I sold an Apple IIgs that had a monitor in one of the photos to show it worked, but clearly explained that the monitor wasn't included in the first paragraph of the listing. Someone bid and then emailed me asking me to cancel their bid because they didn't realize it didn't include the monitor, having taken a closer look. THEN the next highest bidder won, and after winning they must have bothered to read the listing because they emailed and canceled theirs as well.
I'm not used to selling on eBay and was shocked that people are so careless. Apparently even for unusual vintage items they just glance at the photo and then bid.
People don't read or skip half of what they read or misapprehend it this is a people problem not a platform problem.
Next time edit the photo to include large red text over top of the monitor saying monitor not included or better leave it out. Plan ahead for stupid because it is here to stay.
It’s not a people problem. eBay used to make bidding or even Buy It Now a contractual obligation. If you bid/bought, and didn’t want it anymore it was too bad for you. You would be charged for it anyway or lose your account.
Yeah that's actually what I am planning on doing when I relist this. I was just amazed people would bid over $200 without reading anything. And I took great pains to write a clear description as well!
If it makes you feel better, ebay probably showed that listing to 10,000 people and the two people that just managed to fail to read because missed their coffee that morning were the first/highest bidders. Unlikely? Why? Of course they'd bid the most / the quickest: from their perspective you were offering a killer deal.
:)
There are platform specific stupidities, last I saw it their mobile interface almost hides the listing details... and on a lot of listings the details are worthless and not really worth looking at. But I think experiences like yours, which I've also had, are just the natural result of taking the most eager buyers out of a lot of candidates.
I'm not used to selling on eBay and was shocked that people are so careless. Apparently even for unusual vintage items they just glance at the photo and then bid.