Manual/Guide for Sellers (Sell/Selling) on Carousell SG

If there was a manual or guide book for sellers & buyers on Carousell, many problems would be avoided.

Many sellers have positive ratings simply by using all & any means to get them. But at what price? Travelling across the whole Singapore island just to deliver a $5 item?

C'mon. Transport cost, time, effort. All these aren't free. Unless getting a positive review satisfies your ego problem like S&M, you will want to sell your time & effort more usefully.

This will also regulate the marketplace such that buyers don't take advantage of sellers.


#1 Don't be too desperate to get rid of your item.

Every seller wants to sell. But you will want to sell it at a price that is fair to your item & to you.  If buyer severely cuts your price, do not sell.  Do not even reply.

Be confident & watch the interest level for your item (number of likes). Even if interest level is very low, do not entertain too low offers. For pre-loved or 2ndhand, you're better off throwing it away than accept an offer that is unfair.  Even Sungei Road sellers have pride.

If you have only 1 of a particular item, all the more it has to be sold at the correct price to the right buyer.

This is to prevent such common incidents:

Buyer offers low price & you accept. But shortly after (sometimes just a few minutes later), another buyer offers full price. If you sell to the 2nd buyer, the first buyer will leave you negative feedback that will ruin your profile/shop page.  If you reject the 2nd buyer because you already promised the first, you will disadvantage yourself by earning less.

To be fair, all buyers must pay the listed price. If you want to give discount or allow negotiation, then you shouldn't list it at that price.

Don't be afraid that your item won't sell. Depending on the item, it will take some time, but it will sell. It's just a matter of pricing.

I once sold a tray of sand with miniature decorations to go with it for $55. The whole thing was imported & I had specially selected each item to form a set. It is not available anywhere. So it was very unique even though simple.  Almost custom-made.

It took 3 months to sell. 4 offers in total. The first 3 buyers made $30, $40 offers which I rejected because I knew the value of my item. It was unique & took quite a lot of trouble & time to select every piece before it finally shipped over. And shipping the sand was a very long wait.

I imported it with confidence, knowing that it would sell. But I didn't buy it with a strong focus to sell. I bought it because I personally liked it, loved the novelty of it & was curious about how it would feel to have the actual item.

The 4th buyer asked for a discount but I refused.  But she was fine with getting it at full price.

My bro said he can't believe anybody would buy it. Because he couldn't see the beauty of it. Well, the item appeals more to ladies.  It captures the heart in ways that small things do for ladies.

It certainly captured mine & I didn't care if it captured the hearts of others as well. I just liked it a lot & shipped it in. 


#2  Don't be so nice to buyers.  Majority of buyers are rude & shitty.

They deserve to be scammed.  99.99% will not even bother to say "Hi" in an opening message. They have little pockets, they are silly & think the world revolves around them. No money, stingy & want cheap things.

If they have no money to buy, I would rather they just go away than reply with something totally unnecessary like "sorry, not interested" or "I won't be buying".

If not interested, then just get lost. Such a person is just doing it on purpose. Bullshit "sorry" just to get back at the seller. No money, just get lost.

I have already tested all these buyers. All they want is cheap pricing. The lower the better. They make a lot of assumptions based on zero knowledge. They are easy to scam/sell to if you hit the right buttons.

They have zero knowledge on shipping & how much it costs. Zero knowledge on product pricing & quality.  It's as if they have never been to shopping malls or gone shopping at all or ordered anything online before. They have very unrealistic ideas on how much things should cost.

Their mentality: I want to buy a car for only $5.

Anyone who owns an iphone has money.  But they have very odd, unrealistic & stingy ideas of how much they are willing to pay.

Some sellers have taken very good advantage of this by adding "perceived value" to their items to get sales. A poor quality item can be turned into good sales simply by adding "perceived value" with a low pricing.

For instance: Anello bags. There is a seller on Carousell who is doing very well selling these bags which she orders. She prices them too low & earns very little profit which is not worthwhile at all.  She states the bags are "authentic".  However, I know where she gets them from, I know the actual prices & it's true they are cheap stock (although at her prices, she's making too little profit).

