do you think sellers should have to explicitly state whether they smoke or not?

[warthog]

often listings don't state smoking / non-smoking. i've just received an item which is absolutely HONKING.

or am i naive and should always assume that if they don't explicitly state non-smoking, they smoke?

it should be required to say. we received an item last year that was disgusting, we sent it back and got a refund but i shouldn't have had to do that, if it had stated smoking i wouldn't have bought it.

exactly - if they state smoking, i wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. really makes me cross. but then i think i'm being naive and should know that if they don't state non-smoking, it isn't. and then i forget...

it's always best to ask prior to bidding.
Apart from the fact that it would be impossible and slightly ridiculous to force sellers to state anything about their lifestyle, many sellers would give up entirely if they had to state a negative point on all their listings.

many items for sale may have been previously owned numerous times - records, books, collectables etc, so even if they don't smoke a previous owner may have

I always assume that unless something says 'non-smoking', they're likely to be smokers.

And the thing is, I think almost nobody (particularly with kids) still smokes in their house, so those few that do, are presumably really really addicted, and smoking continually.

(I've got stung by this once, bought lego (!!) that really reaked of tobacco.)

I don't normally mind too much but if it is a pushchair or child's toy, I get very angry. This can and does happen. Just be very aware to check listing as many of them, especially selling abby stuff, actually state that they are non smokers.

If the item is then smoky you can claim through paypal as not described.

Sorry baby stuff!

this is disgusting, and i hate it too! it really puts me off the item, and even when it is washed i still think 'eughh' thats horrible.
and i once bought some soft play stacking blocks that stated they were brand new. they were in the pack with the label on, but the label was all scrunched up and the blocks had bits of food stuck to them.
whoever it was had obv just let the kids play with them, kept the label on the bag, and sold them on again as new.
i was new to ebay at the time and didnt know how to go about complaining, so i just left it and washed then.