Ebay - watchers converting to bidders?

allybee101

Hi,

I have just made my first foray into selling a few things on Ebay (I've had an account for 10 years and only bought occasionally up til now). It's not likely to become a business, I'm just having a declutter. I've put two items of clothing on and two pairs of shoes to start off.

I have 38 views/ 10 watchers on one dress (first bid at 99p has just appeared with 6.5 days to go), 22 views/2 watchers on the other.

I wondered if there is any pattern to how many watchers tend to become bidders? Or is that the Ebay equivalent of 'how long is a piece of string'?

Thanks

Contains_Mild_Peril

allybee101 wrote: »

Or is that the Ebay equivalent of 'how long is a piece of string'?

Pretty much, yeah. The most watchers I've had on an auction was about 60, but the item sold for a disappointing price. I've also had auctions with watch counts in single figures which have done very well, occasionally with just two bidders. I don't tend to pay much attention to views, but if they're extremely low I might check that the listing is showing up OK in search results.

soolin

Some people watch because they have a similar item to sell, some watch as they believe the item is over priced and want to know if seller ever gets rid of it.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Some people watch because they have a similar item to sell, some watch as they believe the item is over priced and want to know if seller ever gets rid of it.

Some watch because they are bidding on a similar item and will come back to that if they don't win. Some watch because right now they are skint but will come back to it when they get paid. Some watch because item is unusual and they want to show their friends.
There are more...

The more watchers an item has the more chance there is of a sale/good price but even that isn't a foregone conclusion.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

Some watch because they are bidding on a similar item and will come back to that if they don't win. Some watch because right now they are skint but will come back to it when they get paid. Some watch because item is unusual and they want to show their friends.
There are more...

The more watchers an item has the more chance there is of a sale/good price but even that isn't a foregone conclusion.

Even now I do get a frisson of excitement when I get lots of watchers. I had over 25 on a recent item on my private account, and not a single bid.

I can only assume I had either made a mistake on the listing, or it got picked up somewhere as being overpriced or strange in some way. It made me quite nervous some took it to a car boot instead!

Goldiegirl

If I'm thinking of making a purchase sometimes I watch a few similar items, so I can find out what the average going rate is, then when I do find the item I want to bid for, I can know roughly how much is a sensible bid.

The thing I find weird is when you're trying to sell in item, and you've listed it a couple of times, with maybe one odd watcher, or none at all, you re-list it again, and all of a sudden you get five or six watchers and a little bidding war. Why did no one want it all the other times it was listed, yet this time it's a desirable item. All part of the fun of eBay!

StumpyPumpy

I currently have 59 items in my watch lists (including quite a few in my !!!!!! Watchlist) I am only intending to bid on one item, which I have a snipe set up for and isn't in any of my watch lists at all!

lulu650

With 10 watchers on a 99p item, with one bid already on it, you're assured of it selling for a higher price than 99p. What that price maybe would be anyone's guess.

If I'm selling the same item, I tend to look at the sold items page rather than watch. I only watch if I think I could be in with a chance for a bargain.

Vernier

When selling I am often surprised that 30 people or so can be watching a listing which then gets one bid and sells for 99p.

I've never really understood the point of putting items on a "watch list": I just bookmark them in my browser. The only time I can recall doing it was when an item I wanted badly was sitting at start-price with no bids, and I didn't want the seller to get discouraged and cancel the listing!

zerog

Vernier wrote: »

When selling I am often surprised that 30 people or so can be watching a listing which then gets one bid and sells for 99p.

I've never really understood the point of putting items on a "watch list": I just bookmark them in my browser. The only time I can recall doing it was when an item I wanted badly was sitting at start-price with no bids, and I didn't want the seller to get discouraged and cancel the listing!

Well I don't want to clutter my browser bookmarks so I use ebay's bookmarks

allybee101

Thanks for the feedback and info everyone. I have a starting bid on a pair of shoes now as well so I'm getting quite excited. I'm not holding out for mega bucks sales, but reassuring to know that people have at least found the items and are potentially interested.