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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

@Anonymous

 

On this video......

 

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/videos/222851305076068/

 

about 6 minutes in, Jennifer mentions sending offers to watchers......seemingly from Seller Hub or the listing itself.........  I've searched and can't find anything about it.....some of the comments indicate some people have found it, others haven't.....can you get any info about it?  Test? altho she seemed to say it was a tool everyone could use.  Didn't sound like she meant sending an offer from  the email from ebay that was going around for while.......

 

thanks

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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@livadia wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@dhbookds wrote:

@Anonymous

 

On this video......

 

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/videos/222851305076068/

 

about 6 minutes in, Jennifer mentions sending offers to watchers......seemingly from Seller Hub or the listing itself.........  I've searched and can't find anything about it.....some of the comments indicate some people have found it, others haven't.....can you get any info about it?  Test? altho she seemed to say it was a tool everyone could use.  Didn't sound like she meant sending an offer from  the email from ebay that was going around for while.......

 

thanks


Hi @dhbookds, we are working on getting more info for everyone. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this feature. Would you use it? What concerns would you have? Do you have any specific ideas on how this would be best implemented? Definitely let us know and we can pass along feedback while we get more details!


If it were me, I'd rather be able to send watchers an "offer" in the form of "X%" off the BIN price -- offer good only for "X" hrs/days with the caveat that it's first-come, first-served and since there are other watchers it behooves the recipient to act before someone else does -- as opposed to a straight out "how would you like to buy it for "X" dollars" and then having to haggle back and forth on the price.

 

With the %-off idea, it could be set up whereby as soon as someone puts an item on their Watch List they get the auto-generated offer by email that the seller has crafted/specified.   However, whether a seller wants the offer sent automatically, would be up to the seller's discretion -- IOW, this feature wouldn't be mandatory or required on each listing.

 

You would also need the ability to "customize" the "Watch Offer" so the seller could indicate what the "offer" would be as he/she may wish to exclude some items, use a different % off, etc. and sellers should have that ability/flexibility.


I like what you've said very much. I would also like the ability to specify a time frame of when the offer would automatically be sent. Instantly, 48 hours, a week, etc.

The opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Message 16 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@Anonymous wrote:

@dhbookds wrote:

@Anonymous

 

On this video......

 

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/videos/222851305076068/

 

about 6 minutes in, Jennifer mentions sending offers to watchers......seemingly from Seller Hub or the listing itself.........  I've searched and can't find anything about it.....some of the comments indicate some people have found it, others haven't.....can you get any info about it?  Test? altho she seemed to say it was a tool everyone could use.  Didn't sound like she meant sending an offer from  the email from ebay that was going around for while.......

 

thanks


Hi @dhbookds, we are working on getting more info for everyone. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this feature. Would you use it? What concerns would you have? Do you have any specific ideas on how this would be best implemented? Definitely let us know and we can pass along feedback while we get more details!


If you implement this you better have a way for people to opt out of receiving these unsolicited "SPAM' offers.

 

Personally as a seller I would NOT use it. I dont spam people with unwelcome emails. Doesnt ebay do enough of that already without my help?

 

On average I get 3 to 4 emails / offers / reminders from ebay every single day. How many sellers are you going to allow to do this?  And yes, I have all my settings checked not to allow them but they come anyways.

 

The Race is over
The Rats won.
Message 17 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

@Anonymous

In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this feature.

 

I have a dozen items on my Watch List.

Two are there because I buy shipping materials from them and this is how I remember who has the best deals.

One is for something I bought three years ago and might buy again in future. (Pure linen sheets. Worth every penny and highly recommended.)

The rest are things I might buy one of these days (a Jayne hat and a churchwarden pipe for cosplay, some Eileen Fisher sellers) but  most are ended long since.

 

The few items I have on my own listings that have Watchers, seem to have had them forever. Since I only sell Fixed Price, if someone wants to buy, I would have it in the mail in a few hours.

 

So.

Watch Lists are interesting, and can be useful for buyers, but make no difference to sales.

 

Views are important. If I'm getting hundreds of views on something, but no sales, it's time to change or end it.

Message 18 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

Anonymous
Not applicable

Will this go only to users with the item on their Watch List or will it also go to users who put the item on a custom labeled list? It should only go to watch lists. @Anonymous

Message 19 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

I want to be able to see the user names of the watchers so I can vet them before even deciding to send offers.

 

 

 

 

Message 20 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

I remember this idea being floated at various times on the boards and IIRC the consensus was a resounding NO, followed by words along the lines of "If they start doing this I will NEVER watch anything again"
Reality is the leading cause of stress.
Message 21 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

I use the watch list to keep an eye on some competitors selling similar items to mine.  I would NOT APPRECIATE my spying activities being outed!  I am off to delete those “watches” right now before eBay starts telling them I’m “interested” in their item.  Ugh. 

Message 22 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
I remember this idea being floated at various times on the boards and IIRC the consensus was a resounding NO, followed by words along the lines of "If they start doing this I will NEVER watch anything again"

I'm perfectly fine with buyers not watching.

