Sellers - Stop using 'AI' nonsense for descriptions, you are losing sales....

[leon9503]

It might seem an easy option but I won't buy from sellers who use the lazy option for descriptions, it's sometimes completely wrong or just nonsense and does not tell me want I want to know to make a buying descision so I don't.

I want real descriptions of the item not made up ones by a machine!

I recently looked at some Lens filters and I was informed they were circular, obviously the pics weren't a clue....LOL. What I want to know is the condition of the glass, nothing else not that they are a great item to have in my kit....Yawn.

Technology is even making websites dumb.

[edwardian-dreams]

Ai description is just a parrot who is instructed to embellish and talk rubbish too on top

i understand some people might like to use it if they find it difficult promoting their item 

ie I ensure the condition of the item is explained in detail so as to be 100% clear and it might come across as negative albeit honest 

I think you can add/edit  to the Ai description but not sure 

[moldosgifts]

---

@edwardian-dreams wrote:

Ai description is just a parrot who is instructed to embellish and talk rubbish too on top

i understand some people might like to use it if they find it difficult promoting their item 

ie I ensure the condition of the item is explained in detail so as to be 100% clear and it might come across as negative albeit honest 

I think you can add/edit  to the Ai description but not sure 

---

You can edit it, as in delete and write your own. But yes you can edit.

[eastern-lights]

A better use of AI would be, instead of getting it to write to description, use AI to check seller-written descriptions and point out missing information that the buyer may want to know. Are all the accessories present? Instruction manual? Does it come in original box and if so what is the condition of the box? Each category will have different things that are important.

Though to be honest I'm not convinced that what Ebay describe as AI is in fact AI. A halfway decent programmer could knock up a sub-routine that took information in and presented it in a grammatically correct way, peppered with a few random superlatives, probably better than Ebay's "AI".

[moldosgifts]

Co pilot is better at taking your description and improving how it reads.

[leon9503]

Yeah it seems more like a Copy/Paste Bot as a lot of the 'Descriptions' are the same or very similar regardless of item.

[leon9503]

I like to use my brain....😉 it's quicker and easier.

It's not rocket science to describe something, especially if it's in front of you and the worse thing about the system is, it misses out vital information or is completely wrong, see below about the banknote and others posted, I think every item I'm interested in that has an 'AI' description, it is completely wrong or just laughable in its attempt to describe something it knows nothing about.

I doubt it will change though as EB, as other companies do, use it to reduce staff, reduce real CS and sadly become more reliant on nonsense technology but I've not bought anything on a regular basis for a while and look less and less these days as I seem to spend more time closing item pages than finding anything of interest.

[circuitbendersuk]

We run a website modifying electronic music equipment and bizarrely it seems to have poisoned ebays description AI. They appear to have scraped our site for information about certain pieces of music kit and i've seen several listings for equipment where the seller has relied on the AI for a description and its listed it as having a set of modifications that we install, when in reality its a completely normal unmodified unit. If the seller doesn't have any real knowledge about what they're selling then they're going to just accept what the AI is telling them, and then get a nasty surprise when a buyer demands to return it because its just not what the listing claimed.
Its all very well ebay saying its the sellers responsibility to check these things, but its ebay offering up blatant lies as facts. Obviously people are going to trust those lies if they don't know anything about the thing they're selling.

[leon9503]

That's quite bizarre, EB taking info from you and using it on items not modified in others descriptions, have you raised it with EB at all?

I would have thought sellers neg feedback for 'Not as described' is on the up....

[spiralgalaxy5]

I've kept my eye on this thread and I'm glad I did - if your observations are correct then this is more evidence that first generation AI "helpers" quickly become useless with indiscriminate training data / poisoning. There is zero intelligence. It's an impressive trick or illusion but with society-changing consequences. I don't need it and I don't want it.

[wyntersemporium]

I adjust as I go along and is AI I really don’t care about eBay anymore I sell other stuff than here. 

[ett1954]

"They appear to have scraped our site for information about certain pieces of music kit ........." - I recall seeing somewhere that eBay would use AI descriptions generated from, in part, information previously used in seller descriptions.  eBay cover themselves for this as they state in their user agreement "We may in particular use your content, including any photographs you upload, for marketing and promotional purposes. This includes (i) offering it to other sellers to use in their listings,......"

They also cover themselves against errors with the following statement later in the use agreement (my bold) "We try to offer reliable data, but cannot promise that the content provided through the Services will always be available, accurate, complete and up-to-date. You agree that eBay is not responsible for examining or warranting the listings or content provided by third parties through the Services for accuracy, and that you will not hold or attempt to hold us or our product data providers liable for inaccuracies."

As a side note eBay has always been heavily reliant on the following statement which continues to be prominent near the beginning of the user agreement: "eBay is not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. The contract for the sale is directly between buyer and seller. eBay is not a party to the transaction ......"  It would be interesting to see whether this would now hold up legally after the introduction of the Buyer Protection Fee and Simple Delivery.

[ukmastering_chris_daniels]

Hi, they don’t seem to realise that now many sellers are using these false details and causing potential problems after the auction. I see so many listing that are just out and out lies. Not at all relevant to the item being offered. 

Chris 

[**play**]

I really don't care about buyer... I have no time to create poems for items with 50p-1£ value

Don't want . Don't buy.. go away

[leon9503]

I would have thought that, legally, EB's 'Terms' would fall apart if challenged but who can be bothered, that's why they get away with it sadly.

I do know this item "We may in particular use your content, including any photographs you upload, for marketing and promotional purposes...." Is easily challenged as it's a Copyright issue and old hat.

But that's for another thread....

[theelench]

Why bother?  Just don't list it on ebay.!

Over priced.  Too controlling.  Waste of time and effort.