Anyone else get annoying repeat measurement questions for clothes and shoes?

[ebaymom]

Hello,
This happened for the third time in the last several weeks: I will receive an extremely detailed measurement question (beyond the norm) from a (usually international) buyer asking for excess details beyond the typical measurements (like what shade of blue are the pin stripes – please provide extra measurements on sleeve width… explain the material etc. etc.) Which if I am feeling REALLY magnanimous I’ll answer for a high dollar sale… but of course… these people never buy, let alone respond to your information. But what is really crazy is that after some time – sometimes a few days or weeks – I will receive the same question AGAIN on the same item from the same buyer… So.. it seems like the person is just blast copying and pasting these questions over and over to x number of sellers. It makes me wonder if they are another seller looking to gather some type of catalog/measurement information? Or are they a genuine buyer fishing for a rock bottom discount? Who knows.. but I don’t think they have any intention of ever buying anything and it just happened again today on a pair of shoes that I took detailed pics on to answer insole, outsole and width measurements on a few weeks back. Luckily, I had the original email I sent and just copied and pasted the same information over again without a word but I was thinking “Hello AGAIN… We’ve already been here and done this before.. are you going to BUY THESE SHOES?!” Haha! Has this happened to anyone else recently?

[Amatino]

There’s an option to save an email to your listing so that the answer is available for other buyers.

If you’re getting the same question from the same buyer, perhaps you should contact eBay to let them know? It may be an unsavory customer. I’ve had a lot of “this transaction is not an eBay customer” notices just lately, both selling and buying. I don’t know how folks are buying without an account, but it seems to be a new trend.

[Elle]

No but I got a buyer saying are these shoes light blue or navy? I answered and they didn’t buy. A week later I get the same question. I answer again. I also mention I offer free returns if they don’t like it. She says she doesn’t need chambray she needs NAVY BLUE. I apologize. She comes back nice and asks if I could invoice her and she will buy. I say I cannot invoice but she can make a best offer. At this point I am getting a bit nervous about her. So my phone makes the best offer/bid noise. I pick it up to accept but it doesn’t show I have a best offer. Clicking into the listing it says the best offer was declined. Which I did not do. As I am writing an I am not sure what’s going on here I didn’t decline your offer note. I get a not in all caps about how since I declined their offer please take them off my bid list. So my gut feeling confirmed I cancelled their bid and blocked them. Then I tried to figure out what was going on. It was an auction and she had bid and then sent me a best offer. Ebay automatically declined the offer since there was already a bid on it. So I wrote and explained what happened and she is back to all nice and I want to buy your shoes! Why won’t your site co-operate? 🙂 Sometimes you just have to laugh..

[Liz]

There’s something about Back To School season that ups people’s anxiety and fussiness, I think. Or maybe the planets are misaligned, I dunno.

This week I’ve had questions for measurements from people buying books. One of these is a repeat question from the same buyer.

I also had a guy buy an educational game at 7:45 Sunday night and message me that he wanted it overnighted so he would have it first thing Monday morning. Then got a little peeved when I said there was no possible way he was going to have it by Monday morning since USPS is closed Sundays and FedEx’s cutoff for overnight shipping was 3 pm and FedEx closes at 8 pm. I don’t think he really believed me. He still had me ship the item, but I’m anticipating a return request, (of course after he opens all the packaging, plays the game, and then says “Nah, not as described”.

Yesterday, I had someone buy a briefcase for $40, and then message me that they absolutely did NOT want it sent requiring a signature. Okaaaaay…a little concerning, since the buyer has 0 feedback on a 2-year-old account. Before I get a chance to pack the item today, the buyer opens a “return request”. Then 15 minutes later they close the return, and message me saying “Cancel this sale!!!”. I then get a message from eBay saying the buyer has called them and wants me to cancel the sale. EBay’s CSR was very polite in their wording, but I could tell the subtext was “This buyer is crackers and I’m messaging you to make them go away and to cover my butt”.

Except I can’t cancel the sale, because now the buyer has opened an “Item Not Received” case on Paypal. Their message is “I don’t want this item! Cancel this sale!!!”.

All of that by 9 am. Let’s place bets on whether they leave negative feedback complaining they had to open multiple cases to get their money back.

I admit to getting a little snotty in my message to the buyer when I refunded them on Paypal.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Liz.

[Elle]

Ouch Liz! That’s quite a morning! It’s amazes me you can have the nicest string of buyers and then you get a string of jaw droppers. I hope you can get that cancelled without a problem! Wow.

[Liz]

The water main in my area also broke today, and I need to do laundry, wash dishes, and wash the eleventy-billion things I bought at Sunday’s auction. *sigh* I think we’re just going to get Whataburger for dinner, and hope for a better Wednesday, lol.

[Ryanne]

i feel your pain! sending hugs

[Elle]

Sounds like a plan. I hope it goes better tomorrow!

[LAwoman]

Sometimes I am left with the feeling that a lot of (repeated) measurement ?s come from other resellers. Just a hunch…

[ChristineR]

You’re a good seller Liz with great items. I have learned to just bite the bullet and make it better at my expense. The vast majority of buyers are normal or just need to be reassured. Good luck!

[Author]

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