etzee

Why naming the flaw raises the price

Bidders discount for uncertainty. Telling them exactly what is wrong removes the discount.

The Metzee team13 Oct 20261 min read

This is counter-intuitive and it is the single most profitable thing in this post: describing the flaw makes the item sell for more.

The arithmetic

A bidder looking at an item with an unexplained shadow, a vague "good condition", or a photograph that carefully avoids one side does not assume the best. They assume something between the best and the worst, and they bid accordingly.

That gap is a discount, and you are paying it on every item where the condition is unclear.

Name the chip and the gap closes. The bidder is no longer pricing in an unknown — they are pricing in a chip, which is a smaller number.

How to word it

Be specific and unemotional. "A 4mm chip on the foot rim, not visible when it is sitting on a table." Not "slight damage".

Say where, how big, and whether it shows in use. Those are the three things a buyer wants and the three they will ask about anyway.

Show it. A photograph of the flaw is worth more than a paragraph about it, and live, you can turn it over and point.

What this prevents

Most disputes here come down to the same thing: a difference between what a buyer thought they were getting and what arrived. A named flaw cannot become that dispute.

Questions people ask

Will I put buyers off?

Some. They are the ones who would have opened a dispute.

What counts as a flaw worth mentioning?

Anything you would want to know if you were buying it. If you are debating whether to mention it, mention it.

What if I did not notice it until after it sold?

Tell the buyer before you send it. A message beforehand is a conversation; a surprise in a box is a complaint.

Does this apply to new items too?

Yes — a factory second, a damaged box, a missing accessory.

Next: photographing an item.

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