Ebay's "Want It Now"

[gad88]

Hello all ... just wondering if any of you guys have used the new Want It Now section of ebay to buy or sell your postcards. If you are selling, have you ever used this section to help you decide in your card selection? Thanks Isabel

[daveypn]

Put up a "wants" in the stamps & postal history section a couple of weeks back but zip response so far. Paul

[rubberob]

I do peek in on that board now & then, especially when trying to decide which cards to list next. So far, I haven't seen anything requested that I have. It does, however, help educate me as to what people might be out there looking for. -Robyne

[dmhcollectibles]

just my opinion, but I don't think it's worth the bother. There's another thread here about the same subject, it will describe my feelings about it a bit more completely... Diane

[phoenixantiques-petworth]

I had a look to see if anyone was after anything I may have, but was rather dissapointed to see how many folk just put "postcard" - there are enough characters to put in exactly what you are looking for. I got fed up after a while and haven't returned since, especially as ebay seems to be running ludicrously slowly at present. Sara

[dmhcollectibles]

the main problem with it in my eyes is: say you see where someone is looking for something you DO have in stock. The only way you can respond is to do an eBay listing for it - incurring the fee - but you have no way of knowing whether the "buyer" is seriously looking for the item, whether he's just goofing around, whether he's already bought it elsewhere, whether he's even going to see your listing, or whether he's just changed his mind about getting it. Your chances of actually making the sale aren't very high, but you've incurred the fee. If it's an item that you wouldn't have posted anyway, you're SOL. If it's an item that you WOULD have posted anyway, that works out ok in the long run, but if you WOULD have posted it, you prolly already would have done it, you wouldn't have waited for the person's request. So I think it boils down to a lot of time spent by the seller reading the want ads, etc. for very little return and more likely than not will do nothing other than increase eBay's fees revenues even more. Diane

[gad88]

Plus ... there's really no guarantee that when you respond to the person's request for a particular card that the person actually knows that someone has responded to their request. Following your comments Diane, the poster may just have posted it out of whim but has no intention of seriously following up and checking back. Does anyone know if an email is automatically sent to the person who requested if a response has been made?

[dmhcollectibles]

Not to my knowledge, gad88, but it's possible. But eBay's email system is so inefficient that even if an email was sent to the poster, he might not receive it before the listing has expired! I get "ask seller a question" emails all the time after the listing they're asking about has been dead for several days....and sometimes I get followup emails from a potential bidder saying that if I'd answered their question they would have bid - when I never got their email question through eBay in the first place! Diane

[phoenixantiques-petworth]

argghhhhhh don't get me started! I don't get my end of auction emails until about 2 or 3 hours after the auction end. "Ask seller a question" gets used by buyers after the end of an auction, to email me for details, usually becuase they haven't had an end of auction confirmation from ebay either and don't know how to pay me, wouldn't be so bad if the email wasn't half filled with ebays warnings of selling off ebay etc, and only an item number to match the person up with, who will then go on to send me a cheque, and not give me thier address becuase they figure that it is in their "Ask" email which it isn't. Emailing customer services usually results in a cut and paste response to somebody elses questions 3 days too late. Want it now was probably created to stop ebay being bugged by people wanting a "wanted" items page, like in the old days, but then of course ebay missed out on fees. Now they have sort of given the people kind of what they wanted, they will have reduced the amount of emails falling into their suggestion box - that is of course if anyone can find it! I am convinced that we are all at the whim of a group of 8 year olds trying to complete a school project, I wish they would quit playing with the bits that aren't broken, and use some of their glue and string to fix up the well and truly bust bits. (I did warn you!) Sara

[dmhcollectibles]

yup I agree with all above, Sara! :( Diane