listings with multiple items can confuse the search results.

I used to purchase from eBay all the time, I used to sell here quite often as well. This was because eBay often has the best prices for quality products from good venders. Type in what you are looking for and watch the options appear.

Lately I have started to look to eBay again, and I have been reminded why I stopped. I had hoped I could simply leave some feedback for e-bay itself, guess not.

The reason I stopped shopping at eBay is when I look for an item like a 250gb SSD I am given results that include 120 gb, 250 gb, 500 gb, 1 tb, 2 tb etc. in several single listings. Now I have to click on each listing to check the price and availability. Sometimes even the brand or configuration is different depending on the size of item selected in a single listing adding to the extra information the customer must sort through.

Many times, after this process I find out all the 250gb SSD of the specific type I am looking for are sold out, or that great deal turns out to be an accessory for the item I typed into the search bar. I used to be able to discover this information with a simple search, now as a potential customer I can easily spend 30 minutes or more and not find what I am looking for because the ability to search is no longer precise enough to narrow down the listings to only the items I am searching for.

A Potential Solution,

Listing multiple items stays the same, but after you push that button to "go live" eBay generates individual listings for each item based on a difference in price. If every item on the listing is the same price no big deal. If, however, they are all different; than it looks like you just found a 1tb SSD for $46.00, oh no it is just a waterproof case for a 1tb SSD, or it is the price for the 64 GB SSD variant on the same listing where the 1tb SSD is $1199.99.

I would love more people to shop eBay. I used to mention eBay to people as a potential source for a variety of items, and do you know what I hear? "It's too hard to find what I am looking for" or "if I search for a lawn chair I get everything that was ever related to a lawn chair including fertilizer".

So eBay, if you are watching, can we fix this? Make tag words weighted so the actual chair is shown more often that the cup holder for that chair? How about let's all make a bunch of money together and bring in even more customers? Sound good? Sounds good to me.

earthy1138

260 View listings

Posted 5 months ago · Edited 5 months ago·Last reply 5 months ago

5 comments

mudshark61369

·5 months ago

"There is no such thing as foolproof, because fools are so darned ingenious" (unknown)3111 View listings

@earthy1138 ,

I misunderstood what your post was about because I thought you were complaining about multiple individual listings with different capacity SSDs than you searched for showing up.

When I looked at your example listing, I saw that what you are seeing is Multiple Variation listings. Those that show up because they have several of the Key Words searched for, but with different Capacities (in this case) but also Sizes, Colors...etc. Most of those listings are from China based sellers often with the lowest priced variation being sold out.

You can get rid of a lot of those listings on a results page by using the U.S. only search filter in the left hand column. However, some of them may remain because the sellers give a U.S. location. The listing you gave as an example shows that the items come from China. You may not know this, but even though Samsung items are made in China, Chinese sellers are not supposed to sell them outside of their country, by international law.

If you check that seller's feedback profile Switching back to the classic view, and click on the numbers of negatives and neutrals they have received, to read only those comments, you will see why you should not buy from those sellers.

Hopefully, if you buy from one of the lower priced listings, you immediately run Samsung Magician software through it as soon as you receive it.

earthy1138

OP5 months ago

260 View listings

Mudshark,

Wow, great information, I did not know a few of those things, thank you for taking the time to educate me. I have never heard of "Samsung magician software", I will definitely be checking that out as well.

Thanks for all the time, tips and help. Cheers and have a great day!

tobaccocardyahoo

·5 months ago

5533 View listings

Many sellers deliberately misuse variations on listings to deliberately influence search results.

This occurs on many internet marketplaces.

No one has found an acceptable cure which retains the buyer and seller benefits of listings with variations.

mudshark61369

·5 months ago

"There is no such thing as foolproof, because fools are so darned ingenious" (unknown)3111 View listings

@earthy1138 ,

One reason why you may be getting so many mixed results is your searches are too general. Why not first search on the various Mfr's. or review sites for the SSD item(s) you are interested in. Then when you decide on the ones you would want to buy. Do a search by Brand/Mfr. name, model #, capacity... etc.

As for lawn chairs, maybe a search for Folding, Reclining, Stacking, Dining, Lounge, Patio, Lawn, Beach, Adirondack, Rocking, 0 gravity, Swivel, ... Material: aluminum, wood, polywood, plastic, wicker... Seat material: webbed, rubber string, cushioned, mesh...

Those are something I would look for locally so you can try them out first before buying them online.

earthy1138

OP5 months ago

260 View listings

Thank you for the reply. That sounds like a great plan, and that is how someone versed in searching on eBay should do it.

So with this search: "Samsung 870 evo sata ssd 500gb" I get search results like this:

"Samsung 256 GB SSD 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive MZ7TD256HAFV - 000L7" and

"Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SATA 2.5'' SOLID STATE DRIVE P/N MZ7LN1T0"

Neither are 500GB drives, easy to disqualify from the information in the search listing, no clicks required, just a little scrolling.

Then the multi listing I am suggesting a fix for:

"Samsung SSD 870 EVO 250G 500GB 1TB 128G 2.5" SATA 3 Solid State Drive Laptop lot

Brand New

$42.98 to $169.98"

Multiple clicks required to find out the price of the one I want, then click the next result to check the price of the one I want, then the next. This one is $169.98, the next one is $109.99, the next one is sold out of the size I want. So I have to open the first five or ten listings, then go through the tabs checking price, availability, verify it is the correct model etc. then close the ones that are disqualified. When I get a big variation in price, I am often inclined to keep searching to make sure I am not getting gouged by the first listing to meet all the requirements for purchase. If every listing had the actual price of each of the items visible in the initial search; that is 10 or 20 clicks, and a few extra minutes or reading I don't have to do. Doesn't sound like much, but this is eBay's shopping experience for potential buyers. If potential buyers can find an easier shopping experience somewhere else that is where they will shop. With a list of listings that actually display each items price, shipping cost, location, seller etc. Then as a customer I can make my decision from the list and avoid 9 to 19 of what would be unnecessary clicks. Even if they just did a "$42.98, $64.98, $102.98, $169.98" after the "128G 250G 500GB 1TB" on the listing, maybe even gray out the ones that are sold out for bonus points. While this would be a step in the right direction, as long as a single listing can list a smaller cheaper item with the larger more expensive items "sort by price" will never work as intended on those listings. This is why I suggest auto generating multiple listings from a seller listing multiple items in one go, one listing for each item of different size/price. If I search: "500gb samsung 870 evo sata ssd" with the condition set to "new" hoping to narrow it down to only 500gb drives it actually says "0 results for 500gb samsung 870 evo sata ssd".

Unfortunately, that "general search" works great on many other mass market platforms. I am trying to stop using those other platforms and wanted to give eBay another try. I was just surprised how much more time I have to put into looking for items on eBay as a customer than many other online marketplaces.

Thanks for the tips, I am going to do more research (so now I spend time pre-shopping) as you suggest and decide the exact item I want before I search eBay. Hopefully this will clear up at least some of the shopping research lag I am experiencing on eBay and not just trade it for pre-shopping research time and end up spending the same or even more time looking for stuff. 🙂

I still think a few small tweaks from eBay could help potential buyers have a better shopping experience.

Thanks for the reply, hope you have a great day, Cheers.