Search results is showing hundreds of items that have words that are not in my search.
Last month I listed a rare shade of a makeup product. When I entered the title, 5 listings came up. Today I entered the exact same keywords so I could price check item again and 1,200 plus items came up. It showed every shade, style, brand, etc of this product. Also products that were not even primer, just made by Smashbox. No customer is going to sift through 1,200 listings to find 1 of five. The name of product is "SMASHBOX Photo Finish Foundation Primer RADIANCE" and I searched using lowest price. Try it!! I started searching other products and the same issue is happening. I am panicking because this is my sole source of income and I sell makeup in particular colors. Spent an hour with Ebay agent who could not understand the problem. I have been selling for 19 years and never have seen this. Please help.
jda2002
·2 years agoIt's gotten really bad.
bookasan
·2 years agoNow i'm going to lose my $#!@
I have 2 items listed. An Aphex 1788A and an Aphex 188.
When I type in Aphex 188, it shows "14 results for Aphex 188". None of these 14 are my listing and none of them are model 188.
When I type in Aphex 1788A, it shows "30 results for Aphex 1788A", two of which are actually 1788A and all the way at the bottom. My model 1788A shows up 27th out of 30.
Now the real kicker! My model 188 shows up at the bottom of the 30 items when I type 1788A.
This is beyond a serious problem.
The model 188 does show up when I place "188" in quotations, but come on.
Typing in Aphex model 188 should pull it up, period!
bookasan
·2 years agoI am about to sell an item and two days ago did a search so I could research pricing. I entered Aphex 1788 in the search and it came up with one search result for the exact item and that was it. Today I enter the same search and it brings up dozens of items all with the the word Aphex in the title but all different models with the 1788 somewhere near the end of the results. This was working fine 2 days ago.
I know you could search with quotations to get the exact search results, but how does this affect buyers searching for a product? Are they really expected to dig through pages to find what they are actually looking for? At least put the searched item on top and similar items below like it was before.
threeblindmice18
OP2 years agoThat's my big concern. Customers will just go elsewhere. Nobody is going to slog through all of that.
bookasan
·2 years agoOk, Ebay definitely keeps messing with how the search results work.
I have been searching the same item every day over the last few days and it once again has changed.
First day I searched Aphex 1788 and the one available item came up on top, then "similar items with fewer key words". Items below that statement were similar Aphex items but different models. This is the way it usually was and it worked fine.
Next day I searched Aphex 1788 and it brought up 37 items with the actual item buried somewhere in the middle. No statement about similar items, it was just buried with 36 other non matching items.
Next day I posted my item for sale and mine along with the other were again buried in the middle of several non matching items.
Tonight I search Aphex 1788 and the 2 available items come up on top followed by the other non matching items. No statement about similar items with fewer key words. This is better than it was yesterday, but I sure wish they would just leave things alone.
I just searched another item which yesterday yielded no results (Aphex 188). Today the same search results in "19 results for Aphex 188", none of which are an Aphex 188.
As a side note, I also posted the same item on another site that specializes in musical equipment. I had 10 times the amount of views on that site compared to Ebay in the same amount of time. All of my items under any category are by far getting the lowest views I have ever seen in the 25 years I have been selling on Ebay.
I wonder how much of this drop is due to things like these search issues?
stainlessenginecovers
·2 years ago@threeblindmice18
This started 5+ years ago; nothing new. Sometimes 'just' the item comes up, sometimes way more. S
Since, as you stated, MOST don't know the 'quotation' trick; the search (just like any search, even google) uses 1 word, 2 of the words, 3 of the words etc. to 'show' results. Just like google pay per click, you- as a customer paying for this service, can input 2-4 word 'keywords' and then choose how they show up (exact match, partial match etc.) which ALL sellers using this program use the 'partial' so there is much more chance your site will be seen.
threeblindmice18
OP2 years agoSimply not true. Search has always had it's issues but never anything even close to this.
threeblindmice18
OP2 years agoI would love to know when this started. Why aren't the boards flooded with sellers talking about this? They HAVE to fix it..... right? Customers will leave in droves. I am listing a self tanner, and every term I add to search INCREASES results instead of narrowing. Started at 300, ended at 1,600 after adding 4 words that were in the name of product. How can they make such a monumental error? Was it on purpose? Do they think it will make people buy more stuff because they see more stuff? This will end my business if not corrected. I just finished photographing nearly 100 new items to list for the holidays, but don't know if I should even bother. I am livid and freaking out about losing my holiday sales.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoTry this search instead:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=SMASHBOX+Photo+Finish+Foundation+Primer+%22RADIANCE%22&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0
If you are seeing results that do not match your search terms, try putting one of your keywords in quotes to prevent eBay from making any keyword corrections or substitutions.
