As announced in June 2004, eBay is changing the default settings of its search and browse facility on eBay.co.uk. Currently, the default "local option" for Search and Browse shows only items located in the UK. This will be changed on March 7 so that it also shows any item listed on eBay.co.uk, regardless of the location of the item or seller.

eBay said the change will further open up eBay.co.uk to overseas sellers. The announcement said, "This will inevitably mean more competition for some UK sellers in some categories, but we expect the overall increase in visible listings across the site to be only slight. This change will make the eBay.co.uk site more consistent with most other eBay sites, which are already open to UK sellers in the same way that the UK site is opening to overseas sellers."

eBay said the change will also remove the incentive for overseas sellers who list on eBay.co.uk to claim that their items are located in the UK when they are not, the cause of confusion for buyers in the past.

After the change is implemented, eBay will extend its Proper Category Listing policy to cover Item Location. From June 1, the location stated in an item listing must be the location from which an item will be shipped to the buyer. Sellers outside the UK may not misrepresent their items as being located in the UK when they are not. eBay said this will enable UK-resident buyers to distinguish more easily between sellers who are located in the UK and those who are located overseas but listing on eBay.co.uk

http://www2.ebay.com:80/aw/marketing-uk.shtml#2005-02-25104827