loggia
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posted on April 6, 2001 08:52:45 PM
I've noticed something in my years on eBay. It took awhile, but I started to realize that people that wrote me asking questions about items never bid on them.
Does anyone notice this pattern or even a substantial trend in that regard?
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ragmop
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posted on April 6, 2001 09:04:22 PM
Very seldom have those who questioned a listing ever bid on it. I can only remember 1 or 2 instances in the last 3 or 4 years. It especially applies to requests for reserve. I still try to reply just out of courtesy but it is usually a waste of time.
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roadsmith
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posted on April 6, 2001 09:30:35 PM
I've had some good luck and some not so good luck with people who ask questions. I usually try to do a gentle sell job on them, promise money-back guarantee and urge them to bid with confidence if they do decide to bid. Of course I answer their questions honestly, but I just reassure them that the item is indeed as described.
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loosecannon
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posted on April 6, 2001 09:45:06 PM
Very few people who ask me questions end up bidding. I have kind of started resenting that and don't appreciate someone who asks 4 or 5 questions in the same email, wants additional photos, etc. (even more so when the most of the info was already in the description). I know most of them are wasting my time. But you can't just ignore them.
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gjsi
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posted on April 6, 2001 09:55:41 PM
As a bidder only, I bid on about 2 of of 3 of the autcions I ask questions on.
The questions usually have to do with payments types accepted or shipping. If they don't take checks, I usually don't bid. If the shipping is outragous, I don't bid.
I use software to snipe all auctions I bid on. I usually decide my max and enter it in the software. The software places the bid 20 seconds before the end of the auciton. If the bid is below the current price, then seller will never know I tried to placed a bid, because the bid will not be accepted and will not show up in the bid history. If eBay is down, the bid will not go through.
Greg
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mcjane
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posted on April 6, 2001 09:59:44 PM
I never thought about that, but now that you mention it, no, they don't.
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sandvet
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posted on April 6, 2001 10:24:33 PM
I have never asked a question about an item that I was not interested in bidding on. IF a seller answers my question, they usually take more than a day to reply. By then, I have almost always found another seller with the same or simular product for sale with the answer to my question stated clearly (or more clearly) in their description or TOS.
Because of this, whenever a buyer asks me a question, I evaluate my descriptions and TOS very carefully.
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misscandle
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posted on April 6, 2001 11:45:05 PM
As a bidder, I ask questions often----usually about shipping costs that are not specified in the auction. I only ask for items that I am seriously interested in. I then bid on 9 out of 10 of them after receiving the Seller's answer. If the Seller does not answer me, then I don't bid. If the Seller answers, but the shipping is too high, then I don't bid.
As a Seller, I always answer the FIRST e-mail from someone. I'll answer the subsequent ones except those that try to convince me to lower the price for them, or to ship Media Rate even though the item doesn't qualify for it, or other such nonsense.
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victoria
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posted on April 7, 2001 03:17:16 AM
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
If they don't bid, its because the answer I gave convinced them not to. I'm happy to keep someone from bidding if the shipping is more than the cost of the book, as I disclose to prospective overseas bidders.
Or if the book isn't the one they thought it was.
I'm more than willing to answer questions if it means the high bidder is absolutely sure that this is the book they want, and they fully intend to pay for it.
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rarriffle
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posted on April 7, 2001 04:22:29 AM
Good morning to all,
I had an auction where the items were to be shipped in 6 boxes, very small parts. I had to dig for 45 minutes to get the answer to the question. He then informs me that he wasn't interested in bidding. He already had one, just wanted to know a specific part number so he could order it. aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh.
OTOH, I have an auction now that I have received several questions on and most of the questioners are bidding.
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nettak
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posted on April 7, 2001 04:26:17 AM
I ask questions on a few of the auctions that I am interested in. Sometimes it is about the shipping cost, and what payment forms they will accept. A lot of times they do not even bother to reply, or if they do reply it is sometimes to late to put my bid in, this is extremely rude on the sellers part especially when I have given ample time to reply even when you take into consideration the difference in time factor from country to country.
A number of times I have asked a specific question about shipping costs and they will email me back and tell me that they can not give a price until the end of auction. WHY!! Because they are obviously to lazy to find out the shipping cost. So I will not bother to bid on this auction and would not bother with this seller again.
When I am selling, I do not get every buyer to bid when they ask questions but at least I answer the email with as much information as I can possibly give.
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breinhold
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posted on April 7, 2001 05:28:56 AM
NO!! i thought this only happened with me and i am glad to see i am not alone.
It seems they are the tire kickers of cyberspace.
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bcaldwell
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posted on April 7, 2001 05:36:32 AM
Very seldom have I ever found anyone who asks a question that actually bids. I'm usually very specific in my listings and always post S&H in the listings along with several pictures. I have found that most of the questions asked are already answered in my listing, some people are just too lazy or ignorant to read.
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traceyg
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posted on April 7, 2001 05:36:40 AM
If find that most that ask questions don't but they few that do bid that ask questions tend to be higher bidders and quick payers.
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Juggheadd
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posted on April 7, 2001 05:37:13 AM
I ALWAYS do, providing I get an answer. Many sellers are too email ignorant to answer though.
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doxdogy
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posted on April 7, 2001 06:03:36 AM
I usually ask my questions on clothing. The question I ask the most is the waist size on an item. The majority of the time the waist size is to big, which means I don't bid.
Theresa
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musicman12533
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posted on April 7, 2001 06:03:57 AM
Rirriffle-
sounds to me like this idiot wanted to purposely tork you off-why would someone who didnt want to bid in the first place, actually email you back and state that he didnt want to bid and just wanted to order the part number????
