Most Awesome Ebay description ever!!   - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 03:16:25 am
content: You gotta check out the description for this meter...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Keithley-2001-Multimeter-/161067148652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item258059a56cSome of the gem:- This Keithley 2001 Multimeter is manufactured as a rectangular shaped Multimeter.- The front & back sides of this Keithley 2001 Multimeter has several buttons, Indicator Lights, a Digital Screen, Connections, and other components contained on them. The winning bidder has provided some photos of these external features, controls, & connections which are contained on this Keithley 2001 Multimeter.- Testing Completed With The Keithley 2001 Multimeter: The seller has only performed a very simple power test with this Keithley 2001 Multimeter. The seller has plugged in the power cable input with a power cable & activated it with the front power button in order to test the Multimeter for it's ability to power up. Once plugged in & activated, the Keithley 2001 Multimeter Unit did power up immediately & it’s Digital Screen & some of it’s Indicator Lights illuminated in a bright & precise fashion.The seller then randomly pressed some of the control buttons on the front side of the Keithley 2001 Multimeter & the unit’s Digital Screen & / Or Indicator Lights appeared to react to these control modifications.This is the extent of the testing that the seller has completed with this Keithley 2001 Multimeter.At least it passed the "push random buttons" test!I love ebay.::Edit::(finally removed the Keithley reference from the subject)

author: iloveelectronics
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 03:52:57 am
content: LOL @ "manufactured as a rectangular shaped Multimeter"

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 05:56:56 am
content: It is local to Chris and Martin, perhaps it will be useful to them.......

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 09:10:35 am
content: That seller has a nearly 7000 rating. Yet all the other auctions by him (?) have the same weird prose style.If it was just one listing I'd have guessed it was someone having a joke. Ten listings the same and I'd expect someone with a mental condition. But 7000?! WTF?

author: komet
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 09:14:55 am
content: I don't understand your problem. It sounds like somebody giving quite a bit of effort to describe the item accurately, although not necessarily being good at it. It is a far better description than many on eBay, which might be like "used electronic box go blinky-blinky".

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 09:31:56 am
content: The descriptions of the sellers items look to me as if produced by software. Probably some kind of database that contains loads of pre-formulated text blocks that somebody just clicks together to describe the item for sale.

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 03:45:49 pm
content: Yeah, it just sounds like someone with mediocre English skills trying to describe a device without understanding it. The seller even labeled it as 'for parts or not working' because the case is cracked and he doesn't have the means to test it. Sure the awkward prose is amusing, but it is more honest than a lot of ebay sellers.

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2013, 03:58:54 pm
content: It's better than the sellers who post no description at all, but just use google to search for the make and model, and copy and paste whatever they find.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2013, 07:13:05 am
content: Quote from: david77 on July 21, 2013, 09:31:56 amYeah, that's what I meant by 'mental problem'. It's like something you'd get from a crappy conversational AI, in which 'understanding' of the content was entirely lacking, leaving only some Markov chain word associations. The repetition of verbose identifiers, and explicit statement of obvious detail is very non-human.If the seller is just typing in a few keywords about the items he's selling, and running software to generate those listings (which is what it sounds like), I find that highly obnoxious. It's a misrepresentation, in that he's pretending to have written actual descriptions, but hasn't.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2013, 07:14:21 am
content: While totally unrelated to the Keithley 2001 of the first post, I didn't want to start a new thread just for this. So I'll post the most recent ebay description gem here.http://www.ebay.com/itm/P4100-100X-DC-100MHz-2000V-High-Voltage-Oscilloscope-Probe-100-1-/321181970207?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac7efef1f"The P4100 probe is designed as a strong, flexible and reliable part for the oscilloscope according to the human body function. It is the European Community certified. It is compatible with all the digital oscilloscope and the analog oscilloscope with detailed frequency internationally."The human body function? I hope that doesn't involve and differential equationsHow do I know if my frequencies are international?

