Nick
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eBay watched to buy ratio.If you list something on eBay, you can track how many people are watching, how many people visit and how many people buy a given item (assuming there're multiple copies). Do you watch these figures? How do you decide which bits are worth relisting, and which might cope with a price increase? I have an item with 410 visits so far, a dozen purchases and 15 watchers, but at the same time, I have items that almost no-one's buying, yet some people are watching.
What are your experiences?
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toggle
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most of the stuff i sell is 99p auctions of stuff the kids have grown out of. people either bid or watch, i'll get items with several bids or several watchers, very rarely both. i get the feeling people who watch don't tend to actually translate that into a bid most of the time.
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Piggyphile
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Well I don't buy tons of things but sometimes I watch expensive things to see what they go for if they are not quite suitable. e.g. I want a small goat/pig style livestock trailer. As they are collection only I watch similar in Scotland but I won't be bidding cos I couldn't collect from that far away. Then when I do bid I have a fair idea of what they will go for and which would be a bargain.
Otherwise I watch when I might go for something if there are minimal bids (a bargain) but if it goes up too far I don't bother.
Finally I watch when I intend to try but wait until the dying seconds to try to secure a bargain, but I think a lot of people do this (it all goes mad in the last minute!)
So my thought is, watching means some interest but not guaranteed
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RichardW
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I,m with piggyphile
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wipka84
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We've sold 3 bikes recently, pickup only or local delivery.
We averaged between 1,100 - 1,600 views on each.
They all got about 100 watchers
Two were started at low prices, so got a fair few bid and all sold.
One was started at about what I thought I'd get, 1 bid, sold at starting bid and no further bids despite having 100 watchers.
i expect it might be a bit different with bikes as you'll have traders etc looking to pick up a bargain or just to keep up with the market. My dads looking to buy one bike to replace the three we have sold. He's watching 2-3 bikes at any one time but has no desire yet to place a bid. He's using the watching thing to get a gauge of prices before he takes the plunge as it were.
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arvo
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| Piggyphile wrote: |
Finally I watch when I intend to try but wait until the dying seconds to try to secure a bargain, but I think a lot of people do this (it all goes mad in the last minute!)
So my thought is, watching means some interest but not guaranteed |
A lot of the last seconds flurry is caused my these automatic e-bay engines like ez-sniper, that allow you to swoop in when you're not there. Costs you a few p to do it on each transaction, but means you can set a price you don't want to go beyond and then it does all the bidding for you.
From a sellers POV some of these watchers might be on the back end of an engine and I'm not sure if the engines themselves show up as 'watchers' once you've set them.
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Hairyloon
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Often people will be watching because they have something similar and are wondering what it is worth.
I expect it varies considerably depending on the type of item.
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mark
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I think watchers and buyers are often quite unrelated...
for example one of my main uses for watching an item is that i have something similar to sell and am not sure how to price it. So a I watch two or three similar items and see what they go for ...
There are a lot of ebay shoppers that either using sniping software - or who just log in and see what 's selling ending today.
I must admit that I do this. So if i am looking to buy something - I log into that category and look at what is coming up in next 24 hours - I rarely read further ahead than that.
If you have got lots of watchers - its probably a good sign that your item is generating interest - but beware of reading too much into it.
Mark
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alice
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I don't use snipeware but I do place my bid in the last few seconds. Always. The 'hidden bidder' thing has pushed me that way 
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Hairyloon
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| alice wrote: | | I don't use snipeware but I do place my bid in the last few seconds. Always. The 'hidden bidder' thing has pushed me that way |
I don't like sniping at all. I know some people do, but I don't see any advantage over a fair auction.
I'd like to see a "no sniping" option available when you set up the auctions: bids inside the last 10 minutes delays the end time by 10 minutes.
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mark
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| Hairyloon wrote: | | alice wrote: | | I don't use snipeware but I do place my bid in the last few seconds. Always. The 'hidden bidder' thing has pushed me that way |
I don't like sniping at all. I know some people do, but I don't see any advantage over a fair auction.
I'd like to see a "no sniping" option available when you set up the auctions: bids inside the last 10 minutes delays the end time by 10 minutes. |
I think the point is that in a "fair auction" binders are free to disclose their hand whenever they wish.
There are different opinions on what is best for a bidder to do - an early bid can push the price up
but in other situations not bidding early can mean more bidders are attracted by a low price or unbid for article and the ensuing late auction with many competitors can result in a higher price.
