Thanks for the information! This clears up a lot. I've had that, where I see a great item and when I click through, the seller only ships to the States! It's a let down.

Thanks for going into detail about how this works! As a buyer it will be so helpful only getting results from sellers who ship to me in the UK :)

This is good info. Thanks! ~Krista K.

Thanks for this information!

Very very helpful...thank you!

Very helpful. Thanks!

Thank you for sharing this information. I feel quite excited when I sell a scarf to someone from the other side of the world. The only thing more exciting would be to visit their country and see them wearing it!

Thank you for the information.I love selling something to someone around the world. The only thing cooler would be to visit their country and meet them some day!It's a small world!

Ok, this is super helpful.

Thanks for the info.

Great info! Thanks!

Thank you for the clearly written article. This has cleared up a lot of the confusion I was feeling about this.

This helps clear some things up for me, thanks!

Thanks so much! Very helpful indeed :)

Thanks for the good info...very helpful!

Great info! Thank you!!!

Great article. Thank you so much for the info ...

I sell quite a bit to people from all over the world. I really enjoy the global aspect of Etsy. Thanks for clarifying some of these issues for us.

thank you so much!!Very helpful!!

Some good information in here and a few things I didn't know, thank you!

Thanks for the helpful info!

thank you for the info. I was wondering if it was good to have ship everywhere.

Shipping profiles . . . will have to look into that. Have never used them. Thanks

i offer free worldwide shipping. it costs a little extra but includes everyone :)

VERY informative. I'm new!! :) I need this kind of info.

Thank you, that's great info and at absolutely the right time!

Thanks for the info.

Thank you! And you're right, nothing is worse than falling in love with an item you can't have - happens to me on a daily basis!

great!

Thank you for the great honor of using my Planet Earth image and for reminding me to update my profile location as well as my worldwide shipping preferences! siempre- dorana

Thanks for the information.

Thank you very much!!

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the help

Thanks so much for the clarification!

Love shipping profiles!! Have used them for seem like forever. lol Thanks!

Thanks I was wondering about that.

Thanks for the info! I'm glad to hear I'm doing a good thing by shipping 'everywhere else'. :)

Thank you for the information; it is very helpful. This situation is very difficult for those who ship artwork. I am willing to ship anywhere, but really cannot put a price for international shipping. In the past, I received a realistic shipping quote and created a reserved listing for the buyer with an actual shipping cost. This article has made me realize that my artwork is not being seen by an international audience. Hmmm...now to figure out what to do.

Great! This feature is perfect for furniture! I am already using it and found someone to purchase from! :)

This was a good read. I was curious just how the Local option played in the search. I still wonder how it returns results when people use the site on mobile devices. I find that the site thinks I'm either in west virginia or in maryland (though not in the city I've actually designated in my profile) when i go from my laptop to my mobile.

Thanks for the update. Your comments are extremely helpful.

I don't think I'm very happy about it. I think most customers do not read the blog to understand that when they fill up location they'll get result only from near home. It looks like another informative question there to fill without even knowing how it will reflect the search. I would love to be wrong about that.

Thank you!

Ah-ha! Thanks! I'd wondered how non-local shipping worked.

OK, my mistake, I was referring to the search in general. I guess if anyone enter search from the "shop local" at the front page they'll understand how it works. Thanks anyway.

Thanks for the information!

thank you for clarity!

Etsy is by far the most wonderful and helpful selling site there is. Thank you for making my selling experience the greatest!

Thank you. It was an informative article.

I LOVE ddots earth pic!! Very informative read and was interesting to note that if you don't include your shipping destinations that they won't come up in a search for the buyer. That really must be a let down for them to find something amazing and realize they can't have it. This fix seems like a win win for our customers!

This is good stuff, thank you!

Thanks for another informative article. There is always so much to learn!

Why don't you listen to us? Read this thread: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss/8587372/ There are MANY problems with the regional filter and we weren't asked whether we wanted it. In fact, you didn't tell us about it. "Us" being the people who pay your salaries. Us being people who need to pay rent and buy food and many, many of us have had a huge drop in sales since the filters were implemented. I contacted the original poster in the thread and also the "Captain" weeks ago but never received a reply. We should see all items automatically and choose to narrow down the search later, not the other way around.

