Our items are not showing up in search, even in search by store (screenshots included)

[zamo-zuan]

A co-worker reported an issue this morning as he was trying to assist a customer and found the items he was searching were not showing up as normal.

He even tried setting it up to search our store directly, and was using search phrases found in our MPN's, Interchange Part Number, and Other Part Number, in product identifiers.

I've found that 3/4 of our computers here are having this issue. Only on a couple of our PC's are our listings showing up properly.

I had them take screenshots of trying to search some of our most popular items as examples:

[rschissler]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@rschissler wrote:

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@eburtonlab wrote:

@rschissler 

In this particular case the OP is searching only one seller's items (their own), so a simple part number can be an effective search term, even if you would not use that term alone to search the entire site.

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I don't buy it.  The OP is trying to continue the tired narrative that Ebay is hiding his items.

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What don't you buy? 

That when you search your own store by a manufacturer part number, that items are supposed to show up?

Try it on your own store and see for yourself.

How is it a "narrative" when we're talking about how software is supposed to function, and it is not functioning as it's supposed to? 

You're confusing facts with narratives. 

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OK, I tried it!  Didn't work so well.  If you think this is the way search software is supposed to function, I don't know what to say.

[zamo-zuan]

Try searching any of the actual product codes and set it to one of the Motors categories.

That's how it shows up under normal circumstances. Another example:

These are the typical results when searching the exact product codes I used in the OP.

Motors product identifiers/item specifics is designed around these types of searches. 

"3" is not a product code, and I'm pretty sure you're aware of that. No need to make a mockery, if you're going to try it please give it an actual try with the codes I used in the OP. You will see how it's intended to work.

I find it hard to believe that you're seriously trying to say Product Codes/Manufacturer Part Numbers are not searchable...

[mam98031]

I've had this happen off and on for years.  The chat team tried to help me with it at one point.  Lots of back and forth, but no reason for it ever discovered and we all finally gave up.  It did not appear to happen for anyone but me when I was searching my own listings.  And most of the time if I did the search a second time it brought up the listing or listings I was looking for.  But I have no idea what caused it.  

I have not notice it happening in quite a while, but it could be that I didn't search for the items this was happening to because it doesn't always happen.

I did find that if I searched by active listings from the Seller Hub that I got the listing or listings I was looking for.

I know this doesn't really help, but I just wanted to share I've had this happen to me as well.  Good thing I found out is that it didn't apply to others searching my stuff.  Potential customers appeared to be unaffected by the issue.

When I search for what you did in your original post on 3211b I had 8 items return. On 3103 I had 13 return.  And on 9809 I had 7 returned in the search.

[eburtonlab]

@zamo-zuan 

It's also a clear confirmation that the listings are being hidden to CERTAIN areas, even when searching by zip code is NOT selected.

If you exclude a country or territory from your areas you ship to, then eBay will not show your listings to users in those areas (or users who are using those country or postal codes for their default shipping calculations).

At least some of your listings specifically exclude shipping to Puerto Rico.

[gramophone-georg]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

For any that don't regularly search in Motors, you'll find the MPN/Interchange Part Numbers/Other Part Numbers are a primary way to search.

If you set the category to Motors > Parts & Accessories > Car & Truck Parts > Engines & Components > Motor Mounts, and then try any of the search phrases, you'll quickly find that the listings DO show up by these type of search queries.

Regardless, as eburton has mentioned, the phrase is not relevant, as it's a targeted search.

Even a targeted search of a Manufacturer Part Number is not working. I'm not sure how anyone can argue this is not a problem. 

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Agree. It's a HUGE problem! I am constantly searching by part number because the eBay fitment info is a complete farce.

[gramophone-georg]

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@rschissler wrote:

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@rschissler wrote:

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@eburtonlab wrote:

@rschissler 

In this particular case the OP is searching only one seller's items (their own), so a simple part number can be an effective search term, even if you would not use that term alone to search the entire site.

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I don't buy it.  The OP is trying to continue the tired narrative that Ebay is hiding his items.

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What don't you buy? 

