Buyers Don't Read

The most common complaint on the fb board, by far, is "buyers don't read".

It's true. And sellers suffer all the consequences.

The underlying problem is a misconception by some sellers that so long as the listing includes full information somewhere, then seller will be protected from the consequences of a buyer who doesn't read the whole thing before buying.

It just doesn't work that way, and quite deliberately so.

Seller must communicate accurately, even when buyer doesn't read, or seller will suffer the consequences, usually undesirable feedback, a return for refund at seller's loss, or both.

Guidelines:
1. Think of the title as setting the state, and the description as setting the city. No matter what the description says, it cannot override the title. Bad news must appear in the title first.

2. Think of the picture as a trump card. If the picture shows three of them and the title says one, buyer will expect three. If the picture shows a star on top, no amount of disclaimer is going to protect a seller who ships one missing the star.

3. Understand the concept of a Natural Born SNAD. A listing which is inconsistent with itself. This is an invitation for not only disaster, but will attract sophisticated buyers looking to exploit the situation. A listing with a significant description error cannot be fixed unless the error can be edited out. Usually, the listing must be canceled by ending early. Do not ever add text to the end which tries to override the prior description.

Keep in mind: if the auction says two things, one of them is false. A seller who ships an item with a false description is set up for a disastrous, very costly result.

One common type of Buyer Can't Read SNAD is when the item looks like something more valuable at first glance. Examples:

• toy item bought as the real thing
  
• add on bought as the base item
  
• container bought as contents (this one is now listed as a policy violation unless the container could be bought by itself new)
  
• .pdf file bought as a book
  

In most cases where this goes off track, it is discovered that seller used a picture of the real thing, and tried to straighten the confusion out with text.

For the 3rd time: seller, not buyer is the on in line for grief when this kind of thing goes off track.