author: Tasman
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2013, 12:22:13 am
content: Might have paid to read further into the description before sniggering publicly about the ignorance of the seller.He writes "- The seller has listed the Keithley 2001 Multimeter in ebay's official "for parts / not functional" condition section because the Keithley Unit has the forementioned cosmetic / physical conditions contained on it & the bidder simply does not know if this Keithley 2001 Multimeter is a functional unit or not. The seller only has the means and expertise to complete the simple listed power test. The seller is an absolute novice with Keithley 2001 Multimeters and he can't complete any type of in depth testing with this unit. In reality the condition of this Multimeter should be identified as "unknown" but unfortunately ebay does not provide an "unknown" option in it's official condition section. The seller felt that because of his absolute ignorance in regards to the Keithley 2001 Multimeter Unit's functional condition, the "for parts / not functional" section of the condition area for this auction listing was best for this particular apparatus."That looks to me like an articulate and intelligent person trying to be as honest as possible.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2013, 12:47:07 am
content: Quote from: Tasman on August 12, 2013, 12:22:13 amNo intelligent and articulate person uses the same verbose item description over and over in a short section of text. While a text generation algorithm will.An intelligent person yes, and creative too. Assuming they wrote the software themselves.Bonus points for where they complain about ebay's lack of a sensible 'unknown' item status.But I still think it's deceptive to do auto-generation of item descriptions like this.

author: Tasman
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2013, 01:28:23 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on August 12, 2013, 12:47:07 amThere is no evidence for your assertion. Aside from the initial short description that you take exception to there is a lot of further explanation that is obviously written by the seller about the item being sold. The seller is taking pains to be honest and to comprehensively describe the condition of an item they do not understand the function of. He/she in these cases probably uses a list of simple characteristics that can be applied to a range of items. Inevitably this will look a somewhat childish to those familiar with the item so described. If you look at other listings by this seller for items they are familiar with you will see no vagueness or stereotyping at all.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2013, 01:57:45 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on August 11, 2013, 07:14:21 amI was thinking he confused it with an anal probe, or perhaps it is multifunctional.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2014, 04:49:30 am
content: Today's ebay awesomeness... for your viewing pleasure... Once again having nothing to do with the keithley 2001 from the topic (sorry).http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-Pentium-4-3-4-GHz-Processor-ERROR-DOUBLE-STRIKE-STAMP-COLLECTORS-HISTORY-/141221187233?pt=CPUs&hash=item20e1704ea1"INTEL Pentium 4 3.4 GHz Processor ERROR DOUBLE STRIKE STAMP COLLECTORS HISTORY"For the low low price of ...... US $1,000,000.00 !! HA!At least you get two... I wonder if he's split them up. I only have 500,000 under my mattress at the moment.

author: madshaman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2014, 05:07:30 am
content: I'm going to wake my wife up because I literally can't contain my laughter. Hey, I have a rotten half-eaten banana in the compost that looks like something I've never seen before, and neither has anyone else. Should I start bidding at 2 billion dollars?

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2014, 05:16:48 am
content: I wonder how much I could get for an Elvis shaped peanut butter and banana sandwich?

author: madshaman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2014, 05:22:31 am
content: I'll trade you the rotten banana for it.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2014, 06:03:17 am
content: Quote from: madshaman on May 01, 2014, 05:22:31 amDoes it look like Elvis?

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2014, 10:26:14 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on August 12, 2013, 12:47:07 amI dunno, I mean, if you've had to type this kind of shit for the past 7k items you'd start copy pasting parts of your description too... Heck, I already do for the relatively small amount of stuff I sell.Probably just copy + pastes a template and fills in the blanks.

author: idpromnut
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 07, 2014, 11:46:35 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on May 01, 2014, 04:49:30 amAh ha, but little do you know that this is on purpose! At some point, Intel was getting desperate to compete with the likes of AMD that in a fit of insanity decided to offer "Dual Orientation Processors". These were actually 2 physically separate cores on a single die using Vertical Integration Technology(TM) to superimpose the two cores such that one could simply extract one of these CPUs, rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise, re-insert and get a processor speed boost. This also served the low-end market, as when a CPU failed its higher-clocked orientation, it could be sold as a lower speed variant thus saving them and the customer valuable dollars.And none of this is even remotely true.

author: electrolux
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 04:28:41 pm
content: Here is another, not electronis related but well discribedhttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Steam-Days-Magazines-/141276909859?pt=UK_Magazines&hash=item20e4c29123And how how about the most Awful discription ever.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 05:51:23 pm
content: ?If I as looking for magazines on steam engines, that would be the place I'd go. I don't get it.