An auction with an extendable end time is not a fair auction - and if the end time is extended previous bidders should have the the chance to withdraw their bids if the auction is to remain fair as the conditions of the auction have changed.
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toggle
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the conditions of the auction don't change if they are told that is how it works before they bid.
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mark
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| toggle wrote: | | the conditions of the auction don't change if they are told that is how it works before they bid. |
I stil fear this is unworkable
if the auction is extended by 5 mins it is quite possible for snipers and sniping software to account for this wait 4 mins 50 seconds and bid again.
It becomes even less in your interest to bid early or to bid the amount you really are wiling to to pay - all you need to do is to set your sniping software to make a small bid to extend the auction.
All this effectively does is to shut out live bidders who can't stay up all night watching the scripts delaying tactics (ie a good way to program your new generation sniper would be tiny incremental bids into the small hours
Whiel i can see that some sellers might approciate this as in the short term it might increase prices a little - in th elong term it would be unpopular with buyers who want a clear end time for an auction so they can see if they have won or not - and whether to bid on an alternative item offered - and so might discourage buyers from using ebay which in the longer term drives prices down
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Blue Peter
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| arvo wrote: | A lot of the last seconds flurry is caused my these automatic e-bay engines like ez-sniper, that allow you to swoop in when you're not there. Costs you a few p to do it on each transaction, but means you can set a price you don't want to go beyond and then it does all the bidding for you.
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How does this differ from ebay's own automatic bid function - you put in your maximum, but it only bids for you as high as you need to go?
Peter.
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alice
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| Blue Peter wrote: | | arvo wrote: | A lot of the last seconds flurry is caused my these automatic e-bay engines like ez-sniper, that allow you to swoop in when you're not there. Costs you a few p to do it on each transaction, but means you can set a price you don't want to go beyond and then it does all the bidding for you.
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How does this differ from ebay's own automatic bid function - you put in your maximum, but it only bids for you as high as you need to go?
Peter. |
It prevents shill bidding - being tickled up to your maximum bid by the seller using another ID.
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Blue Peter
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| alice wrote: | | Blue Peter wrote: | | arvo wrote: | A lot of the last seconds flurry is caused my these automatic e-bay engines like ez-sniper, that allow you to swoop in when you're not there. Costs you a few p to do it on each transaction, but means you can set a price you don't want to go beyond and then it does all the bidding for you.
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How does this differ from ebay's own automatic bid function - you put in your maximum, but it only bids for you as high as you need to go?
Peter. |
It prevents shill bidding - being tickled up to your maximum bid by the seller using another ID. |
Can the seller see your maximum bid then?
Peter.
Edit: Put my bit in the wrong place... 
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mark
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no they can't see you bid - but if they have time they can bid it up - if hey do so late there is more risk to them that they will end up paying fees to sell to themselves!
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Hairyloon
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| mark wrote: | | no they can't see you bid - but if they have time they can bid it up - if hey do so late there is more risk to them that they will end up paying fees to sell to themselves! |
Not really. They can easily say the buyer pulled out and offer it as a second chance.
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alice
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| Hairyloon wrote: | | mark wrote: | | no they can't see you bid - but if they have time they can bid it up - if hey do so late there is more risk to them that they will end up paying fees to sell to themselves! |
Not really. They can easily say the buyer pulled out and offer it as a second chance. |
If you are naive enough to believe them.
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Hairyloon
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| alice wrote: | | Hairyloon wrote: | | Not really. They can easily say the buyer pulled out and offer it as a second chance. |
If you are naive enough to believe them. |
If you want the item at the price you were prepared to pay before.
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alice
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| Hairyloon wrote: | | alice wrote: | | Hairyloon wrote: | | Not really. They can easily say the buyer pulled out and offer it as a second chance. |
If you are naive enough to believe them. |
If you want the item at the price you were prepared to pay before. |
If I want the item at the top 'price I am prepared to pay', then I'd go for an item that was 'buy it now'. If I take the trouble to go to an auction, I hope it's a 'fair' auction, and I pay as little as I can get away with. I'm hoping for a bargain.
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mark
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| Hairyloon wrote: | | mark wrote: | | no they can't see you bid - but if they have time they can bid it up - if hey do so late there is more risk to them that they will end up paying fees to sell to themselves! |
Not really. They can easily say the buyer pulled out and offer it as a second chance. |
If anyone did that and I had an active but lower bid i would would immeditately complain to ebay and ask them to investigate a potential shiller.
mark
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