Ebay 'watchers' = Lurkers?

[CaptDon]

I have a bunch of stuff for sale up on Ebay. Test equipment mostly. It has been relisted maybe 3 times now automatically. I typically see 40 to 50 'views' and 5 to 10 'watchers' but no bids??? The gear was priced with reasonable starting bids and I sold a few pieces. I don't get the 10 people watching but no bids? When I watch something it is to see how quickly the bids come in and how quickly they rise. That gives me an idea about if my bid will be competitive. I often see bidding go WAY above what I think a piece of equipment is worth. Kind of like the fool who has had many accounts under different names selling C.R.T.'s like a 2AP1 for $250.00 opening bid (about a $25.00 tube) or 'matched pairs' (doubtful) of 6L6's for $150.00 opening bid (worth maybe $60.00) and I guess someone sometimes will pay his prices?? I just want to downsize my surplus of 'stuff'.

[BrokenYugo]

If there's a buy it now option they're likely hoping you make them a better offer. Pretty typical with the bigger sellers, hit watch, get a lower offer in under a day, buy for a few bucks less.

[switchabl]

Well, if I am one of the watchers that's easy. It just means that
I absolutely want to bid on that, or
I absolutely wanted to bid on that but forgot, or
I am waiting for you to relist it at a lower price, or
I wanted to see if it would sell/at what price it would sell, or
I thought it looked interesting but I need to do more research, or
I thought it looked interesting but decided against buying it (and haven't cleared the watch list in a while), or
I thought I might buy something like it but not this particular one or not right now, or
I clicked on it by accident.

Also it's not always clear what a "reasonable" price is. Products that are sold frequently usually have a more or less well-defined market price. But for more niche stuff, it might sell for crazy money one week if there happen to be several people who really need/want it NOW. And the next week it won't sell at all because the only potential buyer around thinks it's at most nice to have and would only seriously consider it at a bargain price.

[Leuams]

I watch items I would like to purchase when my budget allows or when I absolutely need it now.

[MarkL]

I watch a lot of test equipment.  It's almost always for stuff that I already have but don't use much anymore.  I want to know what kind of price it gets if it sells.  I'm trying to decide if (read: convince myself) it's worth the hassle of being an active ebay seller again and selling mine.

So, most of the time I don't intend to buy something I watch.  If ebay had a "Notify on auction end" I would use it.

[Bud]

Many of those watchers are the 'snipers', they wait until the last few seconds of the auction.

[sanleontexas]

Or 'I have the same item and am thinking of selling mine and want an idea of how much to ask'.

[p.larner]

Ive had same 10 watchers+0 bids,i think folks watch to just see what prices things make as they have the same.

[bdunham7]

I have a bunch of stuff for sale up on Ebay. Test equipment mostly. It has been relisted maybe 3 times now automatically. I typically see 40 to 50 'views' and 5 to 10 'watchers' but no bids??? The gear was priced with reasonable starting bids and I sold a few pieces. I don't get the 10 people watching but no bids? When I watch something it is to see how quickly the bids come in and how quickly they rise. That gives me an idea about if my bid will be competitive. I often see bidding go WAY above what I think a piece of equipment is worth. Kind of like the fool who has had many accounts under different names selling C.R.T.'s like a 2AP1 for $250.00 opening bid (about a $25.00 tube) or 'matched pairs' (doubtful) of 6L6's for $150.00 opening bid (worth maybe $60.00) and I guess someone sometimes will pay his prices?? I just want to downsize my surplus of 'stuff'.

People 'watch' auctions and even BIN sales for a variety of reasons, most of which have little to do with buying your item.  Real buyers will set up Gixen or Turbobid or whatever to stalk your auction and you won't see them coming until the last few seconds.  For selling I use BIN almost exclusively and would not bother having an auction-style listing unless I were willing to let bidding start at $1 (or $0.01).  It takes a while.  I sold a Fluke 8842A for $400 that I had inadvertently left listed for about a year.  I had to scramble to dig it out, test it, box it and ship it.

[PlainName]

If I'm interested in bidding, the last thing I'd do is 'watch' the item - gives away my intention to the competition.

Stuff I'm not going to buy but might be looking at just to see how gullible some bidders can be, I might watch.