I'm obviously a numpty because I didn't know . . .

[everard6920]

All this time, I've been thinking that when a buyer clicks on "Australia Only" to refine search results, that they'd get items/sellers in Australia only.

Wrong.

I noticed that, when searching for my own items, they would not come up when clicking "Australia Only". Instead, they were listed under "items from eBay international sellers". Yet, I was on the Australian site with an Australian account and all of my items (and addresses!) are in Australia.

So . . . after speaking to eBay, I found out that "Australia Only" shows sellers that post only to Australia. If you post to any other country, your items will show up under "international sellers", they said.

The implication is that if you have a seller who is located in China (and is posting from China) but that is targeting the Australian market and only posting to Australia, their items will show up if a buyer clicks "Australia Only". And if you're an Australian sellers in Australia but you also post to Azerbaijan and Nepal, your items won't show up.

Silly me. Here I was thinking that clicking on "Australia Only" was useful because buyers could find items located in Australia. No, instead it allows them to find sellers that only post to Australia, and nowhere else. Because who wants to buy from an Australian seller who posts to Australia and Russia? Gross.

/end rant

(Seriously, am I just being really daft and missing something important here?)

[kopenhagen5]

No I don't think you are missing anything.

Australia only should be sellers in Australia only, not include those that post to Aus only. Ludicrous.

[mbselections00]

Wow, well I think you have just started a huge 'numpty club'   I was unaware of the facts also (and I'm pretty sure we aren't the only ones).  Assuming CS have the facts correct

Have often wondered why so much carp appears when I search using Australia Only - who would have thought !

Thank you so much for sharing your new found knowledge - I come onto the boards for answers (and to contribute) and I have never heard this explanation - but it just may explain a few things - time to stop selling overseas I think . . . . . . .

Thank you again

[everard6920]

---

@mbselections00 wrote:

Wow, well I think you have just started a huge 'numpty club'   I was unaware of the facts also (and I'm pretty sure we aren't the only ones).  Assuming CS have the facts correct

Have often wondered why so much carp appears when I search using Australia Only - who would have thought !

Thank you so much for sharing your new found knowledge - I come onto the boards for answers (and to contribute) and I have never heard this explanation - but it just may explain a few things - time to stop selling overseas I think . . . . . . .

Thank you again

---

Yes, I also thought that they must've been wrong, so I changed a few of my items to post only to Australia to test the theory.  Sure enough - they now appear when I click "Australia Only"

[clarry100]

Well I'm another one who will rush to join your "numpty" club as I was thinking exactly as you were too.

I've always advocated that the default search in Australia should be AUSTRALIA ONLY to weed out all those Chinese junk sellers.

Unless the searcher specifically wants to see ALL then they can change the default for themselves. Obviously for the reasons you have uncovered this will clearly NOT work.

I was thinking that the Chinese sellers who got thru this net when you DO filter this way was because they had their items listed as LOCATED in Oz.

Silly me too!!!

[harley_babes_hoard]

count this numpty in too.

[everard6920]

I mean, it's a fair assumption that "Australia Only" means sellers in Australia only. I'm sure 99.9% of buyers click on it thinking that that's what it's for.

I'm astounded that it's not that. For a site that's all about keeping the buyers happy, I think it's a massive mistake. How many buyers have clicked it, purchased from a seller, only to be disappointed/confused when their item takes forever to arrive and comes from overseas? If I was a new buyer and that happened to me, I'd be pretty unhappy.

Just be aware that if you post overseas, your items won't show up if they click it. Zzzz. (The views for the items I changed to "Australia Only" increased sixfold!)

[mbselections00]

It is just so wrong and so misleading .  . . . . .   "Australia Only" should definitely mean sellers in Australia only

Knowing ebay, if they get sufficient 'Buyer' complaints it may be addressed - us sellers would be wasting our time, effort & breath if we complained !

I'm at a loss to understand why that isn't what it means & that I have never heard it means otherwise before today

      I'm also wondering now if it has always been this way or is it a fairly recent change - sort of fits with a few anomalies that have been occurring over the last 3 or 4 months . . . .  mmmm, me thinks it explains several issues . . . . .  and everard I think you deserve 

                But not just one        

[jfmgray]

Hmmm.  Not sure about this.  I sell to Australia and ship overseas also.  Just filtered searches for "Australia Only" and I came up.

[everard6920]

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@jfmgray wrote:

Hmmm.  Not sure about this.  I sell to Australia and ship overseas also.  Just filtered searches for "Australia Only" and I came up.

---

Could it be due to insufficient search results within Australia? If there are insufficient items, that might be why you're showing up.

All of the representatives I spoke to concurred that it works how I detailed above. And as I said, my items came up as soon as I changed items to posting to Australia only.

It's even more bizarre if it's happening for some sellers and not others.