No they wouldn't... Ebay has a second chance offer, Best offer, and
other ways for buyers to make offers. If they use the same/modified
system to allow sellers to offer, or request watcher to buy by offering
the buyer a deal, it would be the same as a best offer deal and allow
Ebay to track the sale. The only problem is Ebay is too stupid to figure
that out, or too lazy to do it.
A little offtopic but a relevant example of Ebay's stupidity. They allow
an $8-$10hr employee (customer service rep) the authority to suspend a
Powerseller who may employ multiple employees and own a multi-million
dollar company over a policy violation. I don't know about you, but I
would not place a $10hr employee or a $20hr employee for that matter in
charge of my million dollar company. Who would? Oh wait, ebay does that
to sellers all the time. This un-balance is a perfect example of why
Ebay won't allow thing like contacting watchers because they think they
know better than the sellers who sell. They are a third party online
sales venue and nothing more.
Hmmm... Under the table? Would you be implying that "Under the table"
means "off eBay"? ;) Don't get me started on "Off eBay" sales...
This is in no reference to you personally Bob...
I love the way people think that if you sell items "Off eBay" you're
doing something wrong or worse (they even imply it's illegal). Really
read their selling outside ebay policy. The scare people into thinking
off ebay sales are fraud and scams thereby making people have a false
sense of trust in them.
Ebay is ONE sales OUTLET of many sales outlets businesses use to boost
their online sales. I list items in many places online and offline. If I
get a buyer for an item from one place (other than ebay) and that item
just happens to be listed on eBay too, do you think I'm going to tell my
buyer "Sorry, but I can't sell you that item because it's listed on
eBay."? Hell no... I'm going to end my auction (if it doesn't have bids)
or store item and sell the item to my buyer! If eBay wants to do
something about it, well I can't say on-list what I would tell them, and
believe me it would not be G rated. ;)
As for watchers... The only use being able to see how many watchers you
have is to show that you have interesting auctions. Show me some real
marketing information and real stats, don't tell me how many people are
"thinking" about my offer without giving me a way to market direct to them.
Regards,
Eric
Bob King wrote:
Hi Eric,
If eBay let you contact watchers, they'd lose cash on all the "under
the table" dealings. I personally use the watch function to remind me
of items I might like to bid on. When I see one of my watched items go
too high for my wallet, I just delete it from the list. If it's still
in my range closer to auction close, I make a bid.
Bob
On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Meteorites USA <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi List,
Regarding watchers. They're worthless...
Not the person mind you, but the fact that they are nothing more than a
number in the "My Ebay" section, they mean nothing to the seller and provide
no benefit at all other than to let the seller know they aren't buying.
The only time a watcher becomes worth anything to the seller is when they
buy. Did you know that a seller cannot contact a watcher? This is ok I
guess, but it seems silly to me that Ebay does not allow sellers to contact
watchers. There have been countless times I've had 10-20 watchers on an item
and would have loved to have the chance to contact any one of those members
to offer them a deal or ask "WHY" they are not buying at that moment.
It's rather frustrating in my opinion and I liken it to a looky-loo walking
into my brick and mortar store. Ebay basically says that people can come in,
and look around and even place an item in their watch list, but you can't
talk to them. Being able to talk to a potential customer is crucial and
could add ultimately to Ebay's bottom line through final value fees through
increased sales for sellers.
Ebay is supposed to be smart right? So why the hell don't they allow you to
contact watchers? It's not about security... If Ebay allowed it, sellers
"could" contact watchers anonymously without Ebay ever having to release a
buyers contact information if they do it through Ebay's contact buyer form
within the My Ebay section. No personal information is given out, and the
buyer is given another opportunity to buy. Ebay gets the final value fee,
sellers get the sale and buyers get a deal! Win, Win, Win all round!
I've been selling on Ebay for over 10 years. I've sold thousands upon
thousands of items as have many sellers, and over the years I've noticed as
other sellers can attest that Ebay has become more and more biased against
sellers and give obvious favor to the buyer. So much so that Ebay is truly
"Hell for sellers & a haven for buyers." Don't believe me? Try selling
25-100 items on Ebay and you'll see the fees are outrageous and the rules
are ever tightening. The new rules that forbid sellers from being able to
leave negative feedback for buyers, constantly increasing fees, and worse,
the blatant conflict of interest of Ebay owning it's own payment gateway
Paypal is unfair and idiotic and should be illegal. Not to mention forcing
sellers who don't have their own merchant account to use Paypal for their
ONLY payment method... Did you know that sellers are not allowed to accept
Money Orders or Personal checks any more, period? Ebay claims this is for
security and fraud prevention, but when you realize that they own Paypal,
and by forcing all payments through Paypal they make 10's of millions of
dollars per year because of this. Not to mention the increased payment
processing fees to sellers! Sellers have no power over this other than to
get their own merchant account (which we do have) but we're still not
allowed to accept money orders or personal checks.
Anyway, that's enough of my Ebay rant, there's way more things that most
buyers NEVER realize or know about from a sellers point of view but not
really the subject of this forum.
Ebay is screwing themselves over, and eventually their will be a competitor
that will start snagging their market share.
They are ripe for it...
Regards,
Eric
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