Search by "Description" under the drop down menu for active listings is no longer there.
On the "Manage active listings" page.
The option to search by "Description" under the drop down menu is no longer there.
I only see "Search by title, SKU, or item number".
Anyone know how to restore the option to search with description within active listings? This is the most important listing tool, completely lost without it.
26 comments
wastingtime101
·1 year agoHey - I don't think this is a bug after all. It's an intended design change.
I didn't even try to search earlier, just saw the gear icon was missing. I should have typed something in the box to test. 🙄
Just now I was doing inventory management and noticed when I enter a search term, a drop-down appears and I can choose a search option.
Check this out @carpartdepo . Are you seeing the same?
It's new navigation, removal of the gear icon.
Even though description appears above SKU/title in the drop-down, the search is defaulting to SKU/title unless you specifically choose description.
Perhaps a test @eburtonlab or perhaps those of us seeing the change are opted in early to a site wide roll out. I can't guess either way since my account is almost always opted in early to Seller Hub changes.
FYI @mcdougle4248
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Edit to add: eBay still has not fixed what's broken. You can search custom SKU at the listing level, but it's still not searching custom SKU at the variation level. Major problem and something we lost when eBay rolled out this new navigation last year.
The other thing we lost is search recognizing plural and partial words.
Like if you search shirt it will show you listings with shirt in the title, but will not show t-shirt or shirts plural.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoI'm typing into the search bar but nothing is coming down as I see on yours. It only what I type, nothing else.
eburtonlab
·1 year agoI'm typing into the search bar but nothing is coming down as I see on yours. It only what I type, nothing else.
Try another browser to rule out a browser issue.
joslinhall
·1 year agoYes, I just discovered this. So the text search exists, they just don't let you know it until you start typing. That is, um, "innovative". it always causes trouble when they get "innovative" without an explanation. Intuitive would have been better.
mcdougle4248
·1 year ago@carpartdepo
@wastingtime101
For what it's worth, I still have the gear icon and the ability to search by Item description. I am using my desktop and Chrome.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoInteresting - thank you @mcdougle4248 . That makes it more likely this is a bug, not intentional. Perhaps eBay will restore it during the work week.
It's missing for me on both Firefox and Safari on a Mac.
Edit to add: I checked while logged in to 2 different accounts.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoYep, that's exactly the issue I'm having with Edge, Chrome, Opera, Firefox. Same result with every browser.
valueaddedresource
·1 year ago@wastingtime101 in case it's helpful - I also checked 2 different accounts both on FireFox and Chrome and the gear icon is still there for both accounts in both browsers.
Edit to add: obviously I should have read all the replies before responding. 😂
wastingtime101
·1 year agoSee my last post @valueaddedresource - most of what I wrote earlier is no longer relevant.
Removal of the gear icon is an intended change, just don't know if it's a test or if a phased rollout and I'm part of phase 1.
The option to search by description now appears when you start typing in the search box.
If you click description from the drop down it will search by description.
If you click nothing from the drop down it will search by the default title/SKU.
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Edit to add:
haha - yeah, I went back and edited a few of my earlier posts higher up in the discussion with the updated info, but didn't edit every post. You latched on to a later post that I didn't edit. 😛
valueaddedresource
·1 year ago@wastingtime101 yeah I realized that after I read the rest of way down....obviously should have read the whole thread before responding. 😂
wastingtime101
·1 year agoYeah, in the end a "much ado about nothing" situation - search by description is still there and painfully obvious to anybody that actually types a term in the search box. Nothing even hidden. 😂 @valueaddedresource
eburtonlab
·1 year agoFor what it's worth, I still have the gear icon and the ability to search by Item description.
It may be that eBay is testing something in different user accounts.
Or it may be that eBay has removed the feature, and you will no longer be able to use it once your cookies are updated, or if you sign out and then sign back in again.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoThat's common with things that appear different on different accounts, but my instinct is that's not the case here.
eBay just added search by description last year, and they added it after eBay made these navigation changes specifically because sellers expressed a need for it as a selling tool.
I think it's very unlikely eBay would program it in because of sellers' needs just to get rid of it 6 mo later.
This is why I'm pretty confident it's an unintended bug.
There was a tech issue about ... 10 days ago? Where the search bar was missing on the Unsold page, then restored within a day or so - it was a confirmed bug. eBay is constantly rolling out small updates to Seller Hub and I think this is an unintended side effect of an update they rolled out this week.
eburtonlab
·1 year agoThere was a tech issue about ... 10 days ago? Where the search bar was missing on the Unsold page, then restored within a day or so - it was a confirmed bug. eBay is constantly rolling out small updates to Seller Hub and I think this is an unintended side effect of an update they rolled out this week.
It is not uncommon for eBay to revamp a page and drop a feature, only to have the feature reappear at a later date after many complaints. It is often not clear if the loss of the feature was the result of an intentional plan to do away with it that was later reversed after an outcry, an intended test to see how users actually react to the change, or just a total oversight that wound up needing to be fixed at a later update.
I suspect that the last case happens more often than many are willing to admit.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoSame here @carpartdepo . This is very recent. I don't know if it's a bug or intentional.
Click the ? icon on the lower right of your active listings page to report as a tech error.
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EDIT: This is not a bug, it's a design change. Gear icon was removed. Type into the search box and the description option automatically appears.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoI hope it's not intentional. I've completely stopped listing items due to this. It take 10x longer to list, makes no economical sense to do so.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoClick the ? icon on the lower right of your active listings page to report as a tech error.
I filed a report and I suggest anybody impacted do the same. It's fast, easy, and eBay monitors those reports. The more people reporting, the higher priority it will get on the fix list, if it is a bug.
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Update: Not a bug, a design change, but if it's causing problems you can still click the ? icon then click the "send feedback" link rather than the report tech issue link.
caldreamer
·1 year agoYou can type "description of item" in Search By box and it will give you what you want. I do this all the time.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoJust tried, doesn't work.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoSounds like you're referring to public-facing search on eBay.com, not Seller Hub Active Listings search.
Search by description was available in the redesign by clicking the little gear icon shown in my above screenshot. It just recently went missing. This isn't about the deprecated navigation options.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoThis is what I'm talking about.
caldreamer
·1 year agoI forgot to mention you have to click on the "star icon" that WastingTime101 has shown and then you can search by "item description". For some reason EBAY chose to hide that.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoThat's the problem, the "star icon" is no longer there.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoThe gear icon is missing which is the problem. You could click the gear and a drop down would appear and you'd select the option to search by description, but now that gear icon is missing as shown in my screenshot.
Screenshot top half with gear = a couple weeks ago, lower half missing gear = today.
Sorry, what you see is what you get. eBay changed the look of the active listings page several months ago and is unlikely to go back to the old dropdown menus.
carpartdepo
OP1 year agoIs it missing on your account too? That's absolutely insane. Why would they take away the most important listing tool? It makes no sense.