If you’re not a regular reader of our blog, you should be, because we love to vent about crazy buyers, annoying questions, humor for online sellers and more, but one topic we have never discussed is the famous question, “Why are you selling it, may I ask?” - a question that makes you want to scream into your pillow, or at your neighbor or at your dog, because it’s a question that is so obnoxious, and here’s why:

Short answers: BECAUSE ITS A MARKETPLACE. People sell things because they want the money more than the item and guess what? For many of us this is a full time career! There’s also sellers who just want to get rid of it. Then there’s sellers who genuinely need the money for something. Regardless, WHO CARES?!?

With that being said, I guess, maybe, possibly, this question might make sense if the item is “My grandfathers purple hearts” or “My aunts kidney”. I think it actually might make sense to inquire as to why the F someone is selling these items because it seems pretty weird and kinda like a scam. But if the item is a friggin dress, WHAT THE HECK DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?!

HOW TO REPLY:

Since there’s no way of knowing if the inquiry is from a legitimately interested buyer or a creep or someone looking for a friend, if you reply “Because it’s a website for selling”, you might burn the sale to the ground.

With that in mind, the easiest response is “Because I no longer need it” - which is mostly true white lie. Although I’m no fan of lying, there’s many times Customer Service requires it; for example, when the buyer is a raging as*hole and is throwing a tantrum that their tracking number hasn’t updated in the past 45 minutes, most likely you are going to reply with something like “I’m sorry to hear that! Hopefully it will be scanned again soon for you”, when in reality you’re rolling your eyes and wondering why some people are so crazy. The truth is the only thing you're sorry about is wasting 2 minutes of your life apologizing for a non-issue.

The final way to reply to this question, which I’m not a fan of, but I “get it”, is what Reddit sellers suggest which is to say something like “Because I have to pay for medical bills” or “I need money to bring my cat to the vet”.

Regardless of which option you pick, if the buyer continues to ask even more personal questions or becomes creepy, we got you covered! Check out our blog posts.