How do I answer this question???

[anahita_jewelry]

Someone (who hasn't bought anything yet) just asked me the following: "Where did you get this from?" That was the exact and entire content of the message. I don't get it...What am I supposed to respond to that? Should I just ignore it? I don't want to start giving away my supplier sources but I also don't want to be rude...

[i.am.vivian · Accepted solution]

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@anahita_jewelry wrote:
Someone (who hasn't bought anything yet) just asked me the following: "Where did you get this from?" That was the exact and entire content of the message. I don't get it...What am I supposed to respond to that? Should I just ignore it? I don't want to start giving away my supplier sources but I also don't want to be rude...

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Can't you just say something like "I have a favorite supplier that I've been doing business for years."  or  "I use a number of suppliers. I don't remember exactly which one sold me these. Is it important?"  Never be rude even if the buyer is but keep in mind you do not owe anyone personal details like who supplies your goods.  

[femmefan1946]

The only rude person here is the questioner.

While "None of your **bleep** business." would probably not be the best answer, a polite deflection like vivian's is appropriate.

In fact the question is answered in your description.

"I have been making jewelry for XX years and take particular pleasure in working with bracelets."  would also work.

BTW-- I would suggest that you drop the part of your description that encourages your customers to be slow payers. Please pay within 5 days of winning bid/posting end (unless you are bidding on other items or plan on purchasing more items.  If you expect your payment will be delayed for more than 2 weeks, please send me a quick message to let me know. 

In my opinion, it is never appropriate to let the customer think there may ever be a problem with her purchase.

[ricarmic]

It is possible they're trying to determine if it is a made in china thing...

If it were me, I'd simply respond with a note like this:

Thank you for your note! I'm sorry but I am not sure I understand what you are asking. I cannot reveal my suppliers, but if you have questions about the item in particular, please clarify and I will do my best to answer. Have a great day!

[anahita_jewelry]

I think I'll use Vivian's second quote (thanks Viv!) about not remembering the source, that sounds harmless enough for an answer! Although that one could backfire if she then asks the same question about another item. Then I can't say "I can't remember" again and again lol.

Interesting about the slow payment concept... I didn't realize that was bad...I don't know, I've been putting that in my description for a very long time and I've only seen benefits from it. Like some people spend weeks adding items and pay all at once at the end so I save on shipping. Or sometimes they want something but don't have the $ right now so they message me "is it ok if I pay next Friday?" I say yes, and they always pay in the end. I figure I don't want to lose the sale of impulsive buyers on account of them not having $ right now. I very rarely get unpaids and they pay quickly...Do you think I am I giving them the wrong impression that there's something wrong with me or the way I do business? If so, maybe I should re-consider...

[anahita_jewelry]

Ohhh maybe they think the item is used or antique? And they want to know if I bought it at an estate sale or if it was a Christmas gift? Maybe I should say "This is a brand new item. The base materials are pressed in a metal factory, but I assemble all the parts myself". How about that?

[sylviebee]

newagegglam:  It only takes a quick glance at your items and I know immediately where you are buying the parts.

I'm not alone.

The buyer is really pointing out that she knows too.  There is no point in responding.   

It's not sincere and she's not going to be your customer.  I'd ignore the question.

[ricarmic]

I actually have the automagic UID set to the longest possible tiemframe, I think it waits 32 days before it opens the unpaid item dispute.

I have a number of buyers who take their time to pay (I think the international folks have to wait a while till the $$$ shows up in their PAYPAL account). Some have been buying for years and it is almost always 1 to 2 weeks until they pay.

I don't advertise this in my listings though.

I personally don't think it helps attract new customers hardly if at all, and it does have the possibility to attract the wrong ones more than the right ones.... just my opinion though...

PS in the relatively near future we're best to keep our listing length short, under 800 characters, so getting rid of as much extra text as possible is a good thing to do anyway....

[anahita_jewelry]

Yes, you're all probably right. It's too much unnecessary text anyway. But man oh man I've had to make so many edits on my accounts in the past few months, I can't even imagine re-editing descriptions right now!

Yes, it's clear where the parts/pieces I use come from...it's not my fault...If I could find Canadian factories to make me the parts, I would. Better yet, I wish I had my very own metal presses, glass blowing devices, torches etc...maybe someday if I win the lottery lol...I think I'll ignore the question then...

[sylviebee]

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@anahita_jewelry wrote:
Yes, it's clear where the parts/pieces I use come from...it's not my fault...If I could find Canadian factories to make me the parts, I would. Better yet, I wish I had my very own metal presses, glass blowing devices, torches etc...maybe someday if I win the lottery lol...I think I'll ignore the question then...

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Canadian factories will never make these pieces when they can import them for almost nothing.

I'd ignore the question.  I think you've got a good idea and good for you for making it work for you.

(BTW I seem to recall that you don't include the chains with your items.  Is that right?  If not, don't you get nailed for that by buyers because you show them in the listings?)

[pjcdn2005]

I would answer the question using one of the other poster's suggestions.  I wouldn't ignore it.

[i.am.vivian]

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@anahita_jewelry wrote:
I think I'll use Vivian's second quote (thanks Viv!) about not remembering the source, that sounds harmless enough for an answer! Although that one could backfire if she then asks the same question about another item. Then I can't say "I can't remember" again and again lol.

