Buyers have my items in their shopping basket for weeks and don't buy, has just started happening.

[syncrobot]

The item even ends with it still in peoples basket. It has just started happening on more then one item (in another account, not this one)  It's a distraction I could do without .... is this visible to other potential buyers ? It may put them off.

[thesmokingrunner]

I wouldn't necessarily believe any of those messages.

Since they started appearing not so long ago I just view them as psychological marketing messages - similar to the "only n seats left at this price" tags you see when looking at airline flights.

"n people have this in their basket", "n sold in the last 24 hours", "n viewed in the last 24 hours" are meaningless - a seller has no way of knowing who has viewed an item, who has put the item in their Watch List or who has put the item in their basket.

And yes those tags are visible to potential buyers, which is probably the main purpose of the exercise: I suspect the intention is that a potential buyer is driven to making a FOMO purchase after seeing those messages. It works on the weak.

[topnotchgooods197]

Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything I have items for sale and it says 3 people have it in there basket it doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna buy 

[rigged_out]

There may be people with it in their baskets but don't have the item on their watchlist. So ebay is showing you that you can send offers out to those with it in their basket (even if you have no watchers on that item)

[topnotchgooods197]

Yes i agree however if someone wants the item bad enough they will buy it thanks for the reply have a great day 

[thesmokingrunner]

That's not necessarily correct, rigged_out.

eBay recently started sending offers to anyone who has so much as viewed an item, let alone put it in their Watch List or (allegedly - see message #2 above) added it to their basket. It's happened to me and I have read and responded to several threads on the subject.

These days, when a seller sends out an offer, although they may think they are sending it to Watchers only it's actually being sent to anyone who has simply looked at the item. It doesn't need to be in a Watch List or a basket.

[rigged_out]

I used to think that but I watched it a bit more closely and they were never offers for me. They were always item low on stock, or item now on sale or something similar albeit annoying (I now clean my recently viewed items so I don't get them as much nowadays). Anyway, regardless of how well that's working the point is you can send offers to people who have it in their basket. Whether ebay wants to send that out to some other people is a separate issue really. It was more about trying to find a use for the info (regarding x amount of people have it in their basket) for the seller, even though it's a message to trigger buyers.

[insidethe93]

I haven't done proper tests but from mere recall whenever I put an item in my basket I get a red eBay message warning me 1 other person has it in their basket too. But I do wonder if it's merely noting that I'm the one who's put the item in the basket, as it seems odd that someone has put it in their basket at the exact same second that I did. I tend not to take notice of it now, unless I enter a page and it already says 1 person (or more) has it in their basket, and then often I'll leave the page and leave them to it.

I now try to resist that red banner, at least long enough to read the quantity info provided e.g. "4 available". I like to spend the time needed to read through a listing properly and, if it's a seller new to me, to check their feedback.

No one likes being the subject of pressure-selling, and it's worse when you're not sure whether to believe eBay (their "despatched" lie is one I'm always aware of, which could be easily corrected to "processing") - is there really another buyer competing with me at that exact moment, or is it one of those lies that don't matter to eBay because it's, you know, just marketing?!

One thing those red banners have done, and that's made me cut back on solely recreational browsing. That means less income for sellers and eBay because I usually ended up buying something.

[papers-mate-420]

I agree i have had the same buyers have some of my items in there basket 4 a while and don't buy so all i do is just relist the items again and ignor it. my only concern is when they buy i do my best to send in post asap so they get there item quickly as possible like but 4 watchers and items in there basket i take no notice of it.

[chrissie007]

Dont believe its 'potencial' buyers but EBay trying to force sales. Stating # have this in their basket when they actually dont! Purchased an item 2 days ago which showed that exact statement. When I asked the seller he said he did not have that message ie no one had it in their baskets. So EBay was making me move more quickly, which I had intended to do anyway. Its EBay pulling the strings.

[chi_townn60608]

The issue I'm having is that I can't change the price or quantity while it's in their basket.  I wanted to add a few to the quantity and drop the price by 5%, but neither option is available because 2 people have the last two left in their baskets.

[thesmokingrunner]

Just because you have been told 2 people have an item in their shopping baskets does not mean that is true, @chi_townn60608 

You have no proof whether or not they actually exist. They could just as easily be a random number on a database. Schrodinger's buyers, if you like...

A couple of ideas then:

1. Send an offer of 5% off  - although whether or not it is actually sent to people who allegedly have the item in their basket I know not (and, frankly, care even less given the state of eBay these days), or

2. End the listing then relist it with a price 5% lower and the new quantity.