I rarely find what I want to buy on ebid, but I do like to support the site. So I was very pleased recently, when needing a replacement cat flap, to find on ebid a seller of pet supplies. Even based in the next county to mine, so no prospect of waiting 4 weeks for post from Hong Kong!
The seller not only had the Cat-Mate cat flap that looked like mine, but, at a significant saving, a replacement door. Item 153964969. I was delighted, but since no measurements were quoted, I thought I'd better check.
On a Saturday I used 'Ask the Seller a Question'... no response.
At this point I was very tempted to just forget about it and go to the usual well known sites. Perhaps he's a dump and run seller, I thought. But I came back on Thursday, just in case an answer had been posted and somehow I'd not been notified. No, vain hope.
I noticed (I think perhaps it was when I moved my mouse over the question) that the site claimed to have sent THREE NUDGES concerning this question. I'd not initiated any nudges. Didn't even know one could. Is this some automated feature? Or is it yet another example of counts in the database being out of whack (as many claim, when discussing listing views etc)?
Since it offered me the option to send (allegedly) a 4th nudge, I took it. And very soon had a response from the seller. The seller completed the sale, packed the door nice and defensively, despatched it very promptly... in short everything I would hope from a professional and motivated seller. Which made me suspicious about the 5 day delay to get my answer, so I asked him about it. Here's the dialogue (quoted with his permission):
Me: Hi Michael, Thanks for using eBid, I'm glad to find something I need listed here. ... Frankly I'm not impressed by asking a question on Saturday and having to wait until Thursday for an answer. I was about to buy elsewhere. Did ebid not notify you on Saturday that there was a question to answer? Regards, John
Him: Hello John, I am afraid I find this Ebid a little difficult , my messages are difficult to respond to, we have an Ebay shop, an Amazon shop and our website but Ebid is the most dfifficult to follow and no Ebid did not tell me there was a question to answer, last year I ordered a memory stick via Ebid but it has still not arrived and no response from seller despite many enquiiries so I am concerned for the future of Ebid.
I'm wondering how many sellers have lost sales because the site isn't functioning properly?