Currently there's an item on eBay I'm interested in, but I have a question about something shown in one of the pictures.

I haven't heard anything back from the seller, which got me thinking. More often than not I don't get relies to questions. Are sellers afraid to answer questions because the answer to said question shows up at the bottom of the listing in the question area? To anyone that has sold on eBay, have you ever ignored a question because you thought it might scare away other buyers?

If you answer a question I believe you're given the option whether or not you want it to appear answered in the listing.  I think more often than not it's laziness, or you caught them with something they don't want to answser... though on a whim I was messaging people listing bootlegs and more responded back than I thought would (and those fell into either "I didn't know, how do you?" or "I bought this from a store this isn't bootleg" camps). 

So, I would be very reluctant if you're not getting an answer and whatever you saw (something in the condition, whether something is included or missing, etc.) would greatly affect the value and whether you would buy dependent on that.  The only questions I've ignored were about ending early and selling for x price (which is usually someone lowballing).

Oh, okay. I was unaware of this. That interesting.

Anyway, I'm interested in this item:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/401193178849?_t … EBIDX%3AIT

But I can't tell if that red marker is on the case or the back insert.

Yeah, I would definitely want an answer on that as well.  The case needs to be replaced on that anyway, so that wouldn't be an issue on the outside, but really makes it look bad if they did it on the insert.

Here is why your question hasn't been answered.  The CD in question costs $4 shipped.  The seller probably makes $2 on it at most.  If they answer your question, maybe you buy it 25% of the time (eBay'ers are flaky).

So that's 50 cents they get on average if they answer.  And if they don't answer, someone else will probably buy it eventually, meaning that they actually lose a lot less than 50 cents by not answering you.

That's pretty much all there is to say.  The economics of answering questions on an item like this just aren't there.

Not to sound like an ass, but I kind of had a hunch this was the case.

That said, if you want a certain dollar amount, you should just do buy it now. I'd honestly pay more than this and would just prefer it. I don't think many people are clamoring for this promo cd.

I thought I'd update this since I did buy this.

Yes, the marker was on the case and I got it for $11.50 total. However, I got the feeling someone was just trying to raise my bid because it didn't look like they were trying to beat my bid.

Anyway, the disc was in perfect shape and all I had to do was replace the case.

I had a situation where I asked an eBay seller a question about an item. Basically, I wanted to know whether the CD he was offering was legitimate. I never received an answer. A few days later, I decided I wanted to buy it anyway, but I couldn't because the seller had blocked me. From reading the eBay boards, this doesn't seem uncommon. The thought is that if a buyer is asking a question about an item's condition, they are more likely to want to return it or leave negative feedback about the condition. The seller was also Japanese, so there may have been a language barrier, and he may have decided that it would be easier just to block me than try to answer my question and potentially have a miscommunication.

I'm actually surprised to hear the seller would go through the effort to ban you.  Not that it's a ton of effort, but it's certainly more effort than just ignoring your question and doing nothing in response

Speaking of eBay, does anyone kind of hate it when Priority is the only shipping option? See, an item I bought is being sent from within the state I live in. It would probably get here within the same time frame just being first class. I'm not trying to be an ass but that's pretty much a waste of $3~4.