Annoying Online Seller Product Descriptions

[Casati]

What verbiage of online sellers in reference to their video games will steer you away from buying or bidding? A few that steer me away are "Complete in Box" in the header, then you read in the small print that it's not really complete because it's missing the manual and/or poster. Another annoyance is when they list a cartridge as "Like New", then you read in the small print that it's the cartridge only (although they'll mention that it "includes the label" as if that's a rarity) and it has a small amount of wear. Well, if it has any wear at all, and missing components as well, then it's not like new.

Another thing I hate, a practice actually, is displaying a "photo" of the goods in the lead photo spot, then you read in the description that it's not an actual photo but only for reference. I'd much prefer they used the stock photo provided by Ebay, so they don't waste my time clicking on their auction and reading to find this out.

[sparf]

*rare*

This is my number one bugaboo on eBay and has been for ten years.

Super Mario World is not FRIGGEN RARE!

HAGANE is RARE. Chase the Chuck Wagon is Rare. Cheetahmen 2 is appalling (and rare). Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt ARE NOT RARE. Why is this even a thing!? Do people fall for this? Or do the sellers think we're all stupid?

[Casati]

I guess I neglected to mention "rare" since it's so common for sellers to use it.

[Casati]

Perhaps my least favorite is when the seller invites you to read through a page length mini-novel about the various and sundry wear and tear, missing components, etc. that the the video game may have. Well, they're the ones standing right next the goods. If they can't tell what it has or doesn't have, then it's pretty much the blind leading the blind. So I just assume that it has all the mentioned wear and none of the components, and move on to the next listing.

[bust3dstr8]

I don't even notice the word rare anymore. I glance over it like it was a hyphen.

Mega Man *Rare* NES
Mega Man - NES

:p

[hamburglar]

Keyword spamming, some sellers will put a bunch of Systems in the auction description to get more views I assume, particularly irritating when you are searching for games for a particular system.

[Emperor Megas]

"L@@K!" :grrr:

Nothing puts me off faster. I want to tell everyone who puts that JUVENILE BULLSHIT in their listing to drink strychnine.

[AceAerosmith]

I love the "Like New" description that isn't even close when you get the game. The disc looks like it was used in a random orbital sander.

"Complete" is always good for a laugh when they post 12 pictures and none of them contain the manual. "Oh, the manual? Yeah, no, I don't have it. But I know it's around here somewhere."

[wiggyx]

When I find that a seller has multiple BIN loose carts that I want, and then I go on to read that shipping is like 7.95 for one, then 6.95 for each additional. No thanks to shipping price scamming.

[Drixxel]

When I find that a seller has multiple BIN loose carts that I want, and then I go on to read that shipping is like 7.95 for one, then 6.95 for each additional. No thanks to shipping price scamming.

Yeah, this sort of thing is absolutely a dealbreaker for me. If it was offered as a filtering option, I'd exclude all sellers unwilling to fairly combine shipping from search results.

[SparTonberry]

Isn't excessive shipping already an ebay violation?
I was thinking of bidding on a Dragon Warrior II NES cart+manual+map, but then I saw the seller wanted over $18 for shipping. Pass. :P

[Final Boss]

Big ditto on ludicrous shipping costs being aggravating. That shit should be stopped.

Another thing that annoys me is the refusal to ship abroad. Why do people do that? Just charge whatever extra costs it causes and it won't affect your selling experience or profits in any way. Nothing changes and you don't lose anything. Unless the buyer will pick it up and pay cash, you're gonna have to go to the post office regardless where the buyer lives.

[Natty Bumppo]

A few things i find annoying in listings:

"It is in good shape for its age" - i.e it is actually beat to crap but what do you expect for something so old. So we want a lot of money for it anyway.

"It is out of print" - used with laserdiscs etc it is meaningless - all laserdiscs (or whatever) are out of print.

"Probably from the tihirties or forties (or whatever)" - what makes you think it is from that time period? Some things it may be obvious by the style/material etc., but some things (like wood staunton chess sets) it can often be almost impossible to tell.

"vintage (whatever) - found at estate sale" - while you often find vintage items at estate sale, not everything at an estate sale is (for obvious reasons) vintage.

