The recent bidorbuy survey revealed that one of the pet peeves buyers have are the sellers who do not put telephone number in their profile. Buyers would like to be able to call the seller, especially if it is a first-time transaction between the two. After all, buyers on online auction sites and marketplaces are often advised against paying the seller who has no rating, is not verified, sells expensive gadgets, and on top of all that cannot be reached by phone.

Because of all those reasons, one is indeed inclined to be only too ready to denounce the sellers who do not supply their phone number. But then, look at it from the seller’s point of view, and the perception changes.

The majority of bidorbuy sellers are home-based businesses. That means that their home number or their cell number is at the same time their business number. Now imagine an overly eager or simply insomniac buyer who happens to be browsing bidorbuy at about two in the morning. On the spur of the moment, he (or she) decides to buy something. He (or she) presses the buy now button and receives an automated email with the seller’s details. Excited about his or her new acquisition, the customer forgets that some people sleep and starts dialing the number included in the message…

Put yourself into the awoken seller’s shoes and admit: how many midnight phone calls would you endure before you went into your bidorbuy profile and deleted your phone number? It would probably take only one.

And while it is quite acceptable to advise buyers not to entrust their money to a seller who has no ratings, is not verified, sells expensive items at unbelievable discounts, lists a hosts of items for a short period and cannot be reached by phone, we leave it up to you to decide how to appraise the sellers who do have rating and are verified and answer to your email queries, but do not supply their telephone number.

As for sellers who do not enter their banks details, making it possible for buyers to pay via internet straight away, even in the middle of the night if they feel so disposed – they have no excuse other than forgetfulness. There really is no reason why a buyer should be made to write an email requesting the seller’s bank information, and then wait for the seller to wake up and respond. A situation like that is enough to make any buyer reach for a telephone!

Sellers please note: with the introduction of bobPay-EFT, a whole new world of fast online payments has opened up for you. Do make sure to read and implement bidorbuy recommendations when you select to accept bobPay-EFT (find the recommendations at the end of the article).