Why don't sellers know what is in stock?

Myyrrddyn

knightstyle wrote: »

Interesting, so when a seller says the item is located at such and such a town is this correct? Or is it in china or on a boat somewhere?

Makes you think doesn't it?

Is the actual location a mandatory item that ebay can monitor.

ootie

I always know what I have in stock, but I only sell smaller items.

Saying that, I have had "not in stock" emails from Argos, Debenhams, bhs, Marks and Spencer and Matalan this Christmas time, Debenhams and bhs AFTER payment was taken and then I had to wait 10 days for the refund! All for small items.

knightstyle

Just to update, I bought another unit from another seller on 14th Jan and am still waiting!!!!!
eBay really must do something to sort this kind of thing out!

terra_ferma

knightstyle wrote: »

Just to update, I bought another unit from another seller on 14th Jan and am still waiting!!!!!
eBay really must do something to sort this kind of thing out!

It's actually quite easy to 'sort', buyers can leave bad fb and stars, to alert other buyers, who then can stop buying.
Ebay will penalise the sellers with higher fees and lower search ranking, and if things go really badly they will have their account limited/suspended/closed.

In a way only buyers can make sure problems are sorted.

knightstyle

First seller had 99% and second one 97%

terra_ferma

97% is quite bad, actually. And 99% is not great either. Personally I only buy from sellers with at least 99.8 (obviously good bargains, or rare items may require different criteria).
But a good look at their negs (and seller's responses) would give you an idea of what the issues may be.

Azari

terra_ferma wrote: »

97% is quite bad, actually. And 99% is not great either. Personally I only buy from sellers with at least 99.8

Good grief!

So if any seller gets more than one numptie per 500 they are off your list.

I must admit that in the category I mainly buy in 100% is not unusual but in some other categories it's quite uncommon.

Azari

soolin wrote: »

Drop shippers run a huge risk when they sell with no idea what they can ship, most who operate like that rarely last beyond a year or so when the poor feedback and stars start to roll in.

So that's what happens with furniture!

I wondered why, the two times I bought an item of furniture, in each case the first attempt failed because the supplier suddenly announced they'd run out of stock and offered an alternative. On neither occasion was the alternative suitable.

In one case the guy was NARU'd shortly afterwards.

macfly

It took me some time to realise that when you have a large number of identical items on BIN, then renew the ad, ebay lists the original amount no matter how many have sold. Came to light when a buyer asked me for a discount on a multiple purchase and I hadn't enough left to fill the order.

terra_ferma

Azari wrote: »

Good grief!

So if any seller gets more than one numptie per 500 they are off your list.

I must admit that in the category I mainly buy in 100% is not unusual but in some other categories it's quite uncommon.

that's why I qualified my statement, as what I need is more difficult to find I would be more flexible.
However the reason for the negs, and seller's responses would be very important.
Negs for poor quality and seller refusing to accept returns would definitely stop me from buying, while delays, expensive postage etc, I could deal with.
Then rude replies from sellers, or refusal to accept they could have made a mistake, would also make me look for someone else to buy from.

Saying that I'm currently having to buy from someone who has bad feedback (99.5%, but business seller refusing to accept returns, the worst possible scenario).
But they are the only sellers of unique items I need, so I'm stuck.