kerravonsen@mastodon.auLooking at craft supplies on eBay, and one of my policies is that if they aren't clear about what they are selling -- that is, if they don't say IN WORDS, clearly, unambigiously, what they are selling, all the pictures in the world will not get me to buy their stuff. Because their pictures could be the equivalent of a "serving suggestion" rather than what they are actually selling.
And if their listing description has nothing but pictures, that's a fail.
And if their listing has a paragraph of content-free marketroid-speak followed by a jumble of words without any punctuation, that is also a fail.
Extract from current example:
"It has a wide of application. Adequate quantity can easily meet your daily use and replacement needs." (and so on)
and under package contents it says:
"90 x Ribbon Ends Clamps Lobster Clasps 200 x Rings Iron Tail Chains 1"
I mean, does it mean that they have 90 ribbon ends, or does it mean they have a total of 90 (ribbon-ends plus clamps plus lobster clasps)? Are there ribbon ends and clamps, or are they ribbon-ends-clamps? Does it mean that they have 200 rings? One chain? 200 chains? WHAT? -- I could GUESS, but why should I spend money on a guess? I could inquire, but if their listing is so unclear that I need to inquire, then they do not deserve my precious time spent inquiring.
@kerravonsen And what about buying craft supplies directly from real suppliers, from small regional business?
In the European Union we have tough regulations about how to describe stuff we sell correctly. Customers have a place where they can make a protest against such fishy sellers or if they don't get the promised quality. Ebay, Alibaba & Co have too many trash shops ..
@crafters
@NatureMC @crafters
Small regional businesses... if you mean brick-and-mortar face-to-face stores, I don't really have the means to find and visit them. I used to, but I don't have either the transport or the spoons to do so now. I don't even know if my favourite small craft stores even exist any more. The only places I can physically get to easily are "big box" stores like Lincraft or Spotlight or Riot. They are definitely not "small regional businesses", unfortunately.
If you mean online "small regional businesses"... well, some of them do actually sell on eBay, because that's an easy way for a small business to sell things. And you can tell which ones aren't dodgy, because they do have clear and understandable listings, and say more precisely where they are located. (On eBay, I generally sort by "distance, nearest", because then the most dodgy ones tend to get sorted last.)
But another aspect of this is that I refuse to pay highly inflated prices for things which were bought cheaply from China. I'd rather pay cheap prices from sellers who got them directly from China, rather than sellers who got them from a middle-man who got them from China. Which one would be the "real supplier" in that case?
@NatureMC @crafters
There *are* small online businesses that I do favour (that aren't on eBay). Some specific examples:
https://www.aussiemaille.com/
Local Australian chainmaille supplier. Some of their rings are imported, but others they make themselves. They are my go-to supplier for plain Aluminium rings, because they have better quality of those than anyone else, because they take the time to polish them.
https://basketbases.com.au/shop-timber-basket-bases/
Timber bases for crocheted baskets. Very high quality, not imported, and several different designs.
https://polymerclay.com.au/
Polymer Clay, Jewellery and Beading Supplies. Not a place to go to for beads (there are cheaper elsewhere) but has more obscure things like Kumihimo weights that I haven't found elsewhere.