"Watching"

[therog]

Your opinions on fixed price sales: Do you think most "watchers" are really just sellers of the same item and only want to see what the going rate is...or are these legitimate buyers who want to jump in at the end?  Just curious about what other sellers think.

[dhbookds]

First, I just don't "worry" about watchers........lol........who will ever know why?

That said, I'm  sure some are other sellers..........but go read buyer's board and see how many posts when watch lists go glitchy........these people have 100's of items on it and get extremely upset about losing any access to the lists......I doubt most will buy much, but they sure seem to enjoy "collecting" what they might want.......at least on a list. 

[hawkwind5454]

My personal opinion is, watchers rarely turn in to buyers. Most watchers, are doing so, out of curiosity of outcome, for whatever reason.  I pay little attention to them-

[retrose1]

If the item is not very common, I think that the watchers are sellers looking to see if it sells at that price and for how long it takes to sell it.  An interested buyer will buy a rare item when the see it.

If the item is common, I think that most of the watchers are buyers shopping and putting a dozen or so of the same item in their watch list and will buy the cheapest, best condition on on that list.  Then they will forget the rest.

But watchers give your item a little boost in search, so sellers shouldn't complain about them.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

The watchlist was created for buyers. Sellers couldn't see the watchcount until a few years ago.

i often have hundreds of items on my list (max is 300). I will bid or buy many of them. Really nobody knows who the watchers are. There are good theories like rose's bug if someone sounds like they know for sure they're just guessing like everyone else

[siayan]

I can't say for sure but I think many watchers are from web pages that gather similar listing with a theme to try to get clicks. 

For example, a web page may center on Lionel trains and then have trains for sale. When you click on them you go to an eBay item.

[tkinnebrew]

Just one thing to consider:  if a person who wasn't going to buy right away sees an item that they were thinking about getting later (let's say its somewhat uncommon); and it has 17 watchers and 3 offers made already, they might just buy it now, literally.  Full price and all no best offer made.  So it makes a difference in that sense.

[d-k_treasures]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

The watchlist was created for buyers. Sellers couldn't see the watchcount until a few years ago.

i often have hundreds of items on my list (max is 300). I will bid or buy many of them. Really nobody knows who the watchers are. There are good theories like rose's bug if someone sounds like they know for sure they're just guessing like everyone else

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Sellers could always see the watch count. It was starting to show to buyers a few years ago.

[pikabo-icu]

As a seller, I pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, errrrrr I mean the Watch List.

As a buyer, I add items to PURCHASE when a good eBay Bucks deal drops or to remind me to purchase later. Often I'll find something in the wrong size and add the item to my Watch List to remind me to check back for more size options etc...

Yes, I know about the followed search feature and I use it but it gets old getting emails every day, for dozens of items..

The Watch List doesn't email me and like a bullet, "it never lies". LOL

[ebbyisme]

As a seller, about 95% of the time, I put something on my watch list because I am going to sell something similar and will list the item when I get around to it.....

As a buyer, I put something on the watch list because I am not ready to purchase or bid on the item but by putting it on my watch list I am sure to forget about it. For me as a buyer the watch list does nothing for me. For some reason I never remember the item until it is too late.

[just-a-stockboy-to-them]

I think the watch list max just changed. 

I watched 300 items last week.

I cleaned out the list yesterday, and started watching more items. 

But now i can only watch 200.

Anybody else see this?

[pikabo-icu]

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@just-a-stockboy-to-them wrote:

I think the watch list max just changed. 

I watched 300 items last week.

I cleaned out the list yesterday, and started watching more items. 

But now i can only watch 200.

Anybody else see this?

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Hummmm

Mine's always been 200

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

As both a buyer and seller, I never use the watch list. I prefer bookmarks and post-its on my desk calendar.

Sometimes I will keep track of an auction that is either being ignored (maybe I can score a bargain!) or going bonkers (just for fun to see how it ends!). But a FP listing? Maybe just to bookmark a seller for future reference.

But I do love crushing the hopes of "watchers" by snagging a BIN without bothering with a Best Offer! And buying "the last one" when 20 people are watching . . . that's always fun! Once I even bought all 4 items in a multi-quantity listing. I do a BIN on auctions with lots of watchers and no bids, too!

~~C~~

[postingid2017]

I watch because I cannot afford to spend as I did when I was employed.  Those pesky things like food, lights, etc., seem to get in the way 🙂  So I watch and if I have extra money and the item is still available, then I buy.  Auctions I cry, but BIN's I just have to wait it out.

[campesinoplastic2014]

I have had sales with zero watchers. Some come through and buy. Others just bookmark it. Closely watching things like watchers is likely to waste your time and stress you out. A very high number of watchers used to indicate an impending bidding war at the last minute, but that is not even the case anymore. You really just never know. Bidding software has changed all that, and often the part of the site that shows the watch count is not working properly, so I rarely pay any attention to it.