Interpretation Of E Bay Listing

What do you take this listing to mean:

"50,000 stamps in lots of 200 off paper"

Was I dumb to think that the listing was for 50,000 stamps? Turns out that it is a packet of 200 off paper stamps.

I take it to mean that the seller is letting you know he/she has boatloads to get rid of, and they're going in packets of 200 at a time. I think they're hoping you buy more than one?

Could definitely be worded better...
[edit: After seeing my post appear, I reread it, and I think it literally says that you are getting 50,000 stamps, already broken up for you in lots of 200. I didn't take it that way the first time.]

Sounds to me like you're getting 50,000 stamps already broken into lots of 200 each.

Worded just to get you in as it sounded like you receive the 50,000 stamps packaged in lots of 200 a little deceptive I think,I've just brought a 10,000 WW lot off paper from Delcampe and the seller gave me a bonus (a GB #3 and a Swiss #141) for being his first customer there ,I haven't put the parcel on the scales as yet though it does fell like it's over a 1kg .

Yes

Deffinately tricky wording on that one. I almost got caught.

Dianne

Nugget hill, how do you sort 10,000 stamps?

can I have the gb #3? No? okay...

but to me it sounds like you're getting 50,000 stamps already broken into lots of 200 each.

I've seen similar, deceptive offers, but this seems pretty clear. And postage is only 80 cents, so what can you expect? Further, the description states:



It looks to me, from the comments here, that most people misread it and want to believe what it doesn't say.

I agree with the others. Sounds like 50,000 stamps in lots of 200.
Badly described.

Edwin.....You empty the packet out onto a large table [first having cleared all your gold nuggets], set the alarm clock to ring every ten minutes in case you doze off....and sort. By country or theme or both.
It's fun.

Thank God for Delcampe

Londonbus1

Modern:

It looks to me as if some of you have more info that I was privy to... I haven't seen any of the text you quoted. I based my interpretation on humpy's original quote:
but I think we all agree, the seller could have made the offer clearer by rewording.

Kirk, based on the quote, yes. But anyone actually reading the listing (just put that headline into the the ebay search tool) will get all the information including that (at the time I looked, at least), more than 10 were available and 174 had been sold. So while the headline might not be completely clear, I don't think he's out trying to trick anyone by thinking they will get other than what is fully disclosed and described in his listing.

When you see a headline that catches your attention, don't you want to know more, or do you simply bid on the basis of the headline?

Here is the link. I didn't see it in the original post, so I looked it up to see the "listing."

http://cgi.ebay.com/50-000-Used-US-...omain_0&hash

I have to agree with Larry. Reading through the ENTIRE description leaves little room for doubt.

That being said, however, in my opinion the seller should NEVER have mentioned 50,000 stamps, especially as the first word. 50,000 has very little to do with the auction lot itself. That's for the seller to know, not the buyer. It can result in 2 things -- catch people's eye, and leave a confusing imprint that somehow the lot has 50,000 stamps. I do not know if the seller did this deliberately or unintentionally. But it would be very unlikely that I would buy from a seller that consistently resorted to these types of sales tactics.

What might have been less confusing would be something like:

"Multiple lots of 200 used US stamps. From old to new. Each lot you are bidding is of 200 stamps. Off paper. One lot is 200 stamps, 5 lots is 1000 stamps.,10 lots is 2000 stamps and so on."

Compare that to the original:




Just my opinion.

My impression is that it was done intentionally as an eye-grabber. Something that advertisers and the media do all the time.

Don't you just love all the drug ads that tell you how wonderful they are, but having to comply with full disclosure end by telling you they can seriously harm you or even kill you.

That headline is quite deceptive, and should have been worded differently. khj's suggestion is excellent.

Of course one should always read the complete description, and inspect the illustrations, before bidding - caveat emptor. But a headline like that makes me immediately suspicious of the seller. That's surely unwise.

What I really miss was when their lawyers first made them do this. I remember those first generation commercials, where in the last 3-5 seconds they had someone read the disclaimer at lightning fast speed.

As someone who has experience in doing editing by speed/pitch manipulation to get something to fit in the alloted time, I found it really amusing.

The things that lawyers can get them to do. One day, some retiring lawyer should tell them as a gag that the CEO must personally scratch his butt in the commercial as a bullet-proof legal disclaimer technique.