I decided it was high time I made use of eBay’s catalogue data when listing products, after all if they’ve gone to the trouble of collating relevant information about the product it would save me time typing it in.
This was a big mistake and something I’ll never do again. Shortly after listing a printer I received the question “Your webpage describing this item says 1 year warranty. However, the item is used. Could you please confirm whether you are offering a years warranty?”
Now I wasn’t offering a year’s guarantee and as the product is 2nd user there certainly isn’t a manufacturers warranty still in force, however eBay’s catalogue information includes the statement that the product has a one year manufacturers warranty.
If you do use eBay catalogue information when listing then make sure you check exactly what you’re adding to your product description. Don’t do as I did and assume that eBay have got all the information you need and haven’t added some extra terms and conditions you didn’t intend to offer.
6 Responses
I had the same problem 6 years ago. I listed several items via turbo lister using their UPC codes. eBay had a mistake in their data regarding one of the items. Pre-filled data said it included something that it clearly didn’t. One buyer out of the ten I had for that product demanded that extra item saying that he wouldn’t have bought it at that price if he knew it came without it (I’m pretty sure I was cheaper than most who also didn’t include it) and that I was learning a valuable lesson regarding listing my items. The cost of that extra item ended up costing me more than he paid.
I tried contacting eBay regarding the listing error and never got a response. Likely the incorrect data is still there.
I tried contacting eBay regarding the listing error and never got a response’
And that quite simply is my biggest problem with eBay.
I can choose, or not, to use whatever they provide but if I have an issue with what they provide getting an answer is just far too hard.
I found that two of our pictures are being used for catalogue pages. We opted out of the scheme as soon as we heard about it (here on Tamebay), and I’ve asked them to remove us from the catalogue.
Google doesn’t categorise the world by putting it in boxes. It does it by superior search. This is how users expect to find information — and it’s how publishers expect to publish it.
That’s the paradigm and eBay need to model their marketplace on it. Catalogue is just aping Amazon.
When it comes to listing video games, eBay loves to add item details that say the game is bundled with accessories… Bah
There can be similar issues when using eBay’s datafeed (aka “pre filled information”) for the DVD category. Muse, the company that provides the data has inaccurately described a number of titles. I have had issues in the past along the lines of “I bought this DVD because you said it had Spanish subtitles and it doesn’t” …. Thanks Muse ….
The Retrowarez.com database had over 75000 entries in DVD alone, and every single one was entered in house, and checked, checked and checked.
Steve – EthicalCompanies.co.uk