photosensitive
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posted on March 11, 2007 07:05:52 AM
This is a vent from an eBay buyer. There are a lot of very good descriptions on eBay. I look at the pictures and read the description and I feel like I have a good idea of what I am bidding on. Not as good as holding the item in my hand but with enough information to decide if I want to bid. I can understand sellers who have no experience with an item but show good pictures and a careful set of measurements and condition description.
I search every day for a particular widget that is very uncommon and can even be unique. I am not the world authority on this widget but I do know quite a bit about it from years of collecting and research.
There are however two species of sellers that are driving me up the wall! The first is the minimalist. The description reads "An Italian Widget". That is all, no size, no condition, no reason why they think this object is even a Widget (which it most likely from the picture is not). Yesterday I had "ask the seller a question" open on such an auction and just closed it again. Do I want to deal with such a clueless seller?
The second is the "kitchen sink" description. My search for "widget" bring up a listing and I click on the auction. There I find a loooong description. That should be helpful in understanding the item offered. Right? Wrong! There is nothing in the description about size, age, condition of this particular object. It is all a cut and paste of someone's web site about this kind of widget, often only vaguely connected with the thing being sold. Yesterday I found one that still had the Wikipedia edit links in it. It is especially galling when I find they have copied and pasted passages from my own web site into the description. This is keyword spamming on a gigantic scale.
I am sure that no eBay Outlook member is either kind of seller. 
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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roadsmith
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posted on March 11, 2007 09:54:38 AM
Y'know, I don't *think* any of us are like that--but we may inadvertently be when selling a one-of-a-kind collectible that we can't get any information about. Gosh forbid, as grandma used to say.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
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photosensitive
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posted on March 11, 2007 12:20:04 PM
Roadsmith, I am sure you are not one of those sellers. Faced with an unknown item I expect you would bring it here for help and would certainly at least measure it and include size and condition in the description.
When I see a seller making an honest mistake in the description I often write a polite note to tell them. Just recently I saw a listing where the title was "Widget ?". I send a message telling the seller what the equipment really was as did another. They corrected the text and thanked us.
The second type I mention is even more annoying. With the short description at least you know right away that the information is not there. When there is a long, long text you need to read it to realize that the information is not given. I keep thinking they will get to the nuts and bolts at some time but they never do.
I collect postcards that show that Widget in a landscape and some postcard sellers will copy and past the entire history of a town from a web site but never mention anything about the age or condition or what is shown on the card they are selling.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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pmelcher
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posted on March 11, 2007 05:44:23 PM
Curiosity is killing me. What widget? I'm thinking windmill, water tower, lightning rod, farm machinery....you know how it goes you just can't stop wondering and guessing. I was thinking way smaller until you said 'shown in a landscape'.
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pixiamom
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posted on March 11, 2007 05:54:59 PM
My guess is that the widget is a camera? It is very tempting to be a minimalist - they might not be as ignorant as they seem. Putting only "Vintage New York City NY postcard" in the title probably draws more hits and possibly more sales than accurately describing the item and is certainly easier than trying to put a more specific description and era in the title. Responsible sellers know that making a buyer click through hundreds of listings to find the one they are interested in is bad for eBay and ultimately, bad for them.
[ edited by pixiamom on Mar 11, 2007 04:56 PM ]
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pmelcher
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posted on March 11, 2007 06:33:46 PM
Duh, of course it is a camera! I should have looked at the name of the poster.
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photosensitive
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posted on March 11, 2007 07:49:15 PM
Yes the widget is a camera but not a photographic camera. Not impossible as it sound. The origin of the word is "camera obscura" Latin for "dark room". It is actually any dark area from a box to a building with an aperture and/or lens to project an image from the outside in.
Portable box camera obscuras come up on eBay only from time to time and we have gotten some great ones. This week there were the two I was complaining about that were other optical devices altogether.
More common are photographs and post cards of building size camera obscuras that were at all the sea side and tourist areas in the UK and US in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Since they were often small wooden structures that were there for short periods of time I like to know the date of the view and have a good picture or description so I know if it is worth my time to bid. The eBay images with the watermark of the camera in the corner are almost never detailed enough to be helpful.
Now I know I told you more than you wanted to know about camera obscuras.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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ladyjewels2000
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posted on March 12, 2007 01:55:28 AM
It's unbelievable to me as well, how some sellers give nothing as their description and other ramble on for pages over a $20 item. You wonder how either of them make any sales.
That being said, I've made some pretty good buys off the "shorts" and I would even call myself an experienced ebay shopper!!
Very interesting - I never heard of a camera obscura. Would you share your website?
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photosensitive
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posted on March 12, 2007 10:26:42 AM
Ladyjewels, I am happy to share my web site . Always trying to make new converts to the ranks of camera obscura enthusiasts.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
[ edited by photosensitive on Mar 12, 2007 10:27 AM ]
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otteropp
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posted on March 12, 2007 10:29:24 AM
I agree on the descriptions and the ones I can't stand are the ones that have at the top several paragraphs of dire threats about how you will be hung at dawn if you don't follow all the Seller numerous rules....then......a one line description that tells you nothing!
I have never heard of a camera obscura either so will now be able to act quite noncholantly as I point out buildings etc. to my DH and anyone else who will listen.
I have learnt so much from reading the Vendio boards over the past couple of years and thank everyone for sharing their knowledge.
OK...so now I have rambled just like the Sellers we love to hate!
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neglus
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posted on March 12, 2007 11:42:48 AM
I have to say that if there WERE a camera obscura in one of my postcards I wouldn't have known what it was unless the printer or photographer titled it.
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http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
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zippy2dah
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posted on March 12, 2007 11:44:10 AM
Nice site, Photo! I especially enjoyed the trip to the Cliff House in SF as I know that camera from my childhood.
The Musee Mechanique (once another good reason to drive to the beach) has been moved so it's nice to know that the camera is still in place and still kicking.
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neglus
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posted on March 12, 2007 11:45:49 AM
My connection keeps timing out when I try to access your website photo - are we overloading it?
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http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
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photosensitive
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posted on March 12, 2007 11:52:37 AM
Maybe Neglus. Some of the pages are overloaded with photos so might take a while to load but the front page is not. Thy this link .
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
[ edited by photosensitive on Mar 12, 2007 11:53 AM ]
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neglus
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posted on March 12, 2007 12:20:34 PM
I will have to try later Photo - I got to some of the pages but couldn't get to the image rich ones.
I did remember a camera obscura postcard I listed a couple of years ago when I saw some of yours. You probably already have this one (I don't have it anymore):
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http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
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photosensitive
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posted on March 12, 2007 12:58:54 PM
Neglus, Yes I have that one. It is on the page with the Santa Monica camera obscura in its current position. If you see an beach or resort post cards with a little building of that kind I would like to see them.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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neglus
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posted on March 12, 2007 01:10:36 PM
I probably would have called it a "gazebo" and pixiamom would have called it a "pergola". I will keep an eye out now that I know. I still can't get to your image pages on the website - I am using Firefox but will try later with IE
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http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
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photosensitive
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posted on March 12, 2007 01:11:58 PM
Are you on dialup?
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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photosensitive
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posted on March 12, 2007 01:19:43 PM
Off to the post office. Hope you can get on later Neglus. Take a look at the pages for lost seaside and park camera obscuras and you will get an idea of what they are like.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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neglus
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posted on March 12, 2007 01:40:32 PM
I am on cable photo - have a home wireless network but the system says signal strength is just "good". I will try later when I can get an "excellent" and use IE
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http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
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