Ebay- anything to take away from views and watchers?

[palidin20603]

Does this really mean anything as far as sales?

 

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[CladSpends2]

I would say, if you get a lot of views and watchers you have worded your topic very well, you have an item of interest, or a combination of both and I would think that would lead to more bidders and the higher likelihood of a bidding war developing and a higher sale price realized. I have to admit, I will sometimes watch an article I have in my "inventory" and see where the bidding goes to see what the "current market value" of said item is. I figure I am just joe average on eBay and probably a third to a quarter of my watchers are doing the same thing, so I always discount about a third when watching an auction and wondering how many bidders I will get. Just my opinion, hope it helps.

T.

 

[Iron Patch]

It will never tell the story but if an item is not getting very many views, and has little to no watchers, then you should expect it could fail. Often times I can pic out things I have on and judging by that, and just gut feeling, I know it's not going to do well.

There is at least one fairly useful way to use those numbers. When you have something on fixed price it's really only people who are serious about buying it who will track. So paying attention to this you can see if your item has a lot of interest and priced ok, or not much interest so maybe a change of some sort is needed. I've had things for months and was just about to drop the price then realized there was 14 tracking, so I knew it was going to sell, just needed to give it more time.

 

[Baltimore]

Small side note about watchers, I have noticed that whenever I sell nicer women's stuff it gets a ton of watchers but not many bids. I asked my girlfriend (who also uses ebay occasionally) about it and she said she just watches everything she is even remotely interested even if she has no real intention of buying it, and she said her friends who use ebay do a similar thing. Kind of like window shopping, going to stores just to try things on for fun, etc. This is by no means a steadfast rule, but I think some markets may tend to just get a lot of watchers but not necessarily a lot of bids.

 

[AndyE89]

Depends on what you are selling. I never watch it anymore. It will drive you nuts!

I think you can even take it off or hide it on your My ebay page. It is so weird when you have 100+ views with 4 watchers and it never sells. You have to remember views are not accurate. ONE person could have looked at your item 50 times, it does nothing for you. Watchers, could be competition, or someone who has the same item and is waiting to see what yours sells for before listing their own.

I just think it is arbitrary at this point.

 

[Iron Patch]

Depends on what you are selling. I never watch it anymore. It will drive you nuts!

I think you can even take it off or hide it on your My ebay page. It is so weird when you have 100+ views with 4 watchers and it never sells. You have to remember views are not accurate. ONE person could have looked at your item 50 times, it does nothing for you. Watchers, could be competition, or someone who has the same item and is waiting to see what yours sells for before listing their own.

I just think it is arbitrary at this point.

100 views and 4 tracking can easily make sense because the price has everything to do with it. If you start a $500 item at .99 you'll likely have a ton of views and and large amount of watchers, but all that will be dialed down bigtime if you start at $400.

 

[AndyE89]

I never start high. I usually start EVERY auction "Vegas Style" Even if it is a higher end item. This just gets more attention that way.

 

[Nickleanddime]

I start at a 1/3 of what the highest goes for on the completed items list. If its just something im trying to get out the door I start at $5 and lowest shipping option.

 

[Iron Patch]

I never start high. I usually start EVERY auction "Vegas Style" Even if it is a higher end item. This just gets more attention that way.

That's fine as long as you cherry picked great deals and the worst case scenario is you just end up good, and not great. That is how it was for me before... I could sell say 100 things, list all starting at 0.99, and maybe break even or lose on 1! But the thing is I wanted to move more, but if you want to move more you have no choice but to buy things where you make money, but not the large profit margin you're used to. And when you do that, starting at 0.99 becomes much more of a risk... and to me, and I assume you too, breaking even is a fairly bad result. That wasn't the only factor because several other things changed for me too, including increased competition, so going Vegas is just not an option for many things anymore. I actually do a lot of both low start auctions and fixed price, and I do think that is what works best. Having a store is well worth the small cost per month for anyone who is really serious about this and plans to sell a lot.

 

[diggummup]

I watch items all the time, just to see if they will sell, because I have the same item and will be listing it.

 

[CladSpends2]

I watch items all the time, just to see if they will sell, because I have the same item and will be listing it.

Yup, that is what I said earlier. Glad to know I am not alone. Great minds think alike...............ok, a great mind and I do.

T.

