Smart Methods for Winning Hi-Fi Equipment on Online Auctions (8)

【Smart Methods for Winning Hi-Fi Equipment on Online Auctions】
（1）｜（2）｜（3）｜（4）｜（5）｜（6）｜（7）｜（8）

This is, for now, the final instalment of the series. I’d like to share a few of the troubles I’ve personally experienced on JP Yahoo! Auctions and other online auction platforms — whether any of it will be useful to you, I’m not entirely sure, but here goes.

Minor Troubles I’ve Experienced on Online Auctions

1) Scratches on second-hand CDs not mentioned in the listing

↑ This actually happens quite a lot. The item description is vague about the condition, or simply says nothing about it at all. At this point I can’t be bothered to complain. But when it’s an expensive SACD, I do inwardly bristle.

2) Rental sticker residue — and scratches underneath it too…

Well, it was cheap, so I suppose… that said, if I ever wanted to resell it, the condition means I’d never get a fair price. (Had it been honestly listed as an ex-rental copy, I would absolutely never have bought it.)

3) Cracked CD jewel case

Honestly, this is within my personal tolerance. I have plenty of spare cases, so it’s not really a problem. When something is sent in minimal packaging via standard letter post and the case arrives cracked, well, these things happen — I’d recommend both sides turning a blind eye to it. That said, when it’s the case of an SACD — the kind of jewel box you simply can’t get a replacement for easily — finding it cracked is genuinely disheartening.

4) Second-hand or not, some items arrive absolutely filthy…

Covered in dust. The disc and case thick with mould. Or coated in greasy fingerprints. Somehow it gives the impression of someone who simply couldn’t be bothered to clean it before sending it off. ⇒ Being something of a clean freak, I end up giving everything a thorough clean using an ultrasonic cleaner and the like. Incidentally, for cleaning polycarbonate cases such as CD cases, isopropyl alcohol is highly recommended.

5) The item smells…

…mysterious creature odours and the like. Or cigarette smoke so deeply embedded that even wiping it down with isopropyl alcohol or Simple Green won’t shift it — that sort of thing happens often enough. ⇒ When I can no longer stand it, I pass it along to a heavy-smoker friend…

6) Yellowed with nicotine staining

Thanks to this, I’ve gone and taught myself — via a bit of Googling — how to disassemble equipment and bleach it back to white using hydrogen peroxide and sunlight.

7) Poor or careless packing

To be honest, I’ve made mistakes with this as a seller myself. I was once on the receiving end of a complaint from a buyer, so I’m in no position to criticise others too harshly. That said — packing something properly enough that no one can possibly complain costs money on materials, and for lower-value items it can genuinely eat into — or even wipe out — any profit…

8) Going silent for a long period

…There’s a certain shop where, just when you’d forgotten all about the transaction, contact finally arrives — and then, just when you’d forgotten again, the item turns up. Looking at the feedback, it seems to be a habit of theirs. I’m not particularly impatient by nature — rather the opposite, quite relaxed about time — so honestly, it doesn’t bother me all that much.

9) The item turned out to be faulty

Something fails in a subtle, hard-to-spot way, and you only notice months after the item arrived… “Ah, so that’s what was going on” — and you just have to swallow it.

10) The buyer demands a return

A buyer who appeared to be new to online auctions rang me up directly to say they’d changed their mind and wanted to return the item. On top of that, it was a high-value item (tens of thousands of yen), essentially in new condition — and they’d already opened and used it before deciding they didn’t want it. That one genuinely rattled me. To make matters worse, they’d actually paid more than the lowest price on kakaku.com — I honestly couldn’t fathom what they’d been thinking. ← (In the end, we agreed that they would relist it themselves, and that they were welcome to reuse the listing photos and template I had originally created.)

That’s roughly the sort of thing that comes to mind. In all of these cases, both parties left each other “Excellent buyer/seller” feedback and called it done. Anyone who’s done a fair number of transactions will have run into these kinds of small troubles here and there — that’s just the normal running of online Auctions. Which is why I do think online auction sites aren’t really suited to people who are fussy about dealing with others, or who can’t rest until everything is resolved in clear black and white.

