Buyers By Geography...

[towertreasuretrove]

Okay, I've noticed this in the past year or two. I get a bunch of buyers one week...they're all in Newfoundland....I get buyers the next week, they're all in B.C......the next week, it's Quebec....then, all of sudden....Americans. What's going on with this? Whatever Ebay is doing, I think it's limiting sales.

[triber]

I have found a similar scenario. I go for several days with almost no sales, then the next few days sales with almost all Canadians, another several days with almost no sales, then a few days of sales with almost all US buyers. I too have been wondering what is going on. For me it seems to be a constant cycle.

[recped]

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@towertreasuretrovewrote:

Okay, I've noticed this in the past year or two. I get a bunch of buyers one week...they're all in Newfoundland....I get buyers the next week, they're all in B.C......the next week, it's Quebec....then, all of sudden....Americans. What's going on with this? Whatever Ebay is doing, I think it's limiting sales.

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It's all just the normal ebb and flow of retail and mail order.

I've done mail order for 40 years (19 on eBay), this clustering pattern has ALWAYS been present, nothing to do with eBay specifically.

[momcqueen]

This phenomena is a product of Best Match results. If I am shopping from Poland for something you sell, and you most recently sold this item for which I am searching sold to another buyer in Poland, it will assume we both want(ed) it and you will place high with this item in search results for me. In short, you will temporarily be all the rage in Poland. Best Match rewards recent sales which rewards more Best Match. 

[momcqueen]

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@recpedwrote:

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.... I've done mail order for 40 years (19 on eBay), this clustering pattern has ALWAYS been present, nothing to do with eBay specifically....

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Not just mail order. One of my first jobs and one in which I still draw numerous life lessons was to work as a cashier/customer service agent in a small-town grocery store. (This may explain my lifelong irrational compulsion to assist perfect strangers and my presence on the Boards here even now.) But, it didn't take long to notice that while we may have had 50 customers trickle in over a 30-minute time period, 48 of them would all arrive at the checkstands at the same time, and it reminded me of cows on the farm. 

I think humans subconsciously herd (or cluster) themselves as much as do cattle. You and I generally stop wandering around when we catch drift of the trigger that everyone else is on the move. Hence the sudden crowd to a previously-deserted area for no discernible reason. Maybe it's safety, maybe it's companionship, maybe it's curiosity that causes us to join the herd. Of course, there's always one or two stragglers off in LaLa Land who didn't get the memo, they get left behind.

There's no doubt an actual psychological or sociological term for this somewhere but I am not learned enough to know it. 

[cumos55]

A cluster of buying may occur...

(1) By geography as noted by OP....  Something stimulated several people living in the same region to buy.

(2) By last name.......  How many times  have  the Smiths bought and had something shipped at the same time.... and then even with a relatively rare last name.

(3) A specific book..... Several of the same book sold within a very short period of time.... that was several years ago.... Sell-Relist...Sell-Relist  and more.   Something triggered this repeat sale...  of the same book.

Today  I have a book  ....  Have sold about 6 copies of this book over the last 6 months.... 

(4) Then came a very interesting play on price.

Another seller listed a book at  $160... I had three copies of this book....  Listed the first book at $60, and it sold quickly.... Listed  second book at $60   and it sold quickly......  Listed the third book at $60 and it sold quickly...

Total sales of $180, and the other seller's book took several months to sell.... at $160

 And  that total of $180  was use to buy more books to sell.... and that $180  was quickly multiplied out at a markedly higher value than $160 for one book, with the purchase of more inventory to sell

Bounced my lower price off the higher priced book

(5) Found two books.  Both were like new with slip case..... both were numbered editions ....only 924 books published for one book... only 1024 books published for the second book.  Unique books originally published decades ago, reprinted as collectables signed by the author, and the author was a well known editor of an outdoor life magazine

One of the  books was already listed at $425 US on eBay , but with 6 offers refused.

The two books were bought on a Saturday...  both were listed at $195 each on the following Thursday.  One book sold on Saturday, while the next book sold on the following Tuesday....

That was $390 in the bank within 10 days of buying these two books....  Other sellers tried to catch the tide... but could not.

Another situation where I bounced my price off the higher priced item, and then bought more inventory to sell

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It always helps to do something unique on eBay....  and it catches  the attention of potential buyers.... or was it the search engine.... and sometimes  sellers are watching, but cannot figure out what happened

Things happen by region, by last name...  by way of the Horoscope..... by the flip of a coin,,,, and even by design.....

and then there is the magic of selling on eBay....

Such as watching a TV show about a Canadian .... Major General Lewis MacKenzie with the UN in Yugoslavia, on  Rememberance Day...  A book about Lewis McKenzie sold within 5 minutes of the end of this show on TV.  What would have happened if I had several copies of this book listed on eBay?

Many things can trigger a group of people to buy.... Something happened... or... was it purely by chance. 

It does not matter why it sells... not when it means money in the bank..... the more the better.

[femmefan1946]

@momcqueen

I've worked in a few different retail environments, and if I want help with my purchases, I prefer to shop around 2pm on a weekday.

Clerks are mostly back from work and there are few other customers around.

@cumos55

Yeah. I just put a couple of Ren &Stimpy VHS tapes up that I've been meaning to discard because of the scandal. I'll give them a month.

[momcqueen]

I'm not complaining, but puzzled. I'm swamped with sales this week. Like 20 things sold in five days totalling an almost-equal amount to my entire last month's performance which was, granted, slower than normal. It's like Christmas. In April. More puzzling, it's the same old stuff that I've had listed for, like, three years already. 

I don't subscribe to any of those rolling blackouts theories but I think it's strange nonetheless. Of course, I am also elated. It feels good to get stuff moving out of here.

There is no relation to geography however. No more so than usual. Canadians and Americans. 

[momcqueen]

And somewhat contradicting my own much-touted theory about Best Match begetting Best Match, the stuff that is selling is across my various Product Lines. It's not just ten sales each coming from one or two that might make better sense to me.