New Feature suggestion: Pre Auction Draft

[aleklot]

I have an item that I want to generate interest and collect watchers for, but do not necessarily want to sell the item at this time.  Is it possible eBay would ever introduce a function that might cover this category in a cleaner way than just not responding to the buyers and rolling over the listing?

I feel like there is space for a few slots for something like this on the profile page.  An area where a member could show items and generate interest for an eventual auction at a later date

[loveyourimagination49]

@aleklot

Why don’t you just put it up on Pinterest and get followers, then when you list them on eBay you can point them to your listings.

[aleklot]

Well its not a bad idea.  I was hoping ebay would develop a 3 slot 'showcase' or something for any item but primarily for larger ticket items.  I admit that separating this type of listing from valid listings in search could be confusing but maybe there would be some synergy with paid promotion?  People are able to populate a showcase on their profile and buy a paid promotion to add it to the search stream.  With a special border or something to differentiate it.

Who knows whats possible?

[penguins_dont_fly]

Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook 

Open a business account on each of those platforms.(friends don't let friends spam their feed) ... make sure to put a link to your listings in the profile.

Gather a following (follow others, invite friends and family, put the links on a business card and/or your packing slips)

Pre-promote your auctions. Promote them when they are running. Promote your fixed price items too.

Remember to delete the pins or remove the links from pins on pinterest when the item sells (Pinterest hates dead links)

[mam98031]

Humm, and interesting idea to be sure.  How much do you think Ebay should charge for such a listing or how much would you be willing to pay?  I can certainly see some value in this for some sellers.

[aleklot]

Well if I was being honest, SOMETHING.  Of course I personally wouldnt want it to be very high at all, since I would like to be able to run 1-3 showcase slots nearly indefinitely to build up a significant number of watchers pre-auction for a big ticket item.  But I also might be inclined to rush to auction during a specific promotion which might remit a significant value in fees.  So in reality there is likely a calculation eBay would be able to do to figure out what makes sense for them.