How can an item have a watcher but no views?

[gurlcat]

I tell ya, I am having a generally bad and generally 'weird' week, and that's not a good combination because it feels like forces out of my control, HA.  First (as described in another post) there's these seller offers I keep getting for items I have never even clicked on.  Then starting maybe 4 or 5 days ago, my store seems to be in sudden down-throttle mode, total viewcounts plummeting overnight, with even new postings of very popular items getting little or no views (and so yeah my sales have sucked too, and my latest auction closed much lower than expected, even WITH the 'express' promotion which usually works great for me).  Yesterday I ended/sell similar'd all listings older than 30 days, maybe that will algorithm me back to normal traffic, guess I'll see.   
And now, a new weirdness: this item I posted yesterday.  I posted it at the same time as a few other things, and then a few hours later checked to see how they were doing, and I think maybe 1 or 2 of them had ONE view or something, and no watchers.  But then another few hours later, this one still had zero views, but one WATCHER.  Now tell me how the heck that is possible.  I know ebay recently changed the display of views to (supposedly) include only real views by shoppers, not 'bot' views for 'no-no' listing scrutiny, internal logistical whateverness, etc.  But I can think of no way anyone can watch something they have literally not SEEN.  I thought maybe it was just a brief glitch that would change overnight, but nope, still there.  

[donsdetour]

clicked on watch item with out acualy click on the search result to view: good to have one< may look later.

[pburn · Accepted solution]

@gurlcat 

Shoppers have the opportunity to place a listing on their watchlist without opening the listing itself by clicking on the eye/Watch link (under "Free returns).

[omgitlightsup]

(edited because I never answered your question which was pretty clearly stated) database-driven systems like eBay do this for a number of reasons. Statistics presented to users may be delayed or slightly inaccurate. The problem is just very obvious when the numbers are small. It's not technically a "glitch," but more like, how you need to call the bank for a payoff quote and can't just pay your mortgage off by writing a check for the balance on your statement.

I have zero use for watchers. I don't know why eBay still uses this feature.

Back in what I call the golden years of eBay (99-03 or so), most of the items on eBay were unique, and they were offered at auction. It was not unusual to have numerous watchers, and you could guess from the number of watchers whether there would be a bid war at the end.

Today, eBay brands your merchandise like any wholesale good. It shows potential buyers anything with similar keywords to your brooch and attempts to market other... "goods" as "equivalent" to your offering. There's nothing special about you or the particular item you're selling.

eBay probably offers watchers similar goods when they're not shopping too, based on the items they've watched. This probably works great for eBay even though it leads potential buyers away from the item they originally watched. Away from your item. I don't have any evidence of this, but from a marketing and analytical standpoint it would be kinda stupid of them not to. Watch a few random items of a specific genre and see what kind of ads you start getting on the web. You might be surprised.

I'm with you.. "watch" is obsolete and serves only to confuse people today. I've had dozens of items watched over the past few years. Nearly every item I list gets one or two watchers. But few of my items are getting buyers, and those are what I'm here for.

[gurlcat]

Wow, I guess I never noticed that!  Nor did I expect an answer so FAST, and with a screenshot and everything.  THANK YOU! 

[alcoforever]

Watch function is for buyers, not sellers.   It is not obsolete.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@gurlcat 

Hun, it could be one of your customers who has you saved as a seller. They probably got notifications about new listings and just hit the heart to view it later.

     I watch a bunch of things, could be something in the description I like and will use that info for future sales or because I'm really interested in it.

[stainlessenginecovers]

half my watch list are items I watch as a 'seller' to see if it sells as well as for pricing comparison

[pburn]

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@alcoforever wrote:

Watch function is for buyers, not sellers.   It is not obsolete.

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Good point.

As a seller, however, I would think there would be at least a passing interest in which listings were being viewed. If a listing is not getting any views or a listing is getting views, but not watchers or sales, for example, it might be time to review my listing for ways to improve photos or titles or the item description, or even time to lower the price or take it off the market for awhile or list it elsewhere--or even donate it. Whatever. But viewing activity could indicate it might be a good idea to do something with that listing.

[lacemaker3]

@gurlcat;  there's a Watch link on each item in a search list. Buyers can just click that link. Maybe they were looking for a bunch of items that they wanted to check out later in more detail.

[gurlcat]

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@omgitlightsup wrote:

I'm with you.. "watch" is obsolete and serves only to confuse people today. I've had dozens of items watched over the past few years. Nearly every item I list gets one or two watchers. But few of my items are getting buyers, and those are what I'm here for.

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Oh I definitely don't think it's obsolete.  Watchers are who can receive your seller offers if you do them (which I don't 'often' do, but when I need to it's great).  And having a lot of them often does still pre-indicate a final-minutes bidding war, for me anyway.  Like this recent one for instance, went down to 3 battling bidders, granted it had 80-something watchers.  

[gurlcat]

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@pburn wrote:

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@alcoforever wrote:

Watch function is for buyers, not sellers.   It is not obsolete.

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Good point.

As a seller, however, I would think there would be at least a passing interest in which listings were being viewed. If a listing is not getting any views or a listing is getting views, but not watchers or sales, for example, it might be time to review my listing for ways to improve photos or titles or the item description, or even time to lower the price or take it off the market for awhile or list it elsewhere--or even donate it. Whatever. But viewing activity could indicate it might be a good idea to do something with that listing.

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YES.  I forgot to include that in my reply about watchers not being obsolete.  I've gotten used to my main category enough that if I don't have any watchers after (say, 20 views, really depends on the item), it's definitely time to at least open the listing and see if anything is 'off' about it.  And I may very well go ahead and end/sell similar it with a lower price, because I tend to push the upper limit on prices to start with, as it sometimes results in someone snapping it up, especially Chinese (and formerly Russian) collectors.  But if people are only looking long enough to conclude 'not even worth watching' then I know I'm pushing too high. 

[pburn]

Another option for adding a listing to a watchlist without opening it is by clicking on a little heart in the lower right-hand corner of the listing (on the desktop, anyway).

[pburn]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@gurlcat;  there's a Watch link on each item in a search list. Buyers can just click that link. Maybe they were looking for a bunch of items that they wanted to check out later in more detail.

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See Message #3.

There's also a little heart in the lower right-hand corner of listings displayed in general search results.

[gurlcat]

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@pburn wrote:

Another option for adding a listing to a watchlist without opening it is by clicking on a little heart in the lower right-hand corner of the listing (on the desktop, anyway).

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Actually, I just now did a search (on my laptop, home wifi) and the heart is the ONLY thing I see, not the eyeball and 'watch' icon under the price.  How did you find that, to make that screenshot?  Was it on your phone?  If so, no wonder I didn't know about it, I almost never shop on my phone, ha.