eBay Advanced Search not working after apparent update
I noticed today that the eBay Advanced Search page has changed. I also noticed that all of a sudden I am getting 0 search results for the items I am looking for.
The searches I have been trying are in the Books and Magazines category. Title searches for simple terms like "farm" and "sea" produce 0 results. The message I get says "We found 0 results for "sea" in Books and Magazines, so here are some other search results" -- and all the results are in clothing and makeup.
I then tried to and three-word title/description searches in the Books and Magazines category (relating to books I confirmed are listed on the site prior to my attempt) -- for example, "george washington." Again, 0 results.
I talked to eBay customer service and the representative was able to reproduce the same results. Had no explanation why it was happening, but promised to report the problem.
In the meantime, I can't find items I want to buy and I suspect buyers can't find the items I am selling due to the same problem. I would further guess that it's not just happening to me.
It seems that whatever update/upgrade was made to the Search engine has messed it up in a big way. I noticed earlier this week that hundreds of my search bookmarks that I have been using for the last 5 years suddenly stopped working. Instead of search results, I get a message saying "eBay redirected too many times." Obviously eBay has changed something.
The eBay Search Engine is the most important function on the site for both buyers and sellers. If the Search Engine is on the fritz, it is going to hurt everyone. I don't know about anybody else, but I can't afford to lose even a day of sales.
habanoslife
·2 years agoCHROME IS AUTOFILLING YOUR USERNAME IN THE ADVANCED SEARCH TAB FILTERS BELOW IF YOU KEEP SCROLLING DOWN!!!
SOLUTION: DELETE YOUR AUTOFILL USERNAME IN CHROME AUTO FILL/PASSWORD MANAGER.
Sellers
kevin-franklin
·2 years agoMy issue is that when I set up an advanced search, excluding certain words......then SAVE that search.......then go back to use that saved search..........all the words I excluded are now listed in the "desired" search box. Unbelievable. The ONE function that should work on ebay and it's jacked up.
wkrpcinci
·2 years agoWhat could be SO screwed up that ebay can't fix a simple thing like the advanced search? Dear ebay: Suggestion from a strict non-techie: Take OFF whatever "update" F'd up the advanced search and start over if you feel you really MUST create an update to validate your job.
eburtonlab
·2 years ago@wkrpcinci
What could be SO screwed up that ebay can't fix a simple thing like the advanced search?
What problem are you having?
This thread is from 2023 and mostly concerns issues that cropped up and were fixed quickly. If you are having a problem now, it is likely something different. You may want to start a new thread if this thread is closed and you cannot reply here.
wkrpcinci
·2 years agoThanks. I'm not familiar with this venue. The problem I'm having is the same one being discussed here - my advanced search will not work for "SOLD" items. I keep getting the "0 results for...."
eburtonlab
·2 years ago@wkrpcinci
The problem I'm having is the same one being discussed here - my advanced search will not work for "SOLD" items. I keep getting the "0 results for...."
Are you using Chrome? There is an issue involving Chrome where your username or email address may be being added into the "search by seller" field on the Advanced Search page, which can cause the search to only show results from your own items (if any).
If that is what is happening, try clicking on that seller field on the Advanced Search page and see if your username or email address appears in a drop-down menu. If so, you may be able to delete your eBay username from Chrome using an option there. When you sign in to eBay again you can save your username once more, and that should not trigger this issue the next time you search on the Advanced Search page.
It is not clear if this issue is the result of something eBay has done, or something Chrome has done.
wkrpcinci
·2 years agoB I N G O !!!! You hit it on the nose!!!! I'm up and running 100%
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
eburtonlab
·2 years agoYou are most welcome! Thanks for following up!
shisa-630
·2 years agoThis issue is not fixed. I'm still getting "0" results on my laptop computer under Advanced search for "Nike Shorts"..... Then it shows me all my recent sold listings.... It's been like this for months.
eburtonlab
·2 years ago@shisa-630
This issue is not fixed. I'm still getting "0" results on my laptop computer under Advanced search for "Nike Shorts"..... Then it shows me all my recent sold listings.... It's been like this for months.
You need to delete the entry of your username or email address that appears in the Seller field on your Advanced Search page to fix this.
habanoslife
·2 years agobecause if you scroll down you'll see your ebay username is prefilled under the filter to search results with items only sold by "your username"
delete chrome auto fill
foxyguy66
·3 years agoI am having a similar problem when doing a search and then clicking on the 'Sold' & 'Completed' tabs. Comes up with 0 results. Also, I noticed that when I scroll the page I find that some settings are not set at default; results are , of which there are none, show that the items I am looking for are set to within 25 miles of my Zip Code. I don't set those parameters. When clearing out the Zip Code and trying to see results after doing so, I still get 0 results.
