Traffic

[grandmasjewelry123]

I have been selling jewelry on line for about two years. How come the majority of my customers are coming from the western United States when I am on the eastern part of the USA? I have had one customer in two years from Ct, which is where I am located. How can this be? How do I change that? It seems that ebay is only showing my listings on the west coast. There are some sales from Florida and New York, but almost nothing in New England.

[femmefan1946]

EBay has a LOT of listings.

So it seems they rotate the listings through different markets.

And part of that rotation is not random, but shows your products where they sell best.

So if you sell in California, your items will show slightly more often in CA than in Florida.

In addition to the sales going to certain states, are you also in the happy position of having repeat customers? That would add a slight skew to Search too.

This is guesswork on my part, but I notice that when I make a few domestic (for me that's Canada) sales, I start seeing many more Canadian sales, and when I get a European sale, I see a few more European sales in the weeks and months following.

[vintagecraze50]

I lived in Tennessee for over 20 years before moving to the west coast. I miss those trees and I used to complain about the Smoky Mtn Rain, keeps on fallin, I keep on callin her name, uNTIL NOW in Utah we have virtually no rain. I miss those Smoky Mtns.

[movieman630]

I don't know but I can say every time I sell a heavy item it's always to someone on the West coast and I get hammered on the shipping charges. 

[katzrul15]

@grandmasjewelry123 

We rarely, if ever, sell to anyone in Ohio.

We do send quite a bit to MI and to Chicago.  By far, we ship the most to CA, AZ, UT, OR, WA, TX & FL.  Always.  Lately, quite a few to PA and we sent 3 recently to NE.  Not sure we had ever sold to NE before, that I can remember.  

We offer a lot of free shipping.  Obviously, shipping is not "free" - we attract west coasters and TX and FL as a result - free shipping to someone close by is not a very good deal.  Often a much better deal, farther away.

[femmefan1946]

every time I sell a heavy item it's always to someone on the West coast and I get hammered

This is what Calculated Shipping is designed for.

The buyer sees exactly what the shipment will cost her-- based on the weight, dimensions and service you give and the zipcode she gives.

Flat Rate is for items where YOUR shipping costs are known -- or at least within acceptable parameters.

I use Flat Rate /Free Shipping for most items I sell that weigh under 500 grams and less than 2cm thick and use that for both Canada (my domestic) and USA LetterMail shipping.

Sometimes I increase the asking price of my item to allow for the 495gram item that will cost me more than 92c to mail, but if it has to travel by Parcel Rates, Calculated is the only choice.