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"All categories" on the search switches to a specific category
I have had the filter on my saved searches set to "all categories" forever. Today, the search bar is now showing a specific category, reducing the number of available items to search in that category. When I change the search for option to "all categories" and click search, it automatically chnages back to the category eBay "selected" for me. why?
13 comments
jpp
OP2 weeks agoPerhaps eBay will change back to "all categories", but as suggested, the work around will be to use the dropdown and chose a category where I think I'll find the items I'd like. It will take a little more effort, but there seems to be no other way to get around it. What I find odd is that on the saved search page that allows you to filter, mine clearly says "all categories". Maybe if eBay gets enough comments, and more people notice their search parameters have changed (!) things will revert. I definitely saw the difference when I searched yesterday and the usual two or three pages of "newly listed" showed only about a dozen items!
eburtonlab
Mentor2 weeks agoI suspect that the change is not intentional, but rather an unintended bug or a side effect of some other change. If eBay does not correct the issue soon, there are probably some workarounds that can force eBay to search "All categories".
A quick Google search using AI suggests adding the following to the end of a search URL, or else changing the parameter value if it is already part of the URL:
&_sacat=0
The "0" should force a search of "All categories. Any other number would indicate a specific category.
So here is your original search, with the "All categories" parameter set:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/1/i.html?_nkw=buffalo+ny+-ticket+-tickets+-postcard&LH_TitleDesc=0&_oac=1&_sacat=0
jpp
OP2 weeks agoThanks! I’ll try that later tonight. I did my search on my laptop, so I’ll try the original search on my phone and see what happens there. In the midst of these messages, some scammer decided to send me a message that I need to click on a link to “verify” a security check within 24 hours or face suspension from eBay. Yikes - they walk among us! (I ignored it)
eburtonlab
Mentor2 weeks agoYou are welcome! Good luck with your searches!
I have seen posts about such scam "verification" messages, but have yet to actually receive one myself.
eburtonlab
Mentor2 weeks agoWhat category you are searching may depend on the keywords you are using to search and whether you are using any advanced search commands (using quotes, exclusions or parenthetical OR searches). Some keywords will be steered into a particular category; using advanced search commands will default to "All categories". Once you have search results, at that point you should be able to choose a specific category or "All categories". From there, bookmark or save the resulting search to go directly to the category you want.
jpp
OP2 weeks agoI do have exclusions on the search, one being -postcards, but the search defaults (starting today) to “topographical postcard” so ironically my saved search now shows only postcards, lol! If I manually type “all categories”, it automatically switches back to postcards. I have to use the drop down and search separately by the categories where I think items of interest may be - aggravating!
eburtonlab
Mentor2 weeks agoWhat other keywords and exclusions are you using, if you do not mind sharing?
jpp
OP2 weeks agoMy saved search looks like this: buffalo ny -ticket -tickets -postcard. It has been like this for years, but starting yesterday, the right side of the search bar says topographical postcards rather than all categories. When I change it to all categories and click search, it defaults back to topographical postcards. The set up page for the saved search with the various filters clearly shows “all categories”, not topographical postcards. eBay overrides it!
eburtonlab
Mentor2 weeks agoWhen I try the same search using those keywords, I see the same behavior you see: the search is steered into the topographical postcard category, despite the exclusion.
Obviously eBay has changed something recently, and not for the better. It seems that use of postcard as a keyword -- even as an excluded keyword -- is now enough to force the search into the Topographical Postcard category. Even changing manually to "All categories" does not seem to work.
As a workaround, if you change the category to "Collectibles" or to another category and then save the new search, you should be able to avoid most of the postcards:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/1/i.html?_nkw=buffalo+ny+-ticket+-tickets+-postcard&LH_TitleDesc=0&_oac=1
@devon@ebay
Excluded keywords are suddenly being used to steer searches into categories instead of defaulting to "All categories", as has always been done in the past.
devon@ebay
Hey @eburtonlab ! Thank you for sharing. I will get this over to the Search team and if you have any more examples, please share!
eburtonlab
Mentor2 weeks ago · EditedThanks, @devon@ebay !
Here is another example.
A search for gomboc is steered into the Education: Mathematics category automatically by default. Otherwise, there are some musical results seen when searching "All categories". Searching while excluding one of the names associated with the musical matches steers the results into the Music category, even though there are no results with the exclusion used, and there is a note that no results are found in the Music category and then "All category" results are shown.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=gomboc&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p4624852.m570.l1313
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=gomboc+-illyes&_sacat=11233&_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_odkw=gomboc&_osacat=11233
Previously, any search with any exclusion term was automatically an "All category" search by default. Likewise searches with quoted keywords or parenthetical OR terms.
jpp
OP2 weeks agoHere is the latest update - I decided to remove the search exclusions, and searched just "buffalo ny", in "all categories". I clicked on "search", and it defaulted to "postcards"!!! What is going on with eBay??? Why did it randomly choose postcards to show??? Something is very wrong.