[Cornelius]

Big ditto on ludicrous shipping costs being aggravating. That shit should be stopped.

Another thing that annoys me is the refusal to ship abroad. Why do people do that? Just charge whatever extra costs it causes and it won't affect your selling experience or profits in any way. Nothing changes and you don't lose anything. Unless the buyer will pick it up and pay cash, you're gonna have to go to the post office regardless where the buyer lives.

I usually offer international shipping, but I certainly understand why sellers do not. First, for countries like Italy and Argentina the postal systems are terrible and packages go missing. Just ask Kitsune about Alice going to Italy. And even if you do everything right according to Paypal, it can still be a hassle and you may still not be protected.

Another reason offering it is annoying is that people get mad at you when the shipping cost is high, which it always is if you use at least Priority (required for Paypal protection). I always put in the package weight, so for Canada and the like the shipping cost is right there to see, but still you get bidders that ask if shipping can be cheaper and then ask to have their bids cancelled. Happened to me just the other day.

For countries not like Canada, it doesn't show the shipping cost to the bidder, instead it says to contact the seller. Right now I have a small, but probably ~$50 item on auction and the high bidder so far is from Israel. He never contacted me for a shipping quote. Now, if this was a $10 item, I'd probably just ship it first class for ~$10 and take my chances. But over about 20 and it makes me nervous to ship without Paypal protection, so that means Priority Mail. No, the small FRB won't work, nor will the FR envelope (no DC on those). So regular Priority for this 10 ounce package to Israel is about $30, and I'll be pretty surprised if the buyer is cool with that. So then I have the hassle of cancelling the transaction and re-listing.

Last reason I can think of is that filling out the customs form can be a hassle for people that don't print postage online. And up until recently you couldn't do first-class Int'l online at all.

So there you go, several legitimate reasons not to ship internationally. I almost always do offer it, but every time I see an int'l buyer win an auction, I cringe just a little bit. Sorry for the wall of text, the whole topic gets my goat because of how stupid Paypal is about it, and uninformed buyers naturally blame the seller.


As for what annoys me, I'm with Emperor Megas. The ~~~~~C00L 1TeM$~~~~~~~ type of stuff bugs me a lot. hamburglar makes a good point about the keyword spamming, too. There is an 'app' in eBay that will tell you what keywords go well with your item; I wonder of some of them get them from that.

[InsaneDavid]

Isn't excessive shipping already an ebay violation?

Not since they started to charge PayPal fees on the shipping cost.

[Vectorman0]

I think the one that I dislike the most is "Disc has surface scratches".

On what side(s) of the disc? Are they gouges or minor blemishes?

[A.C. Sativa]

*Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt ARE NOT RARE. Why is this even a thing!? Do people fall for this? Or do the sellers think we're all stupid?

No kidding, SMB is the second-best selling video game ever, behind Wii Sports.

[wiggyx]

Isn't excessive shipping already an ebay violation?
I was thinking of bidding on a Dragon Warrior II NES cart+manual+map, but then I saw the seller wanted over $18 for shipping. Pass. :P

They sorta gave up on that, but...



Not since they started to charge PayPal fees on the shipping cost.

They do if you list with eBay's pre-filled info crap. I listed 10 PS3 Sharpshooters about 2 months ago and because I used the stupid pre-filled info to "get more hits", I was forced into a flat shipping fee that would have had me losing money on each transaction. It's total horse shit if you ask me. They told me that those assigned prices are "based on what other people have paid to ship that item". I cancelled the first 3 sales because eBay was only going to give me 4.00 to ship each one and shipping rates that I was looking at were no less than 11 bucks and as high as $17. Cancelled auction, re-listed without BS pre-filled uselessness. What the hell happened to the good old days of the shipping calculator? I thought that was about the most fair way to do it.


Big ditto on ludicrous shipping costs being aggravating. That shit should be stopped.

Another thing that annoys me is the refusal to ship abroad. Why do people do that? Just charge whatever extra costs it causes and it won't affect your selling experience or profits in any way. Nothing changes and you don't lose anything. Unless the buyer will pick it up and pay cash, you're gonna have to go to the post office regardless where the buyer lives.

