eBay

mainmodels · ‎10-17-2020

EBAY DOES NOTHING TO SUPPORT THEIR SELLERS. WITHOUT US, THERE WOULD BE NO EBAY. I'M ABOUT TO PULL ALL OF MY LISTINGS. THIS ISN'T FUN ANYMORE.

They are making me refund this guy, because "He didn't know this was a kit."

This is such and abuse of the return policy, but Ebay doesn't care. The title CLEARLY says "KIT," and this is the description:

Thank you for bidding on this O scale service station kit. The kit is made from 1/8” plywood and comes with everything you need to make this building. This kit is fun and easy to build. Stickers are available as a free download on our website.

donsdetour · ‎10-17-2020

Did you return for refund, or refuse the return??

Buyers have learned to go with" Item not as described" to get their money back. No mater the real reason.

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-17-2020

Ya just can't fix stupid. Maybe the person can't read English and just looked at the pictures.

backroomnoir · ‎10-17-2020

Many buyers go by photos alone. You never show the kit or box in your listings, just the completed models. That might be the problem.

divwido · ‎10-17-2020

There is nothing vague about your listings and I wish I had something helpful to say. But yes, it is backwards and their logic just isn't logical. But they say We side wtih the buyer because the buyer is important. I guess that makes us a can of spam.

Good Moms let you lick the Beaters.

Great Moms turn them off first.

powell-memorabilia · ‎10-17-2020

Without buyers, there would be no sellers. Some buyers will be difficult - time to deal with it. If it really is too much to deal with the rare difficult customer, then, yes, time to move on. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

duncanvr · ‎10-17-2020

I find since buyers don't or can't read that messaging them at point of sale can often save sending an item that buyer may not want because he didn't read the fine print. It takes time to write to each buyer, but many are stupid and shop by picture only so its better to tell them the details before shipping and make sure they actually okay with their purchase. You can forget them reading descriptions to. Part of this maybe shopping on a phone and seeing a large picture and price and the person not enlarging the title? I don't know but it seems to be the new age of shopping online where buyer does not read the info. The other new age shopping buyer bought by mistake and buyer cancels did not want item. As sellers we are just going to have to deal with these type of buyers. But I'd rather message them first and if needed have the ordered canceled, than sending it and then getting told to refund.

tdumonde2014 · ‎10-17-2020

Either show the box and then the completed item, or accept that 1 out of 25, 50,... will get returned because the buyer didn't or couldn't read/understand your listing. Plan for your "Simplest" buyer.

"Those who enter the arena unarmed or unprepared are quickly dispatched."

renegade-chance · ‎10-17-2020

@mainmodels wrote:
EBAY DOES NOTHING TO SUPPORT THEIR SELLERS. WITHOUT US, THERE WOULD BE NO EBAY. I'M ABOUT TO PULL ALL OF MY LISTINGS. THIS ISN'T FUN ANYMORE.
They are making me refund this guy, because "He didn't know this was a kit."
This is such and abuse of the return policy, but Ebay doesn't care. The title CLEARLY says "KIT," and this is the description:
Thank you for bidding on this O scale service station kit. The kit is made from 1/8” plywood and comes with everything you need to make this building. This kit is fun and easy to build. Stickers are available as a free download on our website.

You will have problems keeping the listing the current way you have them. Buyers are purchasing by phone on small screens with limited time to read the small print....even though they should.

Pictures are half the description and you are stubbornly refusing to add a picture of the box and another picture of pieces in the box. You are selling the box with kit contents inside and not the finished item. You should have more pics of the kit than of the fishished model.

A few here have already voiced this. I'm stating it... up to whether to listen to experienced sellers or not.
Good luck.

femmefan1946 · ‎10-17-2020

The box should be your second picture. The pieces should be the third. Do what you will with the rest.
And I agree that phone shoppers see much less of the listing before they are encouraged to pay.

So decide what percentage of your buyers will make the same error and build enough into your selling price (or Handling Charge) to cover shipping both ways on the item when inevitably your run into this problem.

This is business not personal and not every transaction will go perfectly.

redlmc · ‎10-17-2020

I agree about being VERY clear by featuring the KIT PICTURE in a very direct manner. You may even want to add a watermark on that picture or on the completed "kit item" stating THIS IS A KIT NOT A READY-MADE ITEM.
Very true about people shopping on their phones; I hardly ever use my phone for anything but calls/texts and would not consider using it for shopping due to the difficulty to see details on items. However, many people only have a phone to shop.
The ITEM NOT AS DESCRIBED excuse is being grossly overused. Having to accept a return due to a buyer not paying attention is costly to a seller, but maybe in this case it could have been avoided? Many buyers do not read details and only see the pictures.

Good luck and sorry this has happened. But in the future, I would be MUCH more direct about the KIT vs FINISHED ITEM via a picture.

maxine*j · ‎10-17-2020

Your model kits are nifty, and I hope you do well with them.

As others have, said, though, you really should include photos of what the buyer is actually going to get. Show all the pieces laid out, and show the pieces in the box they come in.

People are shopping on their phones and other small-screen devices. Many, if not most, of these people shop by pictures and barely read written descriptions. It's a shame, but it's the way it is.

equid0x · ‎10-17-2020

I'm gonna play "devil's advocate here" maybe for a second... but what, exactly, do you expect the seller to show? Nobody is going to be interested in a listing that shows pieces of a kit, TBH.

equid0x · ‎10-17-2020

Gimme a break. Buyers in a B&M don't make these kind of "mistakes." For that matter, I don't believe they're making any "mistakes" here. I find it very hard to believe that people just "don't know what they're buying" when they are on here or any other site. I've heard this over and over on this board over the years and I just don't buy it. Why don't the customers make these same "mistakes" on every other site?

The only accidental purchase I've ever made online was confusing used for new, when the item was in top shape, and I wasn't paying attention to the item condition. In the end it didn't matter, because the item was in the condition that the seller said it was, so I installed it.

equid0x · ‎10-17-2020

@duncanvr wrote:
I find since buyers don't or can't read that messaging them at point of sale can often save sending an item that buyer may not want because he didn't read the fine print. It takes time to write to each buyer, but many are stupid and shop by picture only so its better to tell them the details before shipping and make sure they actually okay with their purchase. You can forget them reading descriptions to. Part of this maybe shopping on a phone and seeing a large picture and price and the person not enlarging the title? I don't know but it seems to be the new age of shopping online where buyer does not read the info. The other new age shopping buyer bought by mistake and buyer cancels did not want item. As sellers we are just going to have to deal with these type of buyers. But I'd rather message them first and if needed have the ordered canceled, than sending it and then getting told to refund.

Well you might be on to something with that. Unless its changed recently (I doubt it) eBay was hiding the item description behind a button if you were using "unapproved" content on the listing such as javascript, special formatting, embedded images from other hosts, etc when customers were using the mobile app. Perhaps this is the issue?

eBay never really notified sellers of the restrictions. Pretty much all of the things that are now restricted, were perfectly fine on eBay say, 5 years ago.