Does Ebay have bot accounts of some kind?

[rylovesry]

Hi, I listed a pair of shoes for sale a while back and got a message from another ebayer asking for a pic of the size label, fair enough so I provided it. Never showed any further interest. When I had a new sellers promotion I relisted the same pair and the same account messaged me again almost instantly asking for the same picture, I replied that I had already sent him such a picture and uploaded it to the listing gallery. I figured they just forget. Sure enough, I relist a third time and the same account, same message asking for the same picture within 5 mins of listing. Seems a bit odd to be someone trolling? Does ebay have accounts that ask these quesstions to try and confrim authenticity of the items?

[vinylscot]

Why not add the pic into the listing?

I had one "watcher" who would message me every month asking the same question, about the same record, every time it was re-listed (hoping he had stumbled upon a rarity I may not have known about). He probably messaged everyone who listed a copy, so had no idea whether he had messaged me before, or not.

[rylovesry]

I did add it to the listing, but still the same message. What I found strange is that the same message, type identically and always right after the item has been uploadded.

[4_bathrooms]

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@rylovesry wrote:

I did add it to the listing, but still the same message. What I found strange is that the same message, type identically and always right after the item has been uploadded.

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It's possible they're "watching" the shoes you are selling. Every time you and anyone else lists or relists a pair they're watching they will receive a notification. They're likely not looking at the actual listing; just pasting the same question into the "contact seller" box once they receive a notification because they're looking for something specific.

[eastern-lights]

I think some buyers ask questions in the hope that the seller will reply with an offer.

[rjwilmsi]

Some buyers have bots scanning new eBay listings - there was a story about a US buyer who had a bot download listings for bundles of console games, extract the photos, scan the barcodes on the game packaging to look for rare/valuable ones.

Maybe here if you didn't state the size in the item specifics they send a message via bot asking for size label photo that can then be read by a bot to extract the size.

Or it could be there is a buyer who uses a third party site to get notified about new listings then sends the same message to each one out of laziness.

[superchallenge]

I have the exact same issue every time I list a certain type of vintage computer. Within minutes of listing, the same guy will ask to see a picture of the serial number on the bottom of the machine. He does the same if an item he's already asked about is relisted, too. He assumes that the sellers he's messaging don't know that a serial number starting with a certain combination is considered to be very rare. In fairness, a good number of them won't.

They just have alerts set up to tell them when a new item shows up, and then blindly send a message as quickly as possible so that they can get in first.

[rylovesry]

Thanks for your replies, everyone. Oddly, it's not a particularly flashy or rare pair of shoes. I actually have the same pair listed in a different colour but do not receive messages for that pair. Even after the first time I replied, the mesage showed no more interested so I will just ignore them. Thanks

[clocksandbits]

I would add them to your Blocked Bidders List, as they don't seem to be showing any inclination to actually buy.