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godzillatemple
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posted on April 7, 2001 06:17:48 AM
Depends on what the question is. If it's "what's your reserve?" then no, the people who ask never bid. If the question is about the item itself, though, or whether I'm willing to ship outside of the U.S., or something like that, then sometimes the person also bids.
Barry
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The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
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eventer
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posted on April 7, 2001 06:29:34 AM
Color me shocked...last week got a question on an auction, answered it & the person not only bid on it but won! And paid fast.
I'm thinking of bronzing the paypal notice.
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grumteach
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posted on April 7, 2001 06:40:21 AM
It seems my experience is different than most of yours. Most of the people who ask me questions, do bid. I usually know why the others did not bid. My TOS gives all the information needed on shipping, and payment options. For that reason the questions are usually about the item itself.
For example, I get questions asking if a clock I put up chimes. The bidder has no way of know that if it did chime I would have said so. Therefore I tell them that regretfully, it does not. And I know they will not bid.
I never get requests for additional photos unless I am selling some stamps and a request for a larger photo of one particular stamp makes sense here. I certainly would not be willing to increase my auction load time, unless a person really was interested. Therefore, with stamps, I have the big, slow loading picture ready, in case of requests.
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jimmyb5
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posted on April 7, 2001 07:30:51 AM
Here's a good one. I had a repair manual for an atv for sale. the current high bidder emailed me and said that since he would probally win this item could I scan a couple pages before the auction ended so he could start to repair his bike. I said sure and sent them to him. the next day he retracted his bid with the explaination he no longer needed the book.
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tonimar1
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posted on April 7, 2001 07:49:51 AM
I guess I have been one of the lucky ones!
When someone asks a question on one of my auctions, they become the winning bidder.
This has always happened. I personally will never not ans. a question and I will go out of my way to make sure I ans. it correctly and if I don't know the ans. That's what I tell them.
I also think it all depends on what you are selling that makes a big difference in the people and the type of questions that can
be a very important part of the sale.
I feel that most buyers are serious about asking questions because most of the time the question is about something I might have forgotten to mention, not that I didn't want too, I am always rushing and I just forget to list it.
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loggia
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posted on April 7, 2001 08:05:58 AM
bcaldwell wrote: I have found that most of the questions asked are already answered in my listing...
That's my favorite! Usually the questions I receive are "Is this item new?" and it says that in the item title and description. Sometimes to combat this I put NEW in red in the description (it doesn't always work  !)
[ edited by loggia on Apr 7, 2001 08:08 AM ]
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brighid868
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posted on April 7, 2001 08:43:23 AM
I answer 100% of the questions asked of me and I answer 100% of those questions within 5 hours of being asked. (Yes, I DO live on my computer. I have a you've got mail chime on my computer and if I get a question at night, I get up and answer! I LOVE my customers!)
I have found that 95% of the people who ask, do not bid. However, 5% of those who ask will bid high and pay fast. I had one of those just last week. Asked a question, then BOOM paid $100 with Buy It Now and Billpoint. So it's worth it to me to answer EVERYONE because you never know!
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misscandle
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posted on April 7, 2001 11:44:57 AM
I just asked a Seller a question yesterday because their listing only said "buyer pays actual shipping". I inquired what the shipping charge would be. Answer: $4.90 plus $1.00 to cover their Ebay & Paypal fees (whether or not I use Paypal). This is for a paperback book that is listed for $1.00.
No, I won't be bidding on this.....and no apology either. I'm not a "Lookie Lou", but I'm also not stupid enough to pay a total of $6.90 for a used book that I can get new at Borders for $4.95.
Oh, well.......on to find other deals.
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brie49
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posted on April 7, 2001 02:34:48 PM
My few that ask questions are about 50-50. But I find that those 50% that do bid after asking a question almost always snipe at the end.
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Juggheadd
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posted on April 7, 2001 02:39:10 PM
misscandle
Good thing you asked first 
Most of my questions are about shipping costs to Canada. About 1/3 of the sellers have the courtesy to respond and the others I never hear from. I never look at or ask sellers who say they ship to the USA only. Why would a seller put "email me for shipping costs to Canada" in the listing then not bother to answer?
As far as unanswered questions go, look at my topic "BIN Sucks Big Time".
I wonder if the lack of answers has something to do with the new ebay email setup?
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quickdraw29
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posted on April 7, 2001 04:23:47 PM
Some of them do. If they are looking for a certain variation they will bid if it's the right one. If they are uncertain on the wording in your listing, they will bid if your answer is satisfactory. The shipping questions-forget about it. I can quote regular s/h rates, exact sh. rates or give them a choice of rates and they won't bid.
So it boils down to being passionate about the item and wanting it, vs being passionate about pricing and not really wanting it that badly.
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fraidykat
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posted on April 7, 2001 05:08:01 PM
The only questions I usually ask are re: shipping and clothing measurements. If the answers are "right" for me, I do bid. If no answer, or the "wrong" one...I don't. But...if sellers neglect either of these items in their description and/or TOS - I usually don't even bother to ask!
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shaani
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posted on April 7, 2001 05:24:42 PM
I haven't bought very much in a long while. Now I am in a buying mood but for the items I am interested in today it seems that I am required to e-mail to find the cost of shipping and handling on almost all of them.
I have the option of items being sent to my US address or my Canadian one so that is not the problem. The mention of "handling" always makes me wary.
One auction I am interested in states that shipping is extra but does not give a cost. Then it says if you do not live in North America that you have to e-mail for cost of shipping. Well, looks to me that I have to do that even if I live in North America.
This is work. It takes the fun out of buying.
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