CAN SELLERS SEE WHO LOOKS AT THEIR ITEMS?
Hi! I looked at an antique item the other day because I thought it was beautiful. With an almost $10,000 price tag however, it's nothing that I could afford, I just enjoyed looking at the photos and description. Two days later I received an offer from the seller. Odd thing is, I never contacted the seller in any way or put the item on my "watch" list. Apparently a seller can see folks who just LOOK at an item and reach out to them? If I go into a physical store, talk with the owner about an item for sale and exchange information, that's one thing. Would be weird though if there was no communication, I just looked, and then got a card or email later with a discount offer. Was this an eBay glitch or is it something new? I always thought that an item had to be saved in the watch list before sellers could make an offer. Guess it's a privacy issue for me, I realize that my info is available to sellers, but thought that I as a buyer had to initiate an interest before getting an offer. Just "looking" isn't that. Thanks.
mudshark61369
·2 years ago@lichtpriester,
If you opened that listing from a Sponsored list on another item's listing, that is why you got a Special offer. You will see Sponsored listings on search results pages as well. When a certain number of people have viewed the item the special offer messages are sent automatically by ebay, on the seller's behalf, to those who viewed the listing, Your info is not exchanged with the seller.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoSponsored listings (paid advertising / promoted listings) are unrelated to a seller's ability to send offers @mudshark61369 . There is also no requirement for a minimum number of people to have viewed a listing before a seller initiated offer can be sent.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoSellers can not see who viewed their item.
Sellers can send offers to "interested buyers" - eBay does not reveal buyer IDs to sellers; it's all anonymized. Seller will not see your ID unless you reach out to them directly either via message or by accepting/countering their offer.
Seller initiated offers can be automated so the system sends them automatically when there are new interested buyers. Not all sellers send offers.
eBay qualifies interested buyers as ones that have added an item to their watch list or shopping cart, or buyers that have viewed an item multiple times. Reports indicate eBay is now sending offers even when a buyer views an item only once.
If you don't want to receive offers you can disable them in your account settings > communication preferences. If you want to receive offers then delete the ones you don't care about like this expensive antique.