Interesting about the slow payment concept... I didn't realize that was bad...I don't know, I've been putting that in my description for a very long time and I've only seen benefits from it. Like some people spend weeks adding items and pay all at once at the end so I save on shipping. Or sometimes they want something but don't have the $ right now so they message me "is it ok if I pay next Friday?" I say yes, and they always pay in the end. I figure I don't want to lose the sale of impulsive buyers on account of them not having $ right now. I very rarely get unpaids and they pay quickly...Do you think I am I giving them the wrong impression that there's something wrong with me or the way I do business? If so, maybe I should re-consider...

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If someone asks you the same question about another item, or a different ID asks the question, you can easily repeat some form of  "Various sources. Is there something specific I can help you with?"   It is true that if the person is a competing seller they will not likely become a customer but for all the time it takes to send a nice short reply, if it were me I would not risk appearing indifferent by a refusal to respond. 

I also think you should probably eliminate the part about delayed payments.  You can still give buyers as long as you wish if they ask but since eBay wants sellers to use as little yap as possible in listings that is one part you don't really need.  A buyer who wants to pay later will ask and you can convey your friendly approachable nature in the rest of the listing.  If they ask about delaying payment and you rarely get unpaids then what you are doing works!  Always stick with what works!

[ricarmic]

I have almost 3,000 items running. Unless disaster strikes I'll never go back and edit them (some are 9 years old!).

However, knowing that the shorter descriptions comes in a year or so (I forget when) I've begun changing all the descriptions of everything new.

By the time the change gets here, a good number will already be AOK!

Here's a copy with the old description text still:

Prepare to have fun with these!

This collector goes through junk boxes, collections you name it! Generally he creates from them two different styles of lots, mixture/packet type lots and sales card type lots. This group is the mixture style. Please check my eBay store to see if I have any of his sales card type lots running/available too! 

Here is what you should find:

• A mixture type group of stamps
  • Generally these lots are mostly used, but MNH/MH is possible as well
• There will be duplication, sometimes significant, please check the pictures
• As with any mixed group, please, expect some mixed condition
• From time to time there may be the odd stamp from other country(s) in the mix by accident
• Please check the pictures 

Please note that the stamps you see in the pictures are what you will receive. These are pictures of the ACTUAL stamps in this lot!!!

I am a member of the APS, CSDA, RPSC, and BNAPS

Here's a copy with the new text in a newly listed item:

A  collector generated mixture from many different sources, generally these lots are used, but some MNH/MH is possible

As with any mixed group there will be duplication, sometimes significant, & some mixed condition

The pictures are the ACTUAL stamps in this lot!

APS, CSDA, RPSC, & BNAPS member

 

[sylviebee]

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@i.am.vivian wrote:

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If someone asks you the same question about another item, or a different ID asks the question, you can easily repeat some form of  "Various sources. Is there something specific I can help you with?"  

________________________________________________________

I suggested ignoring the question because it's a rhetorical question, but if there's any doubt that would work too.

[anahita_jewelry]

Thanks for all the input everyone!

Sylvie: No, they do get chains for the necklaces (except 1 listing that I need to take new pics for). But thanks for reminding me because I've been meaning to change the pic on that 1 listing but keep putting it off. One of these days someone will buy it and I'll have a problem. You are right though, if they don't get exactly what's in the pic, they flip! It's happened to me before & I've learned my lesson!

* When the short text policy comes in (when is that again?) do you how many characters is the max, I forget...There is definitely a lot I can eliminate and I might as well start doing it now for new listings so I don't suffer later. I don't get why eBay had to mess with the description when 99% of buyers don't even read it...As a buyer, whenever I see a seller with a really short description, I think to myself "they are lazy; and if they are lazy with their description, then they are also lazy in their product creation, packaging, shipping, and customer service". But hey, if it's mandatory, it's mandatory..The 1 benefit I see is that I'll stop getting jealous of all the tech-savy sellers who have all kinds of fancy-shmanzy designs on their listings when my tech-incompetent behind could never figure that stuff out haha!

[anahita_jewelry]

I won't ignore the question because I can't tell if the question is legit, rhetorical, a joke, by a serious buyer, by a random seller, or what...I'll stick to a mixture of "not sure exactly because all parts from various factory sources, but all hand-assembled by myself". I'll stick to a nicely worded version of that and see what happens...

[ricarmic]

I can't find the original threads, a couple related are below.

You have to keep your word count below 800 characters (HTML characters, a line return counts as 30 characters), otherwise eBay takes it upon themselves to coles notes it themselves down to 250 characters which isn't good. There is a way to manually override it, that is probably in the original thread. This is all in support of the increasing "mobile buyers" crowd who have little wee screens and only so much data fits......

Here is a thread about the word count:

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/A-quot-trick-quot-to-figure-out-the-word-count-of-your/m-...

Here's a thread with links about same:

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Hey-I-m-experiencing-deja-vu/m-p/334314#M58907

[anahita_jewelry]

Thanks Ricarmic! I never followed up this topic closely (for some reason I was under the impression eBay was just loosely considering it or something) but from a quick glance at those threads, I have a lot of catching up to do on this topic. Better get to reading lol Thank you

[anahita_jewelry]

So I read those threads and now I remember why I didn't take it too seriously...shortening text is not mandatory. eBay picks keywords randomly and inserts them in the "short description" section seen on the eBay app only. There is also a "see full description", which when clicked takes the buyer to your long full description. I thought this was already in effect because I already see "the short" summary eBay picks out on its own on my listings. To be honest, I don't have an issue with the random words eBay selects, they make sense to me...Shortening my descriptions won't be a priority for me anytime soon (not unless or until they force me to do it haha)

[mcrlmn]

Estate sale