Frustrating things I see as a buyer

[steelernation2007]

There's a lot of posts lately about how sales are down or very slow so far this year. So I'm going to offer some personal insight into the problems that bother me most, when I have bought an item or am considering buying something. I am mostly experienced with buying and selling collectibles, so my advice  pertains to that category. These are the things you want to avoid as a seller, in my opinion:

1. Vague open-ended descriptions of only one sentence, that say little about the item or the condition of it.   If it is a used collectible you need to be transparent about any defects or issues it may have. This prevents you from getting a SNAD later.

2. Using only one photo, a stock photo, or blurry poor quality cell phone photos. Also dark photos. It makes you look lazy as a seller and gives the look that you really don't care if your item sells or not. Ebay gives you 12 spots for photos, so make the most of them!

3. Charging ridiculously high shipping fees that are way higher than it actually costs to ship the item. This will turn off a LOT of buyers.

4. Copying and stealing the ad of another seller, word for word. Again, this is a lazy look, and also against Ebay rules.

5. When you sell an item, mark it as shipped, and then it sits at your house for 2-3 days. It satisfies the Ebay service metrics but drives your buyer crazy!

6. When you ship an item and don't include any tracking info at all. It's very annoying when I have to beg for the tracking from a seller. Then one time I find out my package ended up taking a long detour to Florida on it's way from NJ to PA. I had no idea what was going on until I was finally given the tracking after 4 days. 

7.  When you don't leave the buyer feedback after purchasing. It's a show of goodwill and starts the transaction off on the right foot. If you don't leave feedback how can you possibly expect to get it back?

8. When you pack a condition-sensitive item inside a flimsy plastic bag or mailing envelope. It's  a cheap-out on the shipping fee but sets you up to get a damaged item complaint.

9. Offering info that is inaccurate or poorly researched. An example- calling a vintage bottle Pre-Prohibition when it's actually post-1933. This can also set you up for a SNAD case. Some sellers intentionally call an item older than it is to get more money from it.

This is all I can think of at the moment. If others have more to add to this, feel free. I hope this helps.

[drkenb]

Simply printing the label does not satisfy the service metric.

The label must be scanned by the carrier within the sellers handling time.

If it is not scanned within the sellers handling time AND it is delivered late, the seller gets a late shipping ding. (The reason for the AND is to cover when a package is not scanned by the PO when accepted).

In response to the underlined portion of the comment above, I don't believe this is necessarily true.  I've had packages delivered to my customers but their local USPS office never scanned the delivery - I had to contact the buyer to inquire as to whether they received it or not, and they had.

I've also had instances where the tracking number information was NOT transmitted by PayPal to eBay, and because I rely on that, I didn't realize that eBay was showing a package not shipped when in effect it had been shipped AND received by the buyer.

I mention all this because if you are a seller who cares about such things you don't want to rely on "systems"  transferring data from PayPal to eBay or rely upon the infallability of USPS workers.

[lightlily_arts]

You really need to consider all the possibilities and exceptions with this statement. 

#5. When you sell an item, mark it as shipped, and then it sits at your house for 2-3 days. It satisfies the Ebay service metrics but drives your buyer crazy!

For example, this is a holiday weekend.  If the seller receives the order on Saturday  and prints out the shipping label they still  cannot post the item until Tuesday.  All the orders I have received this weekend are readied for shipping on Tuesday.    The buyer should be able to see on their purchase page the estimated  shipping date.  Buyers who purchase on weekends should be able to figure out that shipping on weekends isn't possible. If they want or need their items the same day they should go to a local store.

[drkenb]

I couldn't agree with you more regarding the value of good photographs.  There is no excuse for not being able to take & show good photographs these days.  Blurry, too dark or too light or incomplete photos of an item leads me to believe the seller is trying to hide flaws.  There is so much fraud on eBay that you have to be particularly careful.

I'll add one more thing to the growing list:  Phrases such as "Untested" or "Unknown working condition" etc. are, more times than not, code for "I know it doesn't work or work properly but if I said that, I wouldn't get as much $$ for it."  Sure, there are plenty of sellers who honestly don't know if their item is working or working as it should but who don't have the capabilities or knowledge to thoroughly test the item.  But there are just as many dishonest sellers using the same language in order to pass along faulty or non-working items.  So, whenever you, as a buyer, see anything suggesting that the seller "doesn't know" or "isn't aware of" a problem, assume that there IS indeed a problem.  In other words, if you see an electronic item listed as "untested", ask yourself: "Would I buy it for that price if it was listed as 'for parts or repair'?"  If you answer "no" then move along.

[rpalma]

You choose poorly when you are purchasing.

Consider buying from reputable sellers and not just shopping by lowest price.

Also, as a seller, I can tell you almost no one reads the description.