A Seller's Guide to Using the Ebay Want It Now Listings

This is a discussion of the selling advantages that searching ebay's Want It Now listings can provide for ambitious ebay sellers.

One of ebay's newest specialty areas is the called the "Want It Now" listing, area of ebay where any registered ebay user may post descriptions of their own heart's material desires in the hopes that someone will offer them for sale on ebay.

The WANT IT NOW area of ebay is easily accessed by going to ebay's homepage, and looking to the left, upper portion of the page, under "Specialty Sites".

Or, by clicking here - Ebay's Want It Now Area

Want It Now 101

When a hopeful potential buyer posts to the Want it now, his or her post has the following properties:

• The post is valid for 60 days or until cancelled, and the days remaining are listed on the post.
• The post is searchable by any other registered ebay user but does not reveal the ID or email address, or name of the posting member.
• The post can have a photo uploaded to it by the posting member.
• The post contains the feedback status of the posting member.  
• The post contains the geographic location of the posting member as registered by ebay.
• Ebay is [currently] allowing questions to be sent to the posting member regarding his or her post. [new feature] 
• The post allows any ebay seller to respond to a  post with the item number his or her own, current ebay auction, only.

How Want It Now Can Work to Boost Sales

For the seller, the properties of the Want It Now ebay area provides a way to sell more by doing several very useful things:

1. To find and contact potential bidders for existing auctions in an "ebay-legal" way.
2. To find potential bidders for possible ebay auctions - in other words, to figure out if there is any market for what you may have waiting to be listed.
3. To see what those in the Want It Now 'listing public', so to speak, is actually looking for, and
4. To find out what sort of objects have high demand in your area of expertise.
5. The Want it Now is now enabled to email a seller when someone posts a want for an item that a seller may have. This is a NEW feature.

Practical Examples:    

1. To find and contact potential bidders for existing auctions in an "ebay-legal" way.

It is NOT ebay-legal to spam bidders on past auctions by contacting them via email that you have a similar item for auction, but it IS ebay-legal to search the Want It Now listings to see if anyone wants what you are selling. You would then post a reply containing your auction number, and the connection will be made as ebay will send the person who posted the Want It Now post an email letting them know about your listing.

  2. To find potential bidders for possible ebay auctions - in other words, to figure   out if there is any market for what you may have waiting to be listed.

Let's say you have what you think is a very odd, low value or assortment of items to list, but you are unsure if there is a market for them. Perhaps a search of completed listings did not enlighten you, or you are still unsure if they are worth listing for one reason or another. Searching the Want It Now posts may be time very well spent. You may find there are several potential bidders for your objects, or you may find only one. Still you might get some idea if it is worth listing your odd object.   

As an example, I once searched the Want It Now to see that someone was looking for a single antique dresser knob of a particular type of glass in a particular shape. I knew I had one just like somewhere, so I bookmarked the Want It Now post. I found the knob within a few days, listed it on ebay, and replied to the Want It Now post. That ebay member did indeed buy the knob and was extremely grateful - and I was happy to have sold a knob that otherwise might have sat in my drawer for another 150 years.

 3. To see what those in the Want It Now 'listing public', so to speak, is actually looking for...

A few minutes perusing the ebay Want It Now may be quite enlightening - what kind of widgets are people really looking for this season? For example, if my specialty is vintage fabrics, a quick look at the Want It Now posts might steer me in the direction of buying more vintage trims, as there seem to be quite a few people wanting vintage trimmings.  

The Want It Now might also be a very useful and valid predictor of seasonal demand -- a preponderance of posts looking for a specific toy or book or CD might indicate an unusual spike in demand - something the astute seller may wish to use to a marketing advantage. If I saw say "blue widgets" were in sudden and unusually high demand in the Want It Now posts -- I might start shopping for or listing any I had, and quickly, to take advantage of this spike in demand.

  4. To find out what sort of objects have high demand in your area of expertise.

Often demand spikes are caused by a favorable review in an article in a magazine or newspaper, the publishing of a new book on the subject, a museum exhibit, or even a blog. Checking Want It Now posts might reveal a trend of demand in your specific area of expertise which you were not aware of. And you may be able to use this knowledge to your advantage by pulling items you already own -- from your stock -- or your shed -- and getting them up on auction quickly.

 5. The Want it Now is now enabled to email a seller when someone posts a want for an item that a seller may have. 

Working like a "inside out" ebay search a seller can now set up a search for an item they have on the want it now, and be emailed automatically by ebay when someone posts a 'want' that fits that criteria. This is a marvelous tool - let's say you have a something, let's say a single Waterford crystal goblet and it has not sold in your auctions, but you know that it would sell if the right person came along.  This new ability would enable the seller to be notified when someone posts a want for that item and to quickly list it.

A Few More Thoughts on Using Want It Now 

• When you do post one of your auctions in reply to a Want It Now post, do remember that the potential buyer will indeed know your ID once you post your auction - so please don't 'spam' them with an auction that does not "fit" their want. In other words, don't post a reply with an inappropriate item or something way off from their post. They will probably resent it, and may hold it against you.  They can also report it as inappropriate to ebay.
• When you post an auction in reply to a Want It Now post, do take a look at the poster's feedback - his or her feedback will be visible to you before you post. You may want to rethink posting your auction to a member whose feedback is not particularly sterling.
• On the other hand, people who have been looking for something for a long time tend to be very grateful to a seller who has replied with the perfect item for them, and generally make wonderful, and serious, buyers.
• Be sure to read ebay's posted policies on Using the Want It Now area.

 So, next time you have a few minutes, take a look at the postings on the ebay's Want It Now - you may find it a very useful new selling aid.

I hope you enjoyed this guide and will take a look at my other guides on ebay. I am in the process of writing a Want It Now guide - for Buyers.

Helene.