posted on February 7, 2009 04:13:27 PM new
"sometimes you get questions from Ebayers who would like to know where you find your stuff so they can sell them too!"
I have never received this question from a buyer on ebay, but I get this in our store all of the time. We sell furniture, decor, collectibles from the mid 20th century.
Top 3 Stupid Questions Asked in our Store:
1) Where do you get your stuff?
A) At the gettin' place
2) Is this stuff new?
A) It's new to you.
3) How much did you buy this for?
A) Don't let the door hit you in the...
I just had a couple come in today that got upset at me b/c I said a dresser had been here for just over a week and they said they came in two weeks ago and saw it. I wasn't around last week, so for me it actually felt like a week. I checked our records and see it came in on 1/26. Then they offered me $450 on a $700 dresser. Not even close to being a reasonable offer. They got mad when I refused the offer and told them I couldn't even get in the ballpark of what they were offering. The thing is that the same dresser at Scan Design is twice as much and isn't made as well as the one we have here. Ours is flawless in mint condition, solid teak- a true rarity amongst contemporary furniture.
posted on February 8, 2009 03:28:21 PM new
How about this ASQ?
"Dear neglus,
I am just curious about your products, why do most people buy used vintage postcards like the ones you sell? are they collectors items like stamps and baseball cards?
thanks,
Dave"
*I patiently answered the first question but ignored this one:
Dear neglus,
are there books or websites about this type of hobby so I can read/learn more about it? any good card collecting
groups or organizations?clubs?
thanks,
Dave"
OR this one on January 14th (day before Payment Policy enforcement) from a seller with 12,000 FB - I do apologize if it was one of you because I would have helped an EO contributor - don't have time to walk everyone through Turbolister. Fortunately I wasn't around on the 14th so didn't receive the message until the 15th and didn't answer it:
Dear neglus,
Hi, I just read your October Board post re. utilizing Turbo Lister to do mass revisions to adhere to eBay's changes to payment options, return policy, etc. I was remiss prior to the holidays & of course waited to the last minute to make changes to my payment options, & d-day is tomorrow. I am trying to make this bulk edit work with TL - I utilize a template via Frontpage and am trying to get TL to change the html code re. payment options. When I do what is indicated in above posts (by one of the Pinks) I get a message that says 'TL has replaced 0 of 0 successfully'???? I really want to make this work - I started to do them individually and figured it is going to take me a couple weeks to do my 1200+ listings! Would you mind terribly either walking me through what/how you made this work and or if it wouldn't be an imposition could I call you? I have been an eBay seller for 5 years, really am not happy about these mandated changes and eBays Police State approach to their sellers. Ki "
I never answer the jackasses who waste my time with lowball offers on items that are not listed with best offers.
I ALWAYS answer the folks who say they missed an auction and would I relist for them (Gladly!)
Of course a great deal of my time is now wasted answering the ASQ about payment options (thanks eBay for adding that unnecessary step to our workload).
I usually answer ASQs although I will admit to taking a 6 months hiatus from both "My Messages" and my eBay email address a couple of years ago - it was just so stressful trying to keep both places updated - answering one and archiving the other. My eBay email address was like a minefield with all the phishing emails (fake TKO and PayPal notices). I actually was surprised how well I fared without answering a single one! I finally bit the bullet and deleted every single ASQ from my Ebay Messages and changed my eBay email address and started anew.
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posted on February 9, 2009 09:19:01 AM new
We've had a long time obnoxious customer that occassionally comes into our store. He used to ask about putting things like $19.00 blenders on lay-a-way. He once put a 1/2 down payment on a desk, and then didn't show up for weeks after the 2nd payment was due, even though we called him. Never again!
Anyhow, about two years ago we had a few primo condition vintage board games (Monopoly, Yahtzee, Scrabble, etc) that I purchased at a Thrift Store down the street from us. This yahoo came into our store, saw them, and then claimed they were his and were stolen from his car. He wanted to know where I found them. I told him at the thrift store a few blocks away. He then goes on to tell me that they broke into his Hyundai and stole all of his games from his trunk and then probably donated them to the thrift store. He wanted me to then sell them to him for 1/2 off our price b/c he knew without a doubt they were his.
Forget the fact that I have found hundreds of board games in the past in similar condition. Forget that grandparents across the country have board games that have sat in closets and attics, some never been used. Nope. They were his, and someone broke into his car and stole them.
posted on February 9, 2009 11:47:37 AM new
I always like the ones that ask if I'll lower my price "on this stunning crystal listed for $XXX", for them because it is too steep for their budget.
My thinking is if they want a shirt for under $10 they should go to K-mart, not Bloomingdales. (No, I don't sell clothing.)
But I still answer politely and quickly with a cut and paste stock reply, then move along and forget about it.
Part of business is dealing with all kinds of people and a polite reply takes just as much time as a sarcastic one and leaves me still feeling good about myself.
I do answer all questions. Well...except for one or two a year that get lost in
cyberspace...
posted on February 9, 2009 01:20:41 PM new "Part of business is dealing with all kinds of people and a polite reply takes just as much time as a sarcastic one and leaves me still feeling good about myself."
Exactly!
Some sellers appear to be burned out, frowning at potential buyers as if they are the enemy.
posted on February 9, 2009 02:33:36 PM new
And some posters appear to be getting a bit cranky lately, poking at other posters as if they were the enemy Laissez faire ... or as they say in the Caribbean - "don't worry about a thing. everything's going to be alright..."
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posted on February 12, 2009 03:56:48 PM new
Maybe the seller, in shag's case, just simply overlooked it. When you get 800 ebay emails a day - all have very similar subject lines - it's easy to do. Seller's who don't use My messages in My ebay, and I am one of them - can easily overlook a question that is sandwiched in 50 end of auction notices.
They can see an item has a question in their Ebay Summary or active listings page - but maybe they haven't checked it. Maybe their spam filter filtered it out. If there was more time until the end of auction, I would have sent the question again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
Caroline