What is a Watch Count?
Every eBay item (auction, Buy It Now, Store listing, Classified Ad, etc.) has a couple of "Watch This Item" links on the listing page that users can click to keep tabs on the item. The item is then listed in their My eBay console as a reminder for future reference.
eBay shoppers use this to "bookmark" interesting items for a variety of reasons, including getting a reminder email from eBay shortly before the item's listing ends ("Watched item ending soon - don't forget to bid!").
eBay sellers tend to use this feature to keep tabs on their competition (how much did this item ultimately sell for?) and as one of many ways to generally monitor the market.
This total number of watchers of a certain eBay item is often called the "Watch Count".
Why should I care about an item's Watch Count?
The Watch Count can be an informative metric to use when evaluating market demand. Seeing what items others have heavily (or lightly) flagged for watching can help both buyers and sellers alike make more informed decisions in their activities on eBay.
For example, when comparing similar items on eBay, if one has a much greater Watch Count than the others, that may indicate a disparity worth investigating further (does it possess a more valuable feature? a more popular color? a more attractive listing? a better listing title?).
Also, when combined with the current Bid Count, one can garnish some more insight into item popularity. For example, if an item is a few hours from ending, has only a few bids but a high Watch Count, there may be a greater potential for subsequent bidding or sniping to occur in the closing moments of the auction.
And if you like cruising around eBay checking out miscellaneous listings, know that sometimes it can be fun to gaze at the large number of watchers some items accumulate. (See "
What are some examples of items/categories with high Watch Counts?".)
Why would I want to use this site?
As an eBay shopper, you may find it helpful to "peek in on" how many people have flagged an item as 'watched'. It can be an added factor when comparison shopping, even more so if you want to see how an item's Watch Count changes over time, or if, say, you're a collector who needs to be aware of competing interest in a target item.
If you're a seller, you can use the results displayed by WatchCount.com to add another edge to your market research efforts. You're already watching important items; now you can see how many others are, at various points leading up to auction ending. And, naturally, high Watch Counts on an item may be a relative indication of consumer appeal, suggesting a hot item, attractive listing/photos, or intelligently selected title keywords. (See "
Why should I care about an item's Watch Count?".)
Additionally, you may also have an interest in getting one of your items to
eBay's Pulse page for your category. (When this can be done, through a variety of methods, it's reputed to be great exposure for you.) See "
Can this site help me get onto eBay Pulse?".
Some sellers like to use us as a way to prove to shoppers how popular a certain listing of theirs is, either by running a search on our site, or by displaying the Watch Count in their listing via our
Widget.
Even if you're not selling on eBay, if you are involved in ecommerce at all, you can use our site as a quick market research tool to see what's hot on eBay and what kinds of listings/ads amass the most number of active eyeballs.
eBay already displays highly ranked popular items at
eBay Pulse (by category only) - but without Watch Counts. You can use WatchCount.com to see exactly how many people have "voted" on those very items - or to search by keyword(s), something that can't be done at eBay Pulse.
Can this site help me get onto eBay Pulse?
We may be able to lend a hand.
As a seller, you'd like to get one or more of your items onto
eBay Pulse to get greater exposure since Pulse showcases top-watched auctions/items across many categories and sub-categories. (Did you know that the Pulse pages are often syndicated 'round the net on many 1,000's of eBay affiliate websites?) But what does it take to get onto eBay Pulse?
You can use our site to get a feel for what kind of Watch Counts current Pulsers have accumulated to ascend to their revered placements. (See "
Can I see the Watch Counts of items on eBay Pulse?".) You can then strive to achieve similar Watch Counts on your own items.
Know that eBay maintains some additional, undisclosed, criteria for what items "qualify" for inclusion on Pulse pages. While Watch Count is currently the primary ranking factor, we've seen that other things come into play as well. For example, it seems that a listing may need at least 1 bid and/or a "Contact the Seller" email before it's considered for Pulse placement.
Those are just some casual observations that have been made. eBay's complete set of qualifying criteria aren't disclosed and could change at any time.
I don't care about Watch Counts. Can I still use this site to find popular items on eBay?
Of course! WatchCount.com is a site geared to accept your search query and display items that eBay deems as popular, with Watch Count being the primary factor in eBay's ratings. If you wish, you may ignore it as a specific or comparative metric while still knowing that our site returns live popularity rankings, voted by eBay users.
What constitutes an item as "popular" enough to be displayed as a search result on this site?
eBay aggregates Watch Count information on its listings and makes a decision as to whether an item is "popular" enough to be included in WatchCount.com search results. While eBay has several undisclosed criteria in the mix for how it ranks and publishes popular item data (criteria which can change), the item's Watch Count is the most important one.
Even an item with a zero Watch Count can appear in WatchCount.com search results! eBay therefore has other considerations in mind when ranking and collating results. For example, it appears that for an item to even be considered minimally "popular" (even with a zero Watch Count), it must have at least one bid and/or "Contact the Seller" email .
I'm not getting the search results I expect (or I'm getting none at all).
