Has any else noticed this???
Why is it every one of my sales goes to San Diego , Loredo texas , Spokan Washington or like Miami, sk there’s no eBay buyers in say Indiana illlinois Virginia. Oh I get it more for shipping so more for fees. This is not a one time event since I have been on eBay 98 percent of all my sales come from places where it’s expensive to ship the furthest away. I gon selll somewhere else I get orders from every where I the is but for some reason eBay expects me to believe only people on the west coast buy??? I know I don’t pay the shipping. It I pay the fees on it and I wonder how many times my listings are not shown in the mid wes or east coast just for eBay to make a a couple pennies
40 comments
onefootflipper
·2 years agoYou are selling almost nothing but 2 ounce hot wheels. There isn't exactly a huge price difference on those packages by zone.
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoTry over two dollars which is why I think it’s crazy eBay makes an extra 20 cents off it
onefootflipper
·2 years agoWe live in the same shipping zone. I ship 4 ounce packages every single day, there is not a $2 variation from one zone to another.
Just checked now. 4 ounces to Washington is $4.13. 4 ounces to same zone, $3.79. Total possible continental US variation is 34 cents. With final value fee that costs you $4.62. You just lowered your shipping cost from $6.15 to $5.90 both of which leave you enough money to buy 3 boxes.
yuzuha
·2 years agoYeah, my sub-1 lb stuff goes all over the place because there is such a minimal price difference between zones. It's the heavier stuff that tends to sell to nearby states. As a perfect example, that figure I just sold the other day is only going two states away.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoI looked at the last page of my sales book and I shipped to:
India,UK, CT (2) ,MI (2), TN, WI,PA,Alberta, ID, WA (2), IL ,NJ, Poland, Ontario, New Brunswick (3) ,KS, Quebec(2) and NY.
My main surprise was how many overseas sales I've made recently, and how few domestic (Canadian) sales.
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoAre you using a flat rate shipping cost for any location? If so, that is probably why you're getting those far distant buyers.
You may want to get a small scale and also calculate box weight and any packing material cost in your listings.
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoThat’s exactly how I’m doing weigh package get dimensions aand do calculate shipping
monroe67
·2 years ago"Why is it every one of my sales goes to San Diego , Loredo texas , Spokan Washington or like Miami, sk there’s no eBay buyers in say Indiana illlinois Virginia."
You may be overthinking this.
I am in San Diego, and my three most recent sales were sent to Oregon, Maine, and Michigan. Before that, there was a another one with a delivery address in Oregon, a buyer in Georgia who bought three things (yay !!), and New Mexico. I think my last sale with a California delivery address was more than a year ago.
eBay's hub for their International Shipping program is in Illinois. Do you think eBay is also not showing your listings to overseas buyers whose purchases would be funneled through that hub?
BTW, you can be glad your California buyer was in San Diego rather than Los Angeles. At least in my part of San Diego County, we pay "only" 7.75% sales tax, while much of the County and City of Los Angeles pays 10% or slightly more. Because eBay's Final Value Fees (FVFs) include a percentage of the amount of sales tax your buyers pay, one might think eBay steers sales toward high sales tax areas.
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoYour in San Diego and its been over a year since you shipped to Cali. So nobody in Cali where it would be cheaper for you to ship wants anything your selling? Every one else’s arguments if true would say that’s impossible you have to be selling in Cali I’m in Michigan and can’t remember the last time I shipped to Michigan but I have three shipments as we speak going to Cali .
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoI was curious because of this thread, so I looked at our top five states for 2023's sales by percentage:
Similar to everyone else's, except VA instead of TX being up there, but none of those are crazy high percentages (though I'm surprised by CA being so high, we're in FL and use calculated shipping on most listings, although I guess since we use Media Mail most often it doesn't raise the price for the west coast buyers). I don't care where people are asking us to ship to, generally, if we get an order we ship it.
squinkercat59
·2 years agoMost of my sales go to California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois. Coincidentally all at the top in terms of population, so it seems the odds would favor those states to begin with, so I'm not sure if visibility is stifled or not.
eburtonlab
·2 years ago98 percent of all my sales come from places where it’s expensive to ship the furthest away.
