eBay

eburtonlab · ‎06-19-2019

How can I use "or" "and" and "not" in searches. I have something I want and there are dozens of lengths they come in. I want only the ones that are 28" to 36". Why can't I search **** 28 OR 30 OR 32 OR 34 OR 36. Ebay seems to only give results that have all these words in it. It doesn't follow Boolean logic. This should be in advanced search.

A simple search with multiple search terms separated by spaces will give you results that contain all the search terms in the title (Boolean "and"), as you have noticed.

If you want to search for titles with any of those numbers ("or"), try this as one of your search terms:

(28,30,32,34,36)

That is, your "or" search terms separated by commas with no spaces, enclosed in parentheses. Then add whatever other search terms you want included in all the results, separated by spaces:

(28,30,32,34,36) widget

For terms you want to exclude ("not"), put a minus sign directly in front of the term:

(28,30,32,34,36) widget -yellow

eBay used to have pages that explained these search techniques, but the only current link I can readily find is on the Canadian site:

https://www.ebay.ca/pages/help/search/advanced-search.html

pf9000 · ‎06-19-2019

Also the + sign works as a conditional as long as there are no spaces. The + sign looks for all 3 of them in the search result and is an AND function.

pf9000 · ‎06-19-2019

Wild Cards no longer work and that is regrettable because that used to be a useful function.

pf9000 · ‎06-19-2019

I wish that -SPONSORED would bypass the Sponsored items in the search. No such luck.

eburtonlab · ‎06-19-2019

@pf9000

I wish that -SPONSORED would bypass the Sponsored items in the search. No such luck.

The Ad Block Plus browser extension can remove sponsored listings from the top of your search results, allowing things to sort correctly. Install Ad Block Plus and then in the settings, uncheck the default "Allow Acceptable Ads" checkbox.

curtisdamberm · ‎06-19-2019

I just tried (28,30,32...) and at least in the app it didn't work. Maybe it does on a regular web browser.

eburtonlab · ‎06-19-2019

@curtisdamberm

I just tried (28,30,32...) and at least in the app it didn't work. Maybe it does on a regular web browser.

It seems to work for me on my android phone using the app. If you try it using a browser, save the search and then open the saved search in your app to see if you get similar results (or save the search in the app and try it in the browser). There are some differences in search between the app and browser versions, but I do not think this particular technique should give you different results.

If you let me know your exact search terms, I might be able to provide more detailed advice, but if you would prefer not to disclose your search terms I understand.

The following search gives me the same number of results using either a browser or android app:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=thinkcentre+%28m700%2Cm710%2Cm800%...

efg5 · ‎09-11-2019

On a Windows PC using the Chrome browser:

I get "95 results" after searching for (LS998,LS998U) in the category "Cell Phones & Smartphones"

But I get "104 results" if I shorten the search to just (LS998) and keep everything else the same.

Any ideas about this behavior?

eburtonlab · ‎09-11-2019

@efg5

I get the same results using Firefox.

I think I understand what is going on. The first search (LS998,LS998U) is a Boolean search, but the second(LS998) is not -- because there is only one term in the parentheses, there is no OR operation involved, and the second search provides identical results to searching for LS998.

Note that a search for LS998 should also match LS998U as well, so your Boolean search is not strictly necessary.

Because a Boolean search bypasses the search expansion features, it is likely that there are some listings that are found due to keyword substitution or keyword-to-item specifics matching using your second non-Boolean search, that are not found when using your first Boolean search.

To test this, I tried searching LS998 -octopus which should also bypass the search expansion features and provide results similar to your first search, and I find that I also get 95 results in that case.

I noticed yesterday that my "search expansion" link above has been converted into an "advanced search" link instead, as the old page is no longer available on ebay.ca at all. Here is google's cache of the original link for reference, while it lasts:

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LRl-BehI7QUJ:https://www.ebay.ca/pages/help/se...

eburtonlab · ‎10-08-2019

Looks like the link above has expired, here is a newer cached link:

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MvI3EXmvxiIJ:https://www.ebay.ca/pages/help/se...

Here is a link from eBay Singapore that covers some of the same info, but also has a reference to the old wildcard search which no longer works:

https://www.ebay.com.sg/pages/help/search/expanding.html

coachgeoiii · ‎10-27-2019

the exclude Boolean symbol of - has never worked for me be it windows or Linux. In fact it seems to make it search specifically for term your wanting to exclude.

eburtonlab · ‎10-27-2019

@coachgeoiii

Using a minus sign should work to exclude the term from your search so long you ensure that there is no space between the minus sign and the keyword or keywords to be excluded.

For instance this search using these search terms:

gomboc -hungary -jani -molnar -klara -andrej

This search should find any item containing the term gomboc that does not include any of the terms hungary jani molnar klara or andrej.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=gomboc+-hungary+-jani+-molnar+-klara+-andreja&_sacat=...

Compare that to the search for gomboc without the other terms:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=gomboc&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=gomboc...

dialedin2007 · ‎12-13-2019

Is there any official documentation or support for search operators? The advanced search page has this link, but it makes no mention.

eburtonlab · ‎12-13-2019

@dialedin2007

Unfortunately eBay has replaced the old link with a generic page with little in the way of details.

In order to find details about Boolean operators, you have to dig up old pages on other country sites. Unfortunately some of the info may be out of date.

eBay Ireland has some info about searching:

https://www.ebay.ie/pages/help/search/about-results.html

https://www.ebay.ie/pages/help/search/search-commands.html