Sellers need to be able to see what similar items sold for as part of our listing research for our own items.
eburtonlab
·3 years agoWhen clearing out the Zip Code and trying to see results after doing so, I still get 0 results.
Try creating a new search not using the "Price plus shipping: lowest first" sort order.
paisley-books
·2 years agoI realize this is an old post. But here it is December with the same old broken search engine. Advanced search absolutely won't include all the search words in the results. I gave up selling on the site long ago and now I'm about to give up on buying too. I'm pretty sure my business won't be missed.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoAdvanced search absolutely won't include all the search words in the results.
What are you trying to search for, and how are you searching? Which results are missing which keywords?
texasmaestro
·3 years agoIt has started again in the last week. Latest update did not resolve it. One item appeared in one of my saved searches titled: Kenneth Cole Reaction Men's Size 11 Brown Leather Lace Up Sneakers Casual Shoes
Tried searching for: Kenneth Cole Casual Men’s Shoes
returned 0 results, not even the one from my saved search. Tried searching for exact title of the one from my saved search, again result was 0! Tried removing words one at a time to narrow down the search…one resulted in 2 items found, but not the one I referenced above.
My final workaround was to search for MENS SHOES. Then I filtered SIZE 11. Then I filtered BRAND KENNETH COLE. Only returned about 20 results…I know there are much more - it’s a regular saved search for me. Absolutely nuts eBay…revert back to last known working and TEST the next update before releasing it to the masses!!!
eburtonlab
·3 years agoTried searching for: Kenneth Cole Casual Men’s Shoes
returned 0 results
Try creating a new search using just those terms, making sure you are NOT using the "price plus shipping: lowest first" sort order, which is known to be problematic. You should wind up with about 3600+ results, depending on your location.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Kenneth+Cole+Casual+Men%E2%80%99s+Shoes&_sacat=0
From there you can narrow the category and then add filters as necessary.
ravensbeak
·3 years agoSame here... I use the advanced search exclusively when searching for items, and now, whatever it was ebay techs did to it, the advanced search stinks BIG time! Not only is the new layout stupid, but when using the advanced search I select all the different things I want, such as what category, gallery view or list view, sold items, new or used, etc., and now when I backspace to the advanced search after doing a search, half of my selections are gone and I have to go right back and re-select them, before doing another search. This is time consuming and frustrating. Back spacing was never a problem before. Also, I'm getting some really doofy results with my searches, now, too! Like, yesterday I was looking for envelopes and there were things like motorcycle helmets and dishes and other weird items coming up in the results. I had more searching that I needed to do, but after an hour of this crap, I threw my hands up and quit.
intuitive
OP3 years agoFour days later and I am remain unable to perform a simple title search for the word "sea" in the Books and Magazines category. It returns 0 results.
71% of the world is covered by oceans, but the eBay search engine tells me eBay contains not a single book with "sea" in the title.
Meanwhile, when I click on "Advanced Search" from whatever eBay page I happen to be on at the moment, the form still loads with unwanted filters pre-checked -- namely the "Items ending within 1 hour" filter, "Items with 10 miles" filter, and, for some reason, "Only items by seller -----" and it prefills whatever name I happen to be signed in under.
If I didn't know to uncheck these boxes before searching, I would get zero results virtually every time I searched for items, because what are the odds that items I'm searching for will be 1. ending within one hour, 2., be located within 10 miles of me, and, oh yeah, 3) are also being sold by me?
Four days of this.
eburtonlab
·3 years ago@intuitive
If a search that has worked well previously suddenly starts behaving badly, often the problem has something to do with a faulty keyword substitution or an inappropriate automatic category navigation issue.
You can bypass many of these sorts of search issues by putting one of your keywords in quotes. This forces eBay to bypass the "smart" features and to search for the literal keywords without any substitution or category switching. You may have to manually specify your category once again.
Try this as a starting point:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=%22sea%22&_sacat=267&LH_TitleDesc=0
intuitive
OP3 years agoThanks. I am aware of the workaround, having read about it in one of the threads devoted to this current search engine affliction.
I am a seller as much as I am a buyer. And as a seller, I know the average buyer isn't tuned into eBay the way I am after two decades of selling here. The average buyer won't seek out workarounds, go searching for answers on discussion boards, or in many cases even wonder why fewer items than usual are being returned in the search results. The relative handful that do probably won't waste their time worrying about it. They'll just move on to something else.
When buyers can't find the items they're looking for because the search engine can't produce results for simple terms like sea in certain categories, that's a problem for sellers. Who knows how many other as-yet unknown words and categories have dropped out of the search engine's vocabulary (so to speak)? Who knows how many other members are getting unwanted pre-checked filters on the advanced search, further undercutting the search results?
