Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

Over the years of buying bows on eBay, I have found one of the most useful tools to be the Ask Seller A Question feature. Sellers want to sell their items at the best price and answering questions and concerns helps them as well as the buyers. And it can also help eliminate a lot of misunderstandings and dissatisfied buyers who end up with a bow that is something less what than they expected.

Let’s face it, descriptions and photos aren’t always complete or even accurate. Sellers come in all shapes and sizes. Some have expertise in their product while others don’t. Some take good photos while others don’t. This lack of expertise doesn’t necessarily mean that the bow they are selling isn’t a good buy. I see a lot of bows that have been secured at estate auctions, garage sales or found in grandma’s attic that are very good indeed. However, these are among the bows that generally deserve some serious questioning. AMO’s, poundage, stress lines, twisting, separations, left handed or right handed, etc. are things that many inexperienced sellers don’t always include in their description, but are important for buyers to determine their interest, whether to make a bid or not, and how much to bid. Sometimes, even experienced sellers may accidentally omit pertinent information, and unfortunately, there are a few sellers out there, who may deliberately mis-state or mislead the condition of a bow. If you have an interest in the bow, just ask the seller what you need to know. My experience is that sellers are very good about responding. In fact, I can only remember a couple of times in the last 6 years that I haven’t received a reply.

If there is a bow that strikes your fancy, but there aren’t enough photos to show everything you need in order to make a decision, or if there is something in the photos that raises a concern, just ask the seller about it. Many sellers not only answer your question, but will even offer to send you additional photos.

And there are times that questions to the seller are in order which don’t relate directly to the bow itself. If you aren’t clear about the seller’s policies on shipping and handling fees, payment options or requirements, discounts, etc., it’s better to ask up about it up front than take chance and end up with a problem later. Occasionally, I see a shipping fee that seems to be totally out of line and many times when I ask the seller about it, they reply that a mistake was indeed made in the calculation and they end up amending their listing to correct the error. And it doesn’t hurt to contact a seller about making an exception to one of their stated policies. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no. And don’t be upset when this happens. Sellers establish their policies based on their own needs and experiences. However, asking can sometimes open up a door for you. I have found that explaining why I am requesting the exception and showing why I might qualify for it can sometimes be successful. Two of the most prized bows in my collection were obtained by my asking for an exception to the seller’s policy regarding the type of payment they accepted. The sellers agreed to accept my payment method and I won both bows.

One obvious time to contact the seller is when you realize that you have messed up on you bid. It may because you didn’t pick up on a restriction that you can’t meet. Or you may have mis-keyed the bid amount. I did this once and keyed in something like $590.00 instead $59.00. When I realized what I had done, I immediately contacted the seller and explained what had happened. The seller graciously rescinded the bid and let me rebid. Over the years, I have found sellers to be very cooperative and understanding. However, if you don’t contact them quickly, before your error impacts or influences other bidding on their auction, and you might not find them so receptive to your situation. So, if you see that you have made an error, contact them immediately.

Some other suggestions regarding questions are:

- Before asking a question, check out the auction page itself, down near the bottom, and see if someone else has previously asked the same question. Frequently, I find that obvious questions about length and poundage have already been answered.

- Be direct, clear and complete in wording your question, otherwise you may not get the correct answer.

- Give the seller adequate time to respond, at least 24 hours before the auction ends. Don’t ask your question at the last minute and expect to receive an answer in time to make a bid.

- Unless you have a concern about privacy, you can click on the box that sends the seller’s reply directly to your e-mail address as well as posting it as a message in your My eBay section. Since I’m not on eBay all the time, I find this very handy and a real time saver.

- Don’t use the question feature to make frivolous observations and comments that aren’t going to benefit either you and the seller.

- And please be courteous. Don’t be critical about the photos, descriptions or policies. All this will do is put the seller off and you might not get the answers you want. And thank the seller up front and again after they reply.

The Ask Seller A Question feature is there for the using, so take advantage of it and let it help you make better decisions and keep you away from problems.