I hate when I ask an Ebay seller a question regarding the condition, and they talk down to me like I’m stupid for asking the question. They say things like “as you can see in the photo” even though the photo is a small, cropped photo and doesn’t show the condition of the interior pages. Anyhow, when they do that, I just buy the thing elsewhere.
I know what you mean, and you’re probably wise to shop elsewhere when this happens, as it could be a warning sign that such a seller would be a complete ass if something is wrong…
…however…
… stone me if the folks on the internet don’t ask some dumbass obvious questions all the time! Not specifically eBay, but elsewhere (Youtube and on my website), I get people asking “How much water do I use?” - It’s right there on the page - in Metric, Imperial and US! “What temperature do I cook this?” - It’s there in the video, in Celsius, Fahrenheit and Gas Mark! “Will it still work if I just leave out the flour?” - No, obviously not. It’s bread.
Mangetout, I’d like to take this opportunity to say “Thanks” for the Instructables friendship bracelet video. No questions necessary there.
As for the OP: If the seller is not a native speaker of your language there may be a coomunucation problem. Okay, maybe that’s a longshot but it’s all I got.
Yup. I’ve sold quite a bit of larger stuff on ebay recently and so it has been “pickup only”. It’s entirely reasonable for buyers, therefore, to ask the location of the items in question. And I had at least three buyers ask. Except that the location was stated in two separate places in the item listing, and not only that but after the first guy asked, it was also listed as an answer to a buyer question, so that makes three.
Hey, thanks! - glad you liked it.
As a frequent ebay seller, I can attest to the fact that 90% of ebay bidders** don’t know how to read.**
I will say something like: “no charger included” and I will get person after person asking if the item comes with a charger. Or, “item is in excellent condition - only visible damage is a scratch in the corner (and then have a close-up photo)” and get questions asking if there is screen damage.
So, I can see where some ebay sellers might treat buyers as stupid - because most of them are!
(Don’t get me started on the bidders who win an auction and then refuse to honor their bid - it took me 4 tries to finally sell my old iPhone 3GS.)
It may be people viewing the item in a phone app. The eBay iPhone app doesn’t present the seller’s description unless extra steps are taken, and I recall it not being obvious when I first used the app. Some buyers may never work it out.
I get the same thing on Craigslist. I was trying to buy a laptop, and wrote a nice letter asking what the video card was, and explaining how to find that info if he didn’t know how. The guy responded “read the ad.” The ad didn’t list the video card, so I just shrugged and moved on.
Which was stupid of him. 99% of computer-sales-respondents are scammers. I like to think my email revealed me as a real potential buyer, so I have no idea why he’d want to scare me off.
What annoys me is when I state very clearly that I ship US only in the ad, actually have the bid set to forbid foreign buyers from even bidding, AND THEY WRITE TO ASK ME ANYWAY!
NO. The answer is NO.
Thanks to Mangetout from me as well. I’ve been playing around with paracord and didn’t realize he had some posts on instructables.
Breakfast Pie this weekend!
Thanks for the giggle! :p:p
Maybe you can post a link? I’m interested 
Or message me if it’s de-railing. My sweetie likes the paracord ones, but due to weight loss, they seem to end up with me when they don’t fit him anymore. (And I just attach them to the nearest backpack, 'cause I don’t wear bracelets!)
I’ve done this sometimes. It’s not actually stupid, in my experience, in that it often gets a ‘Sure’. Some US-only sellers have no problem selling to an Irish buyer with good feedback - they just don’t want to have to deal with some 0FB newbie from Nigeria.
My favourite Dumb Question exchange.
Q: Is the item intacked?
A: I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with the term “intacked”. Could you explain?
…
No answer.
(No sale either, but it was worth it).
Well you sure showed them, no bad spellers are going to bid on your auctions! 
Do you not deal with a lot of non-english speakers or something? I would find it rude to snark, even beyond the bad business sense.
I don’t know what the deal is but out of around 10 Portugeuse every single one was a pain to deal with and none resulted in a sale, they would flat refuse to use machine translation even when I was giving them the links and would usually end by making nonsensical statements(I pay at my house"
). I used to groan when seeing a .pt email address.
Yup same here.
It was an American lady with English as her first language. I have no excuse for snarking except that it was fun dammit.