EBAY CHEATS SELLERS AND BUYERS

[chi_town_finds]

EVER WONDER WHY YOU HAVE GREAT FEEDBACK , SAME PRODUCT AT THE LOWEST PRICE BUT NOBODY EVEN LOOKING AT IT NOT TO MENTION BUYING IT ??? DO A RENDOM TEST !!!! TAKE A PRODUCT PUT IT IN SEARCH ---- LETS TAKE MY PRODUCT !!!! CEP SOCKS --- PUT JUST "CEP" IN SEARCH THEN GO TO BRAND AND CLICK ON ONLY "CEP" BRAND THEN CLICK ON "NEW" THEN CLICK ON "BUY NOW" YOU SHOULD BE LEFT WITH ABOUT 550 LISTINGS , 50 OF THEM ARE MINE !!! MOST AT THE LOWEST PRICE !!!  NOOOOW CLICK ON SEARCH LOWEST-TO-HIGHEST !!!! NOW YOU LEFT WITH 160 LISTINGS !!!! 390 OF THEM DISSAPEAR !!!! IN THE FIRST LOWEST PRICE OUT OF FIRST 50 LISTINGS 40 OF THEM SHOULD BE MINE !!!! BUT IS ONLY 1-5 DEPENDS ON THE DAY !!!! I PAY EBAY THINKING BUYERS WILL SEE ME !!!! AND BUYER SEARCH FOR THE LOWEST PRICES THINKING THIS IS IT !!!! BUT ITS NOT !!! ITS A FRAUD !!! WHY IS THIS LEGAL ??? IS IT ???  02/07/2024 

[redlinear]

@whatmorefabric 
  One main issue is Sort not sorting what it says.
If I search "big red eleven whatnot"
And then sort Low to High, I lose results (which should not happen).
And then at the bottom of your list, there starts another list labelled "Results Matching Fewer Words".
And you see: Big Red Eleven Whatnot
This tends to make any shopper suspicious that they are not seeing the "whole picture"

(that "search" is just an example, but I actually see that exact scenario at least once a day)

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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If I were searching for CEP socks I would enter "cep socks" in the search. Putting  "CEP" in the search box and then also filtering by "CEP" in the brand makes no sense to me.

I put "CEP socks" in the search, and it found

331 results in Newly Listed

318 results in Best Match for my zip code

331 results in Ending Soonest

331 results in Price - Highest

331 results in Distance

160 results in Price - Lowest

IMHO there does appear to be something wrong with Price - Lowest. A bug in software is not necessarily "illegal" or "fraud", however.

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This has been an ongoing issue for months, reported to ebay, noted on this forum for months as well; does not matter 'what' the item seems to be that you are 'searching' for. 

[redlinear]

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@chi_town_finds wrote:

legally they more then likely can do things like that on their platform but morally they would be done if lots of people learned that the shoes that they search for and bought for $70 with the lowest price search results someone was selling for $40 but no one was able to see. terrible globalists - ill tell you 

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Correct.  
Most everybody I know shops eBay looking for "the deal".   (the best item for the best price).
Most of the time, that's the cheapest, good item.
Sorting low to high, that item should be seen fairly quickly, if not at the very top.
   Excluding this undermines trust. 
That's the major reason that there are so many almost immediate cancellation requests after purchase.
They stumble upon a cheaper one a few minutes after they pay, that was hidden initially.  (hidden meaning more difficult to find because it wasn't where it should be)

[whatmorefabric]

There are many reasons they don't show the lowest all the time.       This is not like the good old days when things were listed in a linear order...newest to oldest  etc.

[redlinear]

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@whatmorefabric wrote:

There are many reasons they don't show the lowest all the time.       This is not like the good old days when things were listed in a linear order...newest to oldest  etc.

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I guess the Sort, instead of saying Lowest Price 1st, should say...
"Lowest price 1st excluding a bunch of listings that you could see right now if you switch to page 42 and add them to you cart. Then, if you will go to your cart, you will see a few more adds for some cheaper ones, maybe. And if that doesn't work, go ahead and sort lowest 1st, then go to the last page. Under that, you will find your exact search words in the titles and item specifics of several items that don't match your search.  Savvy?"

[whatmorefabric]

 When you shop in a  physical store,  there are all sorts of displays to lure you into buying something other than what you came in for.      As a customer you had preferences for the size and type of store you liked to buy from. 

About 3 years ago,  Google and all the major shopping sites on line developed this algorithm to entice you to purchase not only what you are looking for,  but what you might like.     They try to figure out what type of store you like to buy from and stores that you frequent.  

