Vague Sellers And Incomplete Pictures

I recently had two experiences with 100% feedback sellers who when I asked them for more pictures of the item, replied with vague answers, which led me not to purchase the item.

First seller was selling about a dozen USPS yearbooks with stamps advertised as being sealed. There were only a few photographs of the all the yearbooks in a "fan" shape with them still inside their envelope. The vast majority of sellers who advertise those yearbooks with sealed stamps proudly show the sealed stamps, even if it means having 10 pictures in the listing. When I asked the seller if all are sealed, I received a response in 3 minutes indicating "as far as I can tell, yes." I then ask the seller if he/she could provide a photo showing all of the sealed stamps. No reply, so obviously I don't bid. Interestingly, successful bidder leaves positive feedback, so I assume they were all sealed.

Second seller was selling a "lot" of the same stamp sheets. Half were spread out in the picture to where you could see the stamps in each sheet well and then the other half were stacked on top of one another to where you could not see the actual stamps. I asked seller if he/she could provide a photo that shows all the sheets so I can examine the stamps more closely, but seller replies that the pictures are difficult to take and pictures taken through plastic post office packaging don't come out well for him. Huh? I realize they are sealed, but how would I know if there is water damage, etc.. to them? How difficult is it to take a photo(s) of all the sheets not originally shown? This seller has 100% positive feedback. If I were to have purchased this sheet lot and the ones not shown in the picture were water damaged, how easy would it be to rely on the description of MNH for an "item not as described" claim?

I am obviously asking for more pictures to protect myself in case the item arrives as significantly not as described and to help me me a better informed decision on whether or not to purchase the product. Every seller I have asked for more photos of a listing cheerfully provide more photos and reply with "hope that helps." Most sellers obviously know that providing more or more detailed photos will likely help them sell the item, which is the goal.

Sellers should realize that it's caveat emptor (buyer beware) on auction sites and that being transparent will help them sell items. I am wondering if when asking for more pictures of an item, sellers are sensitive and feel like you are questioning their honor or integrity, so they don't respond or respond vaguely, or is it likely they are hiding something, or are they lazy? Are these sellers subliminally hoping their 100% positive feedback will override their vagueness or laziness?

What are your opinions on this issue?

Some are just lazy, and some (a smaller number in my experience) are being less than honest. Either way, I pass them by; gambling is not my "thing". There are too many stamps out there, and life is too short for me to bother with them.

Without any idea where you were buying or from who, it is hard to give an accurate opinion but I will give you mine.

However, if I were the seller(s), I would block you ASAP as problems too many questions) before the sale generally mean problems after the sale as well, especially if ebay is involved.

With buyer protection you have very little to worry about on ebay.

Example: Try and fight as a seller, a buyer that opens a case because the box was empty. Buyer wins.
The description is where your issue lies in my opinion. If they or a reply from the seller says that it is in mint condition all the proof you need if the stamps etc are not as described.

It is black and white issue. An image will not give you that type of protection. Must remember the buyer rules on ebay!

As a seller I would not send any extra images on most lots. There is always another buyer.

It sounds as if you're expecting considerable detail and effort for cheap material. If all of the material can be shown using the twelve slots available on ebay, I'll show it. If it's an album or there are a biggish number of pages etc in a lot, I take some representative photos and offer a description. Would I take multiple additional pictures of average material so that a buyer could see everything? No.

Removed.

I didn't know there were 12 slots available on ebay. If a seller is selling 12 stamp sheets and only shows one photo where 6 are clearly shown and the other 6 are stacked on top of one another, and then the seller doesn't want to take photos of the other 6, sheets, that's suspicious to me. Why not take a photo of each stamp sheet and use up all 12 slots? That's what most sellers would do in my opinion.

Making scans and/or taking photographs, then uploading them to ebay is tedious and time-consuming, whereas a lot of the material in the description is likely to be boilerplate that can be cut-and-pasted for each lot. It follows that many sellers will be reluctant to give more than a representative sample. If you want to feel the stigmata, you don't have much choice but to limit yourself to sellers who scan or photograph everything.

I suppose it depends upon how much the seller would end up making on an hourly basis when labor is taken into account. For myself (I do not sell on ebay) scanning properly can be tedious when you get into multiple images and uploading info can be time consuming. I realize that there are programs to speed some of the process. Even so, if you are an actual business and you need to make a living wage or better there is obviously a point beyond which you are doing work for free or losing money. Extra scans mean extra work. If you are selling a group of yearbooks for $100 and your cost was say $50 and you burn 15 minutes scanning and listing and your labor rate is $60/hour you are now into the sale listing for $65. You make the sale and ebay and the payment processor take their cut. Is that 10 percent? Lets use 10 percent. That takes $10 and now your into the listing for $75. I assume that you pay income tax. That leaves what? There is not always much meat on the bone. If a potential buyer comes along and wants extra effort from you there is less meat left on the bone. Personally I marvel that there are sellers that actually make a business out of ebay and other such sites. It is a great venue for the casual trader supplementing their income but buyers have to understand that every effort has an associated cost. Yes, there are a lot of other factors in play and other ways of looking at it but the bottom line is that providing extra "stuff" requires extra labor and that has dollar value.

Rodcam is right - there are costs involved for the seller and they add up fast. ebay and Paypal fees often approach a third of the sales price, so that item sold for $100 nets $75 after fees, if you're lucky.

Look at the seller's feedback and feedback ratings history, both the neutral and the negative feedback scores. You can generally trust a seller with 95%+ Feedback based on more than 1000 sales. That seller knows he/she has to take good care of the buyer.

The most common request I get is for an image of the gum side of a stamp that's described as "unused hinged". If the stamp is priced low already, I'll respond to the query with more detail, such as "lightly hinged with no hinge remnant" because it takes me at least five minutes to go through the process of creating and uploading a new scan. It's just not worth my time. And anyway, if the seller isn't happy I do whatever it takes to make them so. My point is that there are ways a buyer can tell if a seller is serious.

My experience with selling on ebay has been mixed. I am a collector, not a dealer, and I think the fact is that buyers just don't trust sellers without name recognition and thousands of sales. I scan my items on both sides at 1200dpi and I don't sharpened or enhance them in any way. Most of my stamps have recents certs, which I also scan, and I even describe extremely minor faults not mentioned on the certs. It doesn't seem to make any difference. In most cases I have to lower the price of graded stamps to less than 60% of SMQ before they will sell. Considering the fees that I have to pay ebay and PayPal, unless I'm lucky and a stamp sells quickly, I think that I'm better off consigning it to a respected dealer or just trading it for what I can get at a show.

In my opinion if a stamp or cover is being sold singularly, then front and back images are required. The cost of processing the listing should, of course, be included what is considered the cost of the item. (I also include the cost of shipping and offer free shipping.) If the value of the stamp/cover is not great enough to include the cost of processing the listing, fees, and shipping then it is not worth selling singularly. I target any listing I do at $25 or greater, this effective removes most malicious purchases and covers shipping with tracking. If I have material that is worth less than $25 then I combine it into larger lots or simply give it away in monthly contests.
Don

Upon reflection, I think a good motto is "when in doubt, move on." It's not worth the risk in my opinion purchasing items from sellers who aren't transparent.