There are eyes on your item? Go for the sale?

[debvor]

I may have brought this subject up before but here goes. I get messages from Ebay from time to time that says something like "There are eyes on your item" and "go for the sale". The message has a list of items that people have in their watch list and Ebay is saying that as a seller I should lower my price and that they will email the "potential" buyer. The first thing that occurs to me is that maybe these people are seller and just curious to see if the item sells before listing theirs. Maybe they are potential buyers. If they are, instead of asking sellers to lower their price, why don't they message the "potential" buyer and tell them that they they can make an offer on the item. That make much more sense to me. Now I know that not every seller puts "make an offer" on their items but at least send the message to buyers of sellers that do.  

[drinkwine1204]

I got the same message this morning, certainly not the first. They showed me 5 items that had "eyes" on them. I clicked on 2 of them and there are NO watchers on either, ZERO. So either the counter is off or ebay thinks that maybe a buyer will put it on their watch list. 

I mostly just delete these without looking at them as there doesn't seem to be any logic or helpful info. 

[taylors996]

Another worthless E mail from Ebay.. I just delete them alone with other spam E mails I get from Ebay. One would think as big as Ebay is. Ebay would find away to send relevant Emails to me, that fit with what I sell on Ebay. Instead of always asking the seller to lower their selling price.

[sweetpieces4you]

That's a bit odd . As I know what message you are referring to. And mine doesn't say anything about people's ( EYES )/WATCHING your ITEMS and to lower your prices now to make the sale and or we will email potential buyers !! And if what you are saying would be true people are watching your items (WE) would all be receiving that message many, many times everyday !!! What the message I receive SAYS is people have ( YOUR ITEMS in THEIR CARTS and LOWER YOUR PRICES and MAKE THE SALE and we will email the potential buyers to let them know !! ( BIG DIFFERENCE ) !!! You apparently get messages but from whom I can't even imagine 😳😳😳 !!! 

[ted$95]

I have received both messages mentioned. People watching item and go for the sale and items are in carts etc. What i do is that I monitor my listings to the best of my ability and I notice when there are watchers along with knowing my profit margins and what my flexibility is. I have lowered prices and made sales at times. I called ebay about some of these suggestions they make and i was told by a supervisor that these are just algorithms pulling from certain things at certain times and if I found a strategy of selling that is working for me that I should just stick with it. They are nothing more than suggestions.  I have found the app and the computer or classic site with ebay to be inconsistent with information as well. I have the same items listed for different prices in the app and the classic site that I have to bring to ebay's attention. Ted

[luxgoods]

I get these ridiculous e-mails often.  Like many have said here, these e-mails are worthless.  I too just delete them.  This has been going on for quite some time now.  It would be nice if Ebay would send e-mails explaining why all of our sales are down.  Maybe a couple of e-mails explaining what they are doing about the China Sellers, The scammers or maybe the glitches that still plague the platform.  I have to wonder if the CEO Devin Wenig has any idea how bad his company is doing and the perception that Ebay is just a flea market.  He will find out when ebays earnings report is revealed at the end of the month.

[jenniferd559]

I get BOTH of those messages from eBay! Daily! I am getting frustrated with all of the constant pressure to lower prices, and more so with the "Or Best Offer" option being changed without my knowledge or consent!

[debvor]

I, as well as several other people on this thread, get the messages and they come through Ebay messages so it is not some one scamming. I have never seen the message you are referring to. I have on other sites but not on Ebay.

[debvor]

Ebay is squandering an opportunity to make Ebay so much more than just a "flea market" site (although I don't think it is). I have had countless messages from customers that tell me about the things I sell. I have them tell me they lost everything in a storm or fire and found something I was selling that helped them rebuild what they had lost. I sold an old brochure one time and the person that bought it said his great grandfather was pictured on the front. I have people buy old video games or toys that they said they had when they were a kid. The stories go on and on. Ebay could turn that into a great marketing plan but they are too focused on cheap Chinese junk. They need to connect with people much like Apple was doing. They had great ads that showed people using there product in a personal way. They have abandon that and their sales have suffered. Now they market to shallow superficial people. 

[johnrj1226]

I dismiss  this  suggest  due to  naivety of  eBay '"sales types" that  have  rarely sold anything in their life but read about teh  in and outs of selling some where.

That suggestion reminds me of a real-estate  sales agents who will be  paid out of the  funds that the seller receives at  closing.  But during the selling process they always seem to  say to the seller "if you just  drop your price a  couple thousand or more dollars dollars we  can  close  the deal.  Those few thousands  of dollar means very little to the agent but a whole lot more to the seller. 

