arrrgh
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-
T-Rex
- Silent But Deadly
- Posts: 1865
- Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 3:38 pm
- Location: CT - The AntiConstitution State
Re: I hate trying to sell stuff
I hear ya, brother.
A couple months ago I was selling some older knives I was bequeathed from my Grandfather. They were in excellent condition and 90% were never used.
I sold all of them on eBay and I've never had a problem. I give great descriptions or in the case of items I'm unfamiliar with, I make the pictures almost professional.
I always put in the description,"Please, thoroughly review the pictures as they can describe the item better than I. Please, don't hesitate to ask any questions prior to bidding." It is like my signature, I put it in every auction I have.
Anywho, this one buyer contacts me in a fit of rage saying I sold him a forgery hatchet. That there were no MFR. markings and so it was "not as described". Now, nowhere in the auction did it state there were markings and the pictures were HD so you could clearly make out every part of the item. We went back and forth, english was not his first language, until he ended up opening a case with eBay. I even contacted eBay for their advice and they agreed that the pictures were exceptionally clear and that there was no reference to markings in the auction listing.
I even spent my time scouring the internet for information on fake or replica pieces. NOWHERE was there ever mention of anything of the sorts. This guy was convinced that someone had went through the trouble of making a single forgery so that it could sold to him for $70.
I told him I'd return his money sans shipping as it wasn't my fault he couldn't read or follow eBay policy. I ended up leaving town, for work, before it arrived so he's sitting on his thumbs w/ no money or item right now. He can wait for my time now.
rant over, thx
A couple months ago I was selling some older knives I was bequeathed from my Grandfather. They were in excellent condition and 90% were never used.
I sold all of them on eBay and I've never had a problem. I give great descriptions or in the case of items I'm unfamiliar with, I make the pictures almost professional.
I always put in the description,"Please, thoroughly review the pictures as they can describe the item better than I. Please, don't hesitate to ask any questions prior to bidding." It is like my signature, I put it in every auction I have.
Anywho, this one buyer contacts me in a fit of rage saying I sold him a forgery hatchet. That there were no MFR. markings and so it was "not as described". Now, nowhere in the auction did it state there were markings and the pictures were HD so you could clearly make out every part of the item. We went back and forth, english was not his first language, until he ended up opening a case with eBay. I even contacted eBay for their advice and they agreed that the pictures were exceptionally clear and that there was no reference to markings in the auction listing.
I even spent my time scouring the internet for information on fake or replica pieces. NOWHERE was there ever mention of anything of the sorts. This guy was convinced that someone had went through the trouble of making a single forgery so that it could sold to him for $70.
I told him I'd return his money sans shipping as it wasn't my fault he couldn't read or follow eBay policy. I ended up leaving town, for work, before it arrived so he's sitting on his thumbs w/ no money or item right now. He can wait for my time now.
rant over, thx
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Burst Calculator www.engineersedge.com/calculators/pipe_bust_calc.htm
Silencer Porn www.instagram.com/explore/tags/silencerporn/
Re: I hate trying to sell stuff
Know exactly how you feel. I hate to buy or sell. Had rather take a beating than buy a vehicle!
Re: I hate trying to sell stuff
I've sold a ton of stuff on Ebay, and of all the things I hate, the one I hate the most is when they give their feedback as a review of the ITEM.... and not the transaction. To my way of thinking, the seller only has a few questions to ask and answer: is the item exactly as described-and-pictured? Did the item get shipped quickly after payment? Was the communication with the seller good? (not always applicable) That's it. If ravy4x4 (made-up name) is disappointed in the performance of gadget I sold him, how does that reflect on me in any way?
It's the BUYER'S responsibility to understand what they're buying!
A serious contender for the other thing I hate when selling stuff on Ebay is the shipping costs. It's difficult to estimate the shipping costs correctly sometimes for a number of reasons... irregular box... unknown weight... unknown destination. So I estimate as best I can, and then post that shipping cost right on the auction. It's no secret what you'll pay for shipping if you bid and win. But there are still people complaining about your "high shipping costs" in the feedback. Why? If they didn't like the quoted price, then why, WHY did they then proceed with the purchase? WHY?!?!?!?! Oh, and no mention of the few times in the beginning when I calculated shipping costs too low and took a MASSIVE hit. If I guess wrong by $40 on a $50 auction, I didn't make money, I lost it. But those SOBs didn't give favorable feedback regarding the LOW shipping costs when they got the package that had the USPS stamp on it that clearly showed that I paid $90 to get it to Hawaii when they were only charged $50.
