Uptick in eBay Tire Kickers?

[WristySwing]

Have any of you guys noticed a lot more tire kickers on eBay in the past 6-8 months? I find I am getting sometimes multiple questions a day from people only to be told at the end of it "thanks for the help I'm not in the market right now but if X doesn't work I'll be sure to keep you in mind." A total waste of my time. I have a set of Japanese wedges up and some rarer head-only product right now, all brand new, along with the typical shaft pulls. One potential buyer had me get serial numbers for everything, followed up by trying to get me to give them an oral history of why the clubs ended up on eBay, only to be told they were actually looking for something completely different and would be in touch if they couldn't locate what they actually wanted and would send along an "offer". Not buy them, they would do me the service of putting in an offer on them....

I get it, eBay is a necessary evil a lot of the time for non-US sellers as it gets your items out in the world, but lately it has been exhausting. My local BST and Kijiji wouldn't support what I have for sale, nobody really knows what these are and wouldn't pay what they are worth.

Any one else experience this lately? Seems to a lot of winter hang over still. I see a lot of this Nov-March but a lot of the courses have been open for a couple of months now in most of N.A. I figured I could avoid this.

[brkuck]

You probably already know there are people everywhere that just want to waste time and talk someones ear off with no intentions on pulling the trigger. Half the time they have no idea what they are even looking at, its just to waste your time. My guess is that it has to do with the combination of those usual people, coupled with the fact that a lot of people are out of jobs right now and are bored and they have no other outlet for stress, boredom and anger. You get it on this BST all the time too. Its why many guys here set out rules in the beginning of the post that outline what their rules are for buying and any questions, and those have become more and more specific and restrictive. Many even say that tire-kickers and low-ballers will just have their requests ignored.

 

 

[ckay]

I had a guy win a pair of Jordan golf shoes and message me later saying it wasn’t his size.

[Rapatt95]

Sold a driver shaft on there recently, and the guy just never paid and wouldn’t respond to messages. I ended up selling it again a few days later for slightly more money. Sometimes the tire kickers work out for the best!

[WristySwing]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I am happy it isn't just me. I think you are right. Maybe from now on I will set listings to have public questions. It might deter some of the time wasters. The story about the shoes is too funny @ckay

[Valtiel]

Lots of people are extremely antsy and likely window shopping to alleviate stress which can end up leading to overly optimistic "I think I want this" situations that end up wasting your time. I do a similar thing every now and then, but instead of wasting anyones time with tire kicking questions, I just throw a bunch of stuff in my cart and then wait until the next day to revisit it, which usually results in me emptying it out again, hah.

[wcgolfer]

It isn’t wasting time. It’s part of selling things. Everyone who sells things has dead ends. It’s just part of it.

[Man_O_War]

kinda like what you get on WRX when you have something for sale

[ckay]

Just got this one

[Augster]

That’s a time waster all right. Wow.

I sold a pair of Jordan golf shoes on eBay. I shipped them. Buyer received them then said that they don’t take the spikes he wanted to put in them and sent them back. I tried to fight it but, of course, eBay sided with the buyer. Now I have to list in every auction all sales final, no returns, by clicking buy it now you agree to these terms etc. etc.

I also mod J’s to golf shoes. At least once a week I get a message on eBay how to do it, what to do, where to source the donor shoes etc. etc. I don’t even respond anymore as it has never resulted in a sale.

[larciel]

it's not just ebay.

internet has connected so many screw-ups doing/talking sh. its without any repercussion.

 

I just move on. or reply 'LOL' like laughing so hard at their face.

 

[jschwarb]

I don't mind tire kickers, I do mind people that bid and don't pay. I got lucky recently, I had an auction with a non-paying winner so I relisted again. Got nearly the same price in the next auction but that winner didn't pay either. So finally I just listed it again at a flat BIN price with options for offers, and a guy made me an offer that was higher than both winning auction prices. I accepted and, hallelujah, he paid.

 

[WristySwing]

In one of my recent eBay sales I had someone buy a shaft and immediately message me after saying they wanted to cancel because they didn't have the money for it, even though the money was in my PayPal account already. I should been a jerk and told them tough and sent it anyways. I'm sure eBay would find a way to side with the buyer in that instance anyways. I'm sorry, but tough luck you found a shaft slightly cheaper after buying, not my problem, that's how second hand works.

[VNutz]

Wow, now that's an account to block. Dozens of items over priced and clearly used marked as new or new other. Thanks for the heads up.

[ckay]

eBay is getting worse

[trentyoung33]

How that guy has 100% positive feedback blows my mind... the M4 3-wood he currently has listed looks like it was used to hit rocks.. listed as "new - other"

[Valtiel]

What on earth is going on with this guy's listings? Every one of his wedge/iron listings is using some mish mash of what look like real photos combined with the same weird stock photos of completely different clubs. He also says in some listings that he needs to sell because of medical bills, others because he was laid off, but then is making lowball offers on other people's listings? Bizarre.