Sellers- How do you feel about people watching your items but not buying, making offers, or bidding?

[urlittlestar]

Buyers- why do you watch?

I've been a buyer on ebay for years, but I'm a new seller. All my listings atm except the 3 I uploaded this morning have at least 1 watcher each. I wanna know how sellers feel about watch. Does anyone else get really fed up of people watching their decently priced items but not buying, bidding, or making offers? I do especially when with my fiancé's help, all my items are now at a better price! I always thought the whole point of watch was to keep a eye on something you want to buy, or at least that's why we use it!

I genuinely think it's time that ebay get rid of watch and add a new feature, one that makes it crystal clear to sellers that people do want to buy, bid, or make offers on your items. I find it really unfair that watch doesnt make it clear that people want to actually buy your things. It's embarrassing and frustrating when you notice you have watchers, drop your prices or send offers to tempt them, but nothing happens. I would probably call the new feature something like Want to Buy. And for auctions, i would have ebay ask anyone that clicks Want to Buy, "Are you willing to bid on this item?" and if the potential bidder taps no, they should not be allowed to put the item on Want to Buy. This will remove the frustration sellers feel when they are basically being strung along by watchers who have no intention of ever buying or bidding. Watch is super frustrating for sellers. I don't think any of my sold items have been bought by any watchers i have had. When I only did buy it now, I had the ability to send offers to watchers. So I sent anywhere between £5-£15 discounts on items! None of my watchers accepted my offers

Currently 3 of my auctions have a start bid of 99p. Each one has at least 1 watcher, but none have bid. It's 99p!

Im probably ranting now but seriously, who agrees that watch needs to go and what is the point of watch? All it does is build a seller's hopes up, and that's just plain wrong

[bittyboy101]

I hate it !, Coz I get my hopes up thinking that something is  going to sell, only to be completely CRUSHED..................  😞

My guess is it is other sellers watching to see if your item sells because their's isn't !... then they can use your listing as a decoy to get their same or similar item sold  for near enough what money you got for yours !

Then there are the type of watchers who play "Watch & Wait"... they are smart and add  stuff to their watch lists waithing for the desperate seller (or eBay) to send them over an offer much lower than the original Buy-It-Now price... if the offer is to their liking they might buy !... but if not they'll  either send you a low ball counter offer through your own offer (as you or eBay have just  opened the door !), or they will simply ignore you and take your stuff off their watch list !

Some people are OK with watchers, Others take  them too seriously (I used to !)... Some just see watchers   as a sale booster as when you see an item which has lots of people watching it, this shows that a lot of people are after it and so a rash buyer might just strike and buy it thinking they are getting it first before someone else does !   

[myriad*seller]

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@papers-mate-420 wrote:

Like I said in the last message no thank you and anyone else ask me to register as a  business seller on ebay the answer is still NO.  NOT INTERESTED AS I BE CLOSING DOWN IN THE FUTURE!!!

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Too late, eBay will report all your sales from January 2024 - January 2025 to HMRC as they are legally required to do. 

From January onwards HMRC are sending out letters which will require you to complete a tax return

It doesn't matter if you quit selling, your sales figures for sales you have already made are still reported to HMRC. Failing to register as a business will not stop HMRC contacting you for your tax return details for your previous business sales. 

This link explains the information that eBay will pass to HMRC in January https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/regulatory/uk-digital-sales-reporting?id=5454#:~:text=As%20a%20U.... 

[messier44000]

If you think its stressful with non buying watchers on here, try selling face to face 

at a B&M / open days.

Yes gets lots of custom. But also gets people coming to have a look (watchers) and 

not buying.

Worse than this the ones that spend lots of time but no money having a 30 mins 

demo on several items with genuine customers getting bored in line and walking off, 

to then say the words no B&M seller likes to hear "Will you be here next week" and clear off.

[abercrombie-antiques-art-design]

I often watch things I have no intention of buying. I can be interested in who made it, I can have a similar item & want to see what it sells for or I can be researching a certain area of collecting & want to get a feel for the market.  I see watching an item as like saving a bookmark so I can quickly get back to it. It happens a huge amount on what I sell & what I look at. I don't put anymore thought into it than that. Often if I have a ton of watchers but no buyers then its a signal I have got it wrong on price but other than that I am not interested really. Sales matter, lookers don't. 

[kath3735_wxmjn]

totally agree with you!  When i started selling i used to be thrilled by watchers, now i just do not care one way or the other.  Never understand why some people think it is an issue.   Just go with the flow, there is too much else in life to worry about than trivia like that.   Me, i am just trying to ponder how i can afford a new (used) care, certainly not from e bay money!!!!

[papers-mate-420]

LOOK STOP THREATING ME WITH THE SO CALLED HMRC INFO AS IT IS BECOMING VERY BORING NOW AND I DON'T CARE SO PLEASE STOP OR I WILL REPORT YOU OR ANYONE ELSE WHO SAY THE SAME BORING THING!!!

