posted on January 4, 2001 12:21:50 AM new
Got this odd e-mail from a seller today.
I had bid on her item, with 4 days still to go.
"Hi, I saw that you bid on my *****. Do you collect these? I used to, but now I am getting rid of my collection because my husband says I have too much stuff & he gets blah, blah, b.s. Well, just wanted to say good luck on my auction. Hope it's not too cold where you are. Hugs, the seller."
Gee, I feel so warm & fuzzy now, that I will outbid any competition at any price for her item!
I don't have enough junk mail to sort out, so this kind of made my day.
posted on January 4, 2001 04:05:49 AM new
Okay, so she's a little chatty, but perhaps the seller wanted to let you know that other similar items might be available, discreetly, and without spamming you outright.
A bidder might respond, "Yes, I do collect them. Do you have more? Please let me know when you list them!"
or
"I don't collect them, but this is a present for my best friend who does, and they're hard to find in her part of the country. You have more? Can you send me some pics and give me an idea of prices?"
As a seller, I've never sent out such an e-mail, but I've received them from customers (asking if I had similar items). If I did, I let the buyer know; if I didn't, and the buyer wanted me to, I put the buyer on a list to be notified if I did acquire any more such items.
As a buyer, I've heard from sellers who wanted to let me know of the availability of similar items, usually when the item in which I'd originally expressed an interest was kind of esoteric.
Either way, I didn't mind. If I did, I'd just hit the delete key.
posted on January 4, 2001 07:03:53 AM new
Maybe that's what happened to the spirit of eBay over the past five years. We all got more professional. Now we can get more professional on Yahoo...
