Save anything and it goes to your Saved tab, alongside your purchases and your bidding.
And a list can be shared — a link somebody else can open, which is the useful part for anything gift-shaped.
What saving does
Keeps it findable. The main thing.
Lets you compare. Saving three similar items and looking at them together is a better way to decide than deciding in a show.
Gives you a shareable list, for a birthday or a wedding, without anyone needing to guess.
What it does not do
It does not reserve anything. This is the one that catches people. A saved item is still on sale and somebody else can buy it while it sits in your list.
It does not hold a price.
It does not stop an auction ending. A saved auction runs on its own clock whether or not you are watching. If you want it, you have to bid. How to join a live show
So what do you do about the thing that might go
Set a maximum, on an auction you cannot sit through. Enter the most you will pay and the app bids for you in steps. How to not get carried away
Follow the store, so you are told when they go live rather than discovering afterwards. Following a seller, and what that does
Buy it, if it is fixed-price and you are sure. Saving a buy-now item is just a slower way of losing it to somebody faster. Buy now, explained
For sellers
Your analytics shows what is saved but not bought — and that list is one of the most useful things in it. An item saved repeatedly and never bought is almost always priced slightly wrong, because somebody wanted it enough to keep it. What is sell-through?
Privacy
A saved list is yours. Nobody sees it unless you share the link, and a store cannot see who saved its items by name — only the count. What the seller can see about you in a show
If you delete your account, the list goes with it, along with any share you made of it.
More: finding something you bought before, following a seller, buy now, explained.