This is an informative article but I'm confused about one thing. I always have welcomed inquiries on shipping to other locations and with this change, it sounds like I won't likely get any inquiries unless someone has their region set to "everywhere". The article suggests a way to handle this, "If you are not sure whether you would ship overseas, but are willing to talk to potential buyers about it and investigate costs on a per-transaction basis, the best thing to do is to keep “Everywhere Else” in the “ships to” section of your item’s listing." I just did a test for this because I didn't think that I could do that without putting in a price for that shipping. I added everywhere else as a shipping option for an item without putting in a price, saved my changes and looked at the item. Everywhere else was not a choice under shipping for that item when I checked after editing. If I put in a price, I am stuck with that shipping price (unless it needed to be reduced and then a high price likely would have scared off customers). Also, some of my items can't be shipped to some countries and unless someone from a particular country asks me about shipping, wading through customs for each country is too time consuming to mess with. I'd love to be able to add everywhere else as a shipping option and be able to have a box to check instead of adding a price that would add text to the listing to write for a shipping quote. I know that some percentage of people won't write, but that seems like a good option to allow sellers to make a case by case decision if and when someone asked, instead of just cutting those sellers out of search results totally. I hope that made sense.

I think I hit it. For some reason it always has some random city cone up in the "shop local" section.

Very good- thanks

yeah, good read, thanks (:

Great opportunity to support local artists!

That is very helpful information :)

It's a small world after all.

Interesting - thank you!

I think Etsy requiring a specific city/town is unfair! Some sellers, for personal reasons, prefer to be less specific, only giving their province/state and their country, but are left out of search because of that decision. My items in both shops have a note that they will not show up in local search because I do not specify my city. I think as a business Etsy should respect a sellers choice to the amount of info we feel comfortable displaying and we should not be penalized for it!

Good info! I dd' not know that items would not come up in a search if the seller did not use the Everywhere else option!!

Thank you for explaining. As to our store, we always have shipping to U.S., Canada, U.K., EU and Japan. At the same time, we do not remove "Everywhere Else" option, as we would ship pretty much anywhere. As long as folks pay :).

finickyfinds says: I think Etsy requiring a specific city/town is unfair! - I understand your privacy concerns. One thing you might do is to state not your city/town, but any large city nearby. Some people I know do that. Then you will get into the search results, as well as save your privacy. Here, in Alexandria, we live in a vibrant artist community and kinda proud of it :), but I know that not always the case. You have an awesome shop, by the way.

Thank you for the information. It is very useful. When I received an order, the first thing I will check is what they bought. The next thing I will check is where the buyer located. You will surprise that your buyers are in everywhere. Good Luck

This is good information. I do tend to agree that it is a little scary to list your locale, but the suggestion above about naming a nearby large city should put some at ease. I offer free shipping on all items in my shop to the United States so having customers closer will help my shipping costs from my end. Thank you for the article.

I wish there was a way to say you ship to "Everywhere Else" without putting a dollar amount in the shipping cost field. Especially when it comes to larger items, I am almost always willing to ship internationally but the cost of shipping is going to vary greatly. When I put a cost in Everywhere Else I cringe a bit, because it could be reasonable or it could be way too high or low depending on where the buyer lives. The only other option we have is to list the shipping costs for every country on every unique item (which is everything for me). I'd love to see a check box or something that specifies that international shipping is available but contact must be made to obtain an accurate price.

Thank you for being clear about this. However, I have to say I used to sell to quite a few international customers and now my sales have dropped significantly because this is not the default option. I agree with "EDC Collective". I tried to add "Everywhere Else" as a shipping option without adding a shipping cost and "Everywhere Else" does NOT show up as an option. I also agree with the other folks who are asking why this would have been a good idea in the first place. There are people like some of my friends here on Etsy and myself who are trying to make a living doing this. Why would Etsy choose to make the system more complicated than it already was? I have not been critical of any changes, for better or worse, until this time, but this is not a good idea. I guess I will be charging a default amount and telling my international customers that this may not be the final charge and that each shipment will have to be calculated case-by-case, as was always my policy. Won't you please re-consider or refine this new system? I feel like changing this and changing the tagging and titling rules make doing business here feel like a moving target.

I don't understand why the shop local has to be from our isp address? My isp address is over 800 miles away in another state. Also if there were people in my surrounding area with the same service provider as me they also will be getting stuff in another state in there local search. I know if i were a first time buyer in my area i would be feeling very confused about it. It gets rather tiring having to change it all the time. At this is point i don't even bother.

Good to know. thanks for the info.

So, can I ask all of you something? How do we set a shop location? and what happen when you live (as I do) in 2 different towns? I travel back and forward from Bangkok to a town in Italy, I may spend 4 months in Bangkok and and then 2 in Italy but there is not a rule. This is because my parents are old and although we had to move to Thailand for my husband career, I preferred to leave my laboratory in Italy. So, if the shop local goes by isp address, what will appear to shoppers in my case? Thank a lot to whoever can help me to understand!