Avoid using the "Price plus shipping: lowest first" sort order as the results are not reliable.
Use the "Feedback" link on the search results page to report problems with a specific search to eBay page developers. If enough users report these problems, eBay is more likely to do something about them.
threeblindmice18
OP2 years agoThank you for the better way to search. It will help me when pricing. I don't think I explained myself well. My concern is that I am losing sales due to the fact most customers won't know about the search tricks and will not want to sift through thousands of wrong results to find the item they actually want. What can I do about that?
eburtonlab
·2 years agoMy concern is that I am losing sales due to the fact most customers won't know about the search tricks and will not want to sift through thousands of wrong results to find the item they actually want. What can I do about that?
That is a reasonable thing for a seller to be concerned about, but most buyers seem to have no problem finding things to actually buy, judging by eBay's sales.
Different buyers use different methods to search, and many buyers search using more than one search technique. Many sellers seem to assume that there is only one "correct" way to conduct a search, and that if the seller's own listings do not appear on the first page of that specific search then the seller's items will never be seen, or that the buyer will immediately give up and buy elsewhere.
Sellers should do what they can to make it as easy as possible for buyers to find their items by listing in the proper categories and using the correct keywords and item-specifics, so that those items appear in relevant searches using many different search techniques.
If a particular search is not working correctly -- if a keyword is substituted incorrectly, or a keyword's spelling is changed when it should not be, or if an inordinate amount of listings are removed when using a certain sort order -- users should report that to eBay using the "Feedback" link on the search results page.
Beyond that, if a seller encounters a buyer struggling to find something, the seller can offer search suggestions to the buyer. This helps the buyer find what the buyer is looking for but can also help the seller understand how individual buyers search for items, and helps the seller to learn and understand more about how search actually works and its inherent limitations and failure modes.
maftruck
·2 years agoI fully agree! When a very specific search yields hundreds to thousands of results, the buyer will give up. And yes, I know all of the tricks to help narrow down the search but for many reasons, that's not a viable solution for a casual user. A search for Lenox 2005 Ornament Santa yields 2300+ results and most of the entries are for any Lenox Santa Ornament. Thus, narrowing down to the year, is of no value in the title. Scrolling to Year Manufactured, one needs to click "see all" to find 2005 where results drop to 49, although not all of them have 2005 in the title.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoAnd yes, I know all of the tricks to help narrow down the search but for many reasons, that's not a viable solution for a casual user. A search for Lenox 2005 Ornament Santa yields 2300+ results and most of the entries are for any Lenox Santa Ornament.
A simple general search using keywords lenox annual ornament 2005 santa and sorted using Best Match currently yields some reasonable looking results on the first page without resorting to any "tricks":
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=lenox+annual+ornament+2005+santa&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_sop=12&rt=nc&_oaa=1&_dcat=77988
Certainly enough results for a casual buyer to find something to purchase, or to encourage further narrowing of the search, if needed.
If a seller wants more comprehensive results that are limited to only 2005 offerings for research purposes, some tricks will likely be needed, though.
maftruck
·2 years agoThen there's something amiss with my computer as I just entered with Best Match as the criteria and the results are 1700+ Scrolling and adding the year yields 33 results.
threeblindmice18
OP2 years agoI fear my computer is suffering from the same ailment as yours! 🙄
threeblindmice18
OP2 years agoJust found this. It's crazy and it works like your trick. I tried a few different searches using both methods and results did vary a bit. Anchovies!!!
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Too-Many-Unrelated-Items-Showing-Up-In-Specific-Search/td-p/29919457
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@threeblindmice18
Similar problem, but searching for particular back issues of both ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, and ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE.
I enter either of those two magazines, plus a particular month and year -- but the response I receive gives me EVERY month and year!
On the left side of the screen, I can sometimes narrow the search down to a particular month or decade; but no longer to just the particular month and year for which I'm searching.
This seems to be a very recent phenomenon, as the search results were more specific only a few days ago.
Yet another eBay "improvement" to stimulate the buying experience?
Who is babysitting the IT people at eBay this week?!?