BAD HABITS OF BUYERS IN AN ONLINE MARKETPLACE

feat. guest blogger : vulcan.x

Hello everyone. vulcan.x here. A Happy New Year to all of you. I’ll be guest blogging for the first time on gapnap.com.

Having been an online seller (both locally and internationally) since mid-2006, there’s not much outside of gear and trading that I want to write about. So, my topic today will be BAD HABITS OF BUYERS IN AN ONLINE MARKETPLACE. Sounds interesting enough for you?

Anybody who has sold gear online has probably been subjected to at least one of these unfavourable interactions before:
· Haggling – Aiyo, discount more lah bro, no box, no manual, so many scratches, cheaper laaa bro….
· Lowballing – Your asking price RM700 ah? Ok. I offer you RM300. Can?
· Bad information - BOSS Metal Core ML-2 is made in Malaysia lah. ML=Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh. (Yup, some buyers claim to know more about your stuff than you do…)
· Ridiculous/irrelevant questions – What does your guitar smell like? (WTF)

…but all those have been thoroughly discussed before. Here I’d like to focus on a few different scenarios I’ve experienced several times over the years. To be honest, I’ve not seen many people complain about these, so I’ll take the liberty of being the first

1) “Serious Buyer Here…”

What constitutes being a “Serious Buyer”? This particular term has been used so loosely in online forums over the past decade that it has almost lost its meaning. Interested parties often find this a handy thing to say when competing against other interested parties for a hot item, as they think it gives them some sort of leverage. For example:

Seller <in forum>: iPhone for sale, RM2000, please contact for more details.

Member #1 <in forum>: Hmm, I kinda need a new phone. PM sent.

Member #2 <in forum>: Wow, nice price. I might get it. What’s your contact number bro?

Member #3 <in forum>: ZOMG! iPhone! Contact me bro 012-3456789! I’M A SERIOUS BUYER!!!

Unfortunately, if the item isn’t so hot, “Serious Buyer” will be used as a prelude to haggling. Example:

Seller <in forum>: Laptop for sale, model XYZ, RM3000, please contact for more details.

Member #1 <in forum>: PM me the specs bro. Serious buyer here.

Seller <in PM>: (sends the specs over)

Member #1 <in PM>: Bro, the specs not that good lah, price can lower? I’m a serious buyer man…

Seller <to himself>: *God help me…*

Tell me you don’t find that at least slightly irritating. A “Serious Buyer” should mean a person who knows for sure that he/she wants a particular item, and has the money to pay for it (or is at least able to get the money soon). Many people seem to think being seriously tempted by an item automatically affords them “Serious Buyer” status. Maybe they’ll realize after reading this…?

2) The Indefinite Wait For A Response

If you’ve been exchanging e-mails or just got off the phone with a prospective buyer, and he/she leaves you with the following sentence:

“Alright bro… Thanks for the info. I’ll let you know when I make my mind up lah.”

How will you be feeling? (Time for some MCQs. Heheheh.)
A) Happy. The deal is closed as far as I’m concerned.
B) Positive. I am confident of securing the deal sooner or later.
C) Hopeful. I think I made a good impression on the buyer.
D) Satisfied. At least there are enquiries for my stuff.

If any of you chose a single answer from the four above, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. The reality is that 4 out of 5 times, you won’t be hearing from Mr. Prospective Buyer again.

After achieving several milestones and evolving to become what we are now, we human beings still somehow manage to find it extremely difficult to say “No Thanks”. Granted, it might be basic human niceness to want to spare the seller the disappointment of not making the sale, but leaving him in limbo doesn’t exactly help either. Ladies and gents, if you are no longer interested in an item, it is good practice (and manners) to tell your friendly neighborhood spiderman seller, especially if you’ve made several enquiries about it. Information makes the world go round, y’know.

Oh, by the way, I’m not related to the ugly dude in the photo above, nor do I know who he is. Heheheh.

3) “Bro… Overseas Cheaper Lah”

I am a staunch believer in fair pricing. I welcome any sort of criticism if I’ve set my prices too high in comparison to the accepted local standard, and I’ll be the first to apologize and do something about it.

Unfortunately, every once-in-a-while I get e-mails/private messages going something like this:

Forum Member: Bro, how come your XYZ Pedal RM500? This website only USD $100 lah… (link to site included)

I’m sure everybody can follow this. $100 works out to roughly RM350 at the current mid-market rate of 3.5. RM500 is a substantial mark-up from RM350. But please take a moment to consider the following factors:

A) Inflated exchange rates. Using PayPal or your credit card to go online shopping? Be prepared to pay a premium. The rate of 3.5 I mentioned above will likely touch 3.7 (factoring in the 1% adjustment fee as well).
B) Shipping & handling. Having a pedal wrapped and sent to Malaysia from the States can cost anywhere between $20 to $40.
C) Tax. The leeches in Customs rub their hands and lick their lips with glee while imposing a 10% import duty on your parcel.
D) Processing fees. You’re responsible for the additional RM18 customs processing fee. And the cost of petrol (or Skybus) to KLIA to pick said parcel up.

Some simple mathematics are in order. [($100 + $20) x 3.7 x 1.1] + RM18 = RM506. Wow. Anyone amazed yet?

It never fails to leave me dumbfounded when some people choose to be ignorant and turn a blind eye to the extra costs associated with buying stuff from another country. If shipping was free, I’d have saved enough money to afford a trophy wife by now.

Before I forget, here’s another related fact: The person who messaged you to whine about your prices was probably never interested in the item in the first place. Find that hard to believe? Take a moment to think about it

4) Tradeballing

My reluctance of accepting trades stems from a rapidly growing phenomena I like to call Tradeballing. This is similar to the practice of Lowballing we all are familiar with, except that the ‘cash’ part of the equation is replaced by ‘garbage’.

Tradeballers are a smart bunch. How else would they have successfully figured out the equivalent value of a musical instrument in junk?! This intellect makes them extremely hard to deter or deal with. Here’s a sample of a Tradeballing conversation I fished out of my e-mail inbox:

Tradeballer (real identity hidden for protection): Bro, I’m interested in your Ibanez RG565. I’ll trade you 24x Coca Cola bottlecaps, one old shoe (left foot), the stapler on my office desk, and a banana skin for it. Can?

vulcan.x: Thanks for the offer bro. Tell you what, I’ll need 35x Sprite bottlecaps, a right footed shoe and a fresh banana. I’ll keep the RG565 but I promise to be your friend. Can?

Anybody else encounter this sort of thing before??

Disclaimer: Before ending this post I want to admit that I myself have probably been guilty of committing one of two of the above offences, and I do genuinely regret my actions. The important thing is always to realize and learn from it, to preserve the harmony of our favourite online marketplaces. If that doesn’t really concern you, think of it as a form of self-betterment.

vulcan.x out. Cheers & love you guys. Heheheh. Heh.

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