 

[Rob in KS]

Before the economy crashed, we used to start low. Things were pretty likely to get bid up to a reasonable price. But the last few years the market is tough. So I start at what I'd like to get and mark it down if it doesn't sell. The free listings help that a lot. But I'm not doing it to put food in the table so I can wait and re-list.

 

[Rawhide]

I just dont get it, you find stuff in the trash and then want 80% retail? Then you complain about here, go figure.

 

[deserdog]

Find stuff in the trash?? Most of the stuff I sell is not "found" but hunted out from thrift stores. It is a regular job. And some older items you get maore than "retail". No different than "finding" a gold nugget while prosepcting, and getting a lot of money for it. You put in the time and money to earn money.

 

[Iron Patch]

Which reminds me.... Having a forum called Dumpster Diving sure doesn't do any favors to this activity or how detecting is perceived by the public. Do I know of something good coming from the trash... sure do, but if I owned a site called Treasure Net I'd pass on the dumpster stuff. Heck I think there's room on this forum for the few odd things someone might pick up on the side of the road. But that's just my opinion.

 

[NHBandit]

It will never tell the story but if an item is not getting very many views, and has little to no watchers, then you should expect it could fail. Often times I can pic out things I have on and judging by that, and just gut feeling, I know it's not going to do well.

There is at least one fairly useful way to use those numbers. When you have something on fixed price it's really only people who are serious about buying it who will track. So paying attention to this you can see if your item has a lot of interest and priced ok, or not much interest so maybe a change of some sort is needed. I've had things for months and was just about to drop the price then realized there was 14 tracking, so I knew it was going to sell, just needed to give it more time.

This is good advice. Ebay is strange though. I have one particular item that I have right about $40 invested in. I started at $75 which is more than fair for what it is. I have dropped to $60, then $50, and now $40 and been relisting it every week for 3 months. Every single time it ends with no bids and over 10 "watchers". I refuse to go any lower. I will keep relisting it until the end of time... lol

 

[diggummup]

I just dont get it, you find stuff in the trash and then want 80% retail? Then you complain about here, go figure.

And you felt the need to comment on something you obviously have no clue about, why?
I just don't get it, go figure.

 

[Nickleanddime]

I just dont get it, you find stuff in the trash and then want 80% retail? Then you complain about here, go figure.

I find stuff in the trash alot and make money on it. Sold a Barnum and bailey wizard of oz promotional toto basket last week for a easy $20, posted it on a online garage sale. Another mans trash is a small but still there portion of my overall yearly sales. Basically in this business you have to have a good eye and take that money where you can find it.

 

[inspectorgadget]

I watch items all the time, just to see if they will sell, because I have the same item and will be listing it.

Was gonna say the same thing... A lot of watchers & not many bids can mean a lot of people are looking at selling this item & wanna know how well they are doing!

Yup, that is what I said earlier. Glad to know I am not alone. Great minds think alike...............ok, a great mind and I do.

T.

Exactly & Same thing as I said above!

I just dont get it, you find stuff in the trash and then want 80% retail? Then you complain about here, go figure.

I can't understand why you don't take a few dollars less an hour at your full time job??

Find stuff in the trash?? Most of the stuff I sell is not "found" but hunted out from thrift stores. It is a regular job. And some older items you get maore than "retail". No different than "finding" a gold nugget while prosepcting, and getting a lot of money for it. You put in the time and money to earn money.

Exactly! I can't believe he made this comment, who doesn't want the most money for their time & investment? Like he would work for less $ than he knows he can get.. Was a very moronic statement to say the least!

 

[inspectorgadget]

I never start high. I usually start EVERY auction "Vegas Style" Even if it is a higher end item. This just gets more attention that way.

I use to also but you will often get slaughtered on ultra rare yet low demand items where timing is everything! I've seen the same item start at $0.99 & finish at $30 ish & yet seen the same item sell multiple times at $200 BIN. Sorry but Vegas auctions do not work for all items not at all! I am a lover of the $0.99 starting bid auction style & most items do the best that way!!! But it's the ones that don't that you just can't play that game with & I have had a lot of those types of items! BTW I NEVER do RESERVE auctions either! Anything rare does not start at 99 cents with me anymore! And I am not looking for 100% top dollar but I'm not willing to get slaughtered just because not enough collectors of that certain item were on eBay that week. That's a Vegas chance I'm not taking anymore!