If you are using any kind of fixed shipping cost (which would include free shipping) and setting your total prices based on some "average" shipping cost you can expect, then pretty much by definition any buyer located closer to you than average is paying an inflated shipping cost, and any domestic buyer further away than average is getting a relative price break.
The further away your US customers are located, the better deal they are getting from you because of the way you have set your prices. Since you are apparently in Michigan, the customers getting the best deal are located on the coasts or the southern border, like "San Diego, Laredo Texas, Spokane Washington or Miami Florida".
broto_64
·2 years agoThat makes sense, buyers are simply hunting for the best price.
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoIf that was true, then its all the more reason to think buyers would buying items in their locale:
a $25 item that costs $5 to ship from a CA Seller to a CA Buyer would be a $30 transaction.
a $25 item that cost $15 to ship from a CA Seller to a NY Buyer would be a $40 transaction
and it would net ebay $1.35 more in fees - Annualize that and once again, in our opinion, mystery solved.
But hey who would believe a conspiracy theory like that?...
Even with the extreme statistical improbabilities/impossibilities involved... even with living in NH (a state with NO sales tax) and virtually NEVER having NH sales.. even with living an hour north of the most populace region in the nation... even with customer concerns about 7 days shipping time as opposed to 2 days buying locally...
Nah who would believe a conspiracy theory like that?
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoI’m using calculated shipping and once I. A while free and get same results
soh.maryl
·2 years agoYour complaint is about the location of your buyers?
When most complaints here are from sellers who have few sales or no sales at all?
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoAnd I’m complaining one it’s always like this and two all that shipping comes out of available funds and whose out next days deposits . I don’t care what is said if I can take pending funds and purchase on eBay they should also be able to use pending funds to buy their own label
inhawaii
·2 years agoJust when you think you've heard it all.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoWhy is it every one of my sales goes to San Diego , Loredo texas , Spokan Washington or like Miami
Perhaps because you just names 3 of the 4 largest states, population-wise.
for some reason eBay expects me to believe only people on the west coast buy
The fact that neither Florida nor Texas are on the west coast undermines your credibility.
FWIW I am in New England and my last 10 sales were to CA, NJ, MD, CT, MI, PA, NC, WA and AZ.
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoI mean I guess you’re right except 80 percent of the population lives east of the Mississippi. And I named cities within states not the whole state go back and check. Laredo Texas is hardly the whole population of Texas 99 percent of the population of Texas doesn’t live in Laredo. When you try to make facts just don’t you can’t represent numbers in each city by using the whole state. I name these cities because from where I’m at I still have Chicago nyc Boston Detroit all these areas that are a lot closer and zero sales all the other cities I mentioned Miami Spokane San Diego and such each one of these cities it the furthest city possible from me and the highest cost to ship. I don’t see sales in Orlando San fransisco Dallas Mount Olympus. Before you mouth off for zero reason other than to be annoying make sure it’s fact an not opinion
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoI use capped flat rate shipping so eBay makes no more money on me no matter where I ship, and I also see patterns, mostly where most of the population is. So, I have a lot of stuff go to California in the same zone or one zone over - cheapest shipping. I have that factored in.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoPopulation of California-39,557,045
Population of San Diego-1,425,976
Population of Texas-28,701,845
Population of Spokane-219,190
Population of Miami- 467,963
Population of Florida-21,538,187
Population of Indiana-6,691,878
Population of Illinois-12,741,080
If you added in the average income of those cities- you would find an even higher correlation between sales and destination.
diecastorbust
OP2 years agoPopulation of New York City and suburbs over 18 million =0 sales
Boston 7 million =0 sales
Northern Virginia 7 million = 0 sales
you gave the whole population of Texas the population of loredo 250,000 if it’s lucky but still outsell In Laredo 3-1 over 32 million people math doesn’ t add up. Thing is we sign agreements as sellers and nothing in those agreements states our items will only be shown in certain areas and only ones in a while in others. We sign these agreements with the understanding that we are being shown every where at all times. Every other platform I have been on I have sales from all over and a lot more sales. Makes sense now.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoI am on the east coast and use calculated shipping on most of my listings. About 70% of my sales are to the eastern half of the US where the shipping cost is the least so I really don't notice it nor does my shipping data support it.