I could do the same since I know the source of these bags, but I'm not interested in such low profit & I avoid selling leather (whether poor quality or not. The dangling zipper straps.)

A few buyers have even said that they don't care whether the bags are genuine because they are cheap & "good quality" for the price.  Other buyers buy into her "authentic" statement & the good reviews.

Due to buyers' unrealistic perceptions of product quality & price, they "force" sellers to scam them. They ask for it. Buyers make it very difficult to almost impossible for sellers to sell at honest & fair prices.

As a seller, you have to either scam them or think of a strategy (such as perceived value) to squeeze money out of them.  Scams are useless (short-term gain that ruins entire selling stage) whereas a well-conceived strategy works very well & makes buyers happy to get 'scammed'.

Example of a rude person:  Even though there's "hi" & "tks", look at the tone & attitude of this buyer. Note the 1 negative review under the profile.  It doesn't matter whether this person has accumulated 76 positives. 76 positives buying cheap 2ndhand things from desperate sellers.

Just this message reflects badly on this buyer.  Don't want to buy, don't need to slap off with  "Nevermind, i won't be buying" because you have no money.  I merely provided the price & payment method.

I have received replies from people who say it nicely when they don't want to buy or can't afford it. Not "Nevermind, i won't be buying".  A person who thinks just adding a "tks" can cover rudeness & poor behavior. I don't even need to see what was the negative review about.

#3  Which messages to ignore?

That's easy. Even without profile photos or even punctuation marks, it's easy to tell what sort of person is on the other side. 

Example: divyadua

The first time, I deleted the message. This is the 2nd time I'm receiving it again. Out of so many messages I received, this is the only person who says "Hello U there".  I don't care to reply to such a person.

The likelihood of such a person actually buying? Either this person is crazy or has no money or both.

#4  Never travel out of your way to please a buyer.

That's common sense that is commonly forsaken when the seller is desperate for a positive review or a sale.

Time lost cannot be recovered. No amount of money can replace that loss. All for what? Delivering a 2ndhand item for just a few bucks & a positive review?

Remember what you are selling an item for:  Money.

Do not travel all the way to buyers' doorstep just to send your item. You are not a puppy.


#5  Never give a positive review/feedback to a buyer unless buyer gives you one first.

Unless you don't mind not getting a review at all or getting a negative one in return, don't auto-give a positive review to any buyer regardless of how "nice" he/she is.

Positive reviews have influence even if it's not 100% reliable. They boost a seller's/buyer's credibility & standing. Therefore, positive reviews are valuable.

Positive reviews are more valuable to a seller than to a buyer.

Sellers will still sell to a buyer with negative reviews (even 6 negative!). But sellers with negative feedback will find it harder to sell.

Therefore as a seller, don't unnecessarily give the buyer such an added & important benefit without guaranteeing getting one in return.

After all, what a seller wants is money. Not reviews.

After a positive experience, if a buyer does not give a positive review within the day, it means the buyer is shit. Just leave it. As a seller, you already got what you wanted.


#6  Take the business of buyers with zero feedback rating.  

Buyers with zero feedback rating are actually good because they will need positive reviews. After a positive experience, wait for them to give you positive feedback so that you can return it.

They may be newbies who don't know to make offer (or oldbies with a new a/c but intentionally don't want to make offer so that you can't leave feedback when they are bad), but there is little risk in selling to them. 

Ironically, it's better/safer selling to buyers with zero rating than to someone with high positive feedback score.

Buyers with high positive scores tend to be over-confident with some arrogance, & are in fact lousy.


#7  Should you take the business of a buyer with negative reviews?

It depends on how many negatives the buyer has. And why the negative feedback was given.

It is important (in fact more important) to read the negative feedback than the positive ones. Even if the buyer has 21 positive reviews but 1 negative, take the time to scroll down to read that 1 negative.

Sometimes, it is just a small matter, such as buyer making an offer but not following up with purchase. This is normal. It is not compulsory for buyers to buy an item just because he/she made an offer. The deal was not confirmed.

