eBay

mdf_jersey · ‎06-30-2014

Hi All. I have an inquiry for purchase of one of my items. Where normally I would be happy to oblige, This buyer is from China. I have had dealings with Chinese buyers before and most if not all want to purchase my item to copy and then sell. The last thing I need is more competition. Especially when they will be able to sell for a lot less due to their manufacturing cost.

Does any one know of a way to block countries from seeing my stuff. I know I can block countries where I will ship to, but that doesn't necessarily stop them from bidding as some time they use other country addresses

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-30-2014

I doubt there is any way to guarantee that they don't see it but if you block the country on your shipping list, they are less likely to see your listings.

mdf_jersey · ‎06-30-2014

This is weird. I have more than one site and when I looked I found the same message but differant buyer ID. Still from Chine

mr.elmwood · ‎06-30-2014

Not weird, just their way of doing their business. However, it sure does not smell right.

No way I know of to block views, but, if you have blocked countries, they should not be able to ask questions on that item. I assume, then, theya re using "ask seller a question" not tied to a particular widget.

.
.
.

cumos55 · ‎06-30-2014

They can always go

to eBay.com

or ... to eBay.ca

to see what a North American seller has available for sale.....

and it is because of this that...

Trying to block people from certain countries from seeing your listings is counterproductive.

Many Canadian buyers still go to eBay.com to buy.... greater selection.... and many will buy from a Canadian seller ... from that listing on eBay.com...

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-30-2014

they should not be able to ask questions on that item. I assume, then, theya re using "ask seller a question" not tied to a particular widget.

Not necessarily. Blocked bidders can ask a question unless you have also checked off that blocked buyers can't contact you.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-30-2014

@cumos55 wrote:
They can always go

to eBay.com

or ... to eBay.ca

to see what a North American seller has available for sale.....

and it is because of this that...

Trying to block people from certain countries from seeing your listings is counterproductive.

Many Canadian buyers still go to eBay.com to buy.... greater selection.... and many will buy from a Canadian seller ... from that listing on eBay.com...

He doesn't want them to see what he has for sale on any site so how would that be counterproductive? Technically, if a U.S. seller has blocked Canada, I won't see their listings on .com or .ca. If they don't ship to Canada but haven't actually blocked it, I can see those listings.

cumos55 · ‎06-30-2014

Anyone can visit any site on eBay and view what they want. to view...

One can block certain countries.... However, people from that country can visit another site and see what they want... and no one can stop them.

You can block people who live in certain countries from buying your items listed on eBay..... That is a general block that applies to all listings....

I have Australia blocked for all listings on eBay.. I have just tried many ways to find any of my listings on eBay Australia.... and could find nothing of mine there.... In turn I can view what is being sold on eBay Australia

There was a time when a country was blocked and a seller's listings would still show in that country... Not so now...

therefore......

When a country is blocked for all listings... no one from that country can view or buy any of those listings, on their own country's site

Even if they view the listings on eBay Canada.... they cannot buy.... unless.....

Someone can circumvent a block with a US or Canadian address..... if the seller shipped only to the US and Canada.

The block applies to people who have an address in a certain country....

OP does not want them to view their listings...

Blocking is by country... and that prevents a purchase.... but does not prevent someone from visiting another site and viewing all listings.

Blocking applies to purchase... and apparently not to viewing.

There is always a possibility that someone from a blocked country contacts the seller and arranges to make a purchase...

This has happened with me....

Each of us can view all of the listings... site-by-site...

Buying off another site is a totally different matter.

Relative to your comment...

If a U.S. seller has blocked Canadians living in Canada, you as a person registered on eBay.ca can still view that seller's listings on eBay.com.

Many Canadians have a US mailing address... They view items on eBay.com, buy and then ship to the US address.... There are many US company's ... that now serve as a mailing address.....I have heard of several company's in North Dakota, immediately south of the US border that do this... sometimes with large industrial items....

It is because of this last option that eBay only goes to far as to block someone from a specific country from buying.... and allowing them to view

Buying is relation to an address.... Viewing is everywhere....

cumos55 · ‎06-30-2014

When I am about to list a book on eBay I will first do a search on eBay.ca.... my primary level of competition.

I then check eBay.com to see how many of the same book are listing beyond that already indicated on eBay Canada.

Depending on what I see on eBay Canada, and then eBay US I know exactly how much competition there will be for this specific book.....

Shipping from the US to Canada Is a major component in determining the level of competition.... on eBay Canada...

A US seller may block me from buying their book.... but they cannot block me from seeing what they have for sale....

This is a seller's view as opposed to a buyer's perspective in knowing what is for sale on another site.....

An example

I had a book about the history of the Australian Signal Corp... pricing and shipping were based on my being able to view the same books listed on eBay Australia....

The book eventually sold to an Australian buyer..... Australia was not blocked for this one purchase....

mdf_jersey · ‎07-01-2014

As I suspected that you really cant block countries from seeing your stuff. I know that China shops .ca and .com for stuff to copy and mass production, killing or at the least drastically reducing my sales . You cant compete with their costs. I have in the past where I had to abandon certain items because it was no longer worth selling.

