Locked
Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Search result issues
Just recently I've noticed that a LOT of my results from a search have nothing to do with what I just searched for. I've always tried to use the least amount of words when searching so that I get broader results with less omitted items. Recently however, my results include completely wrong or unrelated items. Further, I also Google the same items using the same words and have gotten results that weren't included in my ebay search. Is anyone else seeing this? What might be happening? How can we overcome this?
6 comments
joeyandb
OP1 year agoThis is one example. I search parts a lot, and I get results that have nothing to do with what I'm looking for. I've been using ebay since 1999. It's just in the last few months that I've noticed these odd search results. Bad results can lead to mistaken purchases and unhappy customers.
I say, don't even show me BACK calipers when I need FRONT ones. I don't have time to sift through bad search results. And worse, there are listings that are being omitted, hurting both sellers AND buyers. Something has changed.
eburtonlab
Mentor1 year agoI say, don't even show me BACK calipers when I need FRONT ones.
Look closely at your search again, where it says "71 results for caliper set..." The word front does not appear there at all, even though you did include that word in your search keywords.
The problem here is that eBay was showing you search results that did not include all of your search keywords. Just because you type a word in the search box does not mean that eBay will always show you those results. You need to look closely at what eBay is actually showing you and see if it matches what you are looking for; if not, change your search.
joeyandb
OP1 year agoThis is an example that I happened to do a screen shot of.
Searching for FRONT, first result is for BACK. Those are no the same.
eburtonlab
Mentor1 year agoYou may have searched for front caliper set for your Kia Soul, but eBay is showing results for caliper set 2015 kia soul base hatchback 4-door 1.6l.
Try this:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/33563/i.html?_nkw=front+caliper+set+2015+kia+soul+base+hatchback+4-door+1.6l&_sop=10&rt=nc&_oaa=1&_dcat=33563
gosimus
Mentor1 year ago@joeyandb
< Searching for FRONT, first result is for BACK >
Okay, you searched for front caliper set, and the first hit was for the back caliper set. eBay's search didn't stop at the title. The search dug into the rest of the listing, too. I'll bet that somewhere in that back caliper listing, somewhere in there is the word front.
eburtonlab
Mentor1 year ago@joeyandb
Can you provide an example search?
There are many ways a potential search can fail, so it would be instructive to see exactly which problems you might be encountering.
Some search suggestions: avoid "Best match" sort order; keep in mind that eBay considers keywords in item-specifics along with titles when deciding whether something is a match; eBay may substitute or correct keywords if a similar keyword provides more results, and this can by bypassed by putting one of the search keywords in quotes to force eBay to return only exact, literal matches. Limiting your results to a particular category and using category-specific filters may also help.
Google searches are different than eBay searches; Google prioritizes pages that have been around for a long time and that have many links from other popular pages, which may not always be the best way to find the latest eBay listings currently for sale.