However, if it is about buyer not turning up for meet up, then that is something to pay attention to.  It has to be balanced with the positive reviews.  Consider whether his/her behavior changed in the positive reviews.

Buyers are blind not to read & cannot make sensible judgements whether to buy from a seller. But a seller cannot be blind to read a buyer's negative feedback.

I once saw a buyer with 6 negative reviews that were pretty bad & sellers still successfully & happily sold items to this buyer!

I notice that sellers are so desperate to sell that they will ignore buyers' negative reviews. Buyers know this. Therefore, they don't care even if they have negative reviews. They know they will still be able to buy items from sellers who will still sell to them.


#8  Never chase buyers.

Have pride as a seller. Even if a buyer makes an offer but disappears, don't bother. No loss in terms of time & money for you. You didn't travel anywhere, didn't spend anything.

Buyer is not obligated to buy from you. Just like walking into a shop & walking out. Buyer has the right to walk out before a deal is confirmed.

I say 'before a deal is confirmed', the buyer has the right to walk out. This is an important distinction between buyer who walks out before & after a deal is confirmed.

Before, buyer still can walk out & it's fine. No need to leave a desperate negative feedback on buyer's page.

After a deal is confirmed, & buyer does not turn up for meeting, then that is a terrible buyer. Quickly leave negative feedback on buyer's page so others will be aware. Even then, sellers will still sell to such a buyer (though it may deter others).

It is therefore better that insincere buyers quit early. And sellers should not chase such buyers to avoid awful endings.


#9  Real buyers will deal quickly, within a few minutes or the same day.

A buyer who has the "heart" to buy, will secure the deal quickly.  Simply because they want the item now & they have the money for it.

If a buyer is indecisive, or asks a lot of anxiety-related questions about the item, it means the buyer is not serious about buying.  Has no "heart" to buy. Don't waste an unnecessary amount of time on such a buyer.

Those who ask unnecessary, anxiety-type of questions regarding an item, should go to a physical store to buy things, not online.

A true buyer with money will not hesitate to buy immediately.

A buyer is not serious if he/she:

1) Asks irrelevant questions that other real buyers never asked.

2) Asks questions that are already answered in the item description/listing.

These buyers are just asking for fun. Entertain them if you want. Or ignore them.

Example 1: pre-order sandals. Buyer asks, "Will this slip off easily when riding bike?".

This is pre-order item. Commonsense that seller will not have experience knowing whether the sandals will slip off when riding bike. Stupid question. Silly buyer. Irrelevant question.

Example 2: In-stock Macbook bag. Buyer asks whether it can fit his 13'' Macbook, whether it's slim & whether it's heavy. Whether it can fit mouse & charger.

Another silly buyer. All he had to do is measure his Macbook & see whether it fits the measurements given in the item listing. Other questions are answered in the 4 photos that clearly show that yes, it is slim and can fit mouse & charger. Commonsense: How heavy can an empty Macbook bag be? When you put in Macbook, mouse & charger, of course it will be heavy to a certain extent & less slim. 

#10  Be careful of who you sell to, if you don't want to be stood up during meet-ups or not get your money etc...

Look for signs that the buyer is insincere during messaging/chat. It's obvious when the buyer does not have the "heart" to buy.

First of all, look at the buyer's profile pic. Dark, unlit, poorly-lit, side views, top views, wearing sunglasses, taken from far away (all unclear, non-frontal views) photos are signs of poor character with something to hide.  Dishonesty or some similar problem.  Keep this in mind when dealing with such buyers.

Second, during messaging/chat, look for signs of indecision & intervals in reply speed. An interested buyer will reply almost instantly to your messages during chat. The deal will be quickly done.

If the reply interval is long (many minutes/hours/days), it means there's something wrong.  Buyer is not interested. Do not pursue. Do not remind buyer. Just leave it.

Example of profile pic: 

This person messaged me with no greeting. Profile photo looks questionable. Asked, "Still available?".  Be careful whenever a buyer asks such a question. Indication of lack of common sense. Serious buyer will immediately ask to deal.

