Recieved Offer From Seller - Wasn't Watching Item and Never Added it to Cart

[swokzcar_bawmy]

I don't use eBay often, so when I got my first "offer" from a seller today, I was curious how they knew I'd looked at their item. eBay says this can happen in two ways: either when a buyer chooses to watch an item, or when they add an item to their cart and it's been there for at least 5 days.

This was a listing I'd looked at a couple, or a few times, but I never "watched" it, or added it to my cart. I've never used the 'watch" function, and before today couldn't have told you how to use it. But just to make sure I hadn't somehow mistakenly hit a button, I checked the listing again and, as I already knew, I was not watching the item. Further, not only did I not add the item to my cart, I received the offer within only 24 hours of discovering the listing. So, even if I "forgot" I added it, I shouldn't have received the offer for four more days.

All I did was look at the listing a couple times, and was sent the offer. Was I reading outdated information from eBay? In the brief time I spent investigating this, it seems like a lot of folks are not terribly fond of this feature. And I have to say, if it's actually supposed to work the way it did with me... that's a bit intrusive. Has anyone had experience with this?

[suzysemporium]

I have had it happen to me. I'll be doing research on an item, and will be looking at several of the same item. I have gotten an offer once or twice when I didn't have the item on watch. I looked at a lot more listings than I got offers. I just have to be careful making sure I don't think someone sent me an offer on an item I just listed. Ebay has gotten better at letting me know if it is from an offer I sent or an offer that someone sent me.

On the sellers end I can see which items I can send offers on. I have seen one or two that have no watchers. How am I able to send an offer with no watchers? I tend to skip sending offers on items with no watchers. I did have an e-mail from Ebay once suggesting to reduce my price, since an item was in someone's inbox. I never am able to see who the watcher is. All I see is the number of watchers I have on an item.

I could have 5 watchers on an item, send an offer, and someone who is not watching could receive the offer.

When I send an offer, it will only show me how many people are going to receive the offer. If I have 5 watchers, go to send an offer to all watchers, and see only 3 will receive the offer. In actuality Ebay could send the offer to two watchers and one non-watcher. I do not have control over that on my end.

If I had the choice, I would send the offer to all five watchers. Ebay somehow gates them from receiving offers, or gates me from sending an offer. I know it has something to do with how many offers a seller already sent, and a buyer already received. I do not know their algorithm.

[lamber9347]

@swokzcar_bawmy Wherever you read that description it is inaccurate. I am sent these offers all the time without ever placing items on my watch list. Typically, I only have to look at an item one time and I will randomly be sent an offer. Sometimes I look at an item that someone who has posted a question on this forum has up. I may need to look at the listing to answer their question. Many times, I will then receive an offer from eBay. So, the item was not on my watch list, and I only "looked" at it once. Frankly it doesn't bother me, I just delete them and move on. Best of luck to you.... 

[lepke1979]

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@swokzcar_bawmy wrote:

I don't use eBay often, so when I got my first "offer" from a seller today, I was curious how they knew I'd looked at their item. eBay says this can happen in two ways: either when a buyer chooses to watch an item, or when they add an item to their cart and it's been there for at least 5 days.

This was a listing I'd looked at a couple, or a few times, but I never "watched" it, or added it to my cart. I've never used the 'watch" function, and before today couldn't have told you how to use it. But just to make sure I hadn't somehow mistakenly hit a button, I checked the listing again and, as I already knew, I was not watching the item. Further, not only did I not add the item to my cart, I received the offer within only 24 hours of discovering the listing. So, even if I "forgot" I added it, I shouldn't have received the offer for four more days.

All I did was look at the listing a couple times, and was sent the offer. Was I reading outdated information from eBay? In the brief time I spent investigating this, it seems like a lot of folks are not terribly fond of this feature. And I have to say, if it's actually supposed to work the way it did with me... that's a bit intrusive. Has anyone had experience with this?

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eBay tracks what you're doing if you're logged in and looking at stuff. If you are on a page for a significant amount of time or looking at various similar items, they'll let the seller know this person might be interested if you want to send an offer.

