ebay sellers: answering questions = increased profit

hangman62 · #1 02-25-2013, 09:16 PM

Yea Run, keep a stiff upper lip....sometimes its just a matter of time and patience and the cards come around again

Runscott · #2 02-25-2013, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hangman62

Yea Run, keep a stiff upper lip....sometimes its just a matter of time and patience and the cards come around again

It wasn't cards.

Oh well. At some point the seller will contact me and probably apologize. He was probably very busy, missed the message, or something very reasonable. I was just frustrated and needed to blow off steam

Ronnie73 · #3 02-25-2013, 11:22 PM

Scott, I feel your pain. Before I had a Paypal account, I would ask if it was ok to send a postal money order. A seller had six Sovereign 460's graded SGC 50. It was right before the Sovereign 460's jumped in price in the mid/high grades. He had Buy It Nows and Best Offers on all of them. All were listed at $60 each. I stated that I was interested in all of them at the $60 price. He finally got back to me and said ok thats fine. A couple minues after that I went to buy each one and he accepted best offers at $50 each for all of them. I was so confused that I emailed him again and asked if somehow he ended them for me but he said no, he accepted another offer. Not too long after that, I opened a Paypal account.

When I was an Ebay seller, I followed all my auctions and responded to all questions as quickly as I could because it usually meant possibly more money for me.

freakhappy · #4 02-26-2013, 12:13 AM

I feel your pain, Scott and I agree with you on this. However, eBay does state that the seller usually will respond within 24-48 hours after the question is submitted. Another red flag is that this is a consigner. In my experience, and I may be wrong here, but it seems like they have several auctions going on at once and aren't always available to answer questions quickly. I guess it would have been ok to vent about your feelings, but to state that they should've gotten back to you within nine hours is just a coin toss at best. We have no idea what people are doing and I'm sure a decent amount of them aren't waiting by their computers for their auctions to end. I do believe the decriptions could be better so the customers are better informed...sure would have helped you out here

Me on the other hand, would probably answer your question within 30 minutes because I'm always checking my email, but I think since I'm a small fry, I'm in the minority here.

Runscott · #5 02-26-2013, 12:23 AM

Obviously no one violated any rules. Quite honestly, I have no business buying what I was prepared to buy

, but you know that how goes.

Tony - Yes, I'm aware that stuff comes up and sellers can't respond. However, if you are consigning items, you owe it to your consignors to be prepared to respond to customer questions, (even on the last day of the auction) and if you can't, having someone else available to at least say "I can't respond at the moment, but will get back with you....". I think ebay even has an automated feature that will handle that for you. If you can't do these things, then you aren't giving your consignors the best bang for their buck.

And if it is planned, shutting things down 9+ hours prior to auction end is not a good thing for your consignors. I hope you are not telling us that you do that.

Craig M · #6 02-26-2013, 02:25 AM

Frustrating!

I ask at least a dozen questions per day to eBay sellers and may get one or two responses so this gives you an idea of guys responding to questions.

My question is always a simple one.

Do you have a pic or scan of the reverse?

Why in the heck would you go through the effort in selling a card on eBay and have just one pic and it is that of the front of the card?

Would a person not get more interest in their card if a possible buyer saw a pic or scan of the reverse to see what brand it is, what series it is, what factory number, any missing paper, etc?

Yet the seller will list a ten page description on how cards are graded.

Frustrating to say the least.

Craig

smotan_02 · #7 02-26-2013, 04:58 AM

Another perspective is that sometimes sellers can not access eBay from their workplace. They may receive an email notification about your question, but will be unable to answer until they are home. I cant access eBay from work, so when these conversation pop up with just a link to eBay, I pretty much have to just skip over the thread.

quinnsryche · #8 02-26-2013, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Runscott

Obviously no one violated any rules. Quite honestly, I have no business buying what I was prepared to buy

, but you know that how goes.

Tony - Yes, I'm aware that stuff comes up and sellers can't respond. However, if you are consigning items, you owe it to your consignors to be prepared to respond to customer questions, (even on the last day of the auction) and if you can't, having someone else available to at least say "I can't respond at the moment, but will get back with you....". I think ebay even has an automated feature that will handle that for you. If you can't do these things, then you aren't giving your consignors the best bang for their buck.

And if it is planned, shutting things down 9+ hours prior to auction end is not a good thing for your consignors. I hope you are not telling us that you do that.

Scott, absolutely not. I did not realize he was one who takes in consignments. Knowing this now, I would say he needs to be available for his consigners' sake.
With this info I would tend to lean your way now. I was taking it as he was just another guy selling his stuff.

jhs5120 · #9 02-26-2013, 08:23 AM

9 hours isn't enough time to assume a response.

If this seller was a consignor and he is known for his consigning, I am assuming he had quite a bit of items for sale. Yes, the consignee owes certain things to the consignor (ie. properly listing the item, quality photos, effective titles, etc.) but answering questions within 9 hour might be a stretch. I would certainly expect them to answer questions in a timely manner, but sometimes it's hard to keep up with questions and running a business. The most I've ever done on eBay in terms of quantity was around 300 items in a week. It was impossible to keep up with shipping, listing, questions and my day job (forget personal life). I normally give sellers a day or two to get back to me and after that, I normally will send them a reminder. Whenever the listing is about to end and I have a question, I will ask, but normally I will not expect a response.

On a side note, was it Probstein? Not to fire up this debate again, but I had 50 items end last night on consignment and I would find it ironic. Overall, I was happy with the prices.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Answering specific autograph authenticity questions and help	kengoldin	Autograph Forum- Primarily Sports	30	02-03-2013 05:05 PM
Tax Questions for Sellers (Schedule C)	glchen	Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions	13	04-05-2011 01:51 PM
eBay Feedback Increased	Archive	Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions	50	05-20-2008 03:12 PM
Poll - Fun, Profit, or Both	Archive	Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions	10	09-02-2006 06:25 PM
Would somebody please take a stab at answering my question	Archive	Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions	3	01-05-2004 08:27 AM