Is there any point to accepting questions on items for sale?

[gwzcomps]

So I grow very weary of the lowball offers, and pointless questions.  I would say 2/3 of the messages I get are people trying to offer me 30%-50% less than my listed price.  Another chunk is questions that are answered in the listing.  The occasional message is a question about compatibility or something genuinely important.  Of all these messages I get 99% of the people don't even buy anything.  I have just now disabled questions, but I am not sure if that is the right decision.

If the majority of the questions I get are pointless is there any point in accepting questions?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I'm a small seller, and I don't really get a lot of questions, so responding to them doesn't take much time and is manageable. Like you, I'd guess most don't turn into sales. Some do. So I continue to accept questions.

If I were a much larger seller, getting so many questions per day that it's actually hard to keep up with, I'd at least consider turning them off. But, I'd say in an average week I might spend maybe ten minutes responding to questions....so, no problem.

It's pretty much the same way I approach Seller Initiated Offers. I sell VERY little through SIOs, but it only takes a few minutes to send a batch out, and so the occasional sales is worth the time spent.

[chapeau-noir]

I'd change the way I handled questions rather than disable the ability, probably by setting up a few boilerplates and just use those for answers for those questions that are low ball or already in the description, and use the time saved to answer those questions which in fact need thought and consideration.

[golfingaddict]

I disabled questions on my other 4 small selling accounts.  I also found that the vast majority of questions involved asking for a lower price.  

It was fine for quite some time and I my sales volume on those accounts did not change.

However, in the last few weeks I have been receiving questions anyway.  There are a couple of ways a buyer an contact a seller.  They can use the link on the item page which populates the item title and number OR they can ask a question from the feedback page or seller information page.  In that case, the item title and name is not populated.

The questions I have been getting have been with the item title and number populated which tells me that the "block questions" has been disabled or is not working on certain browsers or perhaps the APP.  

I brought this up on the last Wednesday chat, in fact I brought it up a couple of months ago as well.   I have never been given a follow up response.  tyler@ebay   responded to me a couple of times and I also included the information about where and how I made my selections to not receive questions but he didn't really give me a clear answer and I did not have time to respond to one question before the chat ended.

The last question I received on a "no questions" account was this morning.

Sigh....

[terrycece62]

I think it depends on your choice there r 2 things that i have done to  help keep qts/ messages count low

first give a very detailed decription. second is use the auto reply responses to your BIN listings

I always loved BIN listings and i understand completely your irritation

Hope that helps

yes i think it is worth the irritation but you may decide for u it is not 

[ensus2015]

fwiw (since I rarely post on the boards), when I 'shop' Ebay I do read full descriptions. but sometimes may still have a question or 2 on an item.  If I try to ask a question of the seller and they dont take questions, I move on to the next seller who does.  Dont want to take the chance of having to pay to return an item, when that could have been avoided by being able to have question(s) answered by seller.

   Just my opinion. 🙂

---

@gwzcomps wrote:

So I grow very weary of the lowball offers, and pointless questions.  I would say 2/3 of the messages I get are people trying to offer me 30%-50% less than my listed price.  Another chunk is questions that are answered in the listing.  The occasional message is a question about compatibility or something genuinely important.  Of all these messages I get 99% of the people don't even buy anything.  I have just now disabled questions, but I am not sure if that is the right decision.

If the majority of the questions I get are pointless is there any point in accepting questions?

---

[fern*wood]

I'm curious about something.  On your accounts that you have blocked questions, is it still possible to click on contact seller and select "make an offer" or is the contact seller link gone entirely?

[terrycece62]

I was not aware of that
Thanks fern

[dhbookds]

Perhaps put in your listings that you don't respond to offers of less than........or that all your items are best offer so please use that avenue to make an offer......and set your levels to reject at the price point you want..........

I understand weariness, but questions are just part of retail........you never know when the answer WILL result in a sale.  

[fern*wood]

I'm not a big time seller, so I don't get a huge number of questions.   Some of them have even led to sales, so that is good.  I also welcome any that pose a question that actually helps me.  For instance, I recently had a question about color (which usually makes me cringe), but this time it saved my butt. I had used the wrong color name in my description, so I was quite thankful for that inquiry.  

[corvettestainless]

For the every once in a while "good question" reason- I would NOT do that.

Returns is the biggest reason to NOT do that. Some buyers just send a message after they've received their item and maybe you can divert a return?- will you still get those messages?

I just simply ignore offers (I don't offer 'offers' nor am I interested in them- I sell 'new built to order items).

I also just ignore stupid questions. For me, if the question is obviously in the listing, and I sell items never seen on a store shelf in anyone's existence and you need to READ about the item, … and sometimes block the buyer as I don't want returns caused by people not reading. 

[divwido]

I'm about at that point too.  The price is $ 45.  Will you take 30, 32, 34, 36....NO I WANT $ 45 no less and no l will not send you eighteen more pictures.

That's all from one guy.  My attitude towards questions has soured.

[m60driver]

One is not obligated to respond to any question from a potential buyer.  I do not respond to ridiculous low ball offers as a no-response gets the message across very effectively.  I do respond to normal questions at least once but I have been known to block an overly inquisitive potential buyer as that often spells trouble.

[go-bad-chicken]

---

@fern*wood wrote:

I'm curious about something.  On your accounts that you have blocked questions, is it still possible to click on contact seller and select "make an offer" or is the contact seller link gone entirely?

---

Yes I just sent the OP a test question through their using the contact seller located on the eBay profile page See screenshot #1, and then using the the "This is not about an item" check box. See screenshot #2

But otherwise buyer's are blocked from contacting the OP if they attempt to do it through an actual listing. See screenshot #3

Screenshot #1

Screenshot #2

Screenshot #3

[dirk12955]

The last question I answered was a buyer in the UK wanting to know if I'd combine shipping.

I told him yes and he spent $100.00