Keep in mind that eBay decides on and limits what items are considered popular enough to appear on WatchCount.com. (See "
What constitutes an item as "popular" enough to be displayed as a search result on this site?".) For example, if an item hasn't even received its first bid, it probably won't appear in our search results. That said, here are some things you should consider when inputting your search query:
* You can search by
Keyword only, (top-level)
Category only, or a combination of Keywords and a Category. If you want to find out how popular books about (or by) Abraham Lincoln are, after you enter 'Abraham Lincoln' in the Keywords box, be sure to select "Books" as a Category. If you leave the Category box empty (or select "Coins and Paper Money"!), you may not get the specific results you seek.
* Looking for the Watch Count of a
specific item? Try entering the Item Number in the Keywords box. (See "
Can I look up the Watch Count of a specific eBay item?".)
* Don't be shy in using the asterisk character * as
a wildcard in your keywords. Can't remember whether to spell it 'Rihanna' or 'Rihhanna' or 'Rihana'? Just search by 'Rih*na'. (By the way, her name is spelled '
Rihanna'.)
* You can use quotation marks " " to
bind keywords together in their proper order so that when you're looking for an "xbox 360" you don't see items named "360 Ways to Hack an XBox" (although maybe you'd find the latter interesting as well).
* Consider whether or not to use plurals in your keywords.
Singular vs. plural may return different results.
* Being specific with your choice of keywords will usually yield more informative results and make Watch Count comparisons more meaningful than simply using generic keywords. For example, in your quest to find popular golfing equipment you may search for 'golf club', not realizing that your search results may be intermingled with people selling Club Car goft carts and trial memberships for golfing clubs. Subsequently, you may consider searching for "graphite driver" or "King Cobra iron*", for example.
* Use
negative keywords by specifying a hyphen "-" to weed out undesirable terms. For example, "organic food -baby" will remove any baby food from your search results.
* Know that even intentionally
misspelled auction listings receive watchers!
Try a search on "dimond", for example, and gaze at the results...
* Be sure you have the correct
eBay site/country selected (the selector is in the menu bar). (See "
Which eBay sites are searched from this site?".)
What does the Keywords box search for?
Words and phrases entered into the Keywords search box are queried against item Titles and Subtitles (and eBay Item Number, too).
Can I look up the Watch Count of a specific eBay item?
Maybe.
While our site is geared to display the Watch Counts of queryable popular items (a large number of eBay items qualify as "popular" to some degree), many times you can see the Watch Count of a specific item simply by entering its eBay Item Number in the Keywords box on our site. It may also be worth trying a search using unique keywords from within the title or subtitle of the item you are researching.
Not all items are available to be searched in this manner on our site. However, usually the excluded ones haven't received their first bid or contact email yet, so if you can't find the specific item you want on WatchCount.com, just check back with us later, after the item's been bid on.
How do I know the Watch Count is correct/accurate?
Probably the easiest way to verify the accuracy of the Watch Counts shown on our site is if you are an eBay seller. Try to bring up one of your items in the search results on WatchCount.com
by searching for specific keywords in the titles of your items (or even simply by searching by item number). Then, compare the Watch Count with the number listed in your My eBay console that shows the number of watchers. The numbers should be identical; if they're not, please
let us know.
If you're not a seller, you may wish to contact the seller for one of the items you find on WatchCount.com and politely ask them what the Watch Count of the item is. They may tell you.
A clue to the timeliness of our Watch Count results can be seen if you do the following: View the Watch Count of an item
from our site; click on it to be taken to eBay;
login to eBay; click "Watch This Item"; wait about 5 minutes; return to
WatchCount.com and redo your search. You should see the Watch Count increase by 1. (Be sure to login to eBay before clicking "Watch This Item" as Guest Watches don't count.)
What are some examples of items/categories with high Watch Counts?
Are you curious what the most popular item on eBay is? While one could easily argue the validity of other "popularity yardsticks" such as Bid Count and Hit Count, we and eBay see Watch Count as being the primary factor for on-the-spot comparisons.
To that end, the most popular eBay item at any given moment can be found simply by visiting the
main eBay Pulse page and knowing that what appears in the "Most Watched" section are likely the top dogs. (Know that there are separate top-level Pulse pages for each eBay country-site, as well as eBay Motors.) Which one has the highest Watch Count? See "
Can I see the Watch Counts of items on eBay Pulse?".
You can also see some lower (in the 100's or 1000's), but also veritably impressive, Watch Counts in some other places on eBay. Check out the following (eBay US) Categories and Keywords here at WatchCount.com. You may even come across the occasional 500+ Watch Count (usually for big-ticket items like boats, homes, motorcycles, etc.) :
Can I see the Watch Counts of items on eBay Pulse?
You bet! And sometimes they can be sky high. Just
click here to see top-level eBay Pulse items here on our site.
Which eBay sites are searched from this site?
WatchCount.com searches the main
eBay US site, as well as a growing number of international eBay sites. Keep your eye on the eBay site/country selector in the menu bar, located on every WatchCount.com page, to see what countries we currently support.
Can I see the Watch Count of ended items?
Currently not. We only query and display popular items and Watch Counts of active eBay listings.
