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I should have learned last time I had a clear out - flogging some surplus to requirement stuff elicits the following "doh" questions...
Q. Will you post it?
A. As it says in the ad, Evri or Parcelforce 24
Q. Great - how much to post it?
A. As it says in the ad, £4.50
Q. Will you sell it me now for £130?
A. There's a bid for £135, so no thanks.
Q. What model is it?
A. As it says in the ad...
Q. Is it still in the box?
A. See photo in the ad of it [IN THE SODDING BOX]
Q. Can you retract my bid - I meant to make an offer.
A. I can't retract your bid - you have to do that. If you retract it I'll approve that no problem. Feel free to make an offer though.
Q. Will you accept £130 now?
A. There's already a bid from someone else for more than that, so no thanks. Can you make any offers via the listing please?
Q. Will you take £135?
A. .......
Sheesh... Mind you, my 100% excellent feedback record has a blot in it from last time I sold some stuff and had someone not pay. When I messaged him to ask him to pay so I could send him his item he told me he'd changed his mind and wanted to withdraw his bid (a week after winning the auction). I explained bids are binding and others had been outbid by him so please could he stick to the bargain. His response was to report me for being abusive and leave negative feedback. eBay did nowt at all and refused to remove the feedback even though they could see he hadn't paid (and still charged me the sellers fee!)
Grrr grrr, grumble grumble 🙁
Just don't reply, sensible questions get sensible replies and usually sensible buyers.
Stupid questions, get zero answers and zero stupid buyers.
The questions are not a nightmare or a problem, they're saving you one, they're a brilliant problem buyer filter.
I explained bids are binding and others had been outbid by him so please could he stick to the bargain. His response was to report me for being abusive and leave negative feedback. eBay did nowt at all and refused to remove the feedback even though they could see he hadn’t paid (and still charged me the sellers fee!)
Send a reminder by ebay - there's a button for it, mark as non payment and leave it be, second chance offer it to the second bidder of needed/possible.
Aye.
Very rarely use it these days, it is always awful.
Item put up for sale before Xmas as I had 80% off final fees. But 10 days auction so it finished well after Xmas.
Auction underway, guy asks 'can I buy it now - I need it for Xmas'. I just ignored it. Same guy after Xmas then wins auction at massively over inflated price, using 2 accounts to inflate bidding. Clearly not going to pay. Messages to say 'don't want it'. Cheers for that dickhead.
Relisted and I don't even get the final value fee reduction.
All stacked in the buyers favour. Never again.
What dob said, stupid question = I don't sell to them, and agree about the second chance offer and non-payment - should get you out of a fix if you're landed with a corkwomble of a buyer who somehow forgot to self-filter by asking a stupid question.
The questions are not a nightmare or a problem, they’re saving you one, they’re a brilliant problem buyer filter.
Unless they go on to deliberately wreck your auction.
New policy for me when I relisted it - any daft question, buyer added to bidding block list.
Had similar recently trying to shift some furniture before a house move. Got that pissed off with the bother we looked for an alternative and it was suggested we give it to a local charity that redistributes to those that need it.
Might be out of pocket, but for zero hassle and an the knowledge that someone upa creek is going to make use of it for free, that's priceless.
Item put up for sale before Xmas as I had 80% off final fees. But 10 days auction so it finished well after Xmas.
...
Relisted and I don’t even get the final value fee reduction.
Message eBay, they're usually very good at applying those to non payment relistings.
<£20 value = charity shop.
>£20 value = buy it now.
To be fair to eBay re:fees, if you message them they are pretty good. I sold a table for £200ish and thought I'd done it during an 80% off fees offer. Apparently not, and they charged me full selling fees.
I thought I'd chance it and message eBay to say I thought I'd sold during the offer period and they reversed the charge and only charged me a reduced final valuation fee.
<£20 value = charity shop.
>£20 value = buy it now.
Preach.
Yep, Buy It Now with 'Immediate Payment Required' ticked and delete any questions without reading them as 99% of them will be stupid and I can live with k=missing the 1%.
Having sold over £40K of stuff it works for me. Oh and wait until an offer on fees comes up before listing anything, just draft them all up ready to list.
@Kerley +1
And for full belt and braces don’t accept offers as that removes the instant payment obligation.
Message eBay, they’re usually very good at applying those to non payment relistings.
Thanks for the prompt. To their credit they were very quick to get on a live chat and efficient at refunding the difference.
some very good advise on here, stupid questions = stupid people.
i haven't bothered with auction for a long time, buy now and over-price it, even without offers people will message you. i often get asked, will you take an offer, i just reply 'reasonable offers' and then ignore the jokers.
when its cheap listing weekend, always good to wind these same people up by, sending an offer, for a stupidly low price (say £10 for a £50 item), then instantly delist it and relist at regular price..
then ignore them..
When I messaged him to ask him to pay so I could send him his item he told me he’d changed his mind and wanted to withdraw his bid (a week after winning the auction). I explained bids are binding and others had been outbid by him so please could he stick to the bargain.
Any time (rare) I have anything like this I just refund and block, it’s not worth any hassle that might come from it.
I’ve had very few issues with eBay, recently sold a load of stuff after a clear out and the only “issue” was Neutral feedback from someone that didn’t look at the pictures properly before buying.
And I find BIN Is much more successful than bids unless it’s low value item.
Where else are you supposed to sell stuff? FB is largely a waste of time, I’ve had very limited success on here and is gumtree still even a thing?
when its cheap listing weekend, always good to wind these same people up by, sending an offer, for a stupidly low price (say £10 for a £50 item), then delist it and relist at regular price..
Hmmm. Life is too short.
I generally buy stuff, and it's always been OK. Rarely sell, but my son got ripped off recently with car parts. Clearly listed as it's the part only, no wiring loom, clearly photo'ed. Buyer then complains it's got no loom, clearly said so in listing. Son refunds out of courtesy, buyer never returns 'expensive' part. Ebay didn't want to know.
There is more buyer protection, but ont so good for sellers. That said, my daughter got scammed on Vinted as a buyer, fortunately she reported it upon receiving a 'token' item and was able to get funds back as Vinted retain funds until the buyer acknowledges the delivery - we had to take photo's of the parcel, clearly smaller than what was ordered.
And the latest Fwit
Q "Can I collect"
A "Yes [as it says in the ad]"
Q "I'm coming from Manchester, will you meet me part way?"
A "Go on then - how about Killington Lake Services"
Q "Could you make it tbay [sic]
A " I could, but that's further for you than if you came to my house"
Q "I can charge my car there"
Q "Okay Tebay it is"
Q "Just got my gas bill so I'm not buying it, you need to cancel my bid"
A [I need to do I?] "Done". Buyer blocked.
Never again...
80% off selling fees this weekend.
And the latest Fwit
Which you could have avoided by just deleting the question without responding to it...
Over the last 20 years I have learnt that someone will buy it so don't waste time with stupid questions. The very first question was the clue on that one.