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ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

Anyone had this problem? I cleared cookies tried multiple browsers. I am searching active listings within my own store (Overview -> Listings -> Active) to check my own active inventory. It is giving me 0 results on several titles. 

for example:

search:

Vampirella : Zero Results

Vampirella Card : Zero Results

Vampirella Card Topps : Three Results (!!)

BTW a blanket "Vampirella" should yield dozens of results.

 

search:

Star : Zero Results

Star Wars : Zero Results

Star Wars Card : Zero Results

Star Wars Card Medallion : 73 Results

BTW a blanket "Star" search should yield hundreds.

 

It seems like the target problem keywords are increasing. Longest problem was Star Wars, then Vampirella now more common terms that should yield 1000s of listings and I am getting Zero The Hero here. 

 

No other Boards had this. Does anyone have any contact directly to an Ebay employee who actually helped them in the past? 

 

Message 1 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I see 110 results when searching your store for vampirella.

 

And 1014 results when searching star.

 

It sounds like you are searching your active listings from your selling page; your selling pages use different search rules than standard eBay searches, and no one but you can see those pages.

 

To see things as your customers see them, try going to your store page or your items for sale link from your profile, and searching there:

 

https://www.ebay.com/str/mhoponhop

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/mhoponhop/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

 

Message 2 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I'm so glad you posted this!  I don't have much of a store yet (74 items as of this posting) but the principle is exactly the same here.  Also, I may NEED to do 5-10x more transactions so it's going to become more crucial to me very soon.

When I search from within my own store, I can type, for example: "boots" and get a number of listings.  But I can type or even cut & paste a specific brand name that is actually IN THE TITLE, and some of the those words will produce NO RESULTS IN THE SEARCH.  I also typed "suede" and got only 1 result, when there are two listings with "suede" in the title. Both listings were are a few days old or more when I did this (today 1/5/21) so the 24hr wait for results is not the issue.

I did this test again with "books" and got all the listings with books.  I then copied the Spanish word "Enciclopedia" which is in the title of one of the listings...and....NOTHING.

I spent 20 minutes in a chat with an eBay "agent" and he tried to say it had something to do with categories, until he actually did a search and saw the problem.  Search works fine from the Android app, but not from within the store's own search field.  

By the way, the agent said he "refreshed" my store, which did not help, and then I cleared browser cache and cookies and started over and that did not help either.

Here's my store: https://www.ebay.com/str/sheriffroscopcoltrane

 

This is a serious problem if someone cannot go into MY store (or yours, etc.) because they want to buy from ME (due to a great reputation or maybe they are happy with past purchases, etc.) and then they cannot find a specific item.

Search fields based on keyword searches are a simple thing and have been around for literally decades.  If a 

giant like eBay that hosts tens of billions of dollars in transactions internationally each year cannot fix a simple word search field, then there must be a reason for it not working.

Message 3 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I rarely use the store search; I prefer using the "seller's other items" link for searching, as I find it gives me more options, such as allowing me to choose worldwide item locations rather than the default. Those sorts of filters and options are not available in a store search.

 

Using the "seller's other items" link, I see six listings with books in the title, and the enciclopedia also turns up when searching that term. Normally when a slight variation in a keyword produces more results, eBay's search will substitute the more popular keyword and tell you that is what is being searched and give you a link for the original keyword, but if you are searching within a store the interface is different and it may not make the substitution apparent.

 

eburtonlab_0-1609866777365.png

 

When searching suede I get one result, plus one item "matching fewer terms", which is odd since I am only searching the one term. In some cases, eBay apparently does some odd keyword grouping -- so it is possible that faux suede is treated as a keyword distinct from suede. But both items contain the term faux suede, so it is not clear what the distinction between the two listings is in this case. Perhaps the grouping applies only if the words are nearer the start of the item title; I am not certain how that works.

 

There are ways to force eBay's search to find exact matches rather than grouped or substituted keywords; you can put one of your keywords in quotes or add an exclusion term to bypass many of the search expansion features. Indeed, searching "suede" or "enciclopedia" using the quotes will find all those items in your store.

 

Knowing these workarounds -- while useful -- will not necessarily help your potential buyers find your items in your store, however, unless they know the workarounds, too.

