The SNAD spectrum

Some would see the SNAD equation as black & white.

A SNAD is true or false, and such is detectable by looking at what arrived, and looking at the listing.

But reality is grey.

There is a black zone, for sure. Stuff which just isn't as described, anyone can see that.

There is also a white zone, but it's very small.

The rest is grey.

The essence of a successful description is being the eyes, nose, and touch of buyer. What buyer understands they are sending money in for, matches exactly to what comes out of the package.

Of course, that's an imperfect process, and in that imperfection lies the grey.

Some, arguing from the seller perspective, see most of grey zone as white: not a SNAD. Seller has done his job, or at least sincerely tried to.

But if mail delivery commerce really worked that way, sellers seeking to maximize profits would create listings which had a good chance of generating grey zone sales.

The classic grey zone SNAD is "bad news buried down in the text". Sort of dead middle, by my metric.

Darker than that is the item which meets the letter of the description, but is not much useful for the implied purpose of the item.

Lighter than that is the listing which accidentally allows buyer to supply a key parameter.

By allowing buyer to declare anything in the grey zone to be SNAD, which is pretty much what we have now, in order to maximize long term profits, sellers must manage the grey zone. First, by focusing on making listings succeed in communicating. And second, by graciously picking up the pieces when the listing fails, despite seller's best effort.

Ebay: please resolve

There are some current situations where ebay policy and behavior is maddening at bast, and stimulating misbehavior at worst.

1. The rules regarding local pickup.
Current status: listing must allow Paypal payment, with muddy language regarding contacting seller for other means of payments.
Questions:
a. can seller insist on cash at pickup in the listing?
b. if buyer refuses to pay cash, does that make buyer an unwelcome bidder, subject to having negative feedback removed?

2. Buyer/seller protection in LPU situation.
Current status: buyer protection not in effect on LPU item
Questions:
a. If buyer pays by paypal, but when he comes to pick it up, seller refuses to give it to him, is buyer just stuck?
b. If buyer pays by paypal, picks up the stuff, but later claims seller refused to give it to him, what happens?

3. OK for buyer to neg seller for not posting timely feedback?
Current status: rules make no statement about that. Actual experience shows CS to remove such negs when buyer has built up a bunch of the and posted all at once.
Questions.
a. Is it allowed to neg regarding seller posting fb?
b. If there is a limit on how many such negs can be posted in some period of time, what is the limit?

Does canceling a bid block bidder or not?

Item number:280701945740

Acer Aspire Revo AR1600-U910H HOME THEATER PC WIN7+2gb
Winning bid: US $182.50

Bidders:11Bids:28Time Ended:Jul-05-11 14:04:03 PDTDuration:10 days
This item has ended.

Only actual bids (not automatic bids generated up to a bidder's maximum) are shown. Automatic bids may be placed days or hours before a listing ends. Learn more about bidding.
Show automatic bids
Bidder Bid Amount Bid Time
3***a( 11) US $182.50
Jul-05-11 14:00:39 PDT

m***g( 129) US $181.00
Jul-05-11 13:49:39 PDT

3***a( 11) US $177.50
Jul-05-11 13:59:23 PDT

3***a( 11) US $172.50
Jul-05-11 13:57:31 PDT

3***a( 11) US $167.50
Jul-05-11 13:57:17 PDT

m***g( 129) US $165.00
Jul-05-11 13:19:06 PDT

3***a( 11) US $163.50
Jul-05-11 13:57:07 PDT

3***a( 11) US $158.50
Jul-05-11 13:56:47 PDT

3***a( 11) US $153.50
Jul-05-11 13:56:34 PDT

m***g( 129) US $151.00
Jul-04-11 08:41:31 PDT

e***n( 25) US $150.00
Jul-04-11 12:26:41 PDT

e***n( 25) US $145.00
Jul-04-11 12:07:37 PDT

g***g( 17) US $140.00
Jul-04-11 09:27:07 PDT

e***n( 25) US $135.00
Jul-04-11 07:02:42 PDT

b***t( 82) US $115.00
Jul-01-11 06:38:59 PDT

6***i( 10) US $100.00
Jun-27-11 14:57:12 PDT

m***g( 129) US $81.00
Jun-30-11 17:06:00 PDT

z***e( 4 ) US $75.00
Jun-27-11 09:47:38 PDT

7***o( 18) US $70.00
Jun-27-11 03:40:26 PDT

z***e( 4 ) US $52.00
Jun-27-11 09:47:21 PDT

a***g( 13) US $50.00
Jun-26-11 22:50:24 PDT

r***a( 30) US $35.00
Jun-25-11 23:33:54 PDT

a***g( 13) US $25.00
Jun-26-11 22:50:05 PDT

a***g( 13) US $20.00
Jun-26-11 22:49:56 PDT

a***g( 13) US $12.00
Jun-26-11 22:49:48 PDT

a***g( 13) US $8.00
Jun-26-11 22:49:40 PDT

9***a( 358) US $5.54
Jun-26-11 09:29:37 PDT

9***a( 358) US $1.04
Jun-26-11 09:29:23 PDT

Starting Price US $0.99
Jun-25-11 14:04:03 PDT

If you and another bidder placed the same bid amount, the earlier bid takes priority.Under certain circumstances only, you can retract your bid.
Bid retraction and cancellation history

Bidder Action / Explanation Date of Bid and Retraction
3***a( 11) Cancelled: US $167.50
Explanation: suspicious behavior,nonexistant feedback,and i told them i will block people Bid: Jul-05-11 13:22:54 PDT
Cancelled: Jul-05-11 13:50:18 PDT