I: [CR]RE: Int'l Ebay Search

(Example: Events:Eroica)

From: "The Maaslands" <TheMaaslands@comcast.net>
Subject: I: [CR]RE: Int'l Ebay Search
To: Classic Rendezvous <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 20:10:58 -0500

> Ray Coffey wrote:
>
>
> <snip> http://ebay.com/<blah>
> and there's a set of radio buttons in the lower right with international
> settings. Any tea for sale on eBay in China? <snip>

To which Kurt responded:
> A quick look at the results gotten from that search with all regions etc allowed didn't seem to uncover any items from the difficult .de or .it etc versions of ebay. They really should have a truly global search option if they don't already.

Since this question was brought up in relation to my successful 'buy it now' purchase of the Masi Special, I would like to share my observations. I ran a sample search for the word Campagnolo. It gave 512 items available to the USA, however when you go to the radio button (is that what they are called?) called 'Items located in' and then insert the choice 'Any country' the same search revealed 625 results. I think this is a true indication of the strength of Ebay in the US compared with all other countries combined. It is still an increase of circa 20% when compared to the sole US market. It has however been my own personal observation (when listing items for sale) that keyword searches take at least a couple hours before they work. It seems that the wording of auctions do not get immediately added to the database of ebay. Therefore in the first all important minutes or hours for buy it now items, you can only see them looking at the complete super category. It was therefore pure luck that I happened onto the Masi when I did. For the record, when I had completed the purchase, the andale counter read 2 views. This means that I was either the first person to see the auction and the second saw it as I completed the purchase, or somebody else saw the auction and decided the bike was the wrong size or of no interest. On a last note, I rarely if ever buy on ebay, but that which I do purchase is generally purchased outside of the US and would require a reasonable grasp of a foreign language to understand the complete merits of the auction. Whereas I can scan through 20 foreign pages of auctions reasonably quick, I am certain that such 'work' could be close to impossible or very time-consuming for the non-linguist. I have a few keyword searches saved for the US, but search all bicycles pages for at least 3 foreign countries daily.

Steven Maasland Moorestown, NJ

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