What do you look for when reviewing ads on the EE?

FatCatsDad said:
I look for "quick shipping" in seller's reviews.
Guys usually ship rifles within a day or two, but many sit on smaller stuff like scopes and rings for days.
Sellers need to treat each sold item with the same urgency they'd expect from others.
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We are not Amazon. We all don't live in urban areas, with post offices open on weekends, and open past 5 pm on week days. If I listened to buyers demand I might as well throw on some leather and make some money for it. Some people really are impatient, rude and have unreasonable demands. Good luck me trying to ship on weekends. When post office is closed.

But saying that most people will let you know in advance they cannot post it till XX date.
 
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Quality pictures to start with... without pictures I lose interest quickly.

... and then there are the ass holes who once they mark the ad 'sold' - remove the price and leave that ad forever...
 
Photos, and if the 22 is coming from gopher-rich areas in the west..I'm asking more questions/requesting more photos. Windy/dusty/high-volume pursuit!
 
Pictures, price, person's location. I recognize some items that were for sale at one time by one user and then seen another user bought that item and has it priced much higher than it was listed for originally with the original seller. One good example is the .243win PGW Coyote... going on almost a year at a much higher price than the original seller sold it for lol. Makes you wonder about the other EE ads. I mean if you wanna flip items go ahead but don't go blatantly lying in your ads.
 
Pictures definitely help - just happened to me - a "Winchester" P17 rifle - pictures show an "E" on the safety lever and an "E" on the rear sight - saved me from bothering that Seller for more information about it - but he wants $1700 for it - as if it is "valuable" ... Is about 85 parts that make up a P14 or an M1917 - coil springs, screws and pins not marked by the maker - most other parts are.
 
Jefferson said:
well I guess I will have to learn how to post pictures then
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Yep...if it salvages just one transaction...:)

I chuckled when I read the complaint about not shipping immediately; I ship as soon as possible, and typically will mention "will ship on Monday" or something similar to a buyer...but when I am mailing a $50 item, I am not going to burn gas and spend the 40 minutes or so to drive into town to get to a post office just so that it goes today. As it is, I often am seen sitting in my truck in the parking lot of the general store where the depot is located, scribbling away on the flat rate boxes I just bought and packing up a bunch of items to take back inside and mail. :)

I was amazed when a couple posts later mentioned not having access to a Post Office on weekends. I honestly didn't know that anybody had post offices open on weekends! :)
 
a lot of smaller towns have extra postal outlets in drug stores and are open on Saturdays and later during the week than Canada postal outlets
 
Pictures and seller rating. No pictures, and I generally hit back ASAP unless it's something I've been hunting for a very long time. If the seller has +20 or better I look no further, if less than will read the comments left for them.
 
Jefferson said:
a lot of smaller towns have extra postal outlets in drug stores and are open on Saturdays and later during the week than Canada postal outlets
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Huh...my PO Box is in a tiny general store in the closest town, and they have a small CP outlet there as well...but there is no weekend service, and they close at 5 even when the store itself stays open later. They are also closed for a half day on Wednesday.

But...they also know everybody by name, and they don't bat an eye at "suspicious" gunny-looking packages, in stark contrast to a few experiences I have had at PO's in Winnipeg and elsewhere. :)
 
Grain said:
Pictures and seller rating. No pictures, and I generally hit back ASAP unless it's something I've been hunting for a very long time. If the seller has +20 or better I look no further, if less than will read the comments left for them.
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I'd add that if the seller has one or two negative ratings, I will often check the overall ratings of the people who left him the negatives. Quite often you'll find they have plenty of negatives themselves, and are simply the kind of people who cannot be satisfied....and who can be largely ignored.
 
Jefferson said:
a lot of smaller towns have extra postal outlets in drug stores and are open on Saturdays and later during the week than Canada postal outlets
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So packages don't get picked up till Monday. Plus they're piled up on a pile in the center of the service area. Also they are tripping over packages as there is no room in the small area. Plus not everybody that works behind is a postal trained personal. I had issue where someone accepted a package I was dropping off to be sent out, to find it was delivered at my address despite having a different address. And because they marked it delivered tried to get me to pay again.

One worker at the main postal office got fired for being nosy. Kept on drilling people what they were shipping. Oh that looks like a rifle, is it? No. It's a rifle right? No. It's none of your business it's not hazardous.

Same with shipping empty paintball tanks. We don't ship those. How did I get them in the first place? CP.