Oh, while I'm kvetching, I'll throw on the people who REFUSE to leave feedback of any kind. I don't necessarily lose sleep over their opinion of me, but when the money is sitting in Paypal and waiting on their positive review to free up, then yeah, it matters. I sold some dude in Canada some reloading equipment for ~$250, and I can see from the tracking number that he got it in early December, but he will NOT leave feedback, so I don't know if he's going to open a case against me with Ebay, in which case I need to keep that money liquid and in the Paypal account. I know, I know.. I can technically pull it out and spend it, but that's really irresponsible since he might make a fuss at the last minute and I'd have to forfeit that money to Ebay/Paypal. So as it is, I'm having to wait the 30 days until it's too late for him to open a case even if he wanted to. It's rude and inconsiderate.
Jesus.
Anyway... I've found that as many pics as possible is the better way to do it. I've found that opening those pics in MS Paint, and adding captions or lines on it that clearly mark the measurements, or point out defects, is the best way to handle it.
Oh, and I'm grateful for Gunbroker, who unlike Ebay, has a 15-minute rule. The auction can't end unless there's been no bids for 15 minutes... even if the auction was scheduled to end. This prevents people from waiting till the last tenth of a second and entering a bid. I also appreciate that Gunbroker seems to have no practical limit on the number of pics you can add to any particular sale. I've put up 11 pics, and STILL get dumb questions, so I guess you can't dodge that.
My ultimate take-away is two-fold: first, when selling stuff online, your reputation is paramount. The seller doesn't know for sure what's going to show up in the mail - if anything shows up at all. And second, there's this bizarre-O "the customer is always right" mentality that some buyers have, that you cannot reason with. Their requests can be outlandish, their claims can be outlandish, their questions can be outlandish, their expectations can be outlandish.... it's like they cannot grasp that the seller -- YOU! -- aren't a store. You're just a dude who has this item and wants to sell it.... if someone is interested, great, it's just a trade: cash for that item. But this thing where they try to hold your online reputation hostage to get their way... it's morally despicable and utterly contemptible.
It's the BUYER'S responsibility to understand what they're buying!
A serious contender for the other thing I hate when selling stuff on Ebay is the shipping costs. It's difficult to estimate the shipping costs correctly sometimes for a number of reasons... irregular box... unknown weight... unknown destination. So I estimate as best I can, and then post that shipping cost right on the auction. It's no secret what you'll pay for shipping if you bid and win. But there are still people complaining about your "high shipping costs" in the feedback. Why? If they didn't like the quoted price, then why, WHY did they then proceed with the purchase? WHY?!?!?!?! Oh, and no mention of the few times in the beginning when I calculated shipping costs too low and took a MASSIVE hit. If I guess wrong by $40 on a $50 auction, I didn't make money, I lost it. But those SOBs didn't give favorable feedback regarding the LOW shipping costs when they got the package that had the USPS stamp on it that clearly showed that I paid $90 to get it to Hawaii when they were only charged $50.
Oh, while I'm kvetching, I'll throw on the people who REFUSE to leave feedback of any kind. I don't necessarily lose sleep over their opinion of me, but when the money is sitting in Paypal and waiting on their positive review to free up, then yeah, it matters. I sold some dude in Canada some reloading equipment for ~$250, and I can see from the tracking number that he got it in early December, but he will NOT leave feedback, so I don't know if he's going to open a case against me with Ebay, in which case I need to keep that money liquid and in the Paypal account. I know, I know.. I can technically pull it out and spend it, but that's really irresponsible since he might make a fuss at the last minute and I'd have to forfeit that money to Ebay/Paypal. So as it is, I'm having to wait the 30 days until it's too late for him to open a case even if he wanted to. It's rude and inconsiderate.
Jesus.
Anyway... I've found that as many pics as possible is the better way to do it. I've found that opening those pics in MS Paint, and adding captions or lines on it that clearly mark the measurements, or point out defects, is the best way to handle it.
Oh, and I'm grateful for Gunbroker, who unlike Ebay, has a 15-minute rule. The auction can't end unless there's been no bids for 15 minutes... even if the auction was scheduled to end. This prevents people from waiting till the last tenth of a second and entering a bid. I also appreciate that Gunbroker seems to have no practical limit on the number of pics you can add to any particular sale. I've put up 11 pics, and STILL get dumb questions, so I guess you can't dodge that.
My ultimate take-away is two-fold: first, when selling stuff online, your reputation is paramount. The seller doesn't know for sure what's going to show up in the mail - if anything shows up at all. And second, there's this bizarre-O "the customer is always right" mentality that some buyers have, that you cannot reason with. Their requests can be outlandish, their claims can be outlandish, their questions can be outlandish, their expectations can be outlandish.... it's like they cannot grasp that the seller -- YOU! -- aren't a store. You're just a dude who has this item and wants to sell it.... if someone is interested, great, it's just a trade: cash for that item. But this thing where they try to hold your online reputation hostage to get their way... it's morally despicable and utterly contemptible.