The new search is horrendous, please turn it off.

[thunder1900]

The new search tries to box me in to something I don't want.

Turn it off please.

[thunder1900]

The last item I purchased was found in a google search.  Ebay search could not find it.  Please give me the option to out of the new search.

[soh.maryl]

When you post here, you are addressing a very large group of experienced eBay buyers and sellers who volunteer their time here to answer questions and help others if possible.

We are not eBay employees, so we cannot turn anything off.

Your message is intriguing, however, so would you like to return and tell us exactly what the problem is with the current search function?  

[chris13]

If you share particulars, we may be able to help you, but we are unable as volunteers to 'turn off' anything on eBay. This forum is almost exclusively buyers & sellers sharing help and experience.

Common Search techniques many are unaware of:

"quoted" strings return matches with a term as 'required'

-notlikethis terms return results where a term is NOT present

(this, that, theotherthing) groups terms and returns results where at least one terms exists (Logical OR)

You can string these together like: Old "leather" boots -shoes (mens, boys, cowboy)

Lastly, it is sellers that write descriptions...so 'Garbage In/Garbage Out' applies.

If I list an old leather shoe and put "Shoe with the word Lawnmower written on it" in the title, it will in fact appear in a search for "lawnmower"

Let us know how we can help.

[sailinship]

I just have to say, I know every trick there is to search for something I want, been fishing on the bay since the early flood days. And I agree. The search engine is too pushy and aggressive at the current time. In particular I dislike that it constantly resets my left side/advanced choices and even more particular that it insists on showing me ridiculous "Sold" listings with insane shipping prices from foreign countries. I'm not buying an American comic book from the UK with $21 shipping when I can find tons of them shipped for $3.65. 

I'm sure that this will work itself out, but I really wonder if ebay is taking on the Amazon model, the worst search engine in existence IMO, for some reason that suits the current leadership and their chosen direction. 

[sailinship]

I wanted to just add one more specific, the SEO is trying to hard to figure out what else I'll like. It's literally turning me away from buying anything because it's pushing things that are related, but not what I'm looking for. When I type in quotation mark surrounded words and get results with not one single word that I typed, that's just too much IMO. I know how to find what I want, just let me do that ebay.

[chris13]

@sailinship 

"I type in quotation mark surrounded words and get results with not one single word that I typed,"

If you can find one, give an example of this. I think there is a subtle failure in the UI when this happens.

When a search returns zero results in a category context it does what is called 'Broadening' by throwing away the constraints and rerunning the search. Many dont see this is happening with poorly designed messaging.

Normally, a good search UI will show a clear 'Banner' with text like "0 results found in 'Housewares', showing results from 'All Categories' "

Additionally, sponsored/promoted results should IMHO be color coded or marked so it is clear they are 'added to the results' and may not be true search results. Those matches may always get broadened.

I havent encountered literal string searches where results have no instances of the string, but they may be there!

[thunder1900]

When I search on

MOTU M6 6x4 USB-C

I expect a list of items.  Instead I something beyond description.

It starts of with an unchecked box for "include description"

Then there is a graphic arrow pointing down.

The next text says "Category"

It's completely useless.

[thunder1900]

Somone recently made a major change in search.

Find out what it was and undo it.

Thanks

[chris13]

Self selecting 'Best Answer' might not, in the long run, be helpful to you.

I tried your search and had no problems. (9) results returned. They seemed relevant. Perhaps there is more to your problem than you think. An image, browser info, etc. may help further diagnose what you are seeing. 

Here is what I see.

[soh.maryl]

As mentioned in my original post here, and as others have reiterated, we are all eBay buyers and sellers who answer questions here.  We have neither the authority nor the capability to "change it".  

[soh.maryl]

Well, it's nice that he likes someone's answer, even if it is his own.     

[chris13]

Sigh. 

I am reminded of a person who called in to insist that by Installing Norton N360, his computer had been ruined and would no longer turn on. He demanded escalation to the CEO and showed a picture of his computer with a blank screen, a tower system with no red light, etc.

After spending a long long time listening patiently to the customer, we asked him to check the power connections and he finally discovered that he had turned off the power strip with his foot accidentally.

There is obviously SOMETHING going on with the OP's search results. Perhaps they are viewing them from the WebTV browser on a PS2? Maybe from a phone? Maybe it is interacting with an installed browser plugin? Maybe like the old IT joke, they have large magnets with suggested troubleshooting steps attached to the outside of a CRT monitor! I am patient and compassionate, so glad to help if more info is shared.

See ya round the boards. Glad you dont get mad at me when I try and keep the peace with the best intent. You are much valued here @soh.maryl 

[sailinship]

I will try to remember to get you a screenshot. 

[celidilec]

Does it look something like this?:

If so, it sounds like your browser is having an issue loading the "stylesheet" for the Search page.

If you're using Chrome, may I suggest trying the same search in an Incognito window (On a Mac, choose File -> New Incognito Window; on a Windows PC you can click the three dots in the upper right and choose "New Incognito Window") and then try the search again. Usually Incognito will run without any plug-ins, but this isn't always the case (especially if you've tinkered with the extensions settings in Chrome.)

In addition, and if you're comfortable doing so, open up DevTools and monitor the "Network" tab. It will look something like this:

As you can see here, my "search-page-large" css file is red, which indicates an issue. Personally, I  intentionally blocked the file so it's not loading. Yours might be red for another reason (again, it could be a plugin, or a network issue, etc.)

Hopefully this helps.