topic Re: Customers that watch your items... in Selling

Customers that watch your items...

create_fashion-com-au — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:34:29 GMT

As a store holder, it can be quiet frustrating having all these watches and not been able to communicate with them.

An example of what I mean;

I have on average 50++ watches, as it's Ebay’s rules and regulations that they cannot disclose the customers (watchers) Ebay user ID so I’m unable to ask the customer (watcher), if they need any assistance.

I would like to treat my customers (watches), like a customer walking into my shop and they start browsing (watching) and I ask them if they need any help. On some occasions they are just happy to browse but in other instances they are more than happy to accept your help. In the end the customer is happy as they received the service that they deserve along with their item(s) and the shop is happy as they received a sale.

My point is I would very much like to assist my customers (watches), however Ebay makes this quiet difficult.

Just wondering if there are any fellow store holders that share the same frustration.

Your comments, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you 🙂

Re: Customers that watch your items...

punch*drunk — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:41:48 GMT

Nope, I dont even take any notice of them nowdays. Often the watchers on BIN items are competitors checking your prices or keeping an eye on what your selling. Or they are customers that cant pay yet, but want to buy next week or the week after, or their waiting for you to put it on sale, or its on their wish list, or they put it on watch and its dropped off the page and they've forgotten all about it.............

If people have questions, they'll ask.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

punch*drunk — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:43:14 GMT

Oh, and I think if sellers could contact watchers, we would all have a lot less of them. One of the advantages for lots of ebayers is that fact that they cant be harrassed (for want of a better word 🙂 ) by sales people.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

thecatspjs — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:23:13 GMT

I love my anonymous watchers - I have loads of them too :-x:-x:-x

I betcha I would have a lot fewer watchers, if I could view their ids or send them a message spruking my items. A change like that would make me very frustrated as a seller and as a buyer X-(

Re: Customers that watch your items...

digital*ghost — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:37:12 GMT

As a store holder, it can be quiet frustrating having all these watches and not been able to communicate with them.

I think something a lot of sellers forget is that they do communicate with people who are watchers only, and anyone else that views their listings.

Every little last detail you put in your listing communicates something to potential buyers (as long as they see / read it, I suppose). You communicate details about the item, postage, your store practices (eg return policies, handling time). There can be just as much (if not more) information contained in a listing as someone could get by browsing a store and seeking assistance - that's kind of the point, in that the listing should contain all the information a potential buyer needs to make a confident purchase decision (or, if it can't - eg custom items, clear details on what and how to communicate their needs to the seller).

Re: Customers that watch your items...

garfieldau — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:43:13 GMT

I can see big issue on buyers side of things especially if they watch many items at any one time

I know i wouldnt my email Inbox flooded with sellers asking if they need help this would potienly drown out important email.

If you want to help customers Put as much detail in descriptions as possible this will help

Buyers watch items for many reasons like already mentioned

Re: Customers that watch your items...

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:48:53 GMT

I have on average 50++ watches, as it's Ebay’s rules and regulations that they cannot disclose the customers (watchers) Ebay user ID so I’m unable to ask the customer (watcher), if they need any assistance.

I would like to treat my customers (watches), like a customer walking into my shop and they start browsing (watching) and I ask them if they need any help.

Simple, first line of your listing description should be "Should you need any advice or have any questions that need answering please do not hesitate to use the 'ask a question' link at the bottom of this page".

We know that buyers rarely read the whole description which is why I suggest putting it ad the first line.

If sellers could see that I was watching their item and they were able to contact me directly I would watch very few items. Unsolicited contact may be viewed as spamming.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

create_fashion-com-au — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:52:29 GMT

Thank you fellow Ebayer for your comments. 🙂

I appreciate your help..

Re: Customers that watch your items...

phorum_junkie* — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:13:13 GMT

The only items I watch are those which I have reported for policy breaches and that is just to check that they have been removed!

I never take any notice of watchers, especially on BIN items, the number of watchers has no correlation with the number of bids or buys.

I always assume that most watchers are other sellers who want to see how much I get or how many I sell so they know if it is worth them listing or not.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

skye.shops — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:50:21 GMT

I often watch an item that I like but don't bid (I'm talking in stores here, notindividual sellers) so I can think about it...will it go with my decore, will it fit me, will it be used, do I really need it, etc...