So what some might be open on a Saturday but it's just sitting there un scanned for days, if lost. You're sol as no proof it was accepted.
 
I'd think that even 'small outlets' would 'scan' the packages. If not, it would be 'behoovin' to you to take it where it will get scanned. I would if I saw that problem. Especially with firearms.
 
Seems a lot of you are missing out on deals. If it's not something I'm really after I might hit back if there's no pics. But if I have any real interest I pm with my email. Usually get a bunch of pics right away and an open dialogue. My last rifle was that way, deal went smooth. As for shipping immediately, I have a day job and can't run to the PO whenever I want. I get off work at 5 and have to rush to make it there bdfore closing at 5:30. So I tell buyers I will get it shipped out this week and send you the tracking number once I do. I even tell sellers not to go crazy about making sure the item goes out asap. I bought a scope last hunting season and the fella made it clear he was going to try his damdest to get it out right away. Told him not to worry about it, anytime next week is fine. He was out hunting geese with his father and son, forget about interupting that for my parcel. It'll get here and I can wait.
 
Buck1950 said:
I'd think that even 'small outlets' would 'scan' the packages. If not, it would be 'behoovin' to you to take it where it will get scanned. I would if I saw that problem. Especially with firearms.
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Some small outlets in small local owned grocery stores are not ran by Canada post employees. Most are employees by the grocery store and are only trained by the post. They're really only good for picking up packages after the post office is closed, not shipping. As you gotta wait in the grocery line while regular customers are being served.

That's why I wait till the week. I know it's gonna get scanned, I know it's gonna be in transit that day. Rather than sitting at a small grocery store for 2 days.

It's same as MO/cheques. I had to stop accepting them due to the ATM always breaking down and not accepting some types of cheques. Did not feel it was worth driving 120km round trip to the tellers that are not open on weekends, and closed by time you get off work.

My wife had to take a day off work one day to cash a cheque.
 
Somerset Bar said:
Ohhhh, that time that you beat EVERYONE and get that offer in on a juicy new posting. I find myself doing a quick scan at 1am PST just to see if I catch a late-night listing.
Nothing worse than seeing a killer deal only 1/2 hour old with $SPF in it lol. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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LOL! I hear ya!

I replied to one late night listing, and the seller admitted to me that they had bulk uploaded the list of goodies before they edited in the actual asking prices.

It was a fairly low dollar item (set of used dies), and he honored my "I'll Take it" (honorable seller!), but I figure he has since NOT done that again.

What do I look for? A post title without a bunch of extraneous crap, repeated letters or symbols, or all caps printing, that actually tells what is for sale succinctly.
Edit the title if the item listed there is one of several items that are no longer available from a grouped together advert. Mildly irritating to follow a post title in to the Post, only to see that the items in the title were long gone, and a bunch of unrelated stuff is there.
On the same vein, if a long list of items is posted, and stuff sells, edit the sold stuff out of the post, or cut and paste them to a different section of the post, rather than leaving the list intact, such that a potential buyer needs read through a dozen items that are marked as 'sold', and tries to figure out what is left
Pictures are good. Long lists of terms and conditions, not so much.

Trader Rating is a good place to see general feedback, if the person has any, but every Newb started with nothing there. A seller took a chance on me, on my first EE deal, sent me a Leica Rangefinder, on the 'trust' plan, with instructions to cover costs if I was not happy with it, and return it, or send the money, if I was. I thought he over-represented the faults, and paid the man his price. Have done a couple small value sales on similar terms, and not been let down.
 
trevj said:
Trader Rating is a good place to see general feedback, if the person has any, but every Newb started with nothing there. A seller took a chance on me, on my first EE deal, sent me a Leica Rangefinder, on the 'trust' plan, with instructions to cover costs if I was not happy with it, and return it, or send the money, if I was. I thought he over-represented the faults, and paid the man his price. Have done a couple small value sales on similar terms, and not been let down.
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I've done a few deals like that as well. The first was actually suggested by the seller, when he responded to my WTB ad. He had a near-zero rating at the time and commented that it had caused concerns for other buyers. He suggested a ship-first-pay-afterwards arrangement on an item worth a few hundred bucks. We both went away happy.

Since then I have suggested the same idea to sellers with zero ratings; most decline, but some accept and the deals have all been smooth and pleasant. A couple of those sellers have continued on and accumulated significant positive ratings since then. :)
 
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