i know it is the management who instruct staff to do that, does not make it any more pleasant to shop though.  I recall when at one very short period of time, every time you walked into Myers in Melbourne the sales staff approached you saying:  "My name is Sue, what's yours"  !!!!!    While I have no problem being polite to the sale staff asking if they can help, I really had to bite my tongue not to snap "none of your business" to poor Sue.  LOL

:^O

Yeah, not Sue's fault. Just part of the job. I would hedge a bet that the majority of watchers are not buyers. They're most likely other sellers / Store owners. Joe Blow sees something they like and bids or buys without even adding it to their Watch list. I've generally found that the number of watchers does not mean more buying interest. It most likely means that store owners want to see if it's worth adding to their store, should they find the same item.

I have 5 watchers after only 15 views for an item that I almost guarantee will not even receive one offer. I've also had 6 watchers for an item that previously sold for $80, with me selling it for $30, and not one bidder. It speaks for itself. Watchers do not bid.