Only way to not make this happen is to not be logged in and possibly disabling cookies/view site in incognito mode.

eBay also uses this to send promotional emails of products you might like since you spent time looking at them or something similar.

[whitewaterford · Accepted solution]

@swokzcar_bawmy

Here is the additional information on the "send offer" screen that describes the set of interested buyers the seller may be sending an offer to:

Perhaps this explains why you are occasionally getting offers.

[slippinjimmy]

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@lamber9347 wrote:

@swokzcar_bawmy Wherever you read that description it is inaccurate. I am sent these offers all the time without ever placing items on my watch list. Typically, I only have to look at an item one time and I will randomly be sent an offer. Sometimes I look at an item that someone who has posted a question on this forum has up. I may need to look at the listing to answer their question. Many times, I will then receive an offer from eBay. So, the item was not on my watch list, and I only "looked" at it once. Frankly it doesn't bother me, I just delete them and move on. Best of luck to you.... 

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^^^^^ This

Plus if you want you can go into your communications settings and turn off these offers if you don't want them.

[coolections]

If you've looked then Ebay knows you are interested. No big deal, if you do not want the offer the seller sent you just ignore it. Everyone tracks you everywhere you go, not just on Ebay. There are two posts right now talking about sellers looking up people's addresses and searching to see the neighborhood, and what kind of house their buyers live in. It's unfortunate but a reality in the world we live in today.

[swokzcar_bawmy]

OK, I appreciate the info and understand what's going on a little more. The page where I saw the two conditions listed was an official eBay page, but looking at it now I see it says "eligible listings include," so I guess it's not technically "wrong," just incomplete. 

I'm honestly annoyed by a lot of this sort of thing, ubiquitous though it might be. I image people who grew up with this stuff don't mind it as much. I haven't come up with a good case for it being unethical or anything, but it's something I consider. Which we all probably should, because certain tech companies push these things as far as they can manage to get away with. But my main issue here was having gotten an offer that didn't seem in accordance with the guidelines. I do appreciate the info on turning the feature off - I don't think I use eBay enough that it would bother me that much though.

I always thought it was hilarious when Amazon started showing you the item you were looking at bundled together with two more items, with the suggestion that you should buy all three. Normally, the implication would be that they were offering you some sort of discount, but no, it's just that, "Hey, maybe you buy stuff based on little-to-no information with virtually no prompting." Point being, at least you're actually getting some sort of discount here (although the one I got wasn't exactly a "doorbuster").


@coolections  I'm going to cop to having looked up seller's houses online, but not working or leaving the house at all, I spend pretty much all of my waking hours online. And at least in my case, I don't think it's the same thing as big tech companies taking that same sort of information, and using it to target you in various ways. Particularly without your knowledge. It's like those recycling campaigns - if every citizen were to recycle every item, the world would still be trashed many thousands of time over by corporations. The campaigns are essentially about convincing people they're solving the issue, which has the effect of discouraging people from demanding corporations be held accountable. OK, I'm getting in the weeds a bit there, that happens. Personally I'm not sure it would bother me, but then if you Google Map my address all you can see is a bunch of trees.

And again, thanks to everyone for the input. Very helpful.

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[mudshark61369]

@swokzcar_bawmy,

  "I've never used the 'watch" function, and before today couldn't have told you how to use it... not only did I not add the item to my cart, I received the offer within only 24 hours of discovering the listing. So, even if I "forgot" I added it ...".

As a relatively inexperienced member you should know that placing items you are not sure about buying in the Cart instead of in the Watched list, is not a smart thing to do for a few reasons.

1)  Once an item is placed in the cart, its information is frozen.  Example: You place a multiple quantity available listing that says 5 are remaining, in the cart. A few days later you try to buy it, but find out that the item has sold out. 

2)  It is easy to accidentally purchase items in the cart that you hadn't made up your mind about, when buying something else.

3) If you place an item in the Cart you want to make an offer on, if the offer is accepted, the discounted price will not be applied to the listing in the Cart.  The same sort of thing happens if you place an auction item in the cart before it ends.   Running auctions and items you make offers on are not fixed price listings. The Cart only works with Fixed price items. 

