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Why is the default "Best Match" search omitting words by default?
@support
The search is completely disregarding the words I type. It provides me with results omitting words when many listings exist that contain the exact words I searched.
We now have to sort after every search to actually see results with the words we search??
7 comments
eburtonlab
Mentor11 months ago@gentenorbalstore
"Best match" sort order will often provide additional, less relevant results compared to other sort orders. "Price plus shipping: lowest first" sort order has the opposite problem, often providing fewer, filtered results.
Try using another sort order as your default if you want to see consistent results. You can set the default sort order using the Customize menu option which you can reach from your search results page by clicking on the icon that lets you choose between list or gallery view in the upper right of the page if you are using a desktop browser.
Keep in mind, also, that eBay considers results with your keywords in the item-specifics to be potential matches, not just keywords in the title.
If eBay is making unwanted corrections or substitutions of your search keywords, try putting one of your keywords in quotes to force eBay to return only exact, literal matches. You may have to manually change the category after doing so, however.
gentenorbalstore
OP11 months agoNo, it's not additional anymore. It is omitting results that match. There are many results that contain all the words searched, but can only be seen if you sort the results. And it used to tell you when it omitted results, but no longer does.
Example searching "sonic prize out",
 They actual results only appear when sorted. This is a recent change.
 
eburtonlab
Mentor11 months agoWhen I perform that exact search using the eBay app, I get seven results in each sort except Best Match -- in Best Match I get 15 results.
I would suggest choosing a different sort order such as "Newly Listed", then locking your filter setting for that sort so that the search results are always shown that way unless you need to sort a different way.
You can report issues with the eBay app by shaking your device while the app is active.
gentenorbalstore
OP11 months agoYes, same here.
The issue is that the 15 results all omit the word "out," and nowhere in the results are you shown the actual results that contain the word "out"
In the past eBay would tell you it omitted a word from the search or changed the spelling in the case of a typo. They would only show you results removing a word if your search yielded no results. In this case there are 7 items like you see that fulfill the words searched.
Now they are omitting entire words and not telling you there were results that contained the words you searched. This ruins the app if they continue to funnel people's searches to popular items. Most people use eBay to find unique items.
eburtonlab
Mentor11 months agoI see seven results with prize out in the title from that search when sorting via Best Match, and also some additional results that do not contain those words. And then some additional results "matching fewer words".
If you are not seeing that, try searching like this:
gentenorbalstore
OP11 months agoThey have to fix "best match" to stop omitting any results unless the search you made yielded no results. It shouldn't require special knowledge to make searches with hyphens or surrounding words in quotation marks.
Another example. When I now click on "Seller's Other Items" on a listing it doesn't show me anything at all when I have it on the default "best match" sort. This is just bad design. When I'm trying to look at a sellers items, why is it applying any filter at all?
 
eburtonlab
Mentor11 months agoThe search seems to be working for me using the latest Android version of the eBay app, even when using "Best Match".
If you are seeing a number of results but no results are shown when using the app, report the app issue to eBay by shaking your device while the app is active.
Try using another sort if the problem is specific to "Best Match".
Otherwise, try using a browser instead to see if that shows you the results you expect.