They even go so far as, if I block China from purchasing, they always have or know someone with a Canada or USA ebay account to do their purchase for them. My only defense is for them not to see my items in the first place.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-01-2014

Blocking is by country... and that prevents a purchase.... but does not prevent someone from visiting another site and viewing all listings.

I don't believe that is true in all cases. When looking at listings I believe the blocking is based on the shipping location that you have entered on the search page not on your registered address.

The way that I understand it to work is if I am looking at .com and have my shipping location set to a Canadian address, I will see listings that ship to Canada and listings that ship to the U.S. only but state they May Ship To Canada. Those listings do not have any blocks set up.

I will not see the listings that specifically block Canada or have their preferences checked off to block countries that they don't ship to. The listings with blocks generally state that they Do Not Ship to Canada rather than May Not

If I do that same search and change my location to the U.S. on that search page, I will see all of the listings that ship to the U.S. even if they have blocks set up

For example..If I search on .com with a Canadian location I see 35 results for:

Coach leather wallet black stripe

If I do the same search after changing my location at the top of the page to the United States, I see 38 results.

One item that shows only in the search with a U.S. address is - Coach Signature Zebra Stripe Wristlet Nancy Rare - item 201115547398 -

If I search for that item number with a Canadian address and click into the listing, it shows that the item ships to the U.S. and states that the item Does Not Ship To Canada. There is no specific block showing for Canada but when it states Does Not Ship and because it states that and because I couldn't see it as a Canadian, I believe that the seller has set their preferences to block their listings to countries that they do not ship to.

None of the above is true 100% of the time but as we all know, ebay is not exactly the same at all times. All of the information is what I've noticed over time..it isn't written anywhere but it seems to be a good explanation as to why there can be such a difference in searches.

On a larger scale...

If I search for Coach leather wallet red, the results are 740 with a U.S. address; 625 with a Canadian address

Or

A search in the Books category for James Michener shows 2611 results vs 2255 results

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-01-2014

If a U.S. seller has blocked Canadians living in Canada, you as a person registered on eBay.ca can still view that seller's listings on eBay.com.

I can see them only if I changed to a U.S. address on the search page. In most cases, searching with a Canadian address results in fewer results than searching with a U.S. address.

By searching with a U.S. address I mean that I would change my address at the top of the search page to the U.S. with a U.S. zip code

When I am about to list a book on eBay I will first do a search on eBay.ca.... my primary level of competition.

I then check eBay.com to see how many of the same book are listing beyond that already indicated on eBay Canada.

Depending on what I see on eBay Canada, and then eBay US I know exactly how much competition there will be for this specific book.....

There may be a few exceptions but in general, I believe that you will only see the sellers that ship to Canada or do not have blocks set up. As mentioned in my last post, those listings will likely state that they May Ship To Canada because they do not have blocks set up.

cumos55 · ‎07-01-2014

on eBay.com

If they say ships to the United States, but without a specific list of blocked countries.... I can see the listing

If they say ships to United states, and have a list of blocked countries...... Unable to see the listing unless I change the shipping. destination to a US zip code

It is the list of blocked countries that makes the difference.

But even that is not absolute as there as some listings that say ships to US and can be seen if postage is set to Canada and postal code... But it is said that shipping cannot be calculated to Canada....perhaps a calculated shipping listing, US only can be seen... not totally blocked

Maybe the key is not to use calculated shipping....with ship to and excluded countries....

Learn something new....

Looks like some measure of blocking can occur... based on ship to and excluded countries....as long as they do not specify a shipping address for the country of the ebay site.

Not using calculated shipping may be a part of the option to block someone from excluded countries from viewing the listings....

Using a eBay US zip code gave me all of the listings on eBay.com..

very subtle difference... but a usable difference

That should make my research just that little bit better...

Even though this all occurs... nothing appears to be absolute....

There may be more to determine the absolute...

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-01-2014

It is the list of blocked countries that makes the difference.

But even that is not absolute as there as some listings that say ships to US and can be seen if postage is set to Canada and postal code... But it is said that shipping cannot be calculated to Canada....perhaps a calculated shipping listing, US only can be seen... not totally blocked

Unless I am misunderstanding you, I don't think it has anything to do with calculated shipping. Those listings that you see probably do not have their site preference checked as 'block countries that I don't ship to' If the listing says ships to U.S. and does not have any specific countries blocked, you would still see it but shipping would say not specified.

I agree that nothing is absolute. I do think that if the OP was to block the countries that he didn't want to sell to AND use his site preferences checked off properly, buyers with an address from that country would not see their listings.

However, if the buyer understood how the system worked, they could do just as we did and use a U.S. postal code to see the listings.

cumos55 · ‎07-01-2014

Took a while to figure out...

Looked back on Calculated shipping.... does not appear to contribute...

I think we have it sorted out... atleast until eBay makes a change...

femmefan1946 · ‎07-02-2014

I'm not sure that 'seeing' a listing is the problem.

The problem is being able to Block bidding.

Which can be done by adding China (etc.) to the Blocked Destinations list.

If the customer has a North American address, then asks that the item be shipped to an overseas address, the seller can refuse and also Report the customer as an 'Unwanted Bidder". The seller is not required to ship to any address but the North American one.