Message 23 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@d.clawed wrote:

I use the watch list to keep an eye on some competitors selling similar items to mine.  I would NOT APPRECIATE my spying activities being outed!  I am off to delete those “watches” right now before eBay starts telling them I’m “interested” in their item.  Ugh. 


Another reason why I want to see the user names.

Message 24 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@Anonymous wrote:

@dhbookds wrote:

@Anonymous

 

On this video......

 

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/videos/222851305076068/

 

about 6 minutes in, Jennifer mentions sending offers to watchers......seemingly from Seller Hub or the listing itself.........  I've searched and can't find anything about it.....some of the comments indicate some people have found it, others haven't.....can you get any info about it?  Test? altho she seemed to say it was a tool everyone could use.  Didn't sound like she meant sending an offer from  the email from ebay that was going around for while.......

 

thanks


Hi @dhbookds, we are working on getting more info for everyone. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this feature. Would you use it? What concerns would you have? Do you have any specific ideas on how this would be best implemented? Definitely let us know and we can pass along feedback while we get more details!


Thanks Trinton.........I think I would use it, but would like to see it first.......lol.  I think I heard on the video that the offer has to be sent to all watchers, and that there is a place for a message...... what would you think as a seller or buyer we should say in it...... ?? 

Message 25 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@Anonymous wrote:

 we are working on getting more info for everyone. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this feature. Would you use it? What concerns would you have? Do you have any specific ideas on how this would be best implemented? Definitely let us know and we can pass along feedback while we get more details!

 

@Anonymous   -   We have one listing with almost 12,000 items sold from the listing and has 561 watchers.  I will assume many of those watchers have already purchased from the listing.  How would we inform that many watchers about any changes to the listing?

 

This is slightly off the main subject but It would really be helpful if buyers could put a (zero quantity, multi variation) into there watched list, so that when the variation inventory is updated the buyer will receive the

"an item you are watching is now available" message.  Right now they can not add a variation that is temporarily out of stock to there watched list.

 

Good Luck Selling!

 

 

Message 26 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?

So this feature would allow me to send an offer to someone I have no info on, who may be a "difficult" buyer, and may actually be one of my competitors?

And sellers will be able to spam me with offers on items I'm watching because I'm their competitor?

Oh, that's brilliant. No thanks.
Message 27 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@Anonymous wrote:

@dhbookds wrote:

@Anonymous

 

On this video......

 

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/videos/222851305076068/

 

about 6 minutes in, Jennifer mentions sending offers to watchers......seemingly from Seller Hub or the listing itself.........  I've searched and can't find anything about it.....some of the comments indicate some people have found it, others haven't.....can you get any info about it?  Test? altho she seemed to say it was a tool everyone could use.  Didn't sound like she meant sending an offer from  the email from ebay that was going around for while.......

 

thanks


Hi @dhbookds, we are working on getting more info for everyone. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this feature. Would you use it? What concerns would you have? Do you have any specific ideas on how this would be best implemented? Definitely let us know and we can pass along feedback while we get more details!


Without getting into the details of the functionality (because I don' t know anything about it, but functionality is an area where eBay problems tend to occur frequently), I'll offer up a couple of broader observations:

 

First, we've historically been unable to see who watchers even were.  Presumably for two reasons:  to prevent off eBay transactions from being arranged, and prevent sellers from spamming buyers with offers they do not want.  Obviously you've solved the first issue, or we wouldn't be seeing this.  I'm not so sure anything has been done to mitigate the second issue, and eBay generates an excessive amount of marketing spam already.  I'm not sure more "pushy salesman" approach will be well received by shoppers.

 

Even more broadly, this is another "let's haggle over the price" campaign designed to move merchandise.  There's nothing wrong with that if both parties are willing, but this (and adding Make Offer to seller's listings) lack any indication of a desire to haggle by those being haggled with.  For those who are open to indeterminate price point transactions, there is an existing better choice the venue should be promoting instead:  Auctions.

 

As these price negotiation features multiply, sellers might tend to price higher to leave room for negotiation.  That may make sense and work well for the individual seller who is doing it (or not), but I'm not sure it's good for the venue as a whole.  There's already a problem with too many listings priced too high, resulting mostly from the "Free" insertion product pricing scheme currently being employed here. 

 

Speaking of which, this is a problem in Auctions already too (start prices way too high, items never get bids), is there any plan to allow sellers of over-priced Auctions to spam buyers with unsolicited offers too, or is this only a Fixed Price campaign? 

 

I'll second the notion that this could impede buying some, with buyers deciding to watch list items and waiting to see if a better price is offered somewhere down the road.

 

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@fern*wood wrote:

So I assume this will out the identification of watchers. 


That's a good question.  I'll bet they "anonymize" it. 

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
Message 29 of 106
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Send a watcher an offer???? Clarification?


@ted_200 wrote:

@fern*wood wrote:

So I assume this will out the identification of watchers. 


That's a good question.  I'll bet they "anonymize" it. 


Don’t know about anyone else but now I have that stupid Monty Python song stuck in my head

 

Spam Spam Spam Spam......

 

The Race is over
The Rats won.
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