Almost forgot, these  real estate agent offers very little input into what the property "should" be listed for and ask the sellers what they want to sell it  for - if it is too low  they  say very little, if the seller  is asking too much they  might say something.   I base my comments on  my experience on  selling of four  houses in my life time - two in Illinois, one in Ohio and one in Texas (near Houston).

Was taught to sell by  believe  price is right just sell it.  Anyone  can drop their price but they are not  sales professional but simply order takers.  On line selling is  different than  tete-a-tete selling and your best  sales representative is  your listing - make it work to your advantage. - don't bog  buyers  down  with a lot of wording that only repeats eBay policy - just state the  facts and nothing but the  facts - buyers/shoppers are in a hurry - you have  very little time to stop a shopper and turn them into a buyer -  maybe 1 to 2 minutes.  IBM used to preach a sales person needs to close a  deal within 3 minutes, if not the sale  was lost.

[hpm0hpm0]

I have seen this too.  Mostly I delete such nessages, although I do check the number of watchers.  If there are several, I might lower the price a bit as an inducement.  What really bothers me is the way eBay serms to be pushing sellers to do things in a certain way.  I used to NOT include “make an offer” in my listings, figuring that a potential buyer would ask for a lower price.  Then they added it to my listings, and I would remove it, but it would reappear.  And they enter ridiculous offer prices, like half price, so I have to edit the offer price to be closer to my “buy it now” price, so I am not giving my stuff away.  So ebay “won” on that one, because now I will accept offers on almost everything.  Oddly, I am getting queries from potential buyers, wanting to know my offer price, because their offers keep getting rejected.  Like yard sale people, they try to get something for nothing, no matter how realistic my “buy it now” price is.  Looks like ebay is favoring buyers now more than sellers, because sellers are getting squeezed into doing things their way.  Based on the discussion I have seen about changing the duration, I assume that if I have a length of 10 days, it will automatically be changed to “good til cancelled” when I relist, forcing me to now do almost everything using the browser, instead of the app, if I want to maintain any control over my listings.  Not good!

[johnrj1226]

One  more thing,  those  eyes (aka watchers)  on many items  are just sellers interested in seeing  if your item sells (I do that) or they  might be borrowing some description copy from your  listing to paraphrase and insert in their new listings for the same thing (I do that  on occasions) or when I'm shopping for a specific item I may add 4 or 5 listings to my watch list, then  narrow  it  down to just one item to buy -  try to  eliminate the non winners  from  my watch list  but sometimes I don't until way later.  But then I  may jsut buy something I want right away 'cause it is OOAK.

I have  had  listings that have  had beaucoup  watchers, 50+, but  never sold,   have  had items with zero watchers that have sold, have had items that sold within seconds of being listed.  Watchers to me  is of  little value other that  a sellers  getting some  assurance their listing are being seen by some sort of interested party but  so do  listing views.

Finally, price is not  the  primary deciding  factor when I make purchase decision.   I look for other  factors - quality of  listing - # pictures,  descriptions - too much "soft" verbiage a turn off - I like facts,  if the listing description copy is longer than my mortgage document I don't read it & move on,  shipping service/handling,  (I like to  get my stuff I paid for reasonably fast - snail mail I don't  like adn I don't  buy to just buy I  need to buy),  if the  seller states see the pictures for condition  description - I move on, are  key dimensions provided or does the  listing say if you need dimensions send me a message - I move on time, doesn't respond to  pre sales communication, or responds with "terse"  language (buyers are not a sellers enemy - buyers & their $ make people  sellers  etc.  Yes there are difficult buyers & difficult sellers- but dog  fights aren't a way to handle any issue  and  most usually these types don't last long or find there way to a BBL

During my selling career attended  sales/development training courses - Dale Carnegie, AMA (America Marketing Association) Professional Sales & Sales Management Courses and several others., one thread that ran through most of these was the  theme  "Your Price Is Right  - Sell It".    IMHO sellers need to understand  your best sales person in on-line selling is your listing be  professional.

Lowering your price is not  always the way to go - especially if you know  are competitive and low price selling is not a way to go if you want to enjoy the  benefits of a nice profit.

[vintageschmintage247]

Right on! Good point 

[davearrow12]

i agree that makes more sense.

[jeffcomowerparts]

I AGREE i have clicked mine as well only to see no one watching its just like the comparison charts to other listings similar i hav efound they compare mine to those who sell less of quantity than i do like blades if i sell a 6pack they compare my listing to someone selling one or 3 there fore it shows their item is less in price compared to mine but dont take into  effect the quanities im so disgusted with sales this has been the worst 5 months ever