Using advanced search stops me from filtering item condition?

[cyber_akuma]

I am searching for a specific type of gaming controller, and the results are flooded with people selling repair parts, empty boxes, accessories for them, etc.

I used advanced search/excluding results with "-" to filter those out... but I noticed that if I do this the options to filter by item condition went down from having several options to just "new" and "used", that's it, and a lot of "parts only" results were then appearing in my search. I tried selecting "used" but apparently "parts only" falls under this blanket "used" filter. I noticed that if I removed all of my excluded search terms all the condition filters re-appear.

Am I using this feature wrong or something? Can I really not filter specific item conditions if I also exclude words from my search?  

(While we're at it, I see items that are listed under Used, and even one listed under "Brand New" that are broken/parts only. Isn't that against eBay policies?)

[house*of*paws]

Hi @cyber_akuma 

I’ve not yet figured out how to get only the results that I’ve requested during a Search … regardless of the selling platform.

They must think that the more listings they show us, the more likely they are to get a sale.

[eburtonlab]

@cyber_akuma 

If you can provide a link to the search you are doing, someone may be able to provide some practical suggestions and even an alternative search or two. Or failing that, describe which terms your are searching for and which you are excluding, and any filter options you are using.

In some cases, using too many exclusion terms can cause the search URL to get too long, which can break the search -- beyond a certain length, the parameters in the search URL fail to be applied. The can cause things like not being able to navigate to page two of the search results, as the page parameter is often at the end of the page address.

But there may be a way to shorten the URL or a different way to search that may still allow you to exclude what you want to exclude.

[cyber_akuma]

Now I can't seem to get it to happen again, though somehow I get the feeling it will start happening again as soon as I post this...

Anyway I was doing searches for xbox controller 1708 and xbox controller 1914 and trying to filter out results for anything that wasn't a working controller, the results were loaded with all sorts of clutter like repair parts, accessories, broken controllers, services to modify them, and even one that was listed as "brand new" but the description says it is broken among all sorts of other results flooding the the search.

[eburtonlab]

Unfortunately, if sellers are listing parts or broken units as working, you may have to read the entire listing description to spot that if those cannot be filtered out of your results by excluding certain keywords. "New" "Used" and "Parts or not working" are all separate item conditions, and the first two should include only items that work, but not all sellers comply with that requirement as they should.

If your goal is to find every possible working controller, you will likely wind up having to wade through some non-working controllers or some non-controller listings in the wrong category. I saw some empty box listings, and lots of parts. Some of those can be filtered out using exclusions, but too many exclusions can break the search.

If you want a search that will turn up most controllers (though not necessarily all), you might try using some of the filter options. Picking Microsoft as the Brand will filter out a lot of off-brand parts. Choosing all but the "not specified" option under Connectivity will eliminate many non-controller listings, but may cause you to miss a listing if the seller has not included that item-specific.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=xbox+1708+&_sacat=117042&_from=R40&Compatible%2520Product=Contr...

If you are just looking for one controller, that may be good enough. You may have to decide how much time you are willing to spend crafting the perfect search to potentially save a dollar or two.

If this is something you plan to buy more than one of, or if this is a search you intend to keep doing over time, then it may make sense to have more than one search. If you start with a targeted search for each of your controller models that turns up good listings with very few false positives you can quickly find new results of interest. Then, if you do not find anything worth buying in that search, try a more general search to pull in listings the first search may have missed. The second type of search will require more effort to weed out the unwanted listings, but may not need to be performed as often, and after the first time running the more general search you can limit your results to items listed in the last few days since your last search to avoid having to see the same results you saw last time.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/117042/i.html?_nkw=xbox+1708+&LH_Time=1&_ftrt=903&_ftrv=48&LH_ItemCondition...