When I said it was available, person replied: 

Now, this gets on my nerves. First, why ask whether it's available when you have no intention of paying listed price? The price drop is a lot from the price I listed. This reveals a shitty, cheapskate character. Instead of first asking whether it's negotiable, person first asks whether it's available (then thick-skin ask for price drop).

Second, the person is a goddamn foreigner with "sgd".  You are at a Singapore Carousell site. Of course, it's in SGD.  Goddamn Indo rupiah meh? US dollars meh?  Those Indo/India/Southeast asian foreigners love putting sgd at the back of the digits. I don't know why. It's not a recognized way of stating currency. 

Example 2:  samyk854.

When I first saw this profile pic (below), here's what I thought: Untrustworthy. Playful. Too young to have money.

He made offer for 2 items without asking a single thing. Suspicious.

After seeing his photo, I looked at his 29 positive reviews. Many praises for this person. "Polite", "prompt in replies" "punctual".  But from his photo, he looks negative. This guy is untrustworthy.

Looking at his profile description, he is a football fan. Childish.

There are 2 groups of people that leave a bad impression (due to their mentality): football fans & computer games players. 

I thanked him for his offers & asked when he wanted to collect at the venues stated. He never replied.

#11   Beware of selling to foreigners. Particularly China. They are horrible people.

Beware of a China man with the ID "Jeffrey Gao".  The surname is obviously China. He is indeed from China & is possibly an exchange "student" in the NUS doing computer studies.  Do not sell anything to him.  Don't trust his positive reviews. He is crap.  Beady-eyed, ugly troublemaker.

He is just out to cause trouble when he sees opportunity. Do not reply to his messages.

As for Indonesians/Vietnamese/Filippinos or whatever nationality, their mentalities & behaviours are different from Singaporeans. Be prepared for all kinds of shit when you sell to them. 

#12  Ignore stupid "buyers". 

It's very strange. Is the Carousell App not displaying properly? Or these people have iphones that are unable to display photos & item description? Or these people are just plain stupid? 

Everyone knows that Carousell only allows 4 photos to be in an item listing. So why do "buyers" always only see the 1st photo & ask stupid questions that are already answered in the other 3 photos & in item description?

It's only 4 photos. And yet they cannot use their fingers to scroll on their iphone to see the other 3 photos? Or scroll down to read item description? What's wrong with them?

Many "buyers" send messages without reading item description. They ask stupid questions, make useless assumptions, waste time.

Typically, such "buyers" do not buy.  No loss if you don't reply.  No sales to be made here. Ignore.

Particularly, if you are selling pre-order items, it is risky to sell to such stupid people because they don't know anything. They will turn around & accuse you of bullshitting them while pestering you for the item/s.  They never ordered anything from overseas before & have very unreasonable & unrealistic ideas about pre-order.


Example 1:

Even though measurements are stated in the item description, many still ask.  Even when stated that dimensions are in one of the photos, here is a stupid person who still asked this ultra ridiculous question which I ignored. I was so dumbfounded by it that I didn't bother typing a reply.

In the item heading, I stated that dimensions are in the 3rd photo. Yet this person asks:

 

Shouldn't she look at the 3rd photo???  This person lost her brains somewhere?

Odd thing is, the profile photo shows an intelligent-looking woman. I'm accurate with photos. Such a person in the photo could not have asked such a stupid question.

Either the photo does not belong to the person who asked the question. Or the photo is correct but the person deterioriated (went mad) over the years & the profile photo is an old one.

So far, nobody has ever said that the Carousell App is not displaying photos properly.  Instead, they will admit that they neglected to see the photos. 

Example 2: "Buyers" who are unable to count.

I stated in item description & also in messaging that the item will take about 14 days or more to arrive after order. However, this Indian woman wasted time messaging rubbish back & forth before finally saying that she will be flying off shortly. She was intending to fly off with that heavy item.

Commonsense. If you are flying off shortly, can you count first?  It's always very ridiculous when people in a hurry decide to order items at the last minute & expect shipping to be instant.

At the start, the Indian woman messaged me at the end of last month. She delayed replying for 8 days. If she wanted the item & would be flying off soon, then she should have ordered earlier at that time.

