Someone explain how this helps anyone
Summary: The discussion revolves around frustrations with search results on eBay, particularly with 'best match' searches often showing irrelevant sponsored items. bashort expresses concerns about the focus on promoted listings rather than improving genuine search results. dhbookds and others discuss how eBay's method seems to push promoted content, affecting the quality and relevance of search outcomes. Participants share their thoughts on comparing eBay and Amazon's search capabilities, with mixed opinions on their effectiveness. Some suggest providing feedback to eBay to potentially address these issues. Concerns about search reliability and improvements are central to the conversation.
I do a best match search and most of the time the top 4 results or so will be sponsored items that do not even come close to what I am searching for.
Who benefits from this other than Amazon
mozartbach1971
·6 days agoWhen I do a best match search a lot of times I see my own items.
chapeau-noir
·1 week agoAmazon and eBay are not the same thing.
gloryglorygifts
·1 week agoThis post reminds me of one I did, I think, last year. I was trying to get comps on glow in the dark holy water fonts but only put in something like glow in the dark fonts. I got the most bizarre results because my idea of fonts and the rest of the world's (including ebay) are skewed. I got type face fonts and lots of glow in the dark items. Sometimes more description is better when looking on here, or at least that's what i have found with my own products. Amazon has the same issues, at least with fonts. Neither works well with tags whether sponsored or not imho.
simba6
·1 week agoI never have used it.
bashort
OP1 week ago · EditedIn order for promoted listings to have any value it absolutely requires ebay to not show the person searching the best search results from the best sellers at the top. There is absolutely no way around that.
There has to be a cost to ebay in lost sales and lost customers from the biased search results, I wonder if they ever tried to calculate it?
mam98031
·1 week agoYou think Amazon searches are better? I sure don't.
bashort
OP1 week agoI do not know but I think the best thing would be if you get a potential buyer on the site just show them what they are searching for so there is no need for them to try somewhere else.
mam98031
·1 week ago · EditedBut you compared the search engine on Ebay to Amazon and Amazon is no better and maybe even worse that Ebay's.
I'm not defending either site. They each have their issues, but if I had to pick one, I'd say Amz is worse.
books_n_more
·1 week agoI've researching sewing patterns and have been surprised at how bad the search results are. If I put a brand number and type (ie Butterick 3595 dress) the results aren't nearly as specific as they should be. Anyway, I guess it helps Ebay somehow or they wouldn't do it.
dhbookds
·1 week ago · EditedI did the Butterick 3595 dress search on newly listed and all results were fine......on Best Match.....all sorts of promoted listings were shown, amongst real matches......
I did the ? thingy and rated them a 1 (lowest) with the comment .......poor matches.
books_n_more
·1 week agoI just tried and it worked for me too. So, the Best Match default must be where they are really pushing promoted. Anyway, I did what you did and gave them feedback concerning the matter. I totally get that they are pushing promoted listings, but there still should be a logical balance.
eburtonlab
·6 days agoLately "Best Match" sort order is returning more results -- and many less relevant results -- compared to other sort orders. The more folks report the issue to eBay, the more likely eBay is to look into the issue. In the mean time, try other sort orders for more relevant results.
dhbookds
·1 week agoWell, according to their stats..they are making money at it, so someone is selling something....
grann-4629
·1 week agoHow does eBay come up with 'best match'?
books_n_more
·1 week agoThey go by promoted listings. I wouldn't be surprised if AI is involved also.
mam98031
·1 week agoThat is not public information, so none of us can accurately answer your question. We can guess or through out conspiracy theories, but none of us have that info.
grann-4629
·1 week agoThanks mam ... that's what I thought. It's the default when I do a search, but I always change it.
bashort
OP1 week agoThey are making money for sure but it just seems like it would be more sustainable to increase sales instead of always depending on more money from promoted listings
books_n_more
·1 week agoI agree. You'd think they'd run a massive risk of frustrating and alienating buyers by making it difficult to find exactly what they are looking for.