Bystanders
I have 10 bystanders watching one of my listings. 3-4 days ago, there were 6. I sent them offers of 33% off. No one bought it. I decided to drop my asking price about 20%. 4 more people latched onto it for no reason, apparently. lol I'm not sending out offers again. My price is lower than anyone else. Next change by me will be to up the price. imagine how it would be if i listed items people actually want? I could have 50 watchers! 😛
34 comments
simply-the-best-for-you
·5 months agoNot sure of the point. Send offers if you want, don't send them if you don't. I get about 30% acceptance rate normally, but lately it's been much lower. Used to me more like 50% early on. If they don't work for you, then don't do them.
gurlcat
·5 months ago@sakic92710 Sending offers to watchers used to be VERY worthwhile, but something changed in the past couple years that I can't even guess, but it seems to have lost its magic for some reason. I used to get about a 25% success rate for it, just like @mr_lincoln said he did, when I was new and he advised me to give it a try (this was back in 2018 or so). - But now, PFFF maybe 10% at best.
As for why you suddenly got 4 more watchers after your markdown; doing that price revision caused you to get a temporary algorithmic boost, complete with special labeling like the old price crossed-out, and "New Lower Price".
mr_lincoln
·5 months ago@gurlcat
Thank you for the tag and yes, back then it was effective ... then it changed. Since 2018 there has been more of a push to charge fees for advertising both on eBay and offsite. The effectiveness of any particular feature could fall prey to the EMA (Emancipation Manipulation Algorithm) in favor of something that might yield a higher return for the venue. Of course that is just my opinion and reality may be completely different.
I think on a certain level the Best Offer and other offer features have given the venue a reputation that the price is not the price. I had one Buyer message last week offering me via a message only $ 100 for a $ 150 item I had on Auction. I politely declined and they were put off I think by the fact that I didn't jump at their offer (even though I could not have done anything since it was an auction). Their follow up message advised me if I got desperate to let them know but that they were only offering $ 90 now ...
Hmmm, no wonder eBay allows up to 5,000 members on the Blocked list.
Now the only offers I engage in are: the occasional Second chance offer on an unpaid Auction or using the Reply with offer button on an eBay message on a Buy it now item a Buyer asks about. But those are both rare occurrences these days.
gurlcat
·5 months ago@mr_lincoln OMG what is going on with THAT? I have never had it happen before, but ..... TWICE this week! People messaging lowball offers on already-running auctions (WITH bids). Got one Friday and one Today. Are listings suddenly showing in such a way that it isn't obvious which ones are auctions, like maybe on the app???
I enjoyed the 'today' one. -How they told me how much they'd give me (always love those, like they're offering to do me a favor). 50 dollars, lord have mercy. This thing is so on fire, by the time it's done it's gonna fetch enough for a trip to Aruba!
mr_lincoln
·5 months ago@gurlcat
Oh THAT is hilarious! I love your first reply to the low ball offer, "Is that right?"
The trend I see is that most of the wonky stuff comes from lower Feedback count Buyers with a combination of really old accounts and newer ones ... but little by way of buying volume, thus their low FB count. They are simply not immersed in the eBay culture and are always looking for a deal. The newer accounts I think have the price is not the price mindset while the older accounts are just folks looking for a deal.
As you know (since we've shared before) I run a lot of auctions. For me it is for different reasons. Cast iron I run auction style ending on weekends because packing is not simple. You can't put a 7 lbs bubble wrapped skillet in a box and stuff the voids with paper. It takes longer to pack that kind of item and I don't want to be doing that during the week when I am busy with other things.
From a pricing standpoint I set the starting bid price on auctions the same way I set up Buy it now prices. The price covers cost, eBay fees and my target profit margin so there really isn't room to dink around with prices below list or below the starting bid price. For some Buyers who message a reasonable offer I explain that to them ... some wind up bidding after getting that message ... but since I have "Questions welcome" I figure from their standpoint it never hurts to ask.
sakic92710
OP5 months agoThe item did sell today after a best offer was sent to me. Even had a second sale this evening! Nothing for 2 months then 2 in 1 day. Consistency is the word of the day. 😛
gurlcat
·5 months ago@sakic92710 I forgot, another thing that happens when you do a price reduction; it sends a notification to everyone who even bleepin' glanced at it for one second. 🙄 It's cool when you're the seller, but if you also shop here, it gets old FAST.
baydealz
·5 months agoYep, many buyers, like me 'watch' as a bookmark, to get when truly needed, or to lurk to see about selling their own, or to monitor. I bet actual buyers is under 50%. Why waste your time. Other platforms do the same, getting you to 'close that sell for interested party.' Other buyers simply 'watch' as an option because so many sellers (often automatic) immediately drop the price up to 10%. You're just leaving money on the table. It's like Best Offer, they don't offer what is realistic or competitive, they just offer because you allow it. I often put in my ad to contact me for other consideration, since I will not simply send offers. sometimes, people will be closer and figure they should save on shipping, so I'll modify. But yes, mostly ignore it.
inhawaii
·5 months agoI'm one of those weirdo sellers who doesn't even pay attention to watchers.