But she delayed for 8 days. When she finally expressed further interest in the item last night, time was already wasted. Between last night & her flight date, there isn't enough time at all, let alone collect the item.

And she never once asked  where or how she can collect the item when it arrives. Obviously, she assumes it will appear instantly at her side. Since she didn't think to ask, then I won't be it up.

When I said I can expediate the shipping if she pays some $ more, she just disappeared.

#13  Ignore buyers who ask irrelevant questions. Or make trouble with your pricing.

These are buyers who don't buy. Guaranteed. U can ignore them. No sales to be made here.

Irrelevant question such as "Where is it made in?". These days, where is almost everything made in? To ask this question means the person is stupid.  At a low price, of course the item is made in where? Such stingy & selfish people, if it's really made in Europe or Japan, they can't even afford it. So why ask where is it made in?

A genuine buyer won't ask this question. Who cares where it's made in when you want the product & can pay for it? A genuine buyer's concern is whether you can deliver it, when he/she can have it.

People who ask irrelevant questions are either crazy or lonely. If the Carousell chat system requires payment, you see whether they still ask shit. They will think carefully before asking a single question.

All the back & forth messaging crap is all because the chat system is free.

Example of troublemaker regarding pricing:  Starts out message with not even a "Hi".  Asked how long the item takes to arrive. Then started showing another person's item (that looks similar but totally different) & asks why the other person's item is cheaper.  Compares & insults your item.

Such a buyer, just ignore. I gave him/her a cold reply & he/she disappeared.

#14 When someone 'likes' your item, it means your item is bumped up in search listing. Be grateful & return the "like" (unless u don't want the person to buy from u). 

It shows you are responsive. And it encourages buyers who 'liked' your item to buy from you. Sometimes, they do. 

I always return "likes" unless I see something wrong with the profile of the person who "liked" my item. If there's something I don't like about the profile & I don't want the person to buy from me, I won't return the "like". 


#15 Never pay first for buyer's pre-order item.

Pre-order means buyer pays first. So that you don't have to use your own money (because you're broke). If for whatever reasons, buyer refuses to pay, do not order for buyer. When item arrives & nobody buys, you'll be unnecessarily stuck with a fresh problem.

Buyer tells me he does not trust me. Has no assurance about pre-ordering from me. Well, let me tell you:  Even before Carousell, I have been doing pre-orders for 4 years. Buyers all pay first. No pay, no order.

I've business partners in Taiwan & Korea even though we have never met, based solely on trust. And all along, I've been doing online transactions. I've bought & sold many things online.

So don't tell me you don't "trust" me. I told him to go buy from scammers who will make him feel safe.

From his questions & long reply intervals, it is more likely that he is insincere about buying. Very bad, selfish buyer (who incidentally has high positive feedback score). High chance he will disappear if you order for him without his payment first.

Don't trust a buyer just because he has positive feedback ratings. Use your own judgement outside of those feedback scores.

Sellers have more to lose than a buyer if buyer does not pay first:

1) Buyer can easily walk away from an item that he/she did not pay for.

2) During the waiting time for the item's arrival, buyer no longer wants the item. This is a common (& odd) mentality with buyers. At first, they want it. But during waiting, they lose interest. By the time it arrives, they either don't want it, don't need it anymore or have forgotten. You would be surprised how many pre-ordered items are just abandoned even when they were paid for (ask the spree-organizers).

3) In fact, even for in-stock items, I am always worried about buyers not turning up for meet-ups because he/she didn't pay first. Zero security.  At the same time, such buyers are unwilling to pay first because they don't trust the seller. So inevitably, it has to be cash on delivery in order to make a sale.


#16  Never reserve your item for a buyer unless buyer secures it with full payment.

Otherwise, this is what will happen: 

And of course, never offer to reserve for any buyer.


#17 Never tag your item with rubbish keywords. It irritates & chases away buyers.

Many sellers have a very bad sales mentality of tagging a lot of irrelevant keywords at the bottom of, or inside their item description. Usually, it's one large heap at the bottom.

They think it's some kind of sales "strategy" that will make their item show up everywhere in search listings.

When you check their listings to see what made their item appear, you'll see the irrelevant keywords intentionally attached to the item description. 

