Default Settings for Searching for Items in US Only.

[jaquish2005]

I would like a default setting for searching for items that are For Sale in the United States only.  It would be great if eBay would allow me to set that default in my profile, instead of marking it in every search I enter.
I like the option of searching for items outside the US, but would really like that default setting.

[mudshark61369]

@jaquish2005,

  "I would like a default setting for searching for items that are For Sale in the United States only".

Do you mean items that are for sale by U.S. sellers in U.S. locations only?

  ebay will give us that default. Even if they did they helped chinese sellers set up businesses in the U.S. but most drop ship from China, so setting the filter on the first search results page to U.S. only doesn't cut all of them out. I check each seller's feedback profile before buying which helps.

Below is my list of ways to avoid non-U.S. sellers when I'm buying.

Indications on listing pages;

1. Item location not giving a city or state Ex. Ca. /USA, Many places USA, USA/USA.
2. Extended delivery or handling time frames. Especially, from supposed U.S. based sellers.
3. Very low prices w/ Free shipping
4. Using a brand name in the title but listing it as unbranded in the item specifics
5. American flag symbols and many statements of being a U.S. Seller
6. The same photos and listing templates used by many other sellers
7. Measurements that are both metric and inches.
8. Use of Asian models in photos
9. Verbiage in descriptions that do not sound like they were written by a person whose first language is English

On feedback profile pages;

1. Country of registration ... sometimes.
2. Very high volume seller registered between 2010 and now.
3. Feedback percentages below 98.9%
4. Neutral and negative feedback sometimes in the hundreds  (you can click on those numbers to read only those comments)  look for slow shipping, non delivery,  partial orders received, and items shipped from China comments, as well as poor quality ones.
5. Replies to non positive feedback that indicate English is not the persons first language
6. Repetitive replies to non-positive feedback

[eburtonlab]

Note that just because an items is listed as being located in a particular country does not guarantee that the seller will ship from that location, as mudshark61369 has indicated.

If you are using the eBay app, it is possible to lock your search settings to only search items in your country or region by default.

If you are using a common desktop browser, there is a browser extension called "eBay item location - my country only" that might be useful to you. It can override eBay's "default" item location.

You could also create a sample search, and set the item location to "US only", and then bookmark or save the search. If you use that search as the basis for further searches, it should maintain the "US only" item location setting.

Even if you limit your searches to items that are listed as being in the US, it is still a good idea to check shipping estimates to get an idea of how far away items are shipping from, and to check the seller's feedback to see if there are any indications of problems.

When faced with a long list of search results that you would like to quickly reduce to those items that can be shipped and delivered quickly, using the "Guaranteed Delivery" filter can often help; few sellers that ship from overseas qualify.

[kyrrian]

Right. But it would be a lot faster and more reliable to have eBay just add that option as a profile setting. I agree with OP that this should be a choice and not have to be set every time you do a new search. I don't like the idea of having to use external extensions to manage something that would be really easy for eBay to add. 

All the comments are on point in terms of "you might get an international shipper anyway", but 80/20 at least you could carve out the ones who have disclosed it. Then you can apply more rigor to the remaining results. 

To me, this is equivalent to letting me save my shipping address on my profile. 

[equis3]

Wow......This is most annoying. Trying to find some small plastic electrical items and search US ONLY, place an order at 10 o'clock at night and find out they are coming from Hong Kong at 6 in the morning. Try to cancel the order and they say it can only be cancelled within one our of purchase......Cancel the **bleep** order! Fix this eBay.  I need these items tomorrow........not in 3-4 weeks time!

[spharoe]

Exactly. We all know that nothing is completely fool proof, but to not bother to filter for that reason is pretty ridiculous. I don’t understand people who think in those terms. “You can’t guarantee you won’t still end up with stuff shipping from other countries ” —Okay? So? I’d rather risk a 10% chance of that happening than continually click on items I might want only to discover the thing is in Bulgaria, and won’t be here till May when it’s now February. 

[braveraven57]

I agree. It's faster delivery and it's also going to be less pain to deal with buyers who think they're beyond the scope of refunding money when an item doesn't arrive or it arrives damaged. I might add, I do so like to see buyers have a special button that allows us to block certain sellers so we do not have to mistakenly make a purchase from someone we might have had a bad experience with or someone who just doesn't seem on the up and up they give it to sellers they need to give it to buyers without us there'd be no eBay.

[downunder-61]

October 2021 = 6 month old thread

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.