Words guaranteed to devalue an auction

Rhymsta

I will kick off with the dreaded....

JOB LOT

cocopops21

Rhymsta wrote: »

I will kick off with the dreaded....

JOB LOT

Why does that devalue an auction?

Rhymsta

cocopops21 wrote: »

Why does that devalue an auction?

As soon as anyone sees JOB LOT they think cheap / bargain etc... The phrase CAR BOOT often follows shortly after in the description :rotfl:

cocopops21

Rhymsta wrote: »

As soon as anyone sees JOB LOT they think cheap / bargain etc... The phrase CAR BOOT often follows shortly after in the description :rotfl:

Oh that's good to know actually. I had no idea! What do people use instead of 'job lot' when it is a job lot?

Rhymsta

cocopops21 wrote: »

Oh that's good to know actually. I had no idea! What do people use instead of 'job lot' when it is a job lot?

Well restaurants and estate agents have got this off to a fine art...

For example: if you saw these two descriptions on a menu which would tempt you more?

A medley of garden vegetables

Or

Mixed veg


But with regards to job lots they are often mixed and could perhaps be described as, "An interesting collection of..." or something similar.

Crowqueen

I see the logic.

Job lot also suggests either that the items have been picked for everything valuable and are just a load of junk being sold off, or that the person is just trying to get rid of stuff and can't be bothered to sell off individual titles retail. They are realistically only going to attract dealers, as well, which means those people will bid with their mark-up in mind.

That's why I try to sell individually where possible. More work, but better prices.

When I bought trading cards, I used to go for the auctions that said 'here are a load of cards from under little Johnny's bed'. The mother of little Johnny wouldn't know about the game and wouldn't know which cards were valuable and which weren't. Little Johnny on the other hand would pick out all the best cards, sell them individually, then dump the rest on the market.

Not that anything I ever bought was spectacularly valuable, just that logic told me that someone who knew nothing about the cards she found under his bed would not know enough to spot the valuable cards, so I might get something exciting.

hermum

"Some marks but will come out in the wash".
So bl00dy wash it then.
Although I'm always really surprised that anyone would bid on dirty stuff, unless it's in the fetish market, that astounds me.

RFW

If it isn't actually a job lot then it's certainly off putting. What some people describe as 'job lot' is nothing of the sort, 3 greeting cards for example is not, 3000 are.

The only term that ever really puts me off is 'l@@k' and possibly 'rare', the latter is usually applied to one of 28,000 identical items listed.

Crowqueen

Right before eBay went compulsory Paypal, it could be said that 'No Paypal, cheque/PO only' would get a low price. When I started selling in 2004, that was what was suggested - that Paypal was starting to become more widespread and it would get me more overseas buyers if I offered it.

Further to the trading card example, I did manage to win an auction for a good card that ended rather cheaply.

Then I realised why - seller didn't accept Paypal (rather silly by 2007; not surprised they made it compulsory a bit later) and when I asked for their address, they never sent it. I didn't get an unpaid item strike, but I suspect they weren't happy with the price and therefore by not accepting Paypal could just screen out the people who won things too cheaply and not allow them to send the cheque.

I checked back for two weeks then gave up.

I didn't neg them - didn't really care about it to be honest, hadn't actually lost anything, and it wasn't until the 99p free listings came in that that started to be really a problem. I think they probably made a rod for their own back though - by accepting Paypal they may have got more for their items, thus eliminating the need to stonewall buyers wanting to pay.

Rhymsta

I just love...

'Not sure if it's working'


I actually saw an auction where there was a question asked...

Is it working?

The answer was extremely helpful ....

Not sure but I don't really see why it wouldn't be but been in loft for some time.

MoaningMyrtle

Concealed cash accepted