That is Very Bad. It causes all kinds of shit to appear when a buyer wants to search for a specific item in mind.

Type "men bag" & you get fiberglass boats, shoes, pants, golf sets, suspension trainer, belts, power drills, punching bags, shirts, boxer shorts, chin-up bar ads, stuffed toys, used Lego sets for sale, leather bracelets, LED bicycle lights, Grid Halter Dress....

As a buyer, you have to sift through all that Crap. Will you stay to search pages of crap or get out?

Such sellers who tag their items with shit should get out. They are disturbing the marketplace. They are a nuisance. Selfish, inconsiderate, stupid.

Do they make great sales by doing this?

Let's look at the fellow selling gym shit. Signed up since 2013 but has only 29 reviews.

Lego sets for sale dude: Since 2013, only 106 reviews.

How about the stuffed toy shit? Since 2014, only 59 reviews.

The punching bag fella? Since 2015, only 12 reviews.

Mr. fiberglass boat: Since 2014 only 6 reviews.

Therefore, doing such wild tagging does not increase sales!


#18 Never tolerate buyers who arrive late at a meet up. 

Many sellers are so desperate for praise & positive review that they are fine with anything.  Sellers must make it clear that buyers must be punctual.

In many sellers' reviews, you'll see buyers praising a seller who had patiently waited for them. A buyer even "overslept" & the seller waited with patient understanding.

As a seller, remember what you are selling for. Money.  

Don't be a fool. Buyer pays for your item/s. But he/she is not paying for your time or your effort. 


#19  Don't get short-changed by buyers. Never sell to someone who did not pay.

Reading the feedback columns of sellers, there are:

1) Buyers who intentionally bring less than the agreed upon price, hoping the seller will let them off & therefore buyer pays less.

2) Buyers who intentionally didn't bring cash during meet up. Says need to go to ATM.

(Personally, I met one who came 20 mins late & finally showed up saying he didn't bring cash & need to go to the ATM. No apology & sure damn well took his time.).

3) Buyers who intentionally bring larger amount of cash than agreed upon price. Seller is forced to change money, to the extent of having to go into a convenience store to get change.

4) Buyers who didn't bring cash & promise to pay after getting the goods.

(99.99% of people will promise to do something but never do it. I learnt that after selling & interacting with people over the years. These days, people no longer understand the meaning of integrity & promise. I have come across many buyers who say they will transfer money at a certain time, but never do.).

The goal is to avoid such buyers at the start. Following rule #9 should minimize or eliminate such problems.

If however, you chose to give them the benefit of the doubt & they proved to be horrible, there is only 1 difficult thing to do: Don't sell to them. The item is in your hands.  Since they waste your time, waste theirs back. Walk away.  



#20  Is Carousell SG effective as a selling platform? 

In the past, maybe it was effective & I am guessing that traffic was at its peak. But due to negative publicity, traffic has fallen a lot.

Is the site still alive with buyers? Yes. I've tested it. It depends on what you're selling & price. 

In 1 account for a particular pre-order group of items & zero pricing, I received more than 10 messages every day & night, asking for price.  But when I gave the price, these people disappeared. Side note: Very few of them start out by saying "Hi".  Many are very rude without even a question mark. "Price?" "Price" "How much" "Hm?".

Honestly, there were 2 persons (women?) who just messaged with "Hm?". I just ignored them. One of them later sent a message with proper words (asked a question).

100% of them who said "I'll get back to you" "I'll ask my wife/husband & get back to you" never returned.  I don't know why they bother to reply.  If they don't want it, there's no need to make false promises. This point was also mentioned by another seller online.

In my 2nd account, another group of items that are in stock with stated pricing, isn't doing well.

The audience is very fickle & very stingy. Very risky to keep stock. Weeks can go by without a single buyer.  The Carousell site itself is also not stable.

Low price doesn't guarantee buyers. I've been watching a guy sell very low-priced bags & notice that even though his prices are super low, each bag still takes about 2-3 weeks to be sold. At such low prices, he should be selling them immediately on listing. But that is not the case.

