Why do so many people just "watch"?

[jellybirddesigns]

One thing I'm curious about - I have a couple of items in my store which have SO MANY watchers on them it's ridiculous.

All my items are Good Till Cancelled, so they are fairly permanent, it's just the quanity that changes.

A certain percentage have bought but I can't understand why one particular item has 73 watchers (with 25 sales), other items have between 20-45 watchers.

I mean.....why? What's the point of so many people just "watching"?

[*tippy*toes*]

I suppose it's possible that some people have moved on, but don't understand that with GTC listings, that it will just stay on their watch list. For a long time I assumed that things dropped off after awhile. Some could be people that rarely go on eBay, only logging in a few times a year to buy something. They may have put stuff in their watch list and not been back in to check it.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

Thye ones that really make me smile are the messages from people AFTER the item has sold saying " can you please relist the item. I really want it, it hasnt sold has it ? " This is after it has sat forlornly for months with dozens of watchers and no buyers. It happens at least once a week. ( and recieved one of these messages today ) The items are usually rare and priced up reasonably well. I imagine many people are just sitting, waiting for a price reduction. Sometimes I do reduce the price of an item that has sat around for awhile and often get a same day sale. Most of the time I,m happy to just let the item sit for years if need be, until the right buyer comes along who is willing to pay the full price.

I figure it is better to wait a year and get $60 for something rather than sell it instantly for $30 and then have to find another one and go through the process of listing, photos etc. all over again. The profit margin on the $60 sale can be four or five times as much as the quick sale at $30.  I,m fairly busy now and could not keep up if I reduced profit and priced for a quick sale and would just end up working harder for less money.

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I had some stone figurine things that just kept relisting week after week after week for 2 years. Then one day out of the blue, someone bid on the lot. They sent a message saying they were exactly what they'd be looking for and couldn't believe they'd found them. They'd bought all 12. I had another one that I hadn't got around to listing, so I sent it as a gift. I'd made a good enough profit on the others, plus I didn't want that one thing relisting for another 2 years!

I've had quite a few things continuously relisting for a long time, still have some. Out of the blue, someone comes along and buys one. I don't reduce prices either. Someone comes along eventually.

[egglesdtp]

I hate to admit this, but I've had an item listed on that other site since 2009, and yesterday, someone bought it.

[digital*ghost]

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@moonandstarsshop wrote:

It just makes it hard to guage the actual interest level in an item with so many watchers most of whom have probably moved on to other things.

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The trick is not to use it to gauge interest level on an item (I'm sure people watch because they're interested, but it's never been the best indicator of interest > conversion to sales). 

I know a lot of people find stats useful, but that's one that you may as well just view as akin to people walking past a shop window, going "ooh, I like that", and keepin' on walking. Yes, they may come back to buy, but it doesn't even matter - by which I mean until they do, their interest - at least in their capacity as a watcher - is virtually inconsequential to you, and therefore so is the watch count. At best, it can be a very minor indicator of a couple of things, eg lots of watchers, no sales might be vague (and I do mean vague) indicators of things like price a little high.

I have ended two listings recently, both sold quite well over the time I had the items available (i.e. sold over 200 of one, and I think just shy of 100 of the other) but I got sick of selling them (lots of reasons, not much point going into it here and now 😄 ), both of them had between 120 - 140 watchers each. Several weeks after I ended the listings, the number of watchers was still over 100 on both of them, so not many watchers still paying attention to the listings, in real terms. 

[247newdeals]

I am just getting into selling on ebay as a seller I have a lot of items on my watchlist I am considering selling so I can watch what works and what does not at the moment most are newly watched but I am sure some will stay for months as adding a new item will cost me a fair bit and it will take a while to add all the items I think will work well even once added I may leave them to gauge if price raise or fall. 

As a buyer I have items on my watchlist from years a go 2 examples is some telescopes and long range lenese I am an amateur photgrapher and at some point I want to take some pictures of the moon and possible other planets it is not something I am in a rush to do bt one day I will get around to doing it the listings are there so when/if I decide to do it I have some of the options I researched already at my finger tips.

[knewdoors]

i dont see the point of 'watchers" it's just a tease.....and maybe a ploy to keep ebayer seller in the game..they are about as useful as..a flat balloon..

[chameleon54]

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@egglesdtp wrote:

I hate to admit this, but I've had an item listed on that other site since 2009, and yesterday, someone bought it.

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I cant beat that, ( I wasnt selling in 2009 ) but I sold one a few moments ago that has been listed for four and a half years.   

[springyzone]

It depends.

I used to have about 18 pages of watched items, now i am down to 2, but I don't actually have any intention of buying any of the items at present.

I might save a thing in my watched list

-if I am interested in buying it, so i can watch how it does and if it doesn't go too high, I might bid

-if I see something that is like something I want to sell. Then I'll watch it to see what sort of price it gets or so I can go back later to look at how their ad was worded. Not that I copy it all, but sometimes there are some snazzy phrases or titles where I can see some key words I had not thought of but which might be useful to include.

-if I think the product might be useful down the track, even for someone else. Just so i have the sellers, items, prices at my fingertips and don't have to go searching.

-to get ideas on styles and what is available, before making a decision or to show someone.

Just about everything in my watched list at the moment is for those last 2 reasons-wedding candles, bombonniere boxes of various designs, flower girl outfits, stickers.

Been there for weeks and weeks, they probably will be there for a while more too, although I can now delete the candles and flower girl ones.

Maybe the seller will wonder why I dropped out and did not bid but it has nothing to do really with the quality of the items, they were really just being watched for comparisons and as reminders.

[imastawka]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@egglesdtp wrote:

I hate to admit this, but I've had an item listed on that other site since 2009, and yesterday, someone bought it.

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I cant beat that, ( I wasnt selling in 2009 ) but I sold one a few moments ago that has been listed for four and a half years.   

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 I sure hope both of you know where the item is after all this time,  lol

[zanadoo_56]

Some I keep to reorder.

Some I keep to compare prices.

Some have sold (auctions) but they are there to remind me what the going rate is if I ever want to buy one.

Some I've asked the seller a question and I'm waiting for a response (and alas sometimes I never get one).

At the moment I've got an auction item on watch.  It's rather expensive but I would gladly pay the starting price.  It's got 5 days to run, no bids yet but there's no way I'm bidding early.  So frustrating having it sit there with days still to run. LOL