Camping knives collection

*Collection of CAMPING KNIVES *SWISS ARMY TYPE & MORE!


ended - Sunday, March 23, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $9.90

Final selling price: $18.12


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of apparently used (explained below) small folding knives used for camping and hiking. This must be an extremely rare collection since the subtitle on the search results page says "Over 5000 years old! *All Authentic *NOT COPIES! Real!!"

Starting out, the auction's title actually isn't that bad. I would have thrown in the word "hiking" and downgraded some of the capitalization, but the title has a few good key words. Apart from the picture, the rest of the auction goes downhill fast.

As it is shown above, the auction's subtitle is a riot. I didn't know that we had the technology 5,000 years ago to make such tools. It's also good to know that these knives aren't copies and are very much real. The "All Authentic" part isn't exactly truthful as the folding knife with all of the add-on features is a Swiss Army-type knife and not a real one.

Rest assured, the seller does point out the look-alike Swiss Army knife by saying: "PLEASE NOTE: THE LARGE SWISS ARMY STYLE KNIFE, IS NOT A SWISS ARMY KNIFE. BUT IT IS ALMOST LIKE ONE. AMAZING QUALITY LIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE. *IT'S NOT CHEAP." This invalidates the "All Authentic" part of the subtitle.

Starting at the top of the description you will find phrases like "INSANE LOW PRICES!", "COLLECTION", and the ever popular, "Super Cool." Is this a cheap discount store or a professional eBay PowerSeller?

The seller then goes on to list the knives in the auction using her own random pattern and terminology. It would have been nice if the knives were listed in order as they are in the picture. Buyers like to know exactly what they're receiving, and it cases like this you need to point out each one exactly. The "UNIPRICE SKINNING KNIFE" and "*INSTA-OPEN KNIVES" were new terms to me and to Google.

"YOU FIVE KNIVES TOTAL." - A) Can you say that in English? B) By my count there are six knives in the picture and the description.

"PAYPAL, MONEY ORDERS, OR CHECKS IS ACCEPTED AS PAYMENT!" - It's good that they are accepted as payment.

"Recieved" - received

"inconvience" - inconvenience

"The shipping discount is 1 dollar off per action. If you don't agree with the shipping policy. Please refrain from bidding." - Ok, but do you discount for shipping multiple auctions? Also, the last two sentences would probably be much better if they were put together as one sentence.

"I sell used items, and problems can always be exspected." - So therefore these knives are most likely used. That kind of information needs to be made clearer for the customers. More importantly, if problems can always be expected, then why should anyone do business with you?

"I promiss good customer service." - Such a promise shouldn't be needed from a PowerSeller. At eBay, your feedback lets people know how well you handle such things like that.

"COMBINE SHIPPING DISCOUNT" - Combined shipping discount

"Hi everybody, My Name is Jan." - Howdy, Jan! It's nice to meet you!

"I list everything for only .99 cents." - Ummm, that's not true for this auction. If so, then the buyer needs a discount of $8.91. Spot checking a few of her sold items, some were listed with starting bids of $9.90, while others were only $0.69. That tells me that this seller cannot hit keys correctly on the numeric keypad nor does she even bother to check her work.

"No reserved. So everybody will have a fair chance to bid." - I like this strategy (honest!) as I'm not a fan of participating in reserve auctions myself. This would look better without the sentence fragments.

The shipping & handling price for these knives is too high. You'll just scare away potential customers when you charge fees like that. Scamming people with high fees is not the way to win back repeat business. The $1 off combined shipping discount with each add-on item isn't a deal to the customers when your fees are that high.


Overall, this is a very sloppy and unprofessional auction. The seller made absolutely no effort to correct the many grammar and auction errors throughout this entire auction. The region / culture for these knives is not Japan, and the seller needs to make it known for a fact whether these knives are new or used. The auction's picture is very good and the title isn't bad, but the rest of it needs a complete makeover.

What bothers me the most is that this auction is by a PowerSeller with almost 1,900 positive pieces of feedback in the past twelve months. Obviously, the seller does not care about the inconsistencies with the "I list everything for .99 cents except when I can't hit the keys correctly" starting bids or other problems. What's equally scary are the number of people who reward a sloppy and very unprofessional person like this with business.

With the Internet and free tools such as Dictionary, Google, and Wikipedia, it's ridiculously easy to do basic research and checking. Take the time to double check your work and keep things consistent. As a PowerSeller, you shouldn't have auctions that look this poor and childish.