pls-consignments
·2 years agoYou left out some important information. Do you offer "Free Shipping", "Calculated" or "Flat Rate"?
rosachs
·2 years agoWe have some 4000 sku's running at work, everything from diapers to the kitchen sink. But I have noticed that there are large population areas that seem to generate more sales than anywhere else. I would assume a larger population would be the reason, or perhaps the average household income is higher, leading to slightly more 'free cash' for things on eBay.
I loved it back when I was selling shoes ... I'd make a sale to some small town anywhere in the US. First sale to that town, sometimes even to that ZIPcode. If I got positive feedback, it was almost guaranteed that I'd get a few more sales to that same town within the month. I attributed that to the ladies sharing info on where the best buys were. Some places call it "book clubs", others call it "back fence gossip". I just call it great advertising and keep on truckin'!
-Bob.
chubbycatcollectibles
·2 years agoI am in California and I don't get many sales from my home state.
movieman630
·2 years agoNow that's weird!
doug_5857
·2 years agoI have shipped to every state. I am in Wis. Alaska and Hawaii as well.
oaklandmaryland
·2 years agoJoin the rest of us sellers. Ebay decides where and to whom listings are shown.
kds99
·2 years agoFor some reason I can't respond to the OP, so I'll do it here. My last 9 buyers were in DC, MI, MT, OH, NY, MI, MA, CA. The only common thread I see is that most, but not all, of the money and buyers are on the coasts.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoFor some reason I can't respond to the OP, so I'll do it here. My last 9 buyers were in DC, MI, MT, OH, NY, MI, MA, CA. The only common thread I see is that most, but not all, of the money and buyers are on the coasts.
Makes sense since 40% of the US population lives in coastal counties. If you split the country down the middle about 80% of the US population lives in the eastern sector.
goodbrakes
·2 years agoPlease do not lump Michigan into the coasts.
No salt water here on our shores.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoPlease do not lump Michigan into the coasts.
No salt water here on our shores.
Maybe no salt water but you have a couple of ponds with pretty good sized coast lines. ðŸ˜
broto_64
·2 years agoYeah it all has a lot to do with shipping (literally, as in ports and ships).
That's why people congregate near the coast lines, most everywhere in the world, and in the case of lakes it's the presence of fresh water (also big rivers). That is where you will find most of the world's population, near waterways, rivers, oceans, lakes, and so forth.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoYeah it all has a lot to do with shipping (literally, as in ports and ships).
That's why people congregate near the coast lines, most everywhere in the world, and in the case of lakes it's the presence of fresh water (also big rivers). That is where you will find most of the world's population, near waterways, rivers, oceans, lakes, and so forth.
It may also have to do with the fact that the federal government owns around 620 million acres of land (about 27%) of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States. Around 92 percent of federally owned acres are in 12 Western states. On top of that most of the 878.6 million acres (about 32.5%) are located in the mid-west. So about 60% of the land in the US it taken up by the federal government and farms.
gwenscupboard
·2 years agoAND Michigan is not on any coast.
We are in the Mid-West according to some (I think we are just Mid-Country).
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoI think you answered your own question - and it would be the same opinion I would have provided:
Higher shipping cost = higher fees = more money for the site = mystery solved(per our experience and opinion)
Its the EXACT SAME THING we dealt with the entire time we had our New England account running. In fact, our items were going to the SAME PLACES except with a several CA locations - We never considered it a mystery actually - Just another reason from a never ending list that we no longer list here...
solidguitar1961
·2 years agoThat's the places that have the money . Most of my orders go to California .
pcobra93
·2 years agoWelcome to Ebays "rolling" visibility algorithm.... I see that all the time.