Item not showing in search
I listed an old Bear Polar Recurve Bow on Monday but it wouldn't show up in search. I realized my title wasn't great so I edited it. Rechecked search a while later and still nothing. Ended the listing and relisted. Still not showing after hours. I checked that category was correct also. The bow is MIA. No messages in my inbox from Ebay saying it is restricted or anything. Any ideas?
29 comments
recycledhistory
·2 years agoI am having the same issue of my items not showing up in search. This "indexing" answer that keeps being put out does not compute. Same Items, in same categories with same information and titles that were listed after mine, by other sellers, showed in the search while mine do not. The only difference I can think of is that they are a high volume seller and I am not or they have selected to promote their item. If the issue is "Indexing" why did their item, listed hours after mine, show up in the search and mine did not? I did the search with only two words that were common to both their listing and mine and only their item shows and mine does not. Wouldn't mine have been "Indexed" before theirs or at least at the same time since mine was listed before theirs. By the way mine was listed 18 hours before theirs and their item showed in the search within minutes of them listing.
It is easy to use the "indexing" answer to "resolve" an issue but what is it really and how does it really work, when is it done, and if it is do to "indexing" why is it not happening to all listings, or is there a different "Indexing" for different situations? Again, this is based on similar, basiclly the same, listings by different sellers.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoIndexing is the process of copying each keyword, item specific, piece of data relating to a listing into a bunch of database indexes, so that the listing can be found by the search engine when an eBay member runs a search. Each type of search seems to be indexed separately, and listings have been observed being indexed for one type of search (e.g. search by seller ID) before other types (e.g. keyword search).
It appears that indexing for the eBay search engine also includes potentially flagging some listings, but not all, for "higher review", presumably based on keywords or features that are found during the process. Experience has shown that the basic indexing itself is very fast, usually within a few minutes up to about an hour to complete. However, if a listing gets flagged for higher review, that can take much longer. It probably includes having a person scan the listing, so this will be affected by the availability of personnel to perform the review. Some categories, item types and sellers may experience longer indexing (review) times more often than others.
recycledhistory
·2 years agoThe response to the indexing question sounds good but still does not answer why two almost identical listings, by two different sellers, get "indexed" differently, one showing up a few minutes after posting and the other taking over 24 hours. You would think that if Ebay has set standards and rules they would apply the same across the board. The optics in this situation makes it look like Ebay is "Playing Favorites". It would be better if Ebay came up with a way to either expedite the process or standardize it.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoIf the issue is "Indexing" why did their item, listed hours after mine, show up in the search and mine did not? I did the search with only two words that were common to both their listing and mine and only their item shows and mine does not. Wouldn't mine have been "Indexed" before theirs or at least at the same time since mine was listed before theirs.
Indexing is one reason why an item, particularly a new item just recently listed or revised, might not show up in a search, but it is hardly the only reason. Until a full 24 hours have passed since the last revision, indexing may still be going on and that is the most likely reason for a new item not to appear in a search.
Some other reasons an item might not appear in a particular search:
Sorting by "price plus shipping: lowest first" -- when a lowest first sort is performed, you will often see a message at the top of the results: "We’ve streamlined your search results to show you the best listings. See more results" -- if you want to see all the results, you need to either try another sort, or click on that "See more results" link. Otherwise you are only seeing a subset of the results of that search, despite the number that is shown at the top. In some situations, the results may be filtered and the link may not actually appear. Try another sort order if you think this might be the case.
Wrong Category -- if a site-wide search using a particular keyword returns many items, eBay will often direct that search automatically into one particular category. Sellers should take this into account when deciding which categories to list their items in. If possible, try searching the way a potential customer might, and see where the search ends up.
No Shipping -- if an item does not have a shipping method to a specified location, buyers in that location will not be able to see that item. This is often a problem for export sellers that do not ship to their own location.
Time Away -- if you use this feature, your items may be hidden from search. After ending Time Away it may take a day or two for your listings to be re-indexed and appear again.
Additionally, in the past there have been some known location-specific issues that affected users in India, Hawaii and Alaska that prevented them from seeing local items in certain cases.
What item are you not finding, and how, precisely, are you searching for it?
recycledhistory
·2 years agoIn my post I am referring to two almost identical listings, by two different sellers, get "indexed" differently, one showing up a few minutes after posting and the other taking over 24 hours.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoIt would not surprise me if selling history is a factor in the indexing time.
Seller having sold hundreds of items vs seller having sold thousands of items.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoIn my post I am referring to two almost identical listings, by two different sellers, get "indexed" differently, one showing up a few minutes after posting and the other taking over 24 hours.
