Do you look?

[b86fiero]

When deciding to purchase an item do you look through the seller's store to see if there is anything else you may wish to purchase at the same time?

Or do you buy just that item and not look?  To avoid impulse buys?  

Do promotions - buy 3 get 1 free, a percentage off 2 or more, or free shipping if you purchase $$ -  encourage you to look through the store?

Has a promotional offer led to you buying additional items from that seller?

I have used promotions for several years.  Have promotions greatly increased my sales?  Nope.  Have I sold multiple items to a buyer?  Sure.  I did that before I used promotions.  When I first started using promotions they were a novel thing and I did get more multi-purchase sales.  These days buyers expect them in some form, whether it be free shipping, making an offer or the above mentioned types.  In my mind I am offering a buyer a discount which is a good thing.  Bottom line though is that promotions are a means of encouraging / manipulating other humans.  (Feel free to disagree with that last sentence).  

I have been reading up on data mining, how every bit of data you leave behind when online, watching television and using your credit, debit cards, and store loyalty cards is collected, how that info is sold and to what end it can and is used to manipulate you and your fellow humans.  Pretty frightening to think we have been reduced to a string of identifying numbers whose daily lives are being monitored and mined for information that will be used to manipulate us tomorrow.  (Like those ads that follow you around after looking at something online).

The manipulation is constant through advertising, product development, the way the news is presented, what is taught in schools (or no longer taught), the latest have to have fashion, the latest home decor, color of the year, etc.

I have to wonder:  have we already lost control of our true independent thinking?

Hey, it's Saturday and this data mining stuff is pretty intrusive and intensive.  Been on my mind lately.  Maybe I need to find a support group:  Hello, My name is BJ and I use eBay tools to manipulate buyers into making multiple purchases from me.  

[membersinceaug2001]

I've been saying for a long time how easy people are to control.  Like sheep, just do what everyone tells you to do and follow along.  Not many people can think for themselves.  We can thank the school systems for that.

[pburn]

I never look through a seller's store. Stores irritate me for some reason. I will, however, use the "See other items" feature. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't--it depends on the item I'm interested in. If I'm interested in whether a seller might have more of the item in a slightly different style or whatever, I'll look at other items. An example might be if I look for dinner plates in a certain pattern, I might see if a seller has salad plates also, but I'm not looking just for something totally different to buy.

Promotions influence me to look for more items from booksellers, but not much else. Again, I never look through the "Visit store" feature.

I'm not much of an impulse buyer--mainly because I'm trying to get rid of things, not add more things. But that's just where I am in life. I'm sure it's different for others who are in a different place.

[this*old*attic]

I look, but don't buy multiples as often as I used to. I'm starting to downsize.

I ignore promotions, because the stuff I buy is purpose-driven. If it's logical for me to buy multiples, I will, whether there's a promotion or not. For example, I bought a lot of NOS vintage bracelets from a dealer last year.... but I bought laundry hampers from 2 different dealers the other day because I needed specific looks for 2 bedrooms.

[divwido]

I will look and sometimes buy, but you have to have specific products to even get me to your items.

[divwido]

Why does the Cynthia Rowley plate look like it was folded in quarters?

[mit1999]

If I see something that I like and buy it outright or put it in my watched list then that means you have items I am interested in at pretty good prices, so yes I definitely look to see what else you are offering.

[luckythewinner]

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Do promotions - buy 3 get 1 free, a percentage off 2 or more, or free shipping if you purchase $$ -  encourage you to look through the store?

A couple times when I was considering buying a reissue of a vinyl LP, the seller had a "buy three get 15% off" sale and it nudged me to buy three instead of one. But  these other LPs were already on my radar - I did not go stumbling around looking for just anything to meet the deal. 

But the opposite is true as well - very recently a seller had a "buy two get the third free offer" and had only two items I wanted. I chose not to buy, because in my mind I would be "overpaying" by one-third. 

When deciding to purchase an item do you look through the seller's store to see if there is anything else you may wish to purchase at the same time?

Yes I do. Especially if the seller offers combined shipping. 

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

After checking out the item and READING THE FULL DESCRIPTION we then rake over their feedback. 1st we check their Negatives and see if any of the negatives has anything to do with the product we are getting ready to purchase. Then i check their Neutrals. After checking that out i see if and how they replied to them and thats what will determine if we buy from this seller. Sometimes we do check out their store real quick to see if they have anything of interest. But the Big one is: If they have a promotional listing no matter if its cheaper then anyone else on Ebay we will absolutely NOT buy that product from that seller and we will move on to the next seller even tho the next sellers price is higher.

