit all the right notes ('costs too much' 'you'll just keep relisting it', etc. etc.).  But, sorry, no.  It sold a couple of days later.  But hey, can't fault someone for trying.

[bargainnation]

I rarely get unsolicited advice from others on my listings. When I do I try to discern if it is constructive, criticism or a buyer looking for flaws to get a discount or deeper discount and act (or don't act) accordingly.

As some have already mentioned I get the occasional person who states that no one is going to pay my asking price but I understand that this is a part of their negotiation strategy.

[soh.maryl]

It seems like many sellers get that unsolicited advice from time to time.  It can be safely ignored.

[m60driver]

Not often, but I have had mostly friendly folks letting me know when I have misidentified something.  I am appreciative of their input.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

I have and I have given advice on an item that I know about and the seller has it wrong in the description and they have thanked me. But having "or best offer" in a listing before left me with a bad taste in my mouth....it was exactly like poster jacks had said: " I'll make you an offer and I doubt your going to sell it for what your asking"  I thought that was cruddy to say that, especially when it was a very rare collectable and they wanted to flip it. Turned them down 3x and BBL.

[scpete8755]

I do appreciate it when someone sends a message that my title doesn't match the photo or description when I've done a sell similar and it flipped back when it went live (thank you again ebay for your amazing coding work).

[byrd69er]

I'll get one of these once in a while.  I ignore them and then block them.

The last person to complain about a listing I had, came back soon after to purchase it only to find he was blocked.

oops...........LOL

[tellmemama]

I rarely get the "your price is too high" messages but once in a while I'll get either the people new to the hobby who are chock full of misinformation, or the very rare greatly appreciated correction that my listing needs.

Yesterday was from a doozy buyer.  She wanted to know if the 50+ year old item smelled like mold or was ever stored in air conditioning.  I told her I didn't notice any odors but had no idea how it was stored before it came to me.  She responded that she is really allergic to mold but if she bought another item would I give her a discount.  My final response was since she may be hypersensitive to odors, she may notice something that I don't and since almost everything I sell includes shipping, there would not be a further discount. 

Then I went with my gut and blocked her.  In my experience, once the transaction starts off on the wrong foot and/or the buyer is unhappy with the price before purchase, it only goes downhill from there.  And yes, almost immediately after she was added to the BBL I got the  "why wasn't I accepting her bids" message. 

Why?  Because I said so.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I always greatly appreciate, accept and acknowledge any message that corrects a listing of mine. Doesn't happen often, but when it does happen I am truly thankful.

As to the other types of messages you mention, I try to be polite but firm. Doesn't happen often, but when it does I basically  tell them to pound sand - nicely, of course.

The ones that always get me are "There are plenty listed, I can get this for half the price you have it."  So I go check out the listings and most all the time it's the same item in worse condition, and with most (but not all) paper items, condition is everything.  That or the sellers have listings from the 1990s with 50 paragraphs of TOS with nightmare terms that would scare away any buyer.

Like, do they think I'm dumb enough to not check? Sheesh lol  Quality costs money 🙂