Why do buyers add to Watch list but not buy

[kyrynsissy-7]

I dont understand why I have certain items which stay up in auction for a few weeks with no one interested in them then suddenly I have 5 people watching that item but when auction finishes no one buys it anyway.Is there a way people can see something is being watched so they join in watching as well.It baffles me that the same thing happens lots of times.

[imastawka · Accepted solution]

Sometimes sellers watch an auction because they may have the same item and want

to see what it sells for.

[enigmabear · Accepted solution]

I think it happens to most sellers

Buyers might be 'comparing' items

Or they might put something on their watch list so they don't forget to bid near the end of an auction

Or they might do that and still forget anyway

Or in some other cases they might have questions to ask the seller but don't have time right there and then so they add to watch and ask later

I guess there could be dozens of reasons depending on what the buyer wants, when they want it and how much time and money they have

[padi*0409 · Accepted solution]

Some of those watchers could be from your last thread.

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/how-to-get-more-buyers-to-look-at-my-listings/td-p/2191035

Items on my watch-list are sometimes there for comparison, some for future buys and some that I'm waiting to see how the price goes on the auction.

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

I have things in my watch list as reminders to buy one of those but it may not specifically be from that seller when the time comes.

Or specific items are added to my watch list to see if the seller reduces the price on relist before I buy.

[joztamps · Accepted solution]

I don't know why people put my items on their watch lists.

But I figure that it might mean they might buy them, so I'd rather them be on the lists than not.

[shoppingbag* · Accepted solution]

I used to think if I had lots of watchers the item would sell. However, this is not neccessarily the case, I have had as many as 14 watchers on an item and it still doesn't sell. Then I have had many items that have no watchers and suddenly it sells. Don't try to figure buyers out, I gave up a long time ago.  I have had a few that say they want to buy, and then 5 minutes later change their mind. (I'd rather not deal with those kind anyway) I put things in my watch list if I am selling the same thing and want to see what it sells for, or if I am considering buying the item. Other than that, who knows what the erratic, inconsistent, don't know what they want types are thinking.

[brerrabbit585 · Accepted solution]

The more watchers an item has, the more its visibility is boosted by ebay (generally) so don't knock it. Some things get listed several times with an auction start of $10 and on the umpteenth relist they get several people interested and it gets run up to $50. I've heard of this many times.

[zanadoo_56 · Accepted solution]

Sometimes I have the same items on my watch list from many sellers because I not only want to buy the item but other related things I want...but so far I haven't found a seller who has everything I want.  So I leave them all on the watch list and every so often check if they also have the other items yet at competitive prices.

I also have some items I'd like to own on my watch list that are being sold or offered for auction at absurdly high prices and I'm curious to know if anyone is crazy enough to actually buy them (let's face it the cost is so inflated they are never going to come down to a price I'd pay. 😉

[1781anna · Accepted solution]

I dont really worry about the number of watchers or views all that much. The way I look at it is it is like owning a card yard and having heaps of tyre kickers come through. Then all of a sudden the item sells 

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