Does the *groveling for a sale* thing work for you?

[dubiousgain]

And by that I mean, sending a watcher of ones listing, a lesser price offer; And to be sure, call it what you will, but in my opinion, that IS, groveling.... and I don't think it has ever panned out for me. I think that 80% (if not more) of my watchers, are chronic watchers, for various reasons.  And by the same token, as a warcher, I don't think I've ever accepted a seller's offer)  So back to my  original question, how many times has sending a watcher an offer, resulted in a sale for you?

[ersatz_sobriquet]

There are sellers who overprice something ridiculously high so that nobody will buy it, fully with the intention of "look at this cool thing I have but I don't really want to sell it" and "take a look at my other listings".  Overpriced listing may lead people to check out what else they have for sale. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

I have X number of items to sell, and X number of listings monthly. If marking down, or sending specialized offers to watchers, gets an item gone that's been hanging around for two years, then I'm all for it.  I use the send offers feature from time to time on items that have been listed for at least several months, and have at least three or four watchers. It works about a third to half the time.  I don't run markdown sales because the majority of my items have best offer.

The stuff I sell has no set market value. It's worth exactly what one person wants to pay at any given time. If I can get that two year old book gone by marking it down a few dollars, that's a good thing. Money in my pocket, and a space to list something else.  My COGS are practically non-existent, so I can sometimes do a deep discount and still make money.

I'm here to sell stuff, not run a museum.  If clearing out old items by lowering the price is groveling, then I guess it works for me sometimes.

[ed8108]

Entitlement vs what people will pay for your item on ebay.

[flatwarepicker]

Were the heck do you find out who the watchers are? Grovelling might be good if you have nothing better to do or just board listing items?

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Ebay keeps the buyers who are watching your items hidden. You can send offers to those watchers sometimes if ebay gives you the choice to send an offer, but you still have no idea what the user name is that is watching the item. 

[luckythewinner]

@dubiousgain wrote:

And by that I mean, sending a watcher of ones listing, a lesser price offer; And to be sure, call it what you will, but in my opinion, that IS, groveling.... and I don't think it has ever panned out for me.

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My items are low-demand music memorabilia items by mostly obscure artists. 

When I get a 500 free insertions offer, I list 500 items and then end them before they renew. 

The last two times I got one of these 500 listing offers, I sent a 10% discount to watchers two days before the listings ended.  

Both times I got a half-dozen immediate purchases that (based on history) I doubt I would have gotten otherwise. 

So it is not a game changer for me, but I consider it to be another tool in the chest that I can work with. 

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Nearly ALL my now very pitiful sales on 2 ID's come from making an offer to watchers.

I'll grovel, I need to eat and so do my animals 🙂

[u_cant_take_it_with_u]

I love this kind of post as it really brings out the eBay fan-boys (and girls).... They don't focus on your root question (the last line of your thread) they're too busy focusing on how you asked it! Rather amusing....

[dubiousgain]

An offer sent out 48 hours prior to listing close, might be a key gambit, worthy of consideration.😉

[mtgraves7984]

I don't know which makes me more uncomfortable... making offers to my watchers or being sent offers by sellers.

With that being said, I offered a couple of dozen (mid-December, to bring up my 'Tracking Uploaded on Time' number when my metrics got behind) that resulted in sales to about 25% of them. Come to think of it, that pushed me over the 95% requirement.

Hmmm... with THAT being said, it's not beneath me to insinuate myself again. In a pinch.

[fern*wood]

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@u_cant_take_it_with_u wrote:

I love this kind of post as it really brings out the eBay fan-boys (and girls).... They don't focus on your root question (the last line of your thread) they're too busy focusing on how you asked it! Rather amusing....

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Do you have an answer?

I've had a few watchers take advantage of my offers.  I see it as targeted advertising.

[gracieallen01]

Just because you don't fit the description, doesn't mean that there aren't many who do.  Many, on a website of many millions could still be a lot of people.  And, having worked antiques with clients (people) for many years, I can guaranteed that there are lot that live up to what I posted.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

If you think any of us are fans, you obviously haven’t been here long. Any time some people don’t agree with something a poster says they accuse them of bing an eBay shill. 

the point has little to do with how they asked it, rather it is indicative of the attitude some some sellers have around here that could be improved.

this discussion has nothing to do with eBay so the fanboy comment doesn’t even make sense

[gracieallen01]

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@u_cant_take_it_with_u wrote:

I love this kind of post as it really brings out the eBay fan-boys (and girls).... They don't focus on your root question (the last line of your thread) they're too busy focusing on how you asked it! Rather amusing....

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'Fan-boy (and girls)'? 

How in the world do you come up with that?  Perhaps on Facebook or Tweeter or someplace where everybody is a bud or bro or sister.  You should have been around for the feedie forum.  The Mods have been known to step in with a warning to play nice .  'Sides, if everybody had the same opinion, what would be the use of a forum - other than to pat each other on the back?

Oh, and while we're at it, did I tell you about what my cat did yesterday  when ......

[u_cant_take_it_with_u]

I wouldn't be so fast to make assumptions about one's eBay tenure. As you well know, a member can have just an ID for posting on the boards. And if you want to see something that does not make a whole lot of sense, I would suggest you re-read your last thread here...Slooooowly....😉