Having trouble understanding Ebay sellers

[kandikrisp]

I really enjoy messing around on Ebay. I don't get anything expensive, but if I find something I like, I'll bid on it. I run into this problem a lot, and I'm trying to think of a nice way to phrase it.

Ebay is an international site, so a lot of the sellers don't use English as their first language. I have no problem with this, until it gets to the point where I can't understand what they mean. If it's just spelling or grammar issues, I read the message, translate it all in my head, and move on accordingly. In fact, I'm slightly impressed because I know how much I would fail if I had to say, speak Chinese or French in order to buy these items. I would be going directly from a translator.

It's when I can't understand the message that I get a bit concerned. Today I won the bid for a painting for my BF's Christmas present. It's cute, and I really like it. I got an email offering some form of mounting for it at a (admittedly very small) aditional cost. But I honestly couldn't understand *what* kind of mounting it was. I couldn't figure out how I should respond, and I didn't want to ignore the message and just pay for my item as is.

I didn't want to say that I couldn't understand what they were asking (the entire message honestly was so choppy that it was almost impossible to read.) or even go the more rude route I've heard so often. So I responded asking if they had picture examples of the mounting with other paintings (they sell a lot of paintings, and the mounting is offered for each one) so that I could make the decision better. I thought maybe if I could see a picture of what sort of mounting it was, I would understand better.

Is there another way to do this? In person, I will ask for people to clarify, but that's because I rarely understand speech without reading lips anyway (I have perfect hearing, but when watching movies I have to have subtitles. I don't talk on the phone often because I have to have people repeat slower so often.) so I don't feel as rude doing it. But is there an etiquette-approved way to handle situations like this over the internet?

[camlan]

Asking for clarification, especially when you are about to spend money, is perfectly okay. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what this mounting is. Could you send me a picture?" is fine.

The person, or company, on the other end knows that there is a potential language problem. Best to be open and up-front about it, "I'm afraid I didn't understand what you wrote," than be too nice and end up spending money for something you didn't want.

It's also okay, on Ebay, to read the message about the mounting, decide you don't want it, and just pay for the item without the mounting. The seller will know that you don't want it. Most of my transactions on Ebay, I don't send a single email to the seller.

This is a business transaction. You need to be polite. But you also need to make sure that you understand what you are paying for. Ask as many times as you need to in order to understand what it is you are purchasing. You will not get stuck paying for something you didn't want. And possibly the seller will realize that they need a better translation.

[Dindrane]

I agree with camlan, but I also think that if that suggestion makes you uncomfortable, it is possible to clarify by taking more of the "blame" on yourself.

Usually, when I'm not completely sure I've understood what someone just said to me (in speech or in writing), I say something like, "Just to be sure I understand..." and then repeat back whatever it was I thought the person was saying.

It makes me look like a bit more of an idiot if I'm wrong in my understanding, but it gives the other person an opening to say, "No, what I meant was..." and hopefully rephrase whatever they are trying to say to me (since it would be very clear I didn't understand the original phrasing).

[TaylorMade]

I am an eBay seller and have to do that a lot.   I sell internationally so sometimes I get messages that just make no sense!  I try and decipher the message and then repeat it back to them with the ~To be sure I understand you would like to do x and x statement.