Messages ignored by sellers

[neiwheat]

One thing that really is getting worse is seller communication, not responding to messages and basically treating buyers as a nuisance!

 I find this very odd and now will not buy from someone who can't be bothered to respond or interact even if I want the item.

I have messaged a few sellers numerous times and no reply, rude, unprofessional and disrespectful.

Your thoughts please!

[sticky-art-uk]

Did you read the advert?

[tomo-7274]

Is it rude to ask to many questions? I had a conversation with a seller where I sent him 12 messages, and then he got the hump. He didn't want to speak to me after that.

I had some valid points, the item was £150. I'm not going to buy it because he got upset?

[sticky-art-uk]

It depends...most things are already answered in the advert but buyers don't read them, this leads to sellers getting fed up with repeating themselves only to find the item wasn't bought anyway.

Some sellers would rather just avoid most of the questions and allow the item to sell naturally.

This saves a lot of wasted time for sellers.

[myriad*seller]

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@tomo-7274 wrote:

Is it rude to ask to many questions? I had a conversation with a seller where I sent him 12 messages, and then he got the hump. He didn't want to speak to me after that.

I had some valid points, the item was £150. I'm not going to buy it because he got upset?

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Yes to be honest if you sent me 12 messages I would probably block - as so often you spend all that time answering and they still don't buy.

And the same has happened to your seller

So you wasted lots of their time, they could tell you were a time waster and you didn't buy

And you wonder why sellers get annoyed at lots of questions! 

[ozmonaut]

I've seen tons of items where the seller has decided not to answer questions and let the item sell naturally.

One of these items I came across approximately four years ago and I remember asking the seller a question that he didn't bother answering. Guess what, four years later and it's still up for sale. If you want to sell I would try answering questions!

[sticky-art-uk]

You're refering to an isolated case. For most sellers it's just not woth the hassle.

On other platforms buyers just buy the item and be done with it, ebay seems to bring out all sorts of silly questions and 95% of them are already answered by reading the advert.

[ozmonaut]

And if they aren't answered in the description? I take it it is still too much hassle to answer? If someone doesn't buy after asking questions it's because the item has proven to be unsuitable due to the answers. 

This all comes back to sellers being too lazy to put item specifics in the description. I wouldn't buy a jacket labelled as large without measurements in the description would you? If they're not in the description I'm going to ask, or would you just buy it then have to return it when you found it didn't fit after trying it on?

By the way that wasn't an isolated listing, I've been on here enough years to see stuff being relisted endlessly through my searches due to seller ignorance. 

[tomo-7274]

Vague product details which proved to be incorrect. Pretending it cost more than it did originally on manufacturers website. Photos that looked like screenshots from manufacturers website. White background, no photos in situ. Item supposedly at work place but then available, with white background?

My time researching all this like a detectives...

[mothertrucker2021]

So true. I get that a LOT... I've noticed also that many sellers don't leave feedback either, especially when I've bought and paid immediately, no questions asked, then they have the cheek to message me to leave feedback lol I no longer will leave feedback for sellers that don't leave me any ( unless I need to warn other potential buyers regarding poor quality and service) 

[sticky-art-uk]

If it's not in the listing most sellers do respond but if they choose not to that's up-to them. 

Each seller will be different and no amount of grumbling here will change that.

[ozmonaut]

Fine by me. I can quite easily, and have, moved on to buy from sellers that are cooperative. It's no skin off my nose if a seller finds it too much trouble to answer simple questions, they just don't get my business, simple.

[sticky-art-uk]

The sellers get the business anyway from another buyer so it doesn't bother them.

There's no point in letting some sellers wind you up, if they don't answer your messages just move on as you can't force them to respond.

[ozmonaut]

You mean as I said in my previous post. I think the whole reason this thread was started and the overwhelming majority of postings by buyers far outweighs the answers by sellers saying they are too busy, don't have time or the questions are stupid. That would seem to indicate that buyers are generally unhappy with being ignored wouldn't you say?

[sticky-art-uk]

Yes but there's always 2 sides to a story...Sellers are also fed up but you don't see them grumbling about it..they just keep selling or move off the platform as it's too much hassle. They can sell on other platforms where they make more money without all the hassle that comes with ebay and they're doing it hence the reason ebay is currently in big trouble. I've been selling on the platform since it started and I answer all questions from buyers but I can't begin to explain the level of stupidity we get from some buyers and it's no wonder sellers ignore them.  We have circa 80-90 questions a day and i'd say at least 90% of them are FULLY detailed in the adverts. Approx 2% are genuine questions and the rest are just tyre kickers!

[tomo-7274]

If the description was detailed, honest at not misleading, I wouldn't have to ask.

I've spent a lot of time researching the product.

[ozmonaut]

So there is no reason for this thread to exist. All buyers should just accept that sellers are hacked off and so most likely won't answer their question? They could at least have a stock answer that says it's in the description.

I said in a previous post, would you walk into a shop, ask the shopkeeper a question about something and have them blatantly ignore you then still buy the item?

I once had occasion to go to Citizens Advice to ask them a question. I said that it may seem like a stupid question to which the person I was speaking to said that if someone had walked there in the rain to ask a question then it was obviously important to them and so they would do their best to answer it however stupid. It's called empathy. Such a shame there is so little of it about nowadays.

I'm bidding on an item today. I asked the seller for a measurement and he provided it. I now know the item will fit so I'm bidding. It took him two minutes to provide that and he'll get a guaranteed sale.

[sticky-art-uk]

That's not always the issue though and quite an isolated instance.

We buy circa 7000 products a year from ebay and I'd say less than 1% haven't been described accurately.

Genuine sellers describe it the best they can to hopefully stop pointless questions.

[sticky-art-uk]

This thread of grumbling won't fix anything...it's just people venting.

I can see both sides of the fence but you won't force sellers to respond...most of them are just fed up with the platform and the hassles that come with it.

[ozmonaut]

I don't want to force them to do anything. As I said, from my point of view they can ignore my question and I'll just move on to more cooperative sellers but if they want to ignore everyone they're not going to be doing a thriving business on eBay.

Of course eBay has made things worse with the A.I. descriptions that basically waffle on without a single salient point in them and the more sellers use this facility the more questions they are going to get!

[sticky-art-uk]

ebay are literally destroying their own platform from the inside out.

I think most sellers started to beome very broken when the whole managed payments system was forced on everyone. Now they've given private sellers free listings and screwed business sellers over again.

You'll find most sellers are now simply broken!