Common Sense eCommerce

I am continually amazed at how bad some eBay listings look. I’m not talking about graphics, photos, or general appearances. I am referring to the horrible wording I see in some listings. A couple of examples (sic):

Do to numerous non-paying bidders: If you have excessive negative feedback or under 10 feedback you must email prior to bidding on the auction. I will cancel any bid that does not meet required guidelines.

Or how about this one?

I no longer ship to Canada. If you are in CANADA, do NOT bid on my items.

Funny thing is, these examples are from two different power sellers. If you want people to buy from you and get return business from them, you cannot use offensive language like this. These sellers obviously have chips on their shoulder and there are probably good reasons behind the policies they have in place. But there is always a better way to word policies such as these.

The first example is problematic for a lot of reasons. Most notably is that it fails to define what ‘excessive negative feedback’ means. The word excessive is subjective and might leave someone wondering if 2 negatives is excessive.

The second example is bizarre considering the seller’s listings can ship to North and South America. But not Canada? Some sort of explanation might be in order here.

I would not want to buy from either of these sellers, would you? In either case, offensive sellers like these certainly make the job easier for good sellers! For every seller that says NO to something, there is a seller that makes money by saying YES.

Tags: Bad eBay Sellers, Offensive eBay Sellers, Bad eBay Listings, Offensive eBay Listings

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