05-15-2024 01:54 PM - edited 05-15-2024 02:23 PM
EDIT: Volunteers, please make sure your buyer communication preference IS the default setting (check-marked) to receive notifications of price reductions. Thank you @nobody*s_perfect for pointing this out.
Given eBay's changes to seller-initiated offers (auto-pay requirements for buyers, not sure if that's still rolling out or what, also more recently the unpopular practice of sending offers to people who merely looked at listings) ... and given the fact that if the buyer is NOT made to auto-pay, they have the ole option of keeping the item hostage, invisible to everyone else while not paying for 4 days and even failing to pay at all ..... I have gone back to thinking about something I've wondered about a lot in the past, and got mixed answers about it in the past, here in the Community. Yes that was all one sentence. OKAY, I'm talking about whether or not "interested" people receive a notification if the seller merely revises the listing to lower the item's price.
Wouldn't that be great?
So let's see where that stands as of now, May 2024. I have this green frog brooch currently overpriced so that some innocent buyer won't come along and ruin everything by buying it, lol. @dhbookds is already watching it. What would be great is if I could get more watchers AND some mere-lookers, to see what happens if I just lower the item price.
So let's do it like this. The "joining up" volunteer period will extend until 3 pm. Central time, tomorrow (Thursday). Please either put the listing on 'watch' OR just click on the listing and look at it.... either once or twice (please go ahead and scroll slowly down to the bottom of the listing, to give the software a sense that you really looked). If you choose to look twice, probably a good idea to close out of eBay completely after the first look, then get back in and find the listing the second time in your 'recently viewed's, and repeat the slow-scroll.
Then come back to this thread and post a reply, saying either "watched," "looked once" or "looked twice". It would be best if we have a good sampling variety of these variables, so maybe scroll through replies to see which of those hasn't been done as many as the others, then do that one.
Ugh, I hope that made sense, lemmie know if it didn't.
THEN tomorrow at 3 PM or shortly thereafter, I will revise the item's price down. I'll make a note of how many watchers it says the listing has, as well as how many "interested buyers" the popup window says the offer would go to IF I were doing it that way. I will then immediately post here that I did the revision.
Then the rest of the day/night, as each of you realizes you did or didn't get a notification, please come back and post that observation, and we'll tally up the numbers.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/126482944261
05-16-2024 03:01 PM
I got an email at 1:04 PM west coast time as well as a notification on the front of my cell phone.
I don't know if your item was promoted.
I did get an item not promoted 2 weeks ago. I got a notification on the front of my cell phone only and not an email just by looking at it...and it was not a price reduction.
05-16-2024 03:03 PM
@powell-memorabilia wrote:Only received one notification – from the account that added the item to my watchlist.
IDK if you saw the reply by Wastingtime101 last night, but apparently shopping carts don't receive notices unless/until the item has been there at least 2 days. We discussed waiting until tomorrow to do the price drop, but I decided it would be too confusing for everyone. -If you would, please leave it in your cart until tomorrow night, and tell me if it sends you a notice.
05-16-2024 03:04 PM
VERY interesting, thanks for all that looking!
05-16-2024 03:05 PM
05-16-2024 03:11 PM - edited 05-16-2024 03:29 PM
@gurlcat wrote:Okay yall, I dropped the price!
If you weren't already notified, would you please log in to the website and check your phone app, also if you are unsure whether your Buyer settings were enabled to receive notifications on price-reduced items.
...
Either way, please report your result, whether you got a notifcation on the website or the app, and whether you had that preference checkmarked 'on'.
Thank you in advance!
As of this moment, I have not received an eBay message, nor an email, and there is nothing in the notifications bell on eBay.
I viewed the listing once earlier today. (Not positive if I viewed it or not yesterday, but I don't think so.)
I only use eBay on a laptop, have never used the eBay app.
05-16-2024 03:13 PM
@12345jamesstamps wrote:I got an email at 1:04 PM west coast time as well as a notification on the front of my cell phone.
I don't know if your item was promoted.
I did get an item not promoted 2 weeks ago. I got a notification on the front of my cell phone only and not an email just by looking at it...and it was not a price reduction.
It was not promoted at all. So I get the sense that this could be a form of free promotion .... trouble is, the only way to even get a view is for the listing to be visible, and that is less likely without paid promotion.
05-16-2024 03:19 PM
I screwed up......put it on watch list, but didn't check preferences......got no notification.....BECAUSE I didn't have preference to be notified.......lol....at least we know that block works......
05-16-2024 03:42 PM
gmail ...............
05-16-2024 05:13 PM
@dhbookds wrote:I screwed up......put it on watch list, but didn't check preferences......got no notification.....BECAUSE I didn't have preference to be notified.......lol....at least we know that block works......
Exactly -that's good data! I was actually kinda hoping this would happen with at least one person, for that very reason.
05-16-2024 05:54 PM
@gurlcat wrote:
@mcdougle4248 wrote:I have received an email now, too.
So you got a push notification on your phone AND an email on the website -for a 'looked once'?
That's pretty wild. As I said, when I noticed that price drop phone notification I checked the website and I didn't even get one there, and certainly didn't get an EMAIL.
This is starting to look really random. Hmmm...
Okay - I have NOT received any kind of alert about your price drop. But I will check again in the morning because Ebay in my experience runs about a day behind in sending out alert on requested options. I have some stored searches but I found it better to just do the searches myself because I can see immediate results. If I wait for Ebay to send me a notification tomorrow it may have sold by then.
So for example - I posted earlier in this thread about getting a price drop notification on a Fitbit today. I saw that in my mobile app this morning after it had been reduced late yesterday afternoon. (I am back on the desktop now but do not see any price drop notification for that Fitbit at all.) I went into my off-Ebay email account just now and found an emailed price drop notification that HAD been sent out almost immediately late yesterday.
So yeah - it does look pretty random from my perspective. I will let you know if or when I get any notification of the price drop on your item. (I viewed it at least twice but did not add it to my Watchlist. I viewed the Fitbit listing the same way.)
05-16-2024 08:29 PM
05-17-2024 12:28 AM
No alert. Could be my Preferences, not sure.
05-17-2024 05:24 AM
I did not receive a notification in the app on my phone or on my computer saying the price was dropped thus far. I know my settings are correct because 1-I double checked them and 2-in the app I had a notification from another listing I had viewed of that listings price dropping. I only received that notification in the app not on my computer. Hope this info is helpful!!
05-17-2024 09:25 AM
Looked once and no notification either website or email for me yet. I do not use the APP.