Do you ever tell another Ebay Seller that you found an error in their listing?

[Sigilini]

Occasionally, as I research items, I will find a possible or an obvious error in another seller’s Ebay listing. Being of this Scavenger Life community, where we help each other, I find it natural to reach out and let the seller know that perhaps there is an error. I know I would certainly appreciate it if I got a message letting me know that I made a mistake that could perhaps prevent a sale or cause an INAD.

I always work to be very polite and not accuse or make the other person feel stupid. And sometimes it is appreciated and sometimes…. not so much.

Do you let other sellers know if you see an error?

Or am I just a busybody and should mind my own business?

[gfd_622]

So I have yet to ever tell another person that they made an error (I just don’t browse enough), but I have had others tell me I have an error, and I’ve always appreciated it. I list things for our local thrift shop and so often times I have no clue what it is I’m listing, and no amount of research is going to make me an online expert. So I make my best guess and list, and depend on others who do know more to let me know if I have an error. The one community that has corrected me on multiple occasions is the collectible doll group. I know absolutely nothing about dolls, they come to our store often and they can be very tricky to distinguish in terms of old vintage ones vs. just badly kept ones.

So I appreciate the comments. I always thank them and let them know I’m grateful. Keep on keeping on.

[Sigilini]

gfd_622: thank you for the feed back! I feel as you do.

[Clarity]

I have had people contact me about some of my listings over the years. I appreciate the heads up and nine times out of ten I have made an error. So my vote is you’re not being a busybody. You are doing a kind service.

[Sigilini]

Clarity: ok, that is great! Because it is always a 50/50 chance that the seller will appreciate, I feel compelled to tell them. I would hate to be apathetic and not care at all.

[Sigilini]

I did have a really funny one where a new seller (only had 10 feedback) was listing their sold items… literally the listing said said SOLD on the title.

I reached out to him/her and VERY gently asked if that was an error. Nope. Not an error. He/she said that this was to promote their store. I asked if they wanted some advice. Two days later they said yes. So I GENTLY told them what my thoughts were.

They appreciated it BUT insisted that this would promote their store. I wished them all the best, most sincerely.

[Sharyn]

I’ve had a few listings where I received a correction from another eBayer. I’ve always appreciated the help and thanked them. Some of them seemed kind of tentative; like they thought I would be angry. Their concern must have been based on interactions that they have had with other sellers.

I remember a few. The first one I recall was a newby mistake. I had copied the text from someone’s listing that a plate was a certain manufacturer. I received an email that the plate was indeed a hobnail plate, but not from that company.

In another, I had something that I thought was a mortar & pestle, but I was confused because it had a lid and the end of the pestle had a white stone. Someone informed me that it was a fire starter. The fuel went in the container with the lid. The stone at the end of the “pestle” would then be dipped into the fuel and lit. Then you could reach in the fireplace and start your fire.

I had a new Russian tablecloth, and someone, in not such good English, informed me that it was of very good quality and I had the price too low. It took a while for it to sell, but it did at the higher price.

The last one I remember was where I thought a platter had a picture of an elk, but it was a moose, or the other way around. Funny.

[VintageTreasures]

I have corrected a seller just once on eBay. And it wasn’t appreciated at all. I literally had the exact same items that the person was selling (vintage look embroidered tea towels, embroidered in India) and mine had the (obviously) modern tag saying made in India. The towels were repros of those old day of the week embroidered dish towels from the 1950s. The seller freaked out on me and said in a super nasty way that theirs were the vintage originals made in the USA in the 50’s. I could clearly see in the seller’s listing photos where the tag had been cut out. And they were 100% exactly identical to mine, just with the tag cut out. I’ve never corrected a seller since.