When it's time to pay my bill, the electric company doesn't care how many watchers I have.
jhtobias
·5 months agoWatchers 99 percent of the time watchers are the one's who will give you the most problems . You could give them a 95 percent discount, and they would still counter with free shipping plus a free gift card minimum 25.00 once a month from amazon and then still complain .
Now that is not to say their are people looking to combine shipping , have a budget issue also who are watching.
grann-4629
·5 months agoThe offers I have responded to do not allow me to chisel the shipping price down. The offer is for the item only ... shipping stays as per listing, I think!
bonanza125
·5 months ago@grann-4629
Unfortunately shipping costs have gone up everywhere and International shipping definitely costs more for buyers. Which not only includes shipping but also any type of fees as well. I tell buyers outside the US that all fees are covered by you the buyer. Some buyers don't mine cause they really want the item and they can get it in their own country so they buy it from folks in the US as in myself.
grann-4629
·5 months agoThis is what scares me wrt 'fees' over and above what's included in the eBay system.
bonanza125
·5 months agoDon't put too much into watchers. They are just what they are watchers. All that matters is someone outright purchasing the item. I send out special offers sometimes to see if watchers turn into buyers but its a hit or miss. Quality or high demand items tend to get a lot of people watching to see what the item sells for or if you sell the item cause they have a similar item.
grann-4629
·5 months ago@bonanza125 Do you ever see a response to these offers from potential buyers, other than a counteroffer or buy? I'm wondering if these sellers ever see my responses to their offers.
tks
bonanza125
·5 months ago@grann-4629
Yes I do see counters if I select buyer is able to counter offer. Sellers either decline or don't respond at all. One thing that I have noticed though as a buyer if I send a counteroffer for a special offer I don't get a notice of offer declined. I only get a notice of offer declined if I make a direct offer to the seller.
grann-4629
·5 months ago@bonanza125
Thanks. I ask that because in another thread it was suggested that some sellers don't realize how expensive it is to the buyer when they use eBay's hub shipping service until someone like me points it out when declining an offer.
I am trying to expand my buying into the USA, but the high shipping costs are not helping ☹️
christworks
·5 months agoIt is correct. We cannot see what you are being charged for shipping. We only see our portion of it. Unfortunately, there is too much time involved and a greater risk of a mistake when shipping internationally without using eIS. I would have to charge more for the item to make up for the time I'll spend on filling out forms.
grann-4629
·5 months agoLast time I filled out one of these forms it took about 3 minutes. How much is your time worth? I have been retired for many years ... my time is worth $0, so I can take all day filling out forms!
Thanks for confirming that sellers don't see the actual shipping charges that the buyer has to pay, nor do they see any other 'fees' that are added to cross-border sales.
I hate to think that the USA is International to me in Canada, but rather a good neighbour.
Maybe this is one reason why many sellers are complaining about lack of sales?
albertabrightalberta
·5 months agoI estimate that 8-10% of SIO (seller initiated offers) turn into sales.
jonathanbrightlight
·5 months agoI just checked, and 9.2% of our sales for the last month have come directly from SIOs, and if that doesn’t include counter-offers that we get in response, I would put that significantly higher.
sreu3058
·5 months agoKeep sending them, it feeds the algorithm.
(That’s all I got)
Agree, it gets frustrating when a long period of ‘no bites’
luckythewinner
·5 months ago4 more people latched onto it for no reason, apparently.
IMHO the fact that you don't know the watcher's reason does not make it 'apparent' that there is no reason.
Here are just a few reasons why I might watch an item:
And for any of those reasons above, I may have decided not to buy and simply forgot to un-watch it.
meme6253
·5 months agoI have been sending tons of offers to the so called watchers & I get very few sales that way.Some offers were so good that if they were actually interested they would have grabbed them up quickly.
grann-4629
·5 months agoI get these offers all the time. I sometimes respond if the offer is reasonable but the shipping is out of whack (mostly those using eBay's graft shipping service). I don't know where these offers are coming from and I don't know if the seller ever sees my response unless I buy the item.
sakic92710
OP5 months agoThe item "sold" but still waiting for payment. The buyer has been left 1 positive over the course of a year. Plenty of scammers hijack that kind of account & play their games. Not a sale until paid for.
shire123
·5 months agoLearned a long time ago that it is generally useless to send offers to watchers. None responded with a purchase. The only thing I use the watcher numbers for is if that number is zero for a month or so, I take a good long look at my listing to see what is wrong (if anything).
soh.maryl
·6 months agoDo you have a question?
sakic92710
OP6 months agoIf I did, one of my sentences would have had a ? at the end. 😛
soh.maryl
·6 months agoThanks so much for that clarification.
ed8108
·6 months agoHaving watchers doesn't put money in your pockets
christworks
·6 months agoYour watchers are probably all your competitors. I put little stock in watchers, even for items in demand. Watchers are not buyers. I'm here looking for buyers.
yeswayrecords
·5 months agoThis is correct.
Watchers are often times people who have the same item to sell and are looking to see the market value of that item.
Sometimes watchers will result in a sale, but more often they do not.
grann-4629
·5 months agoI like to put items I want in my watchlist because I get offers of a lower price on most of them. I have bought a few this way.