Exploiting bad listings as a buyer

The basic technique for buying low on ebay is "buy bad listings". Bad listings do not describe the item properly, or do not attract search results properly.

Most bad listings are created by sellers who lack experience, although plenty are created by sellers who just never seem to get it right, and a few are slip-ups by experienced sellers.

It helps to know what you are buying, such that you can recognize the rare 1932 model being described as the more common 1939 model.

Most bad listings are not that concisely in error. Rather, they are ambiguous. Key information is left out, usually because the seller didn't know the information, and didn't know it was necessary. The picture is small, blurred, or just doesn't show the necessary part.

Pursuing information from seller is a double edged sword. Buyer is advising seller of weaknesses in the listing, and seller might shore up the listing before end of auction, or even cancel the listing and fix it up for later.

Buyer is allowed to take the listing at face value, even though buyer might have doubts about some claim. When buyer has doubts, other buyers have doubts too, and the price could easily end up a bargain when the thing really is what it claims to be. When the listing says "complete set", but the picture shows only 4 of the 5 pieces needed for a complete set, the item will not sell at a full set price; rather,it will sell at somewhere between what the full set would sell for and the incomplete set would sell for. The bargain arises when seller actually does ship the whole set, exactly as promised.

But what if things go the other way. What if seller just didn't know it took 5 items to make a full set? I suggest winning the auction, and then discussing such a matter with seller before seller has any chance to ship the item, peacefully agreeing to a mutual cancellation if that's the best that can be worked out. The goal is to minimize conflict but especially to minimize cost. It is not in either buyer's or seller's best interest for the incomplete set to arrive, only to prompt a stressful exchange regarding the missing piece. Yes, buyer is protected by paypal, and yes, seller will probably cover return shipping to avoid undesired fb, but no, most of us would find the hassle worth avoiding.