I won't for many reasons, but the most important is that I refuse to stand in line at my local post office for 15 minutes just to hand them a package which I've already labeled, complete with customs forms. They won't let me just drop off international packages, unlike domestic. Hell, I don't even have to go to the post office for domestic. They pick it up at my house.

Plus all the other stuff that the fellow a few posts above mentioned.



I think the one that I dislike the most is "Disc has surface scratches".

On what side(s) of the disc? Are they gouges or minor blemishes?

Also, as opposed to what? Interior scratches? LOL!

[IHatedSega]

Perhaps my least favorite is when the seller invites you to read through a page length mini-novel about the various and sundry wear and tear, missing components, etc. that the the video game may have. Well, they're the ones standing right next the goods. If they can't tell what it has or doesn't have, then it's pretty much the blind leading the blind. So I just assume that it has all the mentioned wear and none of the components, and move on to the next listing.

Yeah stores who sell used on amazon do this WAY. TOO. MUCH. If they can fill out the information on amazon then they can walk over and look at the thing and actually tell us what condition its in.

[jb143]

Not that inflated shipping costs are anything new but it seems to be the only way to actually make money on eBay nowadays. I used to sell on there all the time but when I went to list a few games a couple of weeks ago I was absolutely surprised at how high the seller fees were. I thought they were high enough back then. Why do people even still sell on there?

As for not shipping internationally, I used to do that as well but had to stop after it became more trouble than it was worth. I liked the idea of opening my auctions up to millions of more potential customers but it became too much of a hassle with customs forms and fees, packages getting lost or taking forever to arrive, and the rules changing all the time. It just wasn't worth it...to me at least. Here's an example: I shipped a package to Canada once and it was returned to me because they had a new rule that the return address had to be written in block letters. How dumb is that? Obviously they were able to read the return address as it was since they returned it to me and all.

[wiggyx]

^^^ I'm with ya. I did the math after selling those Sharpshooters. Tthey all sold for 2.5 times what I paid for them, but in the end I somehow only made about 10 bucks from the whole lot. Not at all worth it.

[Atarileaf]

Not since they started to charge PayPal fees on the shipping cost.

Of all the BS ebay has pulled over the years, this has gotta be the biggest stinkin' pile they've ever pulled.

[Lady Jaye]

Another reason why a seller will refuse to ship international is that often tracking is very expensive for international shipping, and then the seller can easily be screwed by a dishonest buyer who'll claim (falsely) that they never got their package.

[Flashback2012]

I am sooooo glad I stopped selling on eBay before the turn of the century. I've heard nothing but horror stories since. I'm even wary to be a buyer on there anymore because of potential issues with the product. I've stuck with selling on forums and prefer that so much more. I had considered using Amazon as an alternative but I haven't been motivated to get on there and list what I have.

Back on topic, the first thing that came to mind for me is the word RARE. Oh how I dread that word anymore. I still visit eBay infrequently and every time I do a search on something, at least 80-90% of the auctions I see have the word Rare in the title. I wish I could ignore it like bust3dstr8 can but I can't. I also cannot stand when sellers barely indicate what they have is cart only or missing components and use a stock photo of the item complete in box. :grrr:

[Aussie2B]

I like putting "Rare" in the title of games made by Rareware just to be silly, haha.

[Casati]

Here's another "favorite" of mine. Amazon sellers listing their cartridge only video games as Collectible, then going to great lengths to describe the beautiful, immaculate condition of the label, as if that's really something unique for something as recent as Gameboy Advance.

[Griking]

They sorta gave up on that, but...




They do if you list with eBay's pre-filled info crap. I listed 10 PS3 Sharpshooters about 2 months ago and because I used the stupid pre-filled info to "get more hits", I was forced into a flat shipping fee that would have had me losing money on each transaction. It's total horse shit if you ask me. They told me that those assigned prices are "based on what other people have paid to ship that item". I cancelled the first 3 sales because eBay was only going to give me 4.00 to ship each one and shipping rates that I was looking at were no less than 11 bucks and as high as $17. Cancelled auction, re-listed without BS pre-filled uselessness. What the hell happened to the good old days of the shipping calculator? I thought that was about the most fair way to do it.



What you need to do is change shipping from a flat rate fee to shipping based upon the buyer's location and the package's weight. That allows you to set a realistic shipping fee for the items that you sell.