This is bad all the way around.
saturdaystoys
·3 years agoTotally agree. It's frustrating when something so simple changes... leaving it broken and ineffective with no hint of a timely resolution. It's not a "new normal" that users need to accept. Whoever broke it... needs to fix it!
marthamostly
·3 years agoSomething has happened NOBODY can find my llistings-----
What is ebay doing with them??????????
I hate to say I am close to stopping, but I am, EBAY!!!!!!!!!
If you care at all-----Fix the search pages.
eburtonlab
·3 years agoSomething has happened NOBODY can find my llistings
I see 107 items you currently have listed. What item can't you find, and how are you searching?
paleadhead
·2 years agoAgreed. I been on this subject of lost filters and searches for a least a month now. I tried to search pre 1900 utility and black glass bottle and received 19 results and yet the day before there were 2200. I have been posting my lame experiences with all the lame changes lately to no avail. Just being told to leave this site or search and dig harder. Basic business principals are needed here again. People want to be able to find stuff easily and to be able to comparatively search for sold items to see if the want to buy a item. Been on Ebay for two and a half decades. I totally agree with you this is already ending bad. Buyers want ease not this self inflicted runaround. We need a Starbucks moment and replace the current management with a savvy business person.
diecastcurator
·3 years agoSame thing here. Searches on main page and sold items not working. Search without your own dashboard and active items isn’t working either. Very hard to list new stuff without being able to get search results.
jabecne0
·3 years agojust happened to me and im trying to find out why, frustrating.
saturdaystoys
·3 years agoThe search box on our store's home page has been malfunctioning for weeks now. Somehow, select keywords are being blocked from search results. However, we've found that when we place parentheses around the keywords... they work perfectly. Unfortunately, no customer would know to try that. Amazing that eBay has known about these flaws for weeks... and still there is no resolution. And yes... sales are way down.
i*find*u*flip
·3 years agoI also noticed the advanced search does not work correctly. There is also NO advanced search thats category specific , for instance cars only, its trying to search everything , books , clothes etc. for search words. Also you cant type in a search "year range" as in 1964-1967 pontiac for instance . You have to type on one year only and when you choose "lowest price first
" and "completed auctions" it does nor even put cars in order of cheapest to most expensive.
THIS IS THE MOST USEFULL TOOL EBAY HAS FOR RESEARCHING COMPARABLE SOLD PRICES-JUST TERRIBLE.......EBAY HAS TO BE FULL STEAM AHEAD ON "LOSING MARKET SHARE"
eburtonlab
·3 years agoTo search for vehicles in a date range, you may have better results starting from the Cars & Trucks category and using the "Find a Car or Truck" tool at the top to specify the date range:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/6001/i.html?_nkw=pontiac
Your specific search for lowest price, completed listings:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/Cars-Trucks/6001/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=pontiac&UF_single_selection=Make%3APontiac&UF_context=finderType%3AVEHICLE_FINDER&_sacat=6001&_stpos=02215&_fspt=1&Model%2520Year=1964%7C1965%7C1966%7C1967&_sop=2&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1
intuitive
OP3 years agoI have also noticed that the Advanced Search page is automatically loading with filters I never selected. It should load with all filters set to default. Instead, I find the box for "Items ending within 1 hour" is pre-checked. Also the box for "Items within 10 miles of zip code" is checked. I have never used either of these filters. Had I not scrolled all the way down the page to see this, I may not have even noticed. There can be no question that this glitch is also contributing to diminished search results, because any item that is not within 10 miles of me, or ending within 1 hour, won't be shown.
beerhere
·3 years agoSame here.
Why change something that wasn't broken?
eburtonlab
·3 years agoWhy change something that wasn't broken?
The alternative -- waiting until things break before making any changes -- is often a recipe for catastrophic failure that cannot be recovered from. There is a reason that races have pit stops.
By the time things are obviously broken, simple fixes may no longer be possible.
Many changes are dictated by circumstances out of anyone's individual control. Just because a user thinks a site is not broken does not necessarily mean that the site does not need to make changes to meet evolving security standards, for instance. A server may need to be upgraded. A hardware change may dictate a new operating system. Old code may not be compatible with the new system and may need to be rewritten. None of this may be obvious to users who only notice that an old feature no longer appears on the new page.
jabecne0
·3 years agoit was a rhetorical question, my gosh, why go on a pointless rant? To show great wisdom?
eburtonlab
·3 years agoIf I use the Advanced link from my search results, whatever search parameters are in use in the search are transferred to the Advanced Search page for me.
If I use the Advanced link from a non-search page, there are no parameters preset; all are blank.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch