You Can Buy eBay Watchers - But Should You?

by: gizmo

Its totally ridiculous. People will stop at nothing to make a buck , on a sinking ship. $5.00 lifeboat anyone? Look at the label & see where its made. Im so done with ebay , they are so done. Desperate!

by: Map

Sounds like a big scam to swindle sellers that are not knowledgeable.

There is no way possible that ebay is not aware that the watchers are originating from ebay accounts that are made up from a business entity who's sole purpose is to "shill view" listings.

Ebay has the ability to detect linked accounts and ip adresses.

The company offering these services is not providing a service that creates fair trading and the seller who uses their services is also breaking the ebay user agreement.

by: JQ

This is a riduculous cottage industry but ultimately Ebay is to blame for its existance. If Ebay simply went back to using a standard internal search engine that allowed shoppers to find the item that they actually wanted to buy rather than the item Ebay wanted to sell them, most of this nonsense would disappear overnight.

Sellers are not ''gaming'' the system at Ebay because they want to. They feel compelled to waste their time performing ridiculous tasks, or even perhaps spending money for services like this, because Ebay has transformed selling on the site into a game rather than a straight forward professional business arrangement. Ebay should get rid of all search algorithms currently in use, or at minimum, make their criteria open to the public.

I would not be at all surprised if Ebay management condemns these services as prohibited search engine manipulations and punishes sellers who they determine use them, while remaining completely silent on the rampant and alienating search engine manipulations the company itself performs literally every time someone searches for an item on the site.

by: Just Plain Irritated

I totally dispute this scenario, from experience.

During a eBay Seller Outreach session, I was told that listings with loads of views get stale in search results. Unless you have at least 6% sales versus views, you are better served to end the old listings and start over with a "Sell Similar" for a brand new listing.

Since many of my listings with high view counts were not producing sales anymore, I tried it.

Results: Sales started coming in again.

Watchers really mean nothing. They can be your competitors just watching to see if you can get the price you are asking, or if it is even worth them trying to sell the item too.

No Seller Outreach person has ever told me Watchers increase visibility, but I will ask them next time I do a session.

by: Russ

Oh, sure...sign me me up!!

With finely honed grammar (per the article) such as ''you dont[sic] have to worry about nothing.''

Espcially when you provide your CC info...then check your statement to learn that this fine entity is in Nigeria rather than Florida.

Provide me your informations from your credit card companies and I'll rub my Genie lamp so that you can share in my 100,000,000 dollar inheritance from my uncle serving time (and wrongfully so) in a prison far, far away but he'll be home soon...I've been rubbing the lamp....

Geesh...does this BS ever stop???

Perhaps an enterprise for an eBay CS rep to supplement current income -- or replace once the 3,000 pink slips roll out, going forward....love the corporate-speak...

Mr Donahoe?  Is that you?  You're such a cut-up!!

by: eastdyke

The text of the spiel does not read like that from someone based in 'Florida'.

by: Puck

Surprised eBay didn't start selling views and watches first.
Another unexploited revenue stream.

by: Philip Cohen

Seriously, sellers—particularly eBay's preferred sellers—don't get into trouble from eBay when buying commercial quantities of shill bidding fraud activity; why would anyone think that they would get into trouble for buying watchers and views?

Regardless, all the unscrupulous seller will ever need can be found on fivrr.com out of Israel …

The eBay executive suite—where the incompetent mingle with the disingenuous, the malevolent and the outright criminal, and the just plain stupid ... http://bit.ly/11F2eas

by: Cavewomansman22

I'm so glad that I am not on eBay anymore. Maybe not because of this, but, you know, in general.

by: Rexford

The article begins "eBay gives greater exposure to listings that have a greater number of views and watchers".

This again shows me that eBay is showing potential buyers what is popular, not necessarily what the buyer is looking for.

If I am a buyer, I want to see what I am looking for, not what is popular and not what is receiving the most clicks.

eBay search is so very broken.

And why on earth do listings that get loads of views get stale in search?  I just shake my head at the way the eBay machine works.  Show the buyer what the buyer is looking for.  That should be plain and simple.  

by: Anonymous Annie

When will eBay acquire this outfit? I can already see it: ''Watch-U-Now'' an eBay company

by: The End

I'm pretty sure that's the way it works on Etsy. I get over 100 views a day and I'm really visible. I don't do any extra promoting or advertizing. The product sells itself.
That's the way search Should work IMO.
Cream at the top, junk on the bottom. Let the people be the judge.

by: brokentoys19

Hahaha. Good One!  But wouldn't it be more challenging to find some ebay thing which is *not* being played, scammed, hacked or gamed? LOLOL

But really, it begs many more questions... Such as... who, or perhaps more precisely, - what - are the watchers?  (Just for starters.)

Ebay may have to refine the language in their policies again. Seecretly or at midnight of course. snork!


(... Cues Dylan's Desolation Row....)


Happy New Year

by: iheartjacksparrow

I agree with the comment that if eBay would just be fair and honest with all sellers, and show all the listings all the time, there wouldn't be a need for game playing such as buying watchers.

I get a huge amount of views on all my listings on eCrater and I don't pay anyone for those views. Of course, eCrater doesn't hide my listings so people are actually seeing what I have for sale.  

by: aim04744

Didnt Ebay say that if you get a lot of views and not a lot of sales it moves your listing down in Best Match. I think that is what the PP means about "stale".

Unfortunately I think this is the future for Ebay itself. Buy views for your listings, even after you have paid to list them.  

by: Ric

The process of selling watchers and views sound like something eBay employees who are now spending more time with their families devised in order to make a living.

by: LordCrabtree

I know an ebay marketing guru (no names mentioned), who uses this strategy to great effect.

To those who say it's bunkum; have you seen the results? Have you actually tried a/b testing? There's one guy on Fiverr (Roseandcrown), who gets tons of repeat orders from ebay sellers. Surely this alone speaks volumes.

Anyway, about time ebay gave every seller a fair crack of the whip on the search results(like the old days!)

by: sasikat9

Ha Ha how funny. Bet if someone dug really really deep under all the slime that they would find that Feebay CEO's are the proud owners of this crap....Just sell the jerks who want this and then ban them for manlipulation of the system.

Actually its kind of smart as they already know the big sellers don't need more views and the small sellers are desperate enough to do anything.

by: Ed Gadfly

This is a great service.

If eBay is manipulated, well oh boo hoo.

Useless time is meant disrupting Search. But then, disruptive technology is what enriches the shareholders. Follow the money. Who benefits from search?

If you have been selling on the Internet for a long time you should consider eBay your enemy. The people who buy and sell on eBay now are not your friends. They too are your enemy.

The people who remain on eBay are either hoop jumpers or else they believe they are special. Special sellers on eBay believe that somebody up there must like them. The Kaflaesque problems of ePal will never happen to them.

When the small sellers of 2008 quit or were crushed by the DSRs, there was no help from the middle sellers. There was derision.

Bed. Made. Lie. It's not personal, it's business.

by: ajeweler

e bay will more than likely see this and start doing same , as it may involve a buck, not a good thought at all and not to mention very deceitful and dishonest,

ebay spells
Employees Band Annihilate You