That seller has disappeared & "promises" to be back. To be honest, there is no incentive for him to return with more stock because the prices he sets are too low to make any decent profit.

Carousell buyers have a very narrow-minded view of pricing & product quality. They have very poor taste, poor knowledge.

All they want is cheap pricing. They aren't smart & easily conned. They don't seem to know how much things are selling at the malls.  They think everything must fit into the budget of their wallets.

Carousell is after all, a platform for 2ndhand goods like a flea market. So they go there with a mindset of getting cheap deals.

The higher the price of an item, the harder it is to sell it.  This is regardless of how good quality or how great-looking your item is. They don't care. They will buy an ugly bag if it's cheap.

The traffic & buying power cannot match a physical store.  If it were a physical store in a shopping mall, my items would have long ago sold like hot cakes. But at Carousell,  they don't move at all. The pricing is not expensive & level of interest is there. But they are just not buying.

From my own honest sales (without lies) & observation, Carousell is very poor for profit-making. But it can still be useful.


#21 Don't trust positive reviews. Use your own judgement.

See a buyer's many positive reviews & think this person is safe & you let down your guard? Think again.

Positive reviews only mean that in these instances, the buyer was cooperative. He/she really wanted the item & so was on best behavior. It doesn't mean this buyer is good.

Behind these positive reviews, how many deals were bad & fell through 'unreported'? Many buyers intentionally don't make offers so that sellers can't leave them negative feedback.

From personal experience, 99.99% of buyers will not make offer so that leaving them feedback is impossible. Making an offer takes only an instant. So why don't buyers make an offer if they are really sincere?

Answer: Because they don't need feedback. Also, if seller can't leave them feedback, it means they can be late, they can don't show up, they can do whatever they please & not get a negative review. Also, they drop by only occasionally & disappear. They just want an item. Feedback is not important.

Whereas for sellers, positive feedback scores are important for credibility & continued future sales.

In many sellers' comment pages, you will see sellers insisting that buyers "make offer" for an item first. This is because many buyers bypass this step to get the item.

If a buyer don't make offer, be prepared he/she will be late, may not show up etc... Keep in mind when dealing.

In the beginning, I let buyers get away with no offers made. They were always late & worse. And I had no way of leaving them negative feedback after their bad behavior.

Personally, I don't force people to do things. So I leave it to them to make offer out of their own sincerity. But I found that the more I let them have their way, the more it didn't benefit me.

These days, depending on my evaluation of the person during the messaging chat, I may ask he/she to make an offer first so feedback can be left later.

Strangely, even when we can leave feedback for each other, buyers who already have positive feedback don't leave me any. It means, they don't need the positive feedback because they already have them & they can just use those they previously accumulated to move around.

Buyers on Carousell are just strange.

To be honest, I would rather buyers don't leave me positive reviews if their English is bad. Very awful to read poor English. And I've found that no reviews is actually better than having reviews. I sold more items without reviews than when I finally had positive reviews (with good English). Strange but true.

Let's take a look at an example:

This Malay person asked about a pre-order listing with sizes. But there is no "hi" at all.

When asked what size she wanted so that a price can be quoted, she disappeared.

The next day, she asked about another pre-order listing. Again no greeting & a very rude "So what is the price?" without giving any information on what size she wanted.

Is such a person sincere or interested in buying? No.
Is this person crazy? Possibly.
Should you waste time in giving her the price list? No. Even if you gave it to her, she won't be able to afford the prices.

Looking at her reviews, she has 11 positive. "genuine sincere buyer" "awesome and understanding" etc... That is because she purchased cheap & used items.

Additionally, her own listings include used children items (pram/stroller, shoes etc....) that are of low & cheap quality. People with kids typically have no money. So don't bother entertaining such a rude & "no money" person.

Remember, you are a seller. Do real sales.


#22  Only stupid sellers reveal their home location.

Many sellers like buyers to come to their void decks, even to their door-step.

Obviously, such sellers haven't  been reading reports of what crazy & angry buyers can do if they know where you stay.

Sellers think it's just the void deck & not the home. Well, that's just being very naive & stupid. Compromising home security for the sake of a sale.