Watchers still not visible

[pinetreecottage]

Tyler.  I would still like to know why watchers are not visible.  they were apparently  supposed to show if there were 5 or more.  I currently have a listing with 7 watchers.  WHY are they only visible on the .com listing itself, not in the category with other similar items.  And not at all on .ca.   And, I ask again, WHY are some shown in red for everyone to see?  I would like the same visibility as those who shows in red.  If that can't happen.  Why not?  So far nobody seems to know.  Or the answer is not for the lowly seller to know.  I shall keep asking until I get an answer.  Sellers/retailers here or brick and mortar stores, will do anything to drive sales.  Getting eyes on their goods is the first step.  Creating interest is next.  Closing the sale is the goal.  Showing all watchers is an important step in the process.

Those here, who don't care about watchers can just ignore this post.

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

The Weekly Chat thread is open. Maybe pose the question there? 

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Weekly-Chat-Session/April-25th-2018-Weekly-Session/m-p/400837#M6504

[pinetreecottage]

Thanks.  So I posted my question to Tyler, and sure enough, no answer just more babble .  He should be a politician .  Talks, but nothing is said.  

[ricarmic]

To my mind, he did answer your question....

He advised multiple things are shown to viewers, one of them is the number of watchers. What is chosen to put before the viewer is not set in stone and is chosen based on some heuristics (rules of thumb) that are believed to put stuff in front of the viewer that help generate buying action from the viewer.

He advised it is not set in stone that above 5 watchers will automagically be shown (watchers will be shown if the heuristics decide it makes sense to show them to a given viewer).

It looks like they adjust the things shown to viewers over time, which makes sense as buyers habits change over time as well.

I think the difference here is the level of importance you believe showing the number of watchers has vs the heuristics that are in use today...the heuristics are placing it lower (ie showing it less frequently) than you would hope for...

[pinetreecottage]

Yet as soon as any of my items have 5 or more watchers, they immediately show on my listing on .com, never on .ca.  Any items with 1 - 4 watchers do not show.  5 or more do.  I don't expect to ever get a straight answer.  There must be a good reason for not showing a #.  Obviously there is plenty of room in the listing.  Like I said anyone not concerned, should just ignore the post.

[silverpinups]

Heuristics has nothing to do with an item showing watchers.

The threshold for watchers on a item page are "5". This is now the eBay norm...

Watchers (5 or over.. ) on a item page will show on both eBay.ca and eBay.com if BIN is used (30 day or GTC).

If the item being sold is auction style then eBay.com will show the watchers while eBay.ca will not. 

It's that simple.... 

[ricarmic]

I don't profess to be an expert, but my interest was piqued now so I did some experiments on my own stuff: (these are all BIN)

.COM Item 380406547855 which has 7 watchers

.CA   "23 sold"   "More than 76% sold"  "30-day returns"

.COM "100% buyer satisfaction" "23 sold" "More than 76% sold"

.COM Item 200936514936 which has 7 watchers

.CA "Free shipping", "Located in Canada" "7 watchers"

.COM "Located in Canada" "7 watchers"

(I hate the "Located in Canada" I think that hurts more than helps)

.COM Item 201990864949 which has 11 watchers

.CA "30-day returns" "Located in Canada", "11 watchers"

.COM "30-day returns" "Located in Canada", "11 watchers"

Unfortunately I only recently began listing items on .CA and I don't have any yet that have 5 or more watchers....

[silverpinups]

There is a multitude of phrasing variations in the Seller Highlights Section on both eBay.ca and eBay.com.  

That's what eBay was focusing on and decided to limit the watchers section to 5 or more. 

That's my two cents worth....

[pinetreecottage]

When ebay was strictly an auction site, the amount of watchers were important.  As it is now mostly buy it now,  I suppose there is no need for showing watchers.  Those who want the item simply buys it, others may just be lookieloos, so i guess it really doesn't matter.  Tempest in a teapot.  Lately 15 items have ended with neither views nor sales.  When the last listing times out, I shall take a long look  and decide if it's time to say "uncle". 

Thanks to those of you  who offered help and support.  

[momcqueen]

I still think Watchers are kind of important with Buy It Nows, although I have had at least a dozen items with between 10 and 41 watchers on them consistently for at least 12 months. Sometimes they sell, sometimes they don't. When I, as a buyer, do a search for something that, for example, my kids have started to harass me for and I see that the best deal is a quantity of one with 13 Watchers, it sits differently with me than, say, that same item with a quality of 13 and one Watcher. There is certainly a greater sense of, 'Oh dear, I better buy this without hemming and hawing over it if I want to buy it."

But with the items where I've had 41 Watchers or 26 Watchers for, like, three years? Nope, those watchers are not buyers, they're sellers. 

[momcqueen]

To clarify my statement above, for me, the 'best deal' isn't necessarily about price. It includes the seller's reputation (how likely am I to actually get what I think I've bought) and their location (is it going to take four days to get here or will I be expected to wait four months?) so I'm not sure how similar or dissimilar that makes me to most ebayers.