Is there different strategies to selling between the USA and the UK?

[Teddyrose54]

Is there a big difference between USA buyers and UK buyers?
Or sellers for that matter?

Where do the two markets differ and to what degree?
It may be worth knowing for anyone new to listing on here.

[madelaine]

It's very difficult for anyone running a small business to know. Our information is, by its very nature, slight and scarcely representative

[suesjools]

It's very difficult for anyone running a small business to know. Our information is, by its very nature, slight and scarcely representative

Ditto this. You could start a poll, (asking specific questions of UK/US buyers and sellers), but even so this would only reflect the views of the forum readers.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[mcc1146]

Is there a big difference between USA buyers and UK buyers?
Or sellers for that matter?

Where do the two markets differ and to what degree?
It may be worth knowing for anyone new to listing on here.

That is an interesting question. I certainly do not have the answers, but I too have been looking at this one since I came here. Never really had to before, and didn't really care.

However, now I think that one should desire to understand their target audience. How to be a good fisherman = think like the fish.
From what I am now learning -I will have to re-think some of my past decisions and make many changes- it will be over time.

I might suggest those wanting answers to start by looking online and reading what others have already written about- as they have already done a lot of the work for me. Examples like these below are easy to find and you can spend hours reading if you desire.

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswir...-commerce.html
http://www.eshopability.com/emetrics.htm

In trying to understand buyers and markets I would challenge people to ponder on why highly successful companies in eCommerce do what they do. Learn by studying the successful.

One example I am looking at is why is the bay is making (what many consider drastic) changes. Are they wrong? Or, have they done ample research- and determined what the buyer needs and what will get them to spend more money?
What does the bay know, or think they know? Are they forcing the issue because they are dumb? Or are they smart like a fox? Do they feel so strongly in their research- that they feel they have the facts to say they know what is best for the site, its overall success, and its future profits?
They fully know there is a seller backlash -but they are on the move. Even their engine is revamped to this course so play ball or suffer.

I know this statement will offend some, however, everything that I have read just this week in eCommerce articles makes me believe they are correct. Time will tell, but I know one thing for sure, they have a huge staff crunching the numbers and studying the markets and I don't, thus I will not be quick to think I know better than they do. I will listen and learn, evaluate, and use whatever I can use.

I guarantee that much of what can be found online will affect your opinions and be useful in the markets- if a seller is interested and willing to study.

Again, I don't have the answers but I am learning.

Good luck and good sales to all.

[squern]

I believe that eBay is just maximising its profits.
It has rationalised that most profit comes from a certain type of seller, and is making life difficult for other types, in order to discourage them and de-clutter the site.

If they have got this right, they will make more profit for a while but they will change the nature of the site.

Unfortunately, they may have overlooked the bad feeling caused to those sellers they are trying to get rid of, who are also buyers.
Those disappearing sellers/buyers may have a larger effect on the sales on the site than eBay imagine.

And they are handing a lot of power to the large sellers who remain. All the eggs in one basket. A point may come where those sellers will dictate terms to eBay.

Like all gamblers, they will have calculated the odds and decided that chance is on their side. Time will tell.

eBay at the moment is a far riskier place to buy, a more expensive place to sell, and not a nice place to spend time. But they do save you a trip to the 99p shop.

[billsstamps]

Is there a big difference between USA buyers and UK buyers?
Or sellers for that matter?

Where do the two markets differ and to what degree?
It may be worth knowing for anyone new to listing on here.

My work is based in US though I live in London.

There are two differences about buying online that my students tell me.

1. US buyers tend to spend more freely than UK buyers
2. UK buyers don't worry so much abut geography, and more likely to buy from anywhere in the world. US buyers are local by preference.

[burgyeb]

Two very interesting questions. The responses so far are also interesting. I never gave the first question much thought either until coming to eBid. These are broad questions, and my focus on the first question centers more on the buying/selling differences here.

EBid started in the UK; has more established buyers and sellers there than in the USA. Sellers in the UK report brisker sales levels over a broader base of sellers. More buyers from the UK appear to spend more readily here, from what I have observed. This is particularly true in the area of charity activities.

This does not follow general, broader based trends as noted by Billsbooks. I never gave it much thought when I sold on the Bay, as my sell through rates were consistently high. I would like to see some targeted data concerning eBid buyers and sellers, related to geography, and how sales could be improved across the nations that utilize the site.