If I knew that sellers could access my details through me watching an item I would definitely watch a LOT less! I like being able to "hold" an item in my list for a while before I commit to buying & I often change my mind about an item for any number of reasons.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:54:18 GMT

Unsolicited contact may be viewed as spamming.

I was looking through some eBay pages and found the following that may apply here

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/rfe-spam-ov.html

Now I know you are just wanting to the best by your potential customers who place your item on their watch list, but being able to contact watchers would be abused by many sellers if it were available.

It may also mean that sellers organise "off-eBay" sales which would undermine the viability of eBay should it start to lose profits through fee evasion.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

thesoulyearns — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 04:18:52 GMT

I love my anonymous watchers - I have loads of them too :-x:-x:-x

I betcha I would have a lot fewer watchers, if I could view their ids or send them a message spruking my items. A change like that would make me very frustrated as a seller and as a buyer X-(

Yeah, I'd probably end up doing that too. One time I had about 13 watchers but only one bid.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

peternt2001 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 05:21:19 GMT

I have actually brough 5 or 6 watches from ebay in the last few months.

and i too , watch several items at the same time, firstly it puts it on my list so i dont have to search for it again.

secondly, the way ebay is, and has recently been brought to my attention, there is no point ( infact it can be detrimental to you if you do ) in placing an early bid , well except to make it become an active bid on auction. As with the withdrawrall of a bid, it can make you become the highest bidder again, after you think you are out of an auction and have moved on to bid on the same item with someone else, potentially making you liable to buy 2 of the same thing.

so i will watch everything i am interested in, and place the majority of my bids in the last minute of an auction if not the last seconds.

and you will find the majority of your watchers are waiting to the last possible moment, to bid, if the price doesnt go beyond what they are prepared to pay.

if you have an auction running for 5 days you can bet only 5% of the action happening on your item happens in the first 4 days and 23 hours and 30 minutes , 95% of the action will happen in the last minutes

Re: Customers that watch your items...

thesoulyearns — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 07:43:28 GMT

if you have an auction running for 5 days you can bet only 5% of the action happening on your item happens in the first 4 days and 23 hours and 30 minutes , 95% of the action will happen in the last minutes

In the majority of cases, you're probably right. There are always exceptions, though. There's one very successful seller who gets bids typically with days to go on alot of their items, which usually sell for more than they're generally worth as far as the median price. It's good if you can get to that stage as far as having a perceived high standard and likability across most of your listings.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

davewil1964 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:12:38 GMT

And that only applies to auctions. As the OP has a store, I imagine the bulk of their listings are BIN.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

thesoulyearns — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:42:11 GMT

And that only applies to auctions. As the OP has a store, I imagine the bulk of their listings are BIN.

True. To get those watchers actively participating in a BIN, it might be a good idea to add Best Offer if not already added. Even if it's below their ideal price, they can still make an offer. If some people think it might be gone soon because of all of the offers, it can have a similar effect to a bidding frenzy on an auction and someone might snap up the BIN price. That happened to me once when I was trying to get something cheap and it was gone moments later.

Re: Customers that watch your items...

the_hawk* — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 06:54:16 GMT

I watch many things I never bid on, like when I am interested in a item and start looking I will add all the items I am interested in to my watch list and then go through that to work out which one is the best value for money, seller location, seller feedback, best item description with the least terms & conditions and then buy, the rejected items remain in my watch list untill ebay removes them;-)

If a seller re lists that can be a very long time 😉

Re: Customers that watch your items...

***super_nova*** — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:08:53 GMT

If I walk into a B&M shop, and even before i have a time to look what they sell, I am accosted by several members of their staff trying to "help", i am out of there....

If eBay sellers would would be able to contact me just because I put something on my watch list, I would be seriously not pleased 🙂

Re: Customers that watch your items...

patchoo78 — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:18:08 GMT

I agree with super_nova, but you don't have to put them on your watch list.. If you want to save things to buy later you can make a new list and add them to that...

For example, I buy Magic the Gathering cards and I am often looking at multiple lots of cards at one time; so I just made a list called "Magic" and add them to that

Re: Customers that watch your items...

carly2579 — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:30:05 GMT

i find watchers annoying it doesnt usally result in sales