Search engine displays

Question

I used to be able to type 3 or 4 words and get a limited amount of items. Now I'm getting hundreds for the same thing. Only in the search for live items. Anyone else having this issue? Anyway to contact eBay and ask what the heck did they do?

eburtonlab · Answer

What are you searching for, and how?

Are the results you see actually matching your search terms? Keep in mind that eBay considers keywords in the title or item-specifics when deciding whether a listing is a match for your search keywords.

Depending on why you are seeing so many results, there may be one or two simple steps you can take to make sure that your results are more relevant.

If eBay is changing your keywords or finding unsuitable substitutes, try putting one of your search keywords in quotes. This should force eBay to find only exact, literal matches for your keywords with no corrections or substitutions.

You can also group keywords that you want to appear in order by putting those words in quotes, or by separating the words with dashes.

You can add additional keywords to narrow your search, or exclude certain keywords from your results by putting a minus sign in front of a keyword.

Once you have chosen your keywords, try narrowing the category.

Once you have narrowed the category, try using some category-specific filters.

If you could provide a link to one of your searches and an indication of which results you are trying to avoid, someone might be able to provide some practical example searches as a starting point.