How much detail for best "Item as described"

FattyBettyBoo

I've noticed recently, since lots of people have started selling using mobile phones, that there are many items with pretty much no description, or just a basic "This is what it is".

In terms of "Item as Described" stars, does very little details lead to good stars (as nothing in incorrect) or bad stars (as there is no real description).

I have in the past painstaking describe every detail of the item. This took ages for some of the clothes I've sold. More recently I have used less details and my stars have gone up. I wonder if this is because there is less for the buyer to disagree with?

Crowqueen

As long as the item is as you expected it to be, then there's no reason to mark anyone down, IMO.

If it arrived under-described e.g. 'shirt size 12' turned out to have a big stain down the back which wasn't either photographed or mentioned on the listing - that is when I would take marks off.

If it arrived fine - 'shirt size 12' was a size 12 shirt without any particular difficulties and without hidden/unphotographed stains etc, then that would get 5* from me.

It is certainly not the case that there is 'less for the buyer to disagree with'. It may just be that you are selling better items which need less description, or you have been taking better photographs to compensate for the lack of text (I think a good photograph can relieve a seller of a need to document everything exhaustively, and it's been proved that buyers tend to 'see' rather than 'read' so it's always best to make sure things are completely visible to them).

Omission of key details such as stains etc. can still be misdescription. People who try to weasel out of that sort of thing - 'well, I didn't mention that it WASN'T stained' - tend to come off worse than people for whom no description of a stain is necessary because there aren't any stains.

RFW

One of the downsides of mobile selling is that a lot of buyers don't even bother reading descriptions as they're harder to find. There's only Ebay that can sort that out. Using item specifics helps in some cases.

Goldiegirl

I tend to hit the back button if I see anything listed with a mobile app.

Most of the time there's very little detail and 'dress, blue, size 12' just seems as if the seller hasn't put much effort in, and therefore might not put much effort in to packing and posting either.

I love my iPad, but never use it for listing.

I like to see measurements at least, for clothes.