I’ve also had several people correct me back when I was a newer seller. One I appreciated and I immediately took my incorrectly identified listing down. Several were pretty demeaning in their comments, acting as if I was a shyster seller rather than just mistaken, and I’m not even convinced I was mistaken on those listings. And a few were just crazy people! I remember one person who was threatening me because I used the word linen in my title description. They were very upset because my listing for Linens came up when they were searching for fabric made of 100% linen. I politely explained that I was using the term linens to mean fabric household goods intended for daily use, such as bedding, tablecloths and towels and they completely lost their mind over it.

I appreciate that you try to be very gracious when you correct sellers instead of assuming they are shysters, I’m sure that approach works better on correcting the mistakes than some of the disturbing messages I’ve gotten 🙂

[sonia]

I typically message the seller when I see an error – my thinking is similar to yours, Sigilini. I don’t remember ever having received a response, though. I guess that’s better than an obnoxious response. I do appreciate when I get a message from someone pointing out my own error – these have been polite. So overall a good experience for me.

[Sigilini]

I think that we here at this SL Community are more open to communication and therefore more willing to reach out to others when we think we can be helpful. It is never pleasant to get rebuffed when you are just trying to help, but I can see from the comments here that it is better to say something if you see a significant error because more often than not it is appreciated.

I had a buyer reach out to me to educate me about a couple of lidded Japanese tea cups that were “his and hers” and I thought they were ginger jars. That was really helpful because they sold after I corrected the listing.

I have also had a couple of times people confirm to me that I got something right when I seemed uncertain in my listing. And once I had someone tell me the glass blower’s name and that was SUPER helpful.

[IndySales]

In a similar vein, I’ll occasionally list stuff that I don’t know anything about and ask for help in the title/description. I had some weird magnetic disk that heated up when plugged in and a make/model search returned little. I tossed a high price on it, put “(make/model) anyone know what this is?” in the title/description and had an answer from someone in a few weeks. Turned out it was designed to heat up engines on farm equipment. Very cool guy. Ultimately sold it to him at a good price.

[Sigilini]

IndySales, you could give it a try here too for identification. There is always someone here with some knowledge, it is really incredible how much we collectively know!

[IndySales]

Ah, yes, I sometimes forget we’ve got an ID sub-forum here.

[Jay]

We always appreciate when people give us info on our items. Even the super grumpy military dudes who point out the exact unit and year that a patch came from. They’re outraged we didnt know! Its fine because its free info.

I bet many sellers wont appreciate if you tell them their item isnt worth what they have it listed for.

[Sigilini]

Jay: I once reached out to a seller and asked her if she was interested in information about her item. She had it priced WAY high and she obviously did not know what it was judging by the title. It was a Spelter Clock Topper and I know this because I had the exact same one.

I waited for her reply and she finally wrote back and said she was ready for the bad or good news I did not tell her the worth, I just told her what it was and pointed out that hers was missing a piece (as did mine) and I figured she would just do the research herself.

She never replied back…

[icequeen]

I made an error before in researching and someone emailed me, personally I was very grateful that they took the time to email me. You can research some of this stuff for hours and still overlook something important.

[HistoryNerd]

I’ve had someone reach out to me once about some pottery I misidentified, and once about a typo in a brand name. I was grateful for the correction both times. OTOH, if someone contacts me with an unsubstantiated complaint that I’ve overpriced something, I ignore it.

I don’t think I’ve ever done this myself, unless I was interested in buying and wanted clarification from the seller. There are so many misinformed listings on Ebay. I’d probably do it if the seller was someone I know or admire, and they had underpriced something. Just seems like a kind gesture.

[Antique Frog]

I get ‘phone calls where someone says “Frog’s put a silly price on something again”. Then there’s a “discussion”. I know who’s making these calls, and I will be paying them a “visit”…

[Sigilini]

Antique Frog: that is weird!! Creepy too.

[Antique Frog]

Siglini, don’t worry- it’s an old friend. I’m seeing them Monday morning. I’ve only ever had one customer ‘phone up; a New Yorker with an Irish accent, in the middle of the night, desperate to get a shipment of books. I think he’d already sold them on!

[Sigilini]

Antique Frog: LOL

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