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

[*vyolla*]

I think that you just need to take this a tad less seriously.

Watchers don't always equate to buyers, some people are just curious to see what the item will sell for because they may have a similar item they're considering listing. There are many different reasons, but none that I can see that should make a seller vexed about it.

One thing I would never do is to start an auction at 99p - if you only get one bid and your item sells for 99p you'll be making a loss - bear in mind that unless it's clothing eBay will take their 12.8% plus 30p fee from the buyers payment, which included the sold item price and  the postage price.

I'd always start an auction at the lowest price you'd be happy to accept, that way you can't go wrong, your item can't sell for below that start price.

[jckl1957]

I got a bit lost with your post, so I am focusing on your first (only?) question.

'Does anyone else get really fed up of people watching their decently priced items but not buying, bidding, or making offers?'

My response to that: not at all.

Some items get watchers, some don't.  Why should it make me cross?  I tend to fret about important things, not people watching my items on Ebay.  Not Ebay at all to be honest.  Experience has taught me that watchers mean very little.

Watchers can be useful.  Sometimes, if I have listed an item and it quickly attracts a large number of watchers, I look at the price, wonder if I have underpriced an item, and increase the price before it gets any bids.

You can't ask members if they plan to bid or buy.  If they plan to do either, they will do so.

[*help_no_brakes*]

I don't feel it is "embarrassing & frustrating"... why would it be?

Someone watching my items is of no concern to me... why would it be?

You have no way of knowing if your items have been purchased by a watcher... why does it matter?

I constantly have about 100 items in my watch list.

You are being consumed by a trivial matter.

[plpmr]

Adding to the responses already given -

"Buyers- why do you watch?"

exactly how do you know the watchers are 'buyers'?

[*devils.advocate*]

On the positive side, it just means, despite the search function being so poor, your items can be found.

[ghostbay-killah-420]

Want to Buy, is a great idea to replace watch items 🙂

[m25jet]

Sometimes people will watch an item they're interested in buying, even if they don't have any intention of buying it straightaway.  There have been instances in the past when I've seen something I've wanted to buy and have put it on my Watch List but have held off of buying the item for quite some time until I've saved up enough money to purchase the item.  If it's just something reasonably cheap, like a book that's being advertised for £9.99 or thereabouts then I'll just buy it straightaway, but if it's something that has been available for a long time that is quite expensive, such as a full set of replacement speakers to fit my car, then I'll keep the item on my Watch List until such time as I can afford to buy the item.  The latter example I've given here is actually a true life example - I saw the speakers months ago, but they're very expensive and so I've been saving up for them, but in addition to that I also need to locate some wires that have one end with a standard fitment that plugs into the OEM fitting and the other end which is specifically made to plug into the aftermarket speakers.  Unfortunately I've found virtually impossible to get my hands on the adaptor wires that I need, which has further stalled my decision to buy the speakers.  If I could find the wires that I need to ensure that the aftermarket speakers could just be connected up and screwed back into position then I'd more than likely buy the lot, but until I find the missing adaptor wires I'll continue to keep the speakers on my Watch List.

[jonat_broad]

Quite the hill to die on!

the thing is your suggestion...Want to Buy. What happens if someone just says yes but still doesn't bid? Any system will always have an element of I just want to watch. And that's fine.

[*guinevere*]

As a seller I'm happy if I have watchers because it ahows my listing is visible but that's it.

As a buyer I might wattch items for all sorts of reasons. The item may be something I've been thinking about buying for a while, but don't want to commit myself yet, or it may be something I like the looks of but want to get someone else's opinion of before buying, or I could have a few similar items on my watch list to compare with, or I could just be nosy and want to find out how much the item finally sells for.

Why are some sellers so hung up on watchers anyway? Why does it matter to you why they watch your items? 

Just ignore them if they annoy you so much 😊

[*help_no_brakes*]

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@ghostbay-killah-420 wrote:

Want to Buy, is a great idea to replace watch items 🙂

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Correctly registering as a Business Seller is an even better idea.

[ghostbay-killah-420]

No thank you as i am selling on what i have left as i have stopped buying a while ago and it will be no point. registering as a Business Seller is an even better idea, is ideal for someone that is still buying so that is me out of the question!

[*vyolla*]

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@ghostbay-killah-420 wrote:

No thank you as i am selling on what i have left as i have stopped buying a while ago and it will be no point. registering as a Business Seller is an even better idea, is ideal for someone that is still buying so that is me out of the question!

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You still have 78 listings up, many of them multi buys.

It's not an option, it's a legal requirement. Plus, eBay will be reporting your sales to HMRC anyway.

See eBay's guidance page here, where they state

An eBay seller must register as a business if, for example, they sell items they have bought to resell, they make items in order to sell them, or if they buy items for their business.

What is the policy?

Business sellers can't represent themselves as private individuals

Taken from:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/business-seller-polic...

[ghostbay-killah-420]

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!!!

[the-layer-laboratory]

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@ghostbay-killah-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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Why not operate legally now and stay in business indefinitely?

[*devils.advocate*]

I'd save your breath/fingers. 

Nothing changes- they've said this so many times under different ID's, it's become boring. 

This ID is just the most recent one of many.

[dch2112011]

Looking at the market you are aiming for king size papers described for 'hemp' 'skunk' users it may explain why they click watch rather than bid or buy  - one of the side affects of use is 'disorganised thinking' 

[*vyolla*]

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@ghostbay-killah-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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Okay. You can bulk end your existing listings here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/lst/active

[ghostbay-killah-420]

No thank you. 👍 

[Anonymous]

Sometimes my listings have 0 views but 1 watcher, I don't take any notice of it.

Always best to keep in mind, a site like Temu for example - you put something in your basket or watch list - just leave it there and within a week they offer you it a bit cheaper.

eBay sellers can 'send offer' to watchers so buyers may watch it in the hope with getting a discount.

Or they have one to sell and want an idea of what it will go for.

Or like back in the olden days people used to think they were being savvy by watching an item and then not placing a bid on it until it had 20 seconds to go.