 

But if someone is doing a general search (as opposed to a store search) for an enciclopedia, they will quickly realize that eBay is substituting encyclopedia instead, and they can decide which term they prefer.

 

Message 4 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I'm having the same issue within active listings in seller hub and it does seem to be getting worse.  If I search the storefront that buyers see, it seems to be fine.  Super frustrating.

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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

Same issue, if you are talking about active listings not from the store itself. I've had this issue for several months now and is definitely getting worse. My store Whiteoakraceproducts, has about 7k listings. I can go to store search and do Honda and get 1600 results. If I search title "honda" in active listings I get zero. 
I found, oddly, that sometimes, and with no consistency, if you add additional terms you can get some results. So with "honda seat", I get 14 results, but in store that same search gets 16 results. That seems to be because store search also searches part compatibility. 
In any case, I've talked to about 5 different ebay reps about this. Only one of them had heard of the issue before. None of them can work with you on it because they can't see your active page, which is dumb as hell. I've been messaging them weekly about this since November and no results, no follow up etc. 

It's a huge problem for us because we sell on other platforms and can't locate a listing to end it when it sells elsewhere, leading to major customer dissatisfaction and other issues. Additionally we save our listings as templates in inventory for future use when we purchase the same item again. This feature is only available from active listing search. 

Finally, I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed, even your non searched active listings are inaccurate. For example, store, not searched, sorted by newly listed, has certain items in the correct order from when I just listed them. Active, non search, sorted by newest listed, is missing items. 

It's just pathetic how this site is mismanged and nobody will work with any of us. 

 

Message 6 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

@whiteoakraceproducts 

 

just for info............  I get 1601 honda listings in view all, same in store search

Likewise for honda seat.......16/16

 

When you say "active" listings, I'm assuming you are talking about view all...........not the active listing page in SH.....

 

I haven't had enough coffee yet........

Message 7 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

thanks for this info, but that's not the search engine I am having trouble with.  I believe potential buyers can see all results, I am speaking about the Seller Hub search for active listings. This is where you can search a term quickly update quantity, price, etc. you can select many items and mass edit, etc. This is not what the Buyer would see. 

Any info on my problem?

Message 8 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

Yes! This exactly! 

 

The more words you can, the more results you get. Should be the other way around. I am also now seeing some active listings will not show AT ALL. 

 

In fact, my Seller Hub search results are 8490, items from my eBay Store that Buyers can search? 8519. Can't begin to figure out which those are?

 

I am in the middle of a mass edit to add Suggested Item Specifics, which in itself is a pain, and not all listings are showing? 

Message 9 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I finally had an eBay rep take a specific look at my store and they corrected the problem within a few hours. Anyone with this strange but all-too-real problem I suggest you contact eBay explain in detail what's going on, screenshot some examples and wait for them to do it.

Message 10 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I have the same problem here in Feb 2023.  Been seeing it for at least 6 months but finally decided to test it more throughly and I find the same issue with lots of searches.

For example In my active listings (in seller hub)  I search for 

STAR - 0 listings

STAR WARS - I get right number of listings

 

Now obviously STAR should match if STAR WARS does. 

Do you know what Ebay rep did to 'fix' it for you? 

 

 

 

Message 11 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

I wasn’t privy to exactly what they did but it was internal. You won’t be able to fix it yourself. Good luck. 

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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

The issue I'm seeing is I will list (or schedule) items starting at specific times and they don't show in search results for 12+ hours. At that point when they finally appear, it's not at the top of listings, it's 3 or 4 pages deep where they should have shown with the other new listings 12 hours previously. All of my items get 0 views and 0 watchers, when before they would get dozens. When is this going to be fixed? I can't sell anything.

Message 13 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

can not search my own items on my seller hub

Typical ebay Technical Isuue(s) and Corporate Ignorance......

Sellers fees are 13 percent PLUS with NO Honest professional customer service.

Same old stuff and just another day..... what else is new

Message 14 of 15
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Re: ebay search within my own store not working properly. 0 results on only some titles?

What is new? Well, they raised the per transaction fee by about 30%. then they automatically changed calculated shipping shown to the customer to the discounted rate so everybody lost the little cushion they had there. Basically everything they do makes it worse.  

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