how do I contact a bidder who didn't win an auction

[dog-49]

how do i contact a buyer who was not the winning bidder. i want to contact him as he may be interested in another item i will auction and i want to let him know when i will be selling on ebay.

[phorum_junkie*]

I believe that would count as unsolicited mail and if they complained to ebay you would get your wrist slapped.

It could also be seen as encouraging off ebay sales as the item is not yet listed, another wrist slapping transgression.

If you contacted me for that reason I would be extremely annoyed. Buyers have the option of being informed if another item the same or similar to the one they have searched for is listed and we are also able to do another search if we lose so there is no valid excuse for touting for sales.

[clarry100]

If the other item is identical you could send out a second chance offer. When we used to auction we did this with every item that had multiple bidders and very often scored a second sale out of it. You still have to pay normal FVF of course.

[springyzone]

I personally would not be at all upset if a seller contacted me-once- to let me know of similar or the same items coming up.

If you do find a way to send a message though, you might be best to just say you have a similar item you will be listing on ebay in eg next week.

If the time is longer than a week away though, then don't bother as if people are after something or need something, they're not going to hang around too long on the off chance they will win your item.

If you can't see the names of the bidders or click on them soemhow I am not sure how you will identify the under bidders.

[thesoulyearns]

Click on their username and go to their Feedback profile. On the top right hand side of the screen there should be a link that says Contact member. Click on that. It will ask you to enter the item number that your message is regarding or you can just click on the box below to enter a subject about a new item.

As springyzone said, if you'll be listing it more than a week away, maybe wait to message until a few days before you'll be listing it.

[phorum_junkie*]

You may not mind but others very well might and the OP could land in hot water. Encouraging people to break the rules is not the best of ideas.

If you want to take the risk at least wait until after it is listed and quote the item number then you cannot be accused of offfering to sell outside ebay.

[springyzone]

I didn't mean to encourage anyone to break the rules as such.

I would not be offended if a person let me know they had more things coming up on ebay but yes, for sure, some other buyers may be.

The main consideration though is would it be an effective sales strategy to contact people. I am not at all sure it would be. My own experience is that people (including myself) tend to forget about an item once they have been outbid or have lost the auction. Lose interest.

Or else they immediately look for a substitute. They're probably not that interested in things that might be coming up later.

Better to just list with effective words in the title and relist if it doesn't sell.