"Almost identical" is not the same as "identical". Even the exact same item, described in the same manner using the same keywords, but listed by different sellers, may be treated differently for a variety of reasons, including how many other items were submitted between those two listings.
eBay does not say very much about how indexing is actually accomplished, just that it can take "up to 24 hours", and that revising a listing can delay that. In some cases, it may take longer.
Nowhere does eBay promise that items will be indexed in any particular order; items may not necessarily appear in the order they were listed.
If you want an item to appear as soon as possible, list it as early as you can and do not revise the listing until after it finishes being indexed and appears in the search.
recycledhistory
·2 years agoIn your reply you have answered the question with your statement "Even the exact same item, described in the same manner using the same keywords, but listed by different sellers, may be treated differently". Like I stated An item identical to mine listed 12 hours after mine was "indexed" within minutes mine is still waiting after 24hours. The other sell has a feedback of 11983 I only have 2618. I guess if you sell a lot ebay gives you more advantages. Even if there are minor differences in the listings, like I said, the optics of this is not good. You can keep reciting the ebay mantra of "indexing" and "relisting", my item has not been relisted, and "not all listings are the same", but it still looks like ebay is giving advantages to some sellers.
I am just pointing this out so ebay can take a look at their system and policies and provide an even field like we had in their beginning, I have been on ebay since 1998 and most of the changes I have seen over the years have been a mixed bag of good and bad. Maybe this indexing and delay in showing listings can be looked into and addressed, The loss of 1 to 2 days at the beginning of an auction can mean a lot and your item can drop down quite a way on the search list in that time. Also it changes a 7 day auction to a 6 or 5 day action. I though over the years that computers and automation where to speed things up but it looks like it has slowed them down on ebay.
recycledhistory
·2 years agoWell I found out my answers. My item finally showed up in the search, exactly 24 hours from my posting. That is strange that ebay says there might be a 24 hour delay for "indexing" and an items is delayed for exactly 24 hours, but a seller with more activity on ebay is indexed in minutes. So the answer is not "indexing" it is a 24 hour hold on your listing for selected items. So next time I will plan on a 24 hour hold on some items from listing searches. Luckly my item only dropped 5 items on the search list in that time. On popular items this delay could mean that it would be on the second page of a search, well behind other similar items.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoLike I stated An item identical to mine listed 12 hours after mine was "indexed" within minutes mine is still waiting after 24hours. The other sell has a feedback of 11983 I only have 2618. I guess if you sell a lot ebay gives you more advantages.
You are making a lot of assumptions based on one data point.
Nowhere does eBay indicate that it treats every seller the same. New sellers are treated differently than experienced sellers. Sellers that have had policy violations are treated differently than those that have not. Sellers that have sold items in a category for a while are treated differently than sellers that have never sold in that category before.
The number ways that sellers can differ is very large.
eBay has also changed a great deal since 1998.
Things that may have worked one way when there were two million users and a million listings may not necessarily work the same way when there are over a hundred million users and two billion listings.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoeBay does not promise, or even suggest, that all sellers are treated the same.
One example is that over the past year (2023) eBay began using performance metrics for items-received and buyer-experience that are only applied to export sellers (those who are selling on eBay.com but are not based in the USA) and not to sellers who are registered in the USA. Some of these export sellers have been restricted from listing anything on eBay.com even though their performance metrics are fine according to the standards for sellers in the USA.
eBay only has 3 basic tiers for seller performance: top-rated seller, above-average, and below-average; and only the first rating is publicly visible on the site. However, eBay is open and transparent that all sellers are compared to the average performance of their peers, and eBay can and does take action based on how a seller's performance is evaluated over time.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/service-metrics-policy?id=4769
In general, eBay does not give detailed explanations of what actions may be taken, only broad possible results which may include adjusting or limiting the visibility of some listings.
I would expect that, in some high-risk categories (such as fire-arms), eBay may exempt some sellers from lengthy delays during indexing reviews. For example, if the seller has a lengthy selling history of a high number of items in that category without many recorded issues or concerns, their listings might get through the review process more quickly than a seller with an "average" selling history in that category. Even though the "average" seller's record would not be considered below standard, they just don't have as much of a track record.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoThis board consists of other sellers volunteering their time to help fellow sellers.
The quality of the responses you will get here depends largely on the quality of your question.
If you had given us (a) the item number, (b) the search terms you were using to find it, and (c) the sort order you were using in the results, we could have been a lot more help in diagnosing your search issue.