[papers-mate-420]

I agree and the other most common one is it is in there basket but just the same as watching so nothing different here just lurkers so just put the lotion in the basket lol 🙂 

[papers-mate-420]

I might look into this thanks 🙂

[myriad*seller]

Did you read this link that explains how eBay WILL give all your sales data to HMRC in January 2025? They have to do this as it is a legal requirement, HMRC and the UK government are forcing eBay to do this. All sellers (registered as private OR business) who have sold more than 30 items or £1770 total sales income will have their sales data sent to HMRC in Jan 2025. It is HMRC you will have to deal with in January. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/regulatory/uk-digital-sales-reporting?id=5454#:~:text=As%20a%20U....

[papers-mate-420]

I have nothing to worry about my sales has not been good on ebay so i will never hit £1770 in total sales i checked earlier it is way lower than the £1770 as long as my poor sales go i will be in the clear happy days. Any other HMRC messages i will get next I WILL IGNOR AND GO 4 A CUP OF TEA AND CHILL OUT NUFF SED!!!

[*devils.advocate*]

Just for information for others - reporting limits are 30 items sold or €2000 equivalent  - whichever is first.

[myriad*seller]

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@papers-mate-420 wrote:

I have nothing to worry about my sales has not been good on ebay so i will never hit £1770 in total sales i checked earlier it is way lower than the £1770 as long as my poor sales go i will be in the clear happy days. Any other HMRC messages i will get next I WILL IGNOR AND GO 4 A CUP OF TEA AND CHILL OUT NUFF SED!!!

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You sold more than 30 items, so your data WILL be given to HMRC in January

Its either 30 items OR £1700 between Jan 24 and Jan 25, you have already passed the threshold as you have sold more than 30 items, so your sales will be reported to HMRC in Jan 2025. 

Ignoring HMRC messages can land you with massive fines and penalties for failing to declare business earnings. They can go back to previous years too, and ask you to submit tax returns for those years too, and if you owe tax they add interest and penalties to the amount you owe.

So it is best to get your house in order ready for your upcoming tax return(s) that they WILL be requiring from you, by law. 

It's nothing to do with eBay and everything to do with HMRC/UK government making sure people doing "side hustles" are paying the tax they owe. 

I suggest you actually READ the link that was posted, as it explains what will happen in January and the reasons for this. 

[reasonable-robert]

i just regard them as browsers or timewasters

[myriad*seller]

This is the part that explains once you pass 30 sales transactions, your sales data will be passed to HMRC.

Doesn't matter that you are trading on a private account, your data will still be sent to HMRC. DWP are linked to HMRC too, so people claiming any income-based benefits are in for a big surprise! 

[the-layer-laboratory]

Yes, I'm sure HMRC will be totally accepting of the 'talk to the hand' defence.

[bittyboy101]

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@kath3735_wxmjn wrote:

totally agree with you!  When i started selling i used to be thrilled by watchers, now i just do not care one way or the other.  Never understand why some people think it is an issue.   Just go with the flow, there is too much else in life to worry about than trivia like that.   Me, i am just trying to ponder how i can afford a new (used) care, certainly not from e bay money!!!!

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I'm guilty of being such an annoying watcher myself !... Like many watchers on eBay I am also a seller too... but I don't watch stuff because I am a competitive seller "with one similar to sell"... I watch the stuff I want simply because it's expensive and I can't yet afford to buy it... I am watching... and waiting for some of my stuff to sell first so I can buy some of the items I've added to my watch list without making myself short of money when debits are due to come out of my bank... but lately regular sales on eBay have fallen off a cliff !... so with nothing selling regularly, I cannot always afford to just "treat myself" all the time... so I am willing to bet there are lots of other people doing what I'm doing and waiting for a sale to come through so they can buy that £120 item without breaking the bank !... hence that's why a random sale happens every so often... because a watcher's own eBay listed item has just sold and they are now able to afford to by one of your ones ! because they have the money now ! 

[bittyboy101]

With all due respect we're here on *this topic* to talk about WATCHERS and  HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THEM ?

Whilst you have given good advice multiple times, I think that the HMRC threads on this forum are more appropriate places to post about this matter. 

People want to discuss warchers on this thread and not feel intimidated about HMRC.

Whatever will be will be - I am sure many of us now know eBay will "shock" anyone who has sold more than £1,740 diring the past year from Jan 2024  To Jan 2025... to HMRC...

[papers-mate-420]

I agree totally 🙂

[dch2112011]

Watch list - the watch list is used as saved items, ebay have saved sellers and saved searches but not saved items  so the watch list becomes the saved items list which is useful - when searching for an item and browsing through listings  you come across an item of interest but continue browsing and add a couple of other brands before making a decision.

The down side is unless they are manually deleted they remain until one day you have a clear out.

Perhaps HMRC  do the same when buying their pencils !

[papers-mate-420]

2025 could be Judgement Day I'll Be Back.