Thanks!

Brilliant! I've just got my listings to finally show up in the UK now as my settings were set for US. Thank you, very helpful :)

Thanks for the tips! I created a shipping profile for all countries I could think of (and the countries that i had purchases from in the past) and I marked also the "Everywhere Else". I hope my shop really does show up everywhere.

I've noticed that using different browsers has different results. For instance, Google Chrome refuses to accept that I'm in the UK (despite the settings) and shows everything in dollars, whereas Safari has no problems with my location.

Thanks for the info. That was eye opening for me. I am definitely going to change my shipping profile.

Thanks for the info - this is very informative. I will definitely be updating my listings to Everywhere Else, but I agree with other posters that there should be an option to put that without a price for shipping in the listing.

This article says "If I have my shop listed in Newton, MA, when I click on “Local Items,” it will show me items in the greater Boston area. " Is that true? Wouldn't the local search only bring up shops listed in Newton, not "the greater Boston area"? I thought that the search was limited to the exact location that we had to choose for our profile.

My main concern with the location filters is that when they are run in conjunction with the new relevancy order system it seems that the top results come up from your local country first (from me UK)... so even if I am set to ship everywhere (which I am) if someone where to search in the US I would come under all the products that originate in the US, making it much less likely that I would get the sale. I have seen a massive drop in sales since these new filters were put in, mainly as it seems I am not getting the US sales any more.

The suggestion in the article to keep "everywhere else" if a seller is willing to discuss international shipping with a potential buyer is bad advice. If you keep "everywhere else", Etsy forces you to list a shipping price, and you are then obligated to ship at that price. No discussion, no negotiation. Please update the article with accurate advice!

Interesting information!

Thanks for the information and details!

Great info as always - thank you!

Good to know!!! Thanks!!!

Very helpful! Thanks!!

Great explanation, thank you for putting this together! ~Michelle B.~

Thanks great info!

Wow! Thanks! What are the next most popular locations after Canada and USA? ty

Good information ;)

Helpful, but like several other shops "Everywhere Else" does not work unless a said amount is posted. I sell vintage and "said amount" differs widely for each item. If one sells jewelry than this is easy, but for us who sell vintage this does not work! I welcome any convos concerning international shipping and do not want to be omitted from the international searches nor their requests for shipping costs! Below was posted within this thread and I agree with both of these shops: mirabellamorello said: Thank you for being clear about this. However, I have to say I used to sell to quite a few international customers and now my sales have dropped significantly because this is not the default option. I agree with "EDC Collective". I tried to add "Everywhere Else" as a shipping option without adding a shipping cost and "Everywhere Else" does NOT show up as an option. I also agree with the other folks who are asking why this would have been a good idea in the first place. There are people like some of my friends here on Etsy and myself who are trying to make a living doing this. Why would Etsy choose to make the system more complicated than it already was? I have not been critical of any changes, for better or worse, until this time, but this is not a good idea. I guess I will be charging a default amount and telling my international customers that this may not be the final charge and that each shipment will have to be calculated case-by-case, as was always my policy. Won't you please re-consider or refine this new system? I feel like changing this and changing the tagging and titling rules make doing business here feel like a moving target.

Helpful info. Thanks for sharing!

As an European based seller I feel that I may be getting left out of the 'local' option for most buyers. I will widen my shipping destination list. But I certainly agree with several others, shipping to Hong Kong will be a lot different than to Kiev, both of which would be 'Every where else'.

I have a "Shop Local" question/comment. I live in a very rural area, and to put my exact zip code puts me in a VERY small pool, one that not many people are likely to search for. However, I live near some larger towns/cities, such as Roanoke and Blacksburg, VA. Why doesn't the "Shop Local" give like a 'within 50 miles of' option so I can show up in these larger areas without having to list my physical location as being in one of those cities?

This change is not good... For those of us that are in the smaller countries ior those with less Etsy member population, this affect us greatly... KEEP ETSY GLOBAL!!! Stop trying to fix what wasn't broken and having people's regions default to the US. This isn't good at all...

Thanks for the info. I'll have to look into this more. I don't ship yet internationally because it's very expensive to do so with jewelry and precious metals(I have done it once). The customs fees for the customer would be very high so I also would have to take each item on a case by case sale and I'm not sure how smooth it would go. It would be nice to be in all the markets though.

I agree with beaglebeads on this. Maybe we should add the larger city as our city instead of our small town, but that's probably against the rules.