Reason being is we will NOT support the money grab Ebay does to the sellers and the Ebay community. Think about it this way. When its time to fill up your fuel tank do just pull into any gas station and fill up or do you go to the cheaper price gas station ? You can do either but if you go to the higher price gas station you are now supporting even higher prices.  But if you go to the lower price gas station and you are most likely supporting the small independent seller thats watching his or hers nickels and dimes to put food on the table for their family. Also when the higher priced stations start loosing business it puts them in check with a wake up call of their bottom line. Look what just happen to the reply Paypal received when they told their customers they were going to keep the fees charged whenever a seller did a refund. Paypal didn't like the reply and pulled the plug real quick on that idea.

Sorry for the long reply as im on my 3rd cup of coffee 🙂 

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

Sorry i got off track there 😞 Due to a earlier conversation with a friend 

[ed8108]

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

I've been saying for a long time how easy people are to control.  Like sheep, just do what everyone tells you to do and follow along.  Not many people can think for themselves.  We can thank the school systems for that.

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 Manny schools fail to develop critical thinking skills in their students.

Critical thinking has become 

essential today for successful living

Character development is unfortunately also being overlooked.

[this*old*attic]

Promotions STINK, but I think your logic is flawed.

Buyers are not mindless sheep, and you are really punishing a seller who is just trying to run their business the best they can. Ebay gets their FVF either way because you still buy.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@divwido wrote:

Why does the Cynthia Rowley plate look like it was folded in quarters?

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Because they're held together with a plastic strap? LOL

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@lawnmowerpartsstore2 wrote:

After checking out the item and READING THE FULL DESCRIPTION we then rake over their feedback. 1st we check their Negatives and see if any of the negatives has anything to do with the product we are getting ready to purchase. Then i check their Neutrals. After checking that out i see if and how they replied to them and thats what will determine if we buy from this seller. Sometimes we do check out their store real quick to see if they have anything of interest. But the Big one is: If they have a promotional listing no matter if its cheaper then anyone else on Ebay we will absolutely NOT buy that product from that seller and we will move on to the next seller even tho the next sellers price is higher.

Reason being is we will NOT support the money grab Ebay does to the sellers and the Ebay community. Think about it this way. When its time to fill up your fuel tank do just pull into any gas station and fill up or do you go to the cheaper price gas station ? You can do either but if you go to the higher price gas station you are now supporting even higher prices.  But if you go to the lower price gas station and you are most likely supporting the small independent seller thats watching his or hers nickels and dimes to put food on the table for their family. Also when the higher priced stations start loosing business it puts them in check with a wake up call of their bottom line. Look what just happen to the reply Paypal received when they told their customers they were going to keep the fees charged whenever a seller did a refund. Paypal didn't like the reply and pulled the plug real quick on that idea.

Sorry for the long reply as im on my 3rd cup of coffee 🙂 

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I think they were talking about items on sale with a "promotion", NOT "promoted" (shown as "sponsored" listings)

[chapeau-noir]

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

I've been saying for a long time how easy people are to control.  Like sheep, just do what everyone tells you to do and follow along.  Not many people can think for themselves.  We can thank the school systems for that.

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Yes, people have always been easy to control and weak on critical thinking - a browse through history tells us that. Political ideology, religion, advertisement - it's all a means of control.  People tend to break down into two very rough categories, however, those easily influenced by peer and social pressure, and those who tend to be resistant (smaller group) to one degree or another. Research (statistics for instance in tobacco cessation studies) have shown that resistance to peer pressure is something present pretty much in an individual's character.

There's nothing new about sheep behaviour, hive thinking, etc.  Those who have the least education (either formal or self-educated) seem to be the most prone to it.  I tutored back in the 70s and found that rote learning was as bad then as it probably is now, but I agree that education has been really dumbed down - we're so focused on training for jobs instead of education for critical thinking, and of course there's that societal bias against intellectual pursuits and thinking.  I'm in my mid-60s and am amazed at how many of my contemporaries have little critical thinking capabilities. 

The online tracking, however, is something that's grown out of traditional advertisement in the digital age and can be very pernicious.  There are ways to avoid it but it's like sugar or salt in prepared foods - really hard to avoid.  The best avoidance mechanism is our independent and critical thinking - and using good security.

That's what I know.

ETA: I always look through the rest of someone's store to see if there's something else I'd like, while I'm there. I have lots of multiples buyers so I know others do - I try to have lots to chose from in my store, even though I'm only small.