@fr8rain
I appreciate all the info but it doesn't help much when I'm unable to do a simple search and exclude certain words without either getting way too many or none at all. This isn't the only search I've had problems with.
Understood -- but the same techniques I am showing you can be generalized to help you with all of your searches.
If a search turns up no results (or only results matching fewer terms), that is a sign that you have too many search terms; there are no results that match them all. So try dropping the least important term. Or else there are just no items on eBay that match your search criteria, and you need to keep trying the search until something new is listed. Try searching for alternative terms, like "1.5" or "38mm" instead of "1-1/2". Or combine them to search any match: (1-1/2,1.5,38mm).
If a search turns up too many results you have many options: add another search term, add an exclusion, try to narrow the category, try other filters such as 'item condition' or 'item location', etc.
If you notice that many of the results are missing one of your search terms, try putting that individual term in quotes and run the search again. That will force eBay to search for the exact term without using synonyms.
If adding an exclusion causes the search to find no results, remove the exclusion and try something else.
I do a lot of searching, and I rarely find everything I am looking for on the first attempt. Usually it takes a few rounds of refining and searching again, and backtracking and further refining my search. And then someone will list something else that matches my search that I am not interested in, and I refine my search further to eliminate the unwanted listings.
eBay complicates things by changing the way that search works, or making unwanted substitutions, but often if you can figure out what eBay is trying to do, you can find a way to undo it -- if that is what you want.