Mahalo for the info!When I first started selling on Etsy I wondered who would want to pay the extra cost for international shipping but am so happy that I gave the buyer the option.So far since November I have shipped from Hawaii to Sweden,Netherlands,France,Spain,Ireland,Scotland,Australia,New Zealand, and Italy...and had repeat international customers!Don't assume that people will not want to pay a little more for your product or you will really miss out on potential sales.My kids and I get so excited every time I ship to a new country!

good point beaglebeads...I live 30 miles from the closest town and even that is small!

Thanks for the additional information!

I do not indicate shipping "everywhere else" for the reason that my items vary - a vast difference in the cost of shipping - that listing an estimated cost without knowing the destination is not an option. I would love to expand my items internationally if a shipping cost was not required to be listed outside the U.S. without a way to determine this in advance. Referring to local searches - I also don't see the reasoning for not having a choice of more than one city for a local search (within reason) and a choice of which city. Living in a rural area and having to list a local search in a city 150 miles away requires me to do my own advertising in a closer city publication to get a local response.

Having to wildly guess the cost of shipping internationally is why I haven't offered it. But I certainly would if the cost field could be "tweaked" to accept something like Varies Depending on Location....or something like that.

Great info, thank you!

When I try a local search -- my default local, or by entering the local zip code -- nothing in my shop shows up. If I change the locality to the nearby large city, Portland, my items appear in the search results. Which makes it seem like you have to search by the biggest city in an area?

good to know! thanks!

keep it simple....im in the process of setting up shop and id like to be able to sell everywhere,but some of the feedback has me worried.....

Great info! Thanks!

This issue is so important!! I and so many other amazing people on Etsy sell all over the world. I am from a small city and no one buys anything around here because culturally they are so conservative that it is nearly a sin to enjoy anything. PLEASE understand that any seller has a better chance of selling things if they are open to world wide shipping!! The buyer pays the postage! I ship everything overseas and if people want something they will manage the postage. AND BY THE WAY, there is faster and slower post. Slower is cheaper but gets there too. So come on folks lets benefit from the international aspect of this great marketplace. AND ETSY, please do not change things to reduce this aspect, that is what makes your site so great, creativity from all walks of life. I have always shipped to everywhere else and have listed with prices. A local locality only benefits a few people and actually penalizes those whose locality is not necessarily an advantage. I absolutely want anyone in the worls to see my shop who would like to and to be able to purchase an item. Everywhere else is not so complicated. See your local postmann for a brochure or ask for rates by weight. Most sellers should have a small scale so you can calculate by weight, pretty much exactly. Etsy is so wonderfully world wide, please do not alter that dynamic, that is part of our sucess!!!

thanks for clarifying! I agree with VintageTo LiveBy! Welcome world!!!!!

This is interesting and good to know but I wonder if I am seen as a US Shopper or... becuase I live in the US Virgin Islands. Will someone from Puerto Rico's items show in a search by me if they have it listed to only mail to US?

kinda what bangle beads was asking

good info--Thanks!

I want an international site not one based on where I live I am inbetween Countries when are you going to start rolling out the domain names like etsy.co.uk stop screening us out

When are you telling shops this. By telepathy.

Well this does explain a lot and now I understand it...I think...what I dontunderstand is why my default location is Alta, CA when I am near Sydney Australia?

Thanks for the helpful information. That is what makes Etsy great, a willingness to share and be helpful!

Thanks for taking the time to go through this with us. I cannot wait to see what you will teach us next because everything changes so fast around here as soon as I feel I have the hang of it it changes. SUch is life.

Many thanks for your clarifications, Hello from France ! Chifonie

very helpful!

I agree that I will ship anywhere, but want to say that "everywhere else" should have an option to say "shipping cost varies by location".

Thank you ! It's helpful.

Very good info! Love that photo from ddots!

ok, maybe I missed something here ...why do my items not show up under "search local"? I put my zip code in and come up with 77 pages (3 local shops) but cannot find my shop listings...am I doing something wrong, is there a glitch in this system or do I not have the ability to find my own shop? I'm confused.

and when I click on local vintage, I am nowhere. Is there a bug in the system somewhere?

useful ... indeed

Didn't realize how important the location preferences are! Good thing we have ours set. At Gemdrops of the Falls, we're glad to reach out to shoppers worldwide! :)

Thanks for this useful post.

Thank you, really interesting! I was afraid that my items was no longer searchable from US and Canada buyers that are 99% of my clients. Etsy allowed me to have the wonderful experience to sell all over the world and I love it for this reason :)