[redlinear]

Searched (1994 Dodge Ram Fuel Gauge)
   662 best match.  The 1st few are "related" so that doesn't bother me, aside from the fact that the word Fuel is not in the title OR the item specifics.  But anyway, the 5th item down is what I happen to be looking for, aside from price.  I better look some more.  There's a few more on down the page mixed in with "stuff".  But now it's time to FILTER and SORT because I have 662 items, and like you....I'm not going past that 1st page due to all the other stuff mixed in.   
 FILTER to Used
     242 used ones.  Now we're getting somewhere, although...prices all over the place. (that one seller must be nuts!! LOL).
SORT Price + Shipping Lowest 1st
     60 results.  60?  What happened to the rest??  Well, I know what many shoppers don't know.  I know to look up top for the "fine print" saying :We've streamlined your search results to show you the best listings, See More Results:   (best listings?...Okay, now I'm pretty sure something is going on here. But, not certain).
So, SEE MORE RESULTS
      256 results.  So eBay tried to hide 196 listings from me?  But wait, the numbers are just not adding up! 
Oh well, I really need to order this and get back to work.
 Computer Bolts?  Shock Absorbers? Shift Indicators? Oil Pressure Gauges, Battery Gauges, Temperature Gauges? 
WELL, I guess that $32.99 is the cheapest, and it is the correct item.  I better check it out.  Oh look! Adds for more inside the listing!  NO, I better not do that, I might not find my way back to the $32.99 gauge.
    Proceed to Cart
Hey, there's more similar adds under that item in my cart for me to get sidetracked! 
Screw it, I'm going to buy a Door Handle...obviously that's what I need.
  

[sumsum70]

Don't forget the best part of your experience - after you bought and paid for the $32.99 fuel gauge, you receive an offer from a different seller for $25.99. Now you have to request to cancel the first one and save $7.

[redlinear]

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@sumsum70 wrote:

Don't forget the best part of your experience - after you bought and paid for the $32.99 fuel gauge, you receive an offer from a different seller for $25.99. Now you have to request to cancel the first one and save $7.

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Yep, that's correct. 
I just ran an another search for something, sorted to used, then to low to high.  About five items above $28.50 listing....there was a $32 one.
Not much about Search works like it should

[chapeau-noir]

Yes, search is wonky. I can't help insofar as that goes as everyone has given good examples.

But put "Germany" in the title for your CEP socks listings for those made in Germany. I'm in one of the prime demographics for tall compression socks and merino wool socks (distance runner and fast-packer, frequently in cold weather) and we don't want essential gear like compression socks made in China so they blow out in two wearings or don't fit, we want them from the USA or Europe.

Don't price them too low because that just makes people suspicious.

[broto_64]

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@chi_town_finds wrote:

ITS NOT A BUG - ITS DONE ON PURPOSE  TRY MANY OTHER BRANDS SAME THING.   COSTUMER NEVER SEE MOST OF THE BEST DEALS AND SELLER NEVER SELLS IT

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Well so don't price lowest, but the real problem is you seem to think your product should show and I'm not entirely disagreeing but when you have a thousand sellers with the same product and 160 results, how exactly do you propose showing all thousand in that?

The problem is far more convoluted than a short view of things reveals. Buyers don't really want to browse through thousands of results and the marketplace owners realize browsers aren't buying, not to mention people lose track of themselves in the process of endless browsing, doesn't really do anyone any good either.

For those of us who chose to do so, we have to play this game with the cards provided and no, it's not fair. To be completely blunt and upfront, ebay is a lot more work for the bread crumbs we receive than most people realize. It takes most of us years, even a decade or two before we're settled in to a position where we can somewhat pretend ebay helps cover our bills. There's no easy money here, that's long gone. If there ever was easy money that might have been in the early years but ebay's been around for... Canadian Mark Fraser purchased the first item that eBay founder Pierre Omidyar listed on the site in 1995, so closing in on 30 years.

But to also be fair if you stick it out there will come good times when the money comes easy but to do that we have to endure, through thick and thin, for better or for worse, starting to sound like an institution it is. That's the real secret to it is there is no secret.

And it's spelled customer.

[broto_64]

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@sumsum70 wrote:

Don't forget the best part of your experience - after you bought and paid for the $32.99 fuel gauge, you receive an offer from a different seller for $25.99. Now you have to request to cancel the first one and save $7.

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Better yet is when it comes after the item's been shipped, order that and send the first one back since it's "free returns," and fabricate a bogus reason to get free shipping if you must oh man I can go off the deep end with this one so I'll stop here.

[redlinear · Accepted solution]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Yes, search is wonky. I can't help insofar as that goes as everyone has given good examples.

But put "Germany" in the title for your CEP socks listings for those made in Germany. I'm in one of the prime demographics for tall compression socks and merino wool socks (distance runner and fast-packer, frequently in cold weather) and we don't want essential gear like compression socks made in China so they blow out in two wearings or don't fit, we want them from the USA or Europe.

Don't price them too low because that just makes people suspicious.

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BUT! There is a place, in item specifics, for a seller to  choose where the item was made.  And search may consider that. If not, there's an easy filter for that.
But, filling all those item specifics out gets SO time consuming.  A seller might overlook it.  Or, a seller might just choose a different country in order to be seen. OR, a seller might be using somebody else's listing (have one like this to sell?) and not change it.  OR, it be incorrect to begin with and not get changed.
  SO,  Filtering that way?  You are probably going to still see a lot of unrelated stuff, and miss a lot of related

[redlinear]

@broto_64 
 it happens to me almost every time I search.  Even with only 25 results.
I simply want the search to limit the results to the words I entered.
And the filters and sorts to do what they say.