Offers and silly questions on eBay

[babyclouds]

I'm currently trying to sell a designer bag on eBay and got a question from someone trying to sell me the same bag I'm trying to sell. I emailed back that I'm trying to sell the bag because I don't use it, in other words, "thanks but no thanks!"

Does this happen to other sellers too? Just curious.

 

[chloehandbags]

Do you think they were trying to sell you a fake/fakes, so that you could sell it/them on?

 

[babyclouds]

Ooh I hope not! Although I do try to familiarize myself with what I'm selling (doing a lot of research) and I would never sell a fake bag!

 

[boxermom]

I think a lot of sellers get messages from scammers wanting to get you to sell their fake stuff.

 

[impasto]

I get email from people advertising their sites. My pet peeve is getting offers for about 10% of my asking price. grrrrr... NO I'm not going to sell my 1000 bag for 150$!

 

[ValleyO]

I recently got an email where someone asked 5 questions- 4 of which were clearly stated in my listing and the other was implied. I wanted to message back "READ THE F**KING DESCRIPTION!!!!!!" But a bidder is a bidder so I politely answered the questions I'd already stated

 

[chloehandbags]

^ To be fair, I think it's a good idea for potential bidders to ask questions, even if they are already answered in the description.

This is because a seller may lie in a description, but find it harder to lie to an individual.

 

[missbradshaw]

I wish people would ask more questions...at the moment I cant accept paypal as my account is down, but people just bid and do buy it now without reading and then get annoyed when I cant offer Paypal. Currently have a buyer who insists 'it says I offered paypal on the site' - I never once mentioned paypal in my auction or had a link to it, and they are accusing me of wasting their time!!!

 

[ShimmaPuff]

Just as there are tool and utility programs available for bidders and buyers to keep track of auctions, search for items, notify you when a favorite seller's list of items or store is updated, etc, there are also programs that can be used to automatically send messages to people whose items for sale and descriptions contain certain words or text strings.

Usually if you get something that looks like spam, or in the case of the mail you got, um, well, spam, that's why!

 

[peacocky]

I had a question last week on a bottle of Chanel Black Satin I was selling. The bidder asked, "Can this be shipped to me before my next mani/pedi appt?"

Like I know when that is

 

[cascherping]

I have been getting a lot of scammer messages asking me if I want to buy their merchandise - it's been getting really annoying actually. I can't find the way to report it to ebay though.

 

[ShimmaPuff]

The experts will correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think at this time there is really anything to report, since technically all the people are doing is "sending seller a message" which anybody with an eBay identity can do to as many sellers as they wish without breaking any rules.

At some point, though, I think they will have to address it, as it appears from the anecdotal reports here and elsewhere that it is becoming an increasingly common annoyance.