more oddness on ebay

ballisticbrian

Are your items newly listed or edited when you are not finding them on searches?

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Are your items newly listed or edited when you are not finding them on searches?

Nope, they are there one day, and not the next and then just turn up again. I don't seem to have any hold on my listings at all as I've had sales within 10 minutes of putting up a new listing.

On the TRS board people can often see things that other users can't see- so two people doing the same search would get different results. There must be a matrix or something in play. Conspiracy theory or not (and i have my tin hat just in case!) it is very weird.

After Christmas I listed some china that did not sell, I relisted it and got lots of interest including people asking for a BIN. At least 2 people said that they have an alert set up on ebay to notify them if this pattern gets listed- but did not get it on the first listing and never saw it at all- but got it straight away on the 2nd listing.

This_Year

soolin wrote: »

I am also coming round to the consipracy theory as I am seeng some of the same patterns that people have mentioned above.

For instance about 3 weeks ago virtually everything i sold went to Wales, Gwent to be exact- I was having to print out labels so I didn't get the house name wrong as some were quite complicated. Then suddenly, no more Welsh buyers but all in New Zealand- now they are varied again, with perhaps a slight emphasis on Lancashire.

My husband has also on occasions seen something he wants and asked me to buy it (he doesn't have my log in). I've searched with him on the ipad and seen say 11 results, gone to the main PC to buy it and the same search has shown me 24 results a minute or two later!

My own items doing a search as a guest will show up differently on a best match depending on what device I search with, one of my lines wasn't even visible on the ipad one day- yet the next day I got a huge rush of sales and it was suddenly visible again.

The TRS oard is full of such examples- maybe we are deluding ourselves and all need to make a tin foil hat just in case- but I have seen the difference directly myself and can replicate my results to show others.

Strapped wrote: »

Hmmm, I've never really thought about it, but the thing about having a flurry of sales all in one region certainly rings true. I've always just assumed that it's people who know each other and say, "nice item, where did you get that from?" and then buy one themselves. Maybe I'm naïve. * Puts on tinfoil hat too *

Looking back, my sales appear to be doing the same; I have commented to my OH that most of my parcels are going to Wales, the next week I get a rash of sales from Northern Ireland. Currently I'm getting sales from London and Kent.

I also have been logged in as my OH and decided to see where my items came up in searches, found nothing, searched under my selling ID and been given the message that nothing met the search criteria.

I have then logged in as myself and gone to my ebay where all my listings were sitting quite happily.

It's the ebayzone. Do do do do...

RFW

This_Year wrote: »

Looking back, my sales appear to be doing the same; I have commented to my OH that most of my parcels are going to Wales, the next week I get a rash of sales from Northern Ireland. Currently I'm getting sales from London and Kent.

I think it may be possible that one of the parts of Best Match is regional, so if an item sells well to a certain postcode it gets higher up for people logged in that area. I do tend to get blocks of buys from the same area, but I also do on Amazon so it could just all be coincidence.

The problem with analyzing (or just noticing) patterns is that it can just be put down to coincidence.

If you sell green coats and sell a lot to people in Southampton over a 7 day period it may just be because the Southampton Green Coat Appreciation Day is coming round again:p

Goldiegirl

This_Year wrote: »

Looking back, my sales appear to be doing the same; I have commented to my OH that most of my parcels are going to Wales, the next week I get a rash of sales from Northern Ireland. Currently I'm getting sales from London and Kent.

I notice sales patterns like that.

I'm currently selling off my postcard collection, and cards of a particular town tend to go to someone in that area, so that seems entirely reasonable.

But the rest of it does seem to have odd patterns.

Bearing in mind I'm a private seller, selling off jigsaws, clothes, and general household items that are no longer required, and selling between 10 and 20 items a week, you'd think the locations of my buyers would be randomly scattered.
But each week I get at least one person from Lancashire, and at least one person from either Leicestershire or Staffordshire (or both) This is regular, not once in a blue moon.

Also, in the last couple of weeks I've had at least four people from Oxfordshire.

But I rarely get buyers from Wales. not even people buying my Welsh postcards.

I had put it down to coincidence, but I'm starting to wonder!

This_Year

RFW wrote: »

If you sell green coats and sell a lot to people in Southampton over a 7 day period it may just be because the Southampton Green Coat Appreciation Day is coming round again:p

Crikey is it that time again already? I must have missed the notices.