Do Buyers/Potential Buyers Put Items in Cart Before Actually Buying? Why Would They Do This???

[kingofthecelts]

Hi There,

I'm hoping someone may have some feedback on the following situation.

I've received an offer from Ebay advising people have some of my items in their carts.

This has totally confused me because in my mind, I personally don't put anything in a shipping cart

unless I'm about to buy.

Do potential buyers actually place items in their shopping cart while they are contemplating their purchase? In my mind, this type of shopper would 'watch' an item but not put it in their cart.

Any feedback greatly appreciated if this is a common practice for bidders/buyers:

Putting items in the shopping cart while they 'consider' their purchase.

Thanks for any feedback and hope you have a great weekend coming up!

🙂

[penguins_dont_fly]

Right now, I've got about 20 items in my Amazon cart.

My habit is to add things to my cart as I think about needing them and then pull the trigger once a week.

On the pet stuff site that I use, I do the same thing.

On eBay, I add things to the cart and checkout all at once for the day.

It makes me see how much I'm spending (I tend to be an impulse shopper)  ... instead of separate $10, $20, $20, $49, $35, $200 purchases ... it's a $334 invoice ... which might make me take a step back a minute and think about if I really need something 😉

The pet site routinely sends me price reduction notices about things in my cart.

[goodluckselling]

Interesting info in this thread

• Some people do not or did not know there even a shopping cart on eBay
• A lot of people use it as a holding place even though eBay has a watched list available to them
• Other shopping sites do not have a watched list so many are just used to using the shopping cart as a holding spot
• Having something in your shopping cart on eBay does not guarantee you this item as all fixed priced item are always available to all shoppers until it is paid for.

Some things that I have questions about

• Since cancellation requests are reported to be on the rise, is some of this maybe because buyers had extra items in there cart and made payment for all items in there cart?
• Is the Buy It Now Button still effective on eBay.  I understand they have the term trademarked, but has the use of it become outdated?

The reason I question the BIN button is because it was first used to make buying easier and quicker than

• adding to cart
• confirming you want this item and then
• being redirected to a payment processor site to complete the payment
• then redirected back to eBay with details about what you just bought

Since we now have inline payments, buying on eBay now is really just two clicks and you never have to leave the marketplace to do this.

It worked well at one time but I am not so sure it is really needed any longer?  And it certainly is causing some confusion.  I have many transaction every day from the same buyers who I can only assume they wanted to add items together in one shipment yet I find separate transaction purchases.  One right after the other, which tells me they are a bit confused with the two button options.  I even have promotions that give the buyer discounts when they buy a minimum quantities and yet I see three sometimes four separate transaction in a row from the same buyer that would all add up to the discounted quantity.  This happens almost daily and certainly several times a week every week. 

I now sort my awaiting shipment orders by user name every morning because as a high volume seller I always find two or three different buyers with multiply orders and sometimes they are not near each other in my list unless I sort them before filling them.

Doing away with the buy it now button might be something for eBay to consider with there inline payment processing and the mobile device usage taking over.

I understand some features like auctions with BIN will not work any longer, but that could be added in another area and be just as effective.  Maybe in the make a bid confirmation page could have the BIN option.

[myangelandmyprincess]

And one benefit to putting an item in the cart I've never seen this happen with something just in my watch list but it told me when I went to view an item in my cart that it has been revised since I put it in my cart.  Something eBay has actually done right 

[dcintennessee]

@secretsquirrelisnowhere, since you've actually benefited from getting a discount, how were you notified? Did you have to keep looking at your cart, or did eBay notify you of a price drop?

I got my first of those "someone has your item in their cart" emails last night, and it is an item I might drop the price on. Was just wondering what happens next, as far as buyer notification.

thanks!

[odditiesandantiquities1]

I tend to place the same order for store needs every other month. I just keep what I need in my card and then purchase when necessary.

[castlemagicmemories]

I avoid the cart at all costs.  Only had two experiences but they were definitely not good.  

One was for two items that duplicated to four.

One was for two items that were supposed to be combined shipping, ask for invoice.  Items were Fixed priced, IPR, and the seller did not put the IPR on them.

She could not remove.  She finally made me an offer on my message to her, I accepted, and then she could send an invoice.

I have said this before, I don't use the cart, it does not like me!

[moondogblues]

I use the cart all the time...put things I want in it, then compare, price wise...and also ask for a combined shipping discount if offered. It feels like more of a commitment to me than the watch list, though I use that also. The cart means I want the items more.

[moondogblues]

"Right now I'm looking for a USB - SD Card Reader, I have ones I'm considering sitting in carts on eBay, AMZ, New Egg and Tiger Direct. I'll buy one in the next 24 hours when I decide which one is the right one for me and abandon the rest (will create a 75% abandonment rate). If one of those sellers decided to send me a special offer It might be just what is needed to convert to an actual sale."

You don't have to abandon them, just delete them....nicer for the site and seller. I agree it's a bit more work, but hey....

[dairywyfe]

Oh my goodness YES!!!!!!!!!!!  I ALWAYS put items in my online carts!   sometimes I buy them, sometimes I don't.   They're things I love... and want... and I'm reminded of that daily when I log on (not only on this site but on lots of others).  And who knows why I don't buy them.  Maybe I'm not 100% committed.  Maybe I don't really NEED it and I'm afraid my husband will get ticked 😉  Maybe I want to wait a week because I'm feeling guilty about spending more $$$.  Maybe I want it but think it's priced too high and am waiting for sale....

SO many reasons! 😉

[dairywyfe]

Exactly!

[dairywyfe]

I buy on amazon at least 2-3x/week.  But how do you have 500 items in your cart? Everytime you want to buy one/some of the items, do you have to "save the rest for later?" That would make me crazy!!! lol! (I didn't know you could buy SOME items in your Amazon cart and not others)?!?!

[dairywyfe]

are we not supposed to actually spell out the "A" word?! Will we get in trouble?! Because I did in another post. ack.

[swenson8781]

I think I currently only have one item in my cart.  DD on the other hand has 20 something items in her cart.  Yes, people DO put items in there, and either abandon them or purchase later.  

Often times I do it so that I can see a running total of all the items I want, if it's too much, then I can remove some, not enough? I can simply add more   The 'cart' is a nice feature I use often.  Like a shopping calculator.

[maridon7280]

its like you are following me around 

[kensgiftshop]

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@kingofthecelts

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If a buyer finds an item they like and wants to buy it, but it's a few days from pay day.

Instead of trying to remember where they found the item or who was selling it, they just put it in the shopping cart until they an pay for it on pay day.

Just like in a store, you're walking down an isle and you see an item you want, do you grab it and run up front and pay for it, or do you put it in your cart until you are ready to check out?