Unauthorised Reproduction of Listing Descriptions and Images

One thing I find rather interesting when browsing Yahoo! Auctions JP — running a site like this one dedicated to audio — is how often I come across listings that quote my own articles verbatim in the item description, or that link directly to AUDIO STYLE from within the listing text. It happens rather frequently, as it turns out. ※ Note: I can trace these visits through access logs.

For AUDIO STYLE, the policy is essentially open linking — no need to contact me. Direct hotlinking or reproduction of images is not permitted. Text may be quoted with a link back to the original source. So quotation itself is perfectly fine, but whenever something is quoted or reproduced from here — whether on Yahoo! Auctions, other auction platforms, personal sites, blogs, forums, or anywhere else — I do ask that the URL of the original article always be included as the source.

Incidentally, reproducing images from sources other than the manufacturer’s official materials in a online Auctions listing constitutes a misrepresentation of the item’s condition — so please do take your own photographs of what you’re selling, even if it’s a bit of a bother 📷. And just occasionally there are reproductions that look almost like someone impersonating this site, so let me make this clear: the author of this site has never — in the past, and almost certainly not in the future — listed items for sale on Yahoo! Auctions by linking to blog articles or images from here. Just so you know.

《Using a lightbox for auction photos makes a remarkable difference to the quality of your listing images. And just between us — the difference in photo quality genuinely affects the final selling price.》

The indirect lighting I use for product photography: LED Light VIJIM VL81 + selfie stick tripod by SanDony

On Auctions: Be Strict With Yourself, But Generous and Patient With Others

Online auctions are, at heart, transactions between private individuals. Setting aside shop listings, the majority of sellers are handling everything on their own — from listing to dispatch — so personal circumstances inevitably come into play: transport disruptions, mobile or internet connection problems, work or family matters, sudden illness, earthquakes, severe weather, and various other unforeseen events that can cause delays in completing a transaction after a bid has been won. It’s not unheard of. And given the wide range of people involved, minor unexpected hiccups or oversights with items simply come with the territory. When dealing in second-hand goods on online auctions, I think it’s worth keeping all of this in mind — and that a certain openness and generosity of spirit, a willingness to deal with people with a bit of breathing room, is really rather necessary.

As a general approach to online auctions transactions — setting aside outright fraud — even when the other party seems a little off, asserting what’s technically right isn’t always the best move. To avoid things souring and retaliatory feedback being left, I find that skilful and considerate communication and negotiation, and above all a consistently sincere manner right through to the end, tends to lead to better outcomes all round.

In hobby communities — not just Hi-Fi — you tend to find a good many people who are knowledgeable and have a real sense of style as enthusiasts, but equally there are those who are scrupulously earnest and meticulous, those who are inexplicably sloppy and unreliable, and quite a few who come across as not entirely comfortable with social interaction. So reading the other person’s character carefully — from their listing description, their photos, and their feedback comments — is something that really does require a degree of care.

In an auction where both parties transact on equal footing and at their own risk, I think what’s really called for is a certain acceptance: don’t stir up trouble, and when problems do arise, patience — and sometimes accepting a degree of loss — is just part of it. (Don’t expect perfection from auctions.) I personally believe that being flexible enough to accommodate the other person’s situation, within reason, and approaching things with that kind of open-handedness, actually becomes a shield that protects you when things really do go wrong.

～ Summary ～

This final instalment has ended up being rather full of cautionary notes — but well, that’s how it goes. The world is mostly made up of people with a reasonable degree of common sense, but a small proportion require careful handling when it comes to communication, and every so often there are outright criminals mixed in too. This is true of real life just as much as it is of online auctions. Simply keeping that in the back of your mind before you dive in makes a considerable difference to your ability to avoid trouble beforehand. And once you understand that, the rest of it really isn’t so daunting. Whether you’re completely new to it or just getting started, I’d encourage you not to overthink it — just give it a go. It’s sure to open up the world of your hobby considerably, broadening both your horizons and your options. With all of that said, I hope you enjoy a richer and more satisfying life on eBay, Yahoo! Auctions, Mercari, and other online auctions in general.

【Smart Methods for Winning Hi-Fi Equipment on Online Auctions】
（1）｜（2）｜（3）｜（4）｜（5）｜（6）｜（7）｜（8）