Friday, July 17, 2009

Read the NORMAL Print!

This one should be filed under newbies with NO clue! A friend of mine is selling a purse, and had a bid on it, when a brand-spanking-new member bid on the item - as in, joined that VERY day. So being an intelligent seller interested in protecting her sale, she sent the bidder this message:

Dear buyer,

Hi, you are bidding on one of my items.
you are new with no feedback, and i have had a lot of problems with new members not paying.
are you planning on paying? or is your bidding just for kicks? cuz if it's for kicks, don't bother and i can cancel your bid.

thanx
seller


So this is the response:

Dear seller,

I do plan on buying one of your items, but it depends on the price and shipping once the bidding is done. the lesportsac is gorgeous, is it new? can we clarify that before i confirm giving you money?


- buyer


Huh - how about that. This buyer first off, didn't read the rules when joining eBay. It's pretty clear when you join that if you bid, and win, you have to buy. And then there's the fact that the buyer is CLEARLY not reading the description of the listing.

Dear buyer,

Hi,
shipping and that the purse is preowned is both listed in auction.
Once you bid, it's not "negotible" after auction ends. if you bid and win--you pay.


Amazingly, this seller tells me that the buyer has replied with even MORE questions about the status of the purse - all of which are answerable by READING THE LISTING.

What is wrong with people? Do they assume the rules don't apply to them? Do they see a picture, think, OOOH, pretty! and bid away without reading a dang thing? It's sad. It makes you feel futile as a seller. We spend good portions of our time taking pictures and writing descriptions so that we don't get silly questions.

I told my friend to cancel the bids and block the bidder. It's not worth the hassle. I mean, this buyer is already being difficult. And to me, it's screams non-paying buyer.