Fault disclosure: the AI habit that protects your feedback
Here's a quiet way AI can hurt a good seller: you write "shutter sticks at slow speeds" in your notes, the AI writes a lovely description, and the fault isn't in it. Nobody meant to hide anything. The buyer still opens a return.
Why it happens
Language models are tuned to be positive and fluent. Faults are negative and awkward, so they get softened, merged into "some signs of use", or dropped when the description gets trimmed. It happens more with long notes and heavy edits.
The fix is a habit, not a tool
- Put faults in their own section of your notes: FAULTS: shutter sticks at 1/8s; small dent on the top plate
- Tell the AI: every fault in the FAULTS list must appear in the description, in plain words
- After it writes, search the description for each fault. If one is missing, put it back yourself
- Keep condition words consistent across the title, the condition field and the description
What good disclosure sounds like
"Works well apart from the slow shutter speeds: 1/8 and below stick sometimes. Small dent on the top plate — see photo 6."
Clear, specific, and pointing to a photo. Buyers who read that and still buy are buyers who won't be disappointed.
Clear, specific, and pointing to a photo. Buyers who read that and still buy are buyers who won't be disappointed.
Why it's worth it
- Question
- Active discussion
- Answer emerging
- Community solution
- Knowledge article