Venting from the buyer perspective

[adamcartwright]

Just bought a garment on eBay and was stunned at some of the listings.

Sellers take their photos directly on the floor.

Photos are blurry and/or do not even include both sides of the garment.

No explanation of condition, other than "Used."

I had to message just to try and get the most basic info about the garment.

Mind you, these are garments sold in a nice department store for about $100, so we're not talking about junk.

I'm so conscious of putting myself in the buyer's shoes when I create listings that it's a slower process. But I see now how some sellers may be able to list so fast. Just slop it out and deal with questions as they arise?

[robbie31415]

I do the opposite of you.

I do fast listings.

If buyers have questions they can ask.

Typically if a buyer asks a question when we find that info it will be added to the listing for other buyers.

The least amount of time spent means more profit.

[fbusoni]

---

@adamcartwright wrote:

I'm so conscious of putting myself in the buyer's shoes when I create listings that it's a slower process. But I see now how some sellers may be able to list so fast. Just slop it out and deal with questions as they arise?

---

@adamcartwright 

Taking and posting photos of items laying on the floor is something I will never in a million years understand.  Especially if the floor has not been vacuumed or otherwise cleaned.  (Nothing like dog hair and bits of tissue paper in a photo to lure a customer.)

Sort of like those photos we often see of items on a desk, taken by the seller who is sitting in a chair in front of the desk.  Half the photo shows a beer belly or worse.

Classless, with a huge deficit of self-awareness. 

I'm with you... I take great care in my photos and setting.   I'm trying to entice the buyer and get them to spend a lot of money.

Not make them throw up.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Some merchandise deserves listings which are as bad as some sellers use.

Some sellers provide a public service in making their listings awful, they warn buyers to stay away from them.

There are minimal requirements to be an Ebay seller. Although some potential sellers cannot navigate those minimal requirements due to illiteracy or stupidity, there are many who can pass them and the mirror test.

The poor quality of listings is a bigger warning of trouble ahead than the feedback system is.

Buyers who do not recognize that are victims waiting to be abused.

[adamcartwright]

@fbusoni 

🤣🤣You said it.

[kensgiftshop]

---

@adamcartwright wrote:

But I see now how some sellers may be able to list so fast.

---

They say they can list 50 items an hour.

Look at the listing and they have one POS photo and the same description on all 5000 items and none of it describes the item.

[slippinjimmy]

There has always been a significant segment of eBay sellers who either because they don't know any better or are simply bad at their "job".

In my mind it's the PRIMARY reason why eBay has been losing buyers for the past 10 years (minus the Covid bump).

Bad listings, bad attitude, if they put as much effort into their listings as they do to maintain the silly 100% positive feedback things could be different.

[chapeau-noir]

I see so many garbage clothing photos - not people doing their best with strange lighting (I have myriad lighting challenges where I am) or with a cheap cell phone, but just hurried,  blurry rubbish.

Out of a sense of self-respect if nothing else I'm not going to slop out listings, and buyers should not have to ask for basic details. When I was doing this full time I could do 30 listings in a day, and that's clothing, which is a somewhat demanding listing style - it's not that danged hard to do a decent job. With media could do more.

And you DO make more money  - "time is money" is not a zero sum game.

[monroe67]

"But I see now how some sellers may be able to list so fast. Just slop it out and deal with questions as they arise?"

Yeeeaaah -- no.  That's not my eBay selling/listing philosophy either.  

I will never buy any used clothing from a picture of it on a floor.  Or on a stained mattress pad or sheets.  Yet I have seen several listings of clothing here on eBay that used those surfaces.  That's not to mention some photos (not only clothing) that show the photographer's feet or other body parts.  

I won't buy clothes from eBay listings that don't show all the measurements, including inseam length of slacks, fiber content (is it all cotton or all wool or 50/50 cotton and polyester?), and the care instructions.  Some manufacturers say their clothing can be machine-washed, but suggest the item be laid flat to dry.  No thanks.  

eBay photos, though -- I don't think there's any way for eBay to force some sellers to improve the photos in their listings. 
It seems to come down to whether they have common sense.  

[tinsoldierunderground]

I'm with you 100%.  When I look at a listing for a higher end military collectable, and the seller photographed it well using a solid color background, it leaves me with the impression that they value the item and it's history as much as I do.  When I see same item haphazardly lying in a pile of distractions ranging from a junk filled work bench to dirty dishes on the kitchen counter, with a bare foot residing in a flip flop thrown in for good measure, I just move on. 

[chapeau-noir]

I'll carve out an exception for "reflective photography", however (Teapot Man).

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Some comments on time to list.

I sort the items I list. I list similar items sequentially and there is no loss in accuracy associated with using a template which contains common information as well as item specific information.

I use image producing tools and techniques which are fast and efficient. I can do 50 or 60 listings per hour, and often do. I also have bookmarked accepted reference websites which help provide me with data which enhances each listing, within the definitions of fair use.

I suspect many sellers who have specialties in items for collectors have similar ways of increasing their efficiency.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

When Google Lens works it is remarkable.

The last few times I used it, it was awful. Failed to identify famous people in photographic portraits. The search results were obviously padded with poor matches.

[evelyb30]

Old retired jewelry dealer here.  The old rule was : write your description as though there are no pictures (in the stone ages, there weren't) and write your description as though there are no pictures.  Not that anyone can find the description these days. That said, when I sold clothing once in a blue moon if often ended up on my floor simply because it was the only place in the house big enough to lay it flat.   In the really old days when stairs weren't any problem, I used the grass outside for big things like quilts.  That said, dirty floors are a good warning to hit the BACK button. 

[simba6]

In flea-market venues like this not all sellers take a lot of time in merchandising their wares.   When you see two sellers one with their items in a heap on the ground and another displaying on old store racks, you often find a far better deal with the items in a heap.   Most buyers will look there first.

Flea-markets are for bargains, fancy stores for posh.

I do agree an American flag should never be displayed like an old towel.