Occasionally I use eBay to sell a few things. And the “condition” description on items gave me a thought.
What kind of customer questions could you elicit by listing perfectly usable, working items, but including some really contrived shortcoming that is impossible to materially verify?
For sale: hairdryer, in good working order. 13 AMP, UK plug. Has been confirmed haunted and will occasionally cause other items in your home to randomly move locations when unobserved. Three speed settings.
The important thing is that the rest of the listing remains completely normal.
Some light cosmetic wear. Cable approximately 1.8m. Collection available. Has been confirmed haunted. Postage £4.99.
Then you wait.
Because presumably somebody eventually asks:
“Hi, when you say haunted, how often are things moving?”
Or:
“Does this only happen while the hairdryer is switched on?”
Or perhaps, after some consideration:
“Would you take £15?”
There are lots of possibilities.
Apple AirPods Pro, 2nd generation. Excellent condition, fully working. When worn during running, user performance appears to decline by approximately 20%. Cause unknown. Charging case included.
Samsung 55-inch 4K TV. Picture excellent. All HDMI ports working. Has brought persistent but relatively low-level bad luck to every household in which it has been installed. Remote included.
Dyson cordless vacuum cleaner. Fully operational. Battery good. Gives a strong but difficult-to-describe impression that it is disappointed in the user.
The best defects are the ones which cannot really be disproved.
A toaster that catches fire is simply broken.
But a Kindle that makes every book approximately 8% more depressing?
You could own that for months before becoming completely certain.
And this is the bit I like most: somebody might actually leave feedback.
“Item arrived quickly and exactly as described. Hard to assess bad luck so far although boiler stopped working Tuesday. Good seller. A++++”