I Save searches with small photos in the gallery but when I use the search they are large

[force_of_iron]

This has been an annoyance for some time but have finally deleted all these corrupted searches and wont use them until I can get it fixed. 

  I have general category searches. If I create a search for - Antiques/other antiques, US only, auction format 200 item view, small photo icons the search comes up. I save it to my ebay searches. When I next use the search again it will be large icons which is no good. Why won't this search save as I have created it. Why won't this search save as I have saved it?

Thanks for any help that anyone can provide. I've spent a lot of time trying to get around this bug.

[force_of_iron]

I forgot to mention. In addition to being the large icons it changes from the 200 view to the 50 view as well, very annoying

[eburtonlab]

@force_of_iron 

When you say "category searches", are these actual searches with keywords, or are you just browsing a category with no keywords used?

For actual searches, your default search behavior can be customized, using the "customize" choice from the "View" drop-down menu at the top of the search results page where you can choose "List" or "Gallery" views. You should be able to select the size of the thumbnails (S/M/L), the default sort order, and the number of items per page, as well as details that appear in each search result.

When an individual search is bookmarked or saved, some of those parameters can be saved with the search such as sort order and items-per-page (I am not sure about thumbnail size or some of the other details). Typically the sort order and items-per-page information is tacked on to the end of the URL, so if your search URL is very long (lots of search exclusion terms or excluded sellers) it is possible that the search URL is being truncated in such a way that you are losing some of that information. At least that is the case with bookmarks, I am less clear about of the actual format of "saved searches".

[watrwest]

Rather than using ebay's "save this search"

have you tried bookmarking the correct searches

with your browser?

I have never used s-t-s since I have found ebay

to be too unreliable, constantly changing how

they do things, with no advance notice.

The only argument in the ebay search url

that I am aware of that deals with

display is the &_dmd=  

Setting dmd to  =1  produces a text only list

===============

Setting dmd  to =2  produces a list w/ photos

I don't know if these results are small or large in your eyes.

==============

The argument for number of items per page displayed

is &_ipg=     valid variables being 20  50  100  200

As I said I don't know anything about ebays  s-t-s system

but editing urls you have bookmarked with your browser

is easy and are beyond the reach of ebay.

Ebay searchers and category browsers 

have to take control of their own urls

and  stop relying on what ebay thinks is best.

[watrwest]

Rather than using ebay's  "save-this-search" system

have you tried saving the correct searches using

your browser's bookmarks system.

I have never used s-t-s  as I find ebay to be too unreliable,

willing to change things at whim with no advance warning.

===========

The only url  argument pertaining to display

that I am aware of  is  &_dmd=

setting dmd to   1  produces a text only list....

=====================

Setting dmd  to 2  produces a list with pictures.

I don't know if these qualify as large or small for you...

================

The argument for the number of results per page is

&_dmd=     with valid variables being  25  50  100  200

=============

Once you have bookmarked your correct searches

in your browser, they are beyond the reach of ebay

and you can edit them in the future very easily.

Ebay  searchers and category browsers

must take control of their urls

and not rely on what ebay thinks is best.

[force_of_iron]

Thanks for replying. I want to do a general category search. I don't want to use keywords just to check everything that might be available. What I have done to make this work is I search for (the, a, and, is). This will save in the proper format. When  I prepare to search I go to advanced search and delete those and research. It holds the criteria. Odd thing is there is an ad at the right. If I go to advanced search before that ad loads then it kicks me totally out of my saved search to something with no criteria. 

As you can guess it took me awhile to fiquer that out. I'm guessing at some point ebay will change something and it will no longer work. 

An odd thing about that method is that it doesn't work on all categories. If I do it in my main interest area, books it works. If I do it in antiques of collectibles it does not. 

Thank you both for your time. 

[force_of_iron]

I will try this bookmark thing. I've never used that before. Maybe its time to learn something new....

[eburtonlab]

@force_of_iron 

I want to do a general category search. I don't want to use keywords just to check everything that might be available. What I have done to make this work is I search for (the, a, and, is). This will save in the proper format. When I prepare to search I go to advanced search and delete those and research. It holds the criteria.

I will have to experiment with this technique, but at first glance it appears to work for small subcategories. Very clever! I like it!

It is possible that your issue with your thumbnail size and items-per-page changes may be related to your "no keyword" search workaround, though. Hard to say without further experimentation.

Previously I have used this as a general search term:

(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z)

That should match any number or any single letter, which finds most listings that have any text or item specifics, particularly when searching title and description.

An odd thing about that method is that it doesn't work on all categories. If I do it in my main interest area, books it works. If I do it in antiques of collectibles it does not.

My suspicion is that eBay has safeguards in place to prevent too-general searches at the higher level categories. In smaller subcategories, those safeguards are not in effect.

If you are looking at a small enough subcategory, it is possible to search using only an exclusion term as your keyword -- try "-xxyyzzaa", which currently has no matches when used without the minus sign as a (non-exclusion) search term. If you try that with a higher level category, you will just get an error message to add more terms and try again.