E Bay question

[Accy cyclist]

I've done thousands of deals on ebay and I've seen messages like this only a handful of times. 50 to 60 percent? What in the world are you buying?



Actually, on second thoughts, don't answer that question.

Just clothes and shoes.

 

[irw]

I've done thousands of deals on ebay and I've seen messages like this only a handful of times. 50 to 60 percent? What in the world are you buying?

Same here! I suppose those Palm tree plantations are fairly labor intensive...!

 

[Accy cyclist]

I've just tried to put a tweed flat cap in my ebay basket and yet again the seller is 'on holiday'. When i had my window cleaning round/business i rarely took holidays. I was happy with bank holiday weekends and the odd day off when the weather was too bad to work. Selling stuff on fleabay isn't a physical job. Why don't the sellers just get somebody to do the orders when they have a break?🤔

 

[piggybladder]

When i try to add an item on ebay many have this sign appear.

An item you selected wasn't added to your basket because the seller is on holiday. If you wish to purchase this item, please contact the seller and ask to be notified when they return.

Does this mean they really are on holiday,or have they stopped trading? 🤔 I'd say around 50 to 60 percent are 'on holiday'.

Depends what country you're buying from and when. I've seen it a few times from UK sellers and it's nearly always during the skiing season. OTOH if you're buying stuff from Germany, it's common practice there for shops and smaller companies to completely shutdown in summer for 4 weeks and leave a sign on the door saying 'im urlaub' whereby every employee including the bosses take the same 4 weeks summer holiday all at the same time. Saves arguments over who can be off at what time dunnit! The Germans like to go abroad for the whole four weeks not 2 like us Brits. Likewise the French used to go 'en vacance' in similar fashion.

 

[sheddy]

Can be worth just ‘watchIng’ items. Occasionally a seller will offer a lower price.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'm still getting that red 'seller is on holiday' message. 🤔

 

[piggybladder]

Can be worth just ‘watchIng’ items. Occasionally a seller will offer a lower price.

I sold a few pieces of good quality s/h items on ebay this year. I normally only set a BIN. On the occasions where I'd set an auction and a BIN I got lots of auction watchers within a couple of hours but no bids from any of them. Auction watchers are being really cute these days. They're all waiting, without bidding at all, leaving the BIN open. I think what they're waiting for is the auction to run its course (2 weeks?) and hoping that the ebay automatic re-listing has been set to kick in with the automatic £20.00 price reduction (which then reduces again every auction cycle), then they can hit the BIN or wait for another cycle to end etc.

However, none of my auctions has ever gone this way for two reasons. Firstly I never allow the automatic reduction feature to kick in. Secondly none of my items has ever got to end of auction.

I put top quality/brand stuff on at a fair s/h price. Someone who has recognized this has always comes in on the BIN after a day or so of listing. If you had been a waiting 'watcher' on any of my auctions and had been looking at something really good quality, which you had really wanted, which had been at a really good price, you'd have lost the item every single time. Ebay really is even more of a shambles these days than it ever was.