Why does eBay 'control' when I can send offers?

[vintage_buy_sell]

As a seller, I would like to be able to send offers whenever I want to people watching my items. Why does eBay control this function?

For example, if I have an item with 10 watchers, I would like to send an offer to ALL 10 watchers, at any time I want. Wouldn't this increase 'competition' for my item, thus make more sales for me AND more 'fee income' for eBay? 

Why do I need to wait for email to enable this, then I can only send an offer to may 1 or 2 buyers who maybe just added my item to their watch list??

Now, if there is a way I can 'force' an offer to be sent to all watchers of an item, please let me know how to do this. I would love to know how.

[kensgiftshop]

@vintage_buy_sell 

Not all watchers are interested in receiving offers and can opt out of them.

When offers are sent, they only go to the ones that want to receive them.

If you already sent an offer to some watchers, what good would it do to send it to them again?

[dhbookds]

Buyers can "opt out" of receiving  offers..........and ebay doesn't allow more than 1 offer to be sent to the same buyer to prevent spam.........

[ckimodog]

You have best offers on several of your listing and that applies all who may be watching.  So basically it's already out there for buyers to consider and make any offer.  

[meme6253]

Doesn't ebay basically control everything here?

[vintage_buy_sell]

I just figure people watch fixed bid items to wait and see if I 1) lower the price or 2) enable me to send them an offer. I really see no other reason for someone to watch a fixed bid item other than a method for getting a 'better price'. So I have an item that has been out there for >1 year and numerous people watching it, why shouldn't I be allowed to send an 'exclusive' offer to those watching it if I want to offload it for a like 50% off? 

I might not want to lower the price in hopes they will see it drop, I would prefer to 'push' an offer out. 

As far as it being 'spam', if they don't want me to keep sending them offers, then either 1) stop watching the item or 2) make ME an offer!

It's like if I walk in the same store each week and keep looking at the same item, the shop owner has ever right to tell me 'I'd make a good deal on that!' if they notice I look at the same thing every week. Why is it so bad for me, as a seller to do the same on eBay? Would a shop owner only tell the potential buyer once for fear of 'bugging them'? If the buyer gets annoyed, then they can stop coming into the shop.

Same should go here - this is a market place, we should be allowed to 'wheel and deal' as much as we possibly can, right?

[dhbookds]

Same should go here - this is a market place, we should be allowed to 'wheel and deal' as much as we possibly can, right?

In my opinion..........no we shouldn't.........  Some sellers would send offers everyday to the same watchers.......which is going to gripe those that don't want to see them.... they have their own reasons for watching and ebay tries to respect those that don't want offers.  They are trying to retain buyers for the benefit of all of us....

[kensgiftshop]

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@vintage_buy_sell wrote:

I just figure people watch fixed bid items to wait and see if I 1) lower the price or 2) enable me to send them an offer. I really see no other reason for someone to watch a fixed bid item other than a method for getting a 'better price'.

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Some watch an item because they have one to sell and they want to see if it sells and at what price.

Some watch to see if an item really sells at the price listed.

Just because they watch an item, doesn't mean they are interested in buying it.

[onefootflipper]

I have 977 items that have watchers right now. I would just be sending the same offer to the same people every single day if it didn't just send offers to new watchers. They would all be so annoyed that none of them would ever buy from me again.

You can however severely increase all your prices on something with a bunch of watchers and then lower it back to normal again a few days later and that will likely notify a whole bunch of the watchers.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I do wish we could send again to the same buyer, b/c I get so many buyers who missed their window & want me to re-send.  It happens ALL the time & the only thing I can do is tell them to buy & I'll refund.  Some newer buyers are leery of that.  

[popblox]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

I do wish we could send again to the same buyer, b/c I get so many buyers who missed their window & want me to re-send.  It happens ALL the time & the only thing I can do is tell them to buy & I'll refund.  Some newer buyers are leery of that.  

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I agree, especially from a buyer standpoint. There's this one seller I follow who jacks the price up on their listings and if I add an item to my watchlist, I almost immediately receive an offer for 50% off. They don't have BO on their listings, so if I happen to miss that 48-hour window while the offer is active, it's just over. 

As a seller, I once sent an offer for 5% off a very rare item to 39 watchers, but I meant to type 15%. Once it was sent, it was over - had I been able to send the correct amount, I know it would've sold faster than it did because I subsequently ran a 15% off sale and it was gone within a few hours.

These are just examples, I can think of many more. For watchers who are truly buyers looking to buy, I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't want to keep receiving offers as long as the price is actually decreasing - I wouldn't consider that spam at all.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@popblox wrote:

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

I do wish we could send again to the same buyer, b/c I get so many buyers who missed their window & want me to re-send.  It happens ALL the time & the only thing I can do is tell them to buy & I'll refund.  Some newer buyers are leery of that.  

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I agree, especially from a buyer standpoint. There's this one seller I follow who jacks the price up on their listings and if I add an item to my watchlist, I almost immediately receive an offer for 50% off. They don't have BO on their listings, so if I happen to miss that 48-hour window while the offer is active, it's just over. 

As a seller, I once sent an offer for 5% off a very rare item to 39 watchers, but I meant to type 15%. Once it was sent, it was over - had I been able to send the correct amount, I know it would've sold faster than it did because I subsequently ran a 15% off sale and it was gone within a few hours.

These are just examples, I can think of many more. For watchers who are truly buyers looking to buy, I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't want to keep receiving offers as long as the price is actually decreasing - I wouldn't consider that spam at all.

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Makes sense.  I was talking from seller POV.   On most of mine, the buyer writes me & tells me they missed their window or deleted it & changed their mind.  So, as a buyer, you can consider writing to the seller.  I usually will honor my offer, as long as they aren't rude. 

[vintage_buy_sell]

Well, I guess eBay could monitor for seller that send a bunch of offers. I would not do that, because as a seller, I also do not want to tick off my customers and send them an offer EVERY day. That's just poor sales ethics! 

If a seller does that, then eventually they will have no buyers as no one would watch their stuff, etc. 

Maybe a throttle, you can only send offers to a buyer once every 30 days or something.

All I am saying is it would be nice if I had a listing with like 10+ watchers that was out there for a while to send a 'new offer' to them all, so they all know they are getting the offer and it might put some fuel of the fire for them to buy it. 

As a seller, if I get 1 shot to send an offer, that kind of ties my hands in options to get a buyer re-interested in item.

I know there are some poor sales tactics by sellers jacking prices up, lowering prices and jacking shipping up etc. But I do have to say I get a lot of insulting offers on my items too. If I list something for $25, please don't offer me $5 and expect to be taken seriously. eBay is not a garage sale.

[doc-holmes]

If watchers are bombarded with offers, they will all opt out of receiving offers and then you won't be able to send offers to anyone. 

[vintage_buy_sell]

I am not saying (nor EVER said) I want to 'bombard' anyone with offers. Never mind, nothing will come of this thread anyway, just thought I'd ask if anyone knew of a way to 'resend' an offer or try to send new offers to an old listing I have with a lot of watchers.

Thanks everyone for the conversation, but we can call this a day.