Politeness helps, too - so I'll leave this one to others.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoShows up fine as of 5:38 AM EST on 15 February.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoThat would be 2:38 am PST. And, it was revised just before 7:00 pm yesterday evening, so it is now visible less than 8 hours after the revision.
mam98031
·2 years agoIt can take up to 24 hours for a new listing to show up in the search. Each time to edit the listing, the clock starts over again. It all has to do with the site re-indexing. So just leave your listing alone and check it tomorrow.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoAs said above @wrm827 you have to give it time and the type of item is likely prone to a longer review period.
It can take 24 hours for a listing to index in search. If you revise the listing the clock may restart.
While longer index times are most common for new sellers, even well-established sellers that typically experience near instant indexing can see the longer indexing time depending what they're listing from item, to category, to key words, to price.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/finding-listing?id=4162
When you create a listing, your item should appear in eBay searches within 24 hours. To find it, search using keywords in your listing, and apply filters to narrow your results.
If you can’t find your listing after 24 hours, go to Selling and check whether it’s active, in draft, or has any other status. The listing needs to be active to be pulled into our search results.
If your listing is active, and it’s been 24 hours, here are some quick checks you can do:
simba6
·2 years agoI don't see you have a bow listed. Try and list again. Might just have been some glitch. If you do get any error messages come back here and let us know. Keep some filler words between bear and the rest of the description. Could be flagging that.
wrm827
OP2 years agoIt shows in My Ebay active listings page. I refresh page. It's still there. Click link and it says it's active but when i click "view listings" link here on forum it doesn't show up. Btw it was listed over 24 hours I believe the first time and it never indexed.
wrm827
OP2 years agoThat's why I initially edited the title. The filler words were between the brand and the word bow and I figured that was why the keyword search I did wouldn't work. I'm seeing other listings with the same keyword string as I'm currently using but many others have fillers words between them. I suppose I could try to edit the title as it was originally and see what happens. Frustrating.
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoWhen you change the Title that forces a re-index, if you edit it again it will once again go to the back of the line, keep editing and it might NEVER show up.
wrm827
OP2 years agotypical. a forum member trying to make it about me. its never ebay. always the seller. all of my other listings show up immediately (most of which I obsessively edit for this or that reason) without issue, but this one doesn't and it's my fault or im making it worse. keep living in your fantasy world. ok...
eburtonlab
·2 years agoIf you want to know why your listing is not showing up yet, there is some very good information in this thread from folks trying to help you. No one here is blaming you -- just pointing out how eBay works.
It is a fact that revising a listing before it has finished being indexed restarts the entire process from the beginning. What you do with that piece of information is entirely up to you.
Not every listing takes the full 24 hours, but any listing can potentially take 24 hours from the last revision to be indexed and appear in search.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoSorry, that's how search works here. This site has almost 2 billion listings and everything takes time, and we just have to live with it. Quit fiddling with it. Check tomorrow.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years agoNo one here is messing with you, @wrm827 .
You asked a question, received the correct answer, did not like the answer, and so began insulting those here who attempted to help you in good faith.
Those who sincerely want help don’t come armed with an agenda.
vtparts-3
·2 years agoWhy is it some of my items, NOT EDITED, or RELISTED, STILL dont show after weeks? Anyone whos not paying MORE $$ to promote their listing, is not getting views. This is rampant and this "community" (its not, but what ebay wants us to think), is ripe with listing rot.
Sure, there might be an indexing aspect, but why are things getting ZERO views? If i search for my items and click completed, i can see the same things selling, maybe 3 or 4 times a day. Yet i have zero views, zero sales, with 100% feedback (and this has been a rough as no one leaves feedback anymore either).
Its more than just indexing. Ebay is screwing us little guys over. My profit margins are small and ebay has been clawing at those even, for years now.
Fun to sell on ebay, isnt it????
We're all **bleep**.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoWhy is it some of my items, NOT EDITED, or RELISTED, STILL dont show after weeks?
Which item, and how are you searching?
I can see 61 items you currently have listed.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoWhy is it some of my items, NOT EDITED, or RELISTED, STILL dont show after weeks? Anyone whos not paying MORE $$ to promote their listing, is not getting views. This is rampant and this "community" (its not, but what ebay wants us to think), is ripe with listing rot.
Can you provide an item number for an item that has not shown up for weeks?
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoindexing can take time. Revising restarts the indexing.
ending, relisting ............. indexing takes time.
some categories take more time to index
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoTo add.......... a recurve bow listing may trigger "human eyes" to review it as part of the indexing process resulting in a longer lag time.