Auction "watchers"

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Why don't AHs tell you how many people are "watching" an item? (Maybe some do.) Are they afraid that if bidders see a small number of watchers they will think the item is not desirable? I am sure many items have hundreds of watchers. Must be some reason.

I guess you could turn it around ask why would any bidder really care.

Showing the number of watchers might discourage some people, like me, when we discover that hundreds of people are watching an item that we're hoping to get for a good price.

[Rhotchkiss]

Heritage does.

[Gradedcardman]

Would not influence me either way.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Mark

Showing the number of watchers might discourage some people, like me, when we discover that hundreds of people are watching an item that we're hoping to get for a good price.

+1

If it’s a BIN with 30 watchers and none of them have pulled the trigger, there’s a reason. If it’s an auction with 30 watchers, I’m not interested in that kind of bidding war and move on.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by conor912

+1

If it’s a BIN with 30 watchers and none of them have pulled the trigger, there’s a reason. If it’s an auction with 30 watchers, I’m not interested in that kind of bidding war and move on.

That's a great observation - the reason could be that there aren't many examples to understand that when SOMEONE finally pulls the trigger, it's too late to cry about it and the value is what ever the BIN was when said person pulled the trigger.

I follow different auctions for ebay and AHs because I have my perception of what I think somethings worth and I like to see how close I am when the bodies hit the floor (end of auction).

Those numbers don't influence me because of the reasons indicated. If I want to bid on something, I will. If my max bid is exceeded then I guess I didn't want the item bad enough to go "all in" on it.