  " I was curious how they knew I'd looked at their item. eBay says this can happen in two ways: either when a buyer chooses to watch an item, or when they add an item to their cart and it's been there for at least 5 days.... All I did was look at the listing a couple times, and was sent the offer. Was I reading outdated information from eBay? In the brief time I spent investigating this, it seems like a lot of folks are not terribly fond of this feature. And I have to say, if it's actually supposed to work the way it did with me".

Chances are the listing you looked at was in either the Similar Sponsored Items list or Sponsored items from this seller list. (The rows of photos on a listing page).   Sellers pay an extra fee for sponsored/promoted items, and when one is opened, it automatically causes a special offer from 5% to 15% discount on average to be sent to members who have viewed it to encourage a possible sale.

You were not reading outdated information, but looking for different information, that probably should be added to the receiving offers information. eBay is known for incomplete and sometimes contradictory information in their policy searches. 

  " In the brief time I spent investigating this, it seems like a lot of folks are not terribly fond of this feature".

While there are many who do not like the feature, there are also many who do like it and search the sponsored listings for deals.  You can disable receiving the offers by clicking on the Account button on an ebay page.  Account > Communication Preferences > Buyer > Buyer activity (edit) > Offers to buyers uncheck. 

 "I'm honestly annoyed by a lot of this sort of thing, ubiquitous though it might be. I image people who grew up with this stuff don't mind it as much. I haven't come up with a good case for it being unethical or anything, but it's something I consider. Which we all probably should, because certain tech companies push these things as far as they can manage to get away with".

eBay is deeply embedded with google, who shares everything you do not specifically block them from sharing, with everyone they can.   Shades of Orwell???

[ittybitnot]

eBay says this can happen in two ways:

@swokzcar_bawmy 

eBay introduced the third way..... the item becomes available for a seller to send an offer simply because you "looked at it a couple of times".  It does not have to be on your watch list.  A seller has no idea iwhy or to whom the offer will be submitted, only that their item is eligible to send a best offer to buyers. 

[simba6]

Another "great" idea from eBay.  I think it's a bad idea and might keep some people from looking at items.

At least give the seller the option of turning it off.

[swokzcar_bawmy]

"Placing items you are not sure about buying in the Cart instead of in the Watched list, is not a smart thing to do for a few reasons"

I've never done this, and I'm not sure it ever would've occurred to me to. I know a few "real" stores will hold stuff for a few hours though.

"Sellers pay an extra fee for sponsored/promoted items, and when one is opened, it automatically causes a special offer"

As I said, it didn't happen "automatically," but 24 hours later. Bit of an odd tactic though.

"You can disable receiving the offers by clicking on the Account button on an ebay page"

Not only had this been mentioned, but I thanked the mentioner/s for mentioning it.

"eBay is deeply embedded with google, who shares everything you do not specifically block them from sharing, with everyone they can. Shades of Orwell???"

I wasn't sure if they were owned by them (their logos are quite similar), but it may be the case that everyone's deeply embedded with Google. It's pretty much impossible for anyone to live their life without being tracked in some way by Google. That's not in any way an exaggeration, and impossible to grasp the extent of if you haven't read about it from someone who's tried to "quit" Google. I'm honestly not a paranoid, but it's too much.

[louisiana.lagniappe]

You're right.  I look at an item one time and I get an offer on it.  It's annoying because now the offer sits at the top of my ebay feed and you can't delete them anymore!  You have to go in and decline the offer to be able to remove the listing which is a hassle.  Not to mention I don't like to offend people, even if I never added their item to my cart or watchlist to begin with.  It wouldn't be an issue if the listings were not at the very top under OFFER RECEIVED in capital red letters.  🙄

[4pawsup*]

I like the feature to be able to send offers. It has worked for me quite a few times and just tonight i had a buyer purchase an item from me for over $200.00 from an offer i sent. Cheers.

[4pawsup*]

@swokzcar_bawmy 

You may not use ebay often but you used it enough to not ship to a buyer who paid you. Instead of complaining about offers your getting why not take the time to read the policy on selling on ebay.

Congrats to you though you sound like a good canidate for the best ebay buyers club.LOL