When To Relist Versus Sell Similar?

[1nicebuy]

I know a lot of sellers recommend doing a sell similar instead of relist to make the listing date newer so it appears higher in search results when date of listing is factored in.

However when you do that, if you have buyers that put your item on a watch list, or unsuccessfully used Make An Offer, wouldn't the downside of a sell similar be that those buyers wouldn't get a notification the item was relisted?  Or would they get a notification that the seller as listed a similar item they expressed interest in anyway so sell similar is almost always best?  

Otherwise it would seem to me if you have a ton of watchers or offers, and you went to lower the price, it would be best to relist so they all get notified of the new lower price?

[dbfolks166mt]

     I use the auction format almost exclusively and do not use OBO or a BIN price on the auction. I do a combination of both relist and sell similar. For those items that have watchers I simply relist and possibly adjust the price or some other element of the listing. For those that do no have watchers and have a low, or no, views I will do a sell similar and often change a number of things in the listing to potentially make item show up better in initial searches. Sometimes that means changing the listing category or title, sometimes adjusting price. 

[ebooksdiva]

My thoughts on watchers...to me they are just stalkers who really aren't looking to buy. If they were, they would've bought the item instead of placing it in their watch list to forget about it.

If the item has ended and you relist or sell similar, if they item buyer wanted to buy they can find it by searching your items or simply asking you if it's available.

If the watchers have their notifications on to receive a notification on a price drop, they are notified. Buyers are also notified if a watched item is relisted. 

But it's your item you do what you feel is best. 

[reallynicestamps]

Viewers view.

Watchers watch.

Buyers buy.

Sell Similar with its slight boost in visibility will capture new buyers.

If those viewers and watchers are still in the market for The Thing, they will still be running Searches for it, and will see your "new" listing.

YMMV

[dbfolks166mt]

My thoughts on watchers...to me they are just stalkers who really aren't looking to buy. If they were, they would've bought the item instead of placing it in their watch list to forget about it.

If the item has ended and you relist or sell similar, if they item buyer wanted to buy they can find it by searching your items or simply asking you if it's available.

If the watchers have their notifications on to receive a notification on a price drop, they are notified. Buyers are also notified if a watched item is relisted. 

But it's your item you do what you feel is best. 

     I agree there are lots of watchers who simply watch for a number of reasons but I have had a lot of watchers contact me after the auction ended and tell me there were watching the item and forgot to bid, had an emergency........ They indicated they still wanted the item and asked if I could relist it. I relisted the item as a BIN/IPR and every single time the item was bought and paid for within 30 minutes of me sending a link to the listing. 

[1nicebuy]

Thanks for the responses.  I also thought that if there are a lot of watchers but you get no bids, then relist at a lower price where the watchers are notified is of questionable value.  However, if these watchers found the item and didn't buy, most likely they will find the new listing through a saved search or manual search again.  Maybe it's best to just relist but if you have the 'send offer' option on some items, give that a try at the new price and give them a day to respond before relisting at the lower price?