That when you search your own store by a manufacturer part number, that items are supposed to show up?

Try it on your own store and see for yourself.

How is it a "narrative" when we're talking about how software is supposed to function, and it is not functioning as it's supposed to? 

You're confusing facts with narratives. 

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OK, I tried it!  Didn't work so well.  If you think this is the way search software is supposed to function, I don't know what to say.

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I'm confused. Are you not getting it, or are you not wanting to get it?

[eburtonlab]

@zamo-zuan 

I guess this means one of the questions now should be... Why is the zip code set to PR for 3/4 of the computers here, when we're located in Downey, CA?

If someone from Puerto Rico requested a shipping estimate, and someone at your store entered that zip code into eBay to calculate shipping or to check if an item appeared in search, that might explain it.

Most users do not get shipments at multiple locations or change their country or postal codes much, so eBay's default behavior is to remember the last country and postal code used and continue to use that to calculate shipping charges and dates until a new one is entered.

[lovefindingtreasures2]

eBay does hide items and has openly admitted it.

[zamo-zuan]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

@zamo-zuan 

It's also a clear confirmation that the listings are being hidden to CERTAIN areas, even when searching by zip code is NOT selected.

If you exclude a country or territory from your areas you ship to, then eBay will not show your listings to users in those areas (or users who are using those country or postal codes for their default shipping calculations).

At least some of your listings specifically exclude shipping to Puerto Rico.

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I'm not sure why they would be blocking PR, and I find that odd as we regularly receive orders and ship to PR. Certain items we have a surcharge fee of up to $50 for PR, but we do not block them.

Let me do some checking and I'll investigate as well as grab some screenshots. Could you let me know which item you seen this on?

[zamo-zuan]

I checked our shipping preferences, and US protectorates is still allowed. 

I don't believe international shipping applies in this case anyway, as PR is not international. But to confirm I attempted to resubmit the shipping preferences and select "Apply to all", to make sure all our listings were on the same page, and...

[zamo-zuan]

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

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Agree. It's a HUGE problem! I am constantly searching by part number because the eBay fitment info is a complete farce.

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Yup, that's a big part of the problem. I've reported the bugs in fitment chart as if you search items in the chart it will still say "Not Compatible"! 

Those bugs still aren't fixed. 

When working with mechanics, we always have to have them verify by image anyway. We constantly must search by product codes. I'm not sure why anyone would think items should not appear by their product code? Isn't that why they recommended adding them to our item specifics...? 

[hillbillymedia]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

A co-worker reported an issue this morning as he was trying to assist a customer and found the items he was searching were not showing up as normal.

He even tried setting it up to search our store directly, and was using search phrases found in our MPN's, Interchange Part Number, and Other Part Number, in product identifiers.

I've found that 3/4 of our computers here are having this issue. Only on a couple of our PC's are our listings showing up properly.

I had them take screenshots of trying to search some of our most popular items as examples:

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On the buyer side of things the same has happened to me several times when searching recently in several different categories. To fix, I simply just backed out and tried again and it would then work properly or I`d have to re-try until it did. It can be frustrating. 

I`ve also had "zero" for search results once inside a sellers store and again, had to back out and re-try until it produced the proper result.

[pjcdn2005]

I did check a couple of your '3103' listings that do not show to PR buyers.  I checked a couple of them and although they don't seem to have the PR blocked, they also don't show the PR on the list of ship to locations.  But if I am already in one of those listings and change my location to the PR, it does look like I could purchase it...which of course doesn't help If I didn't see it in the first place.

I think that the problem has something to do with the gsp. When I did a general see other items search, you had 6320 listings for a Cali buyer.  But with a PR zip I only see 360 listings.  I checked a few of those 360 and none of them were enabled for the gsp..they were ship to the US only listings.

When I searched as a UK buyer, I saw 5959 listings (I assume they are all gsp listings).  Since you have about 6320 listings in total, it looks like 361 of those are not gsp listings which is about the same amount of listings that those in the PR see.  It's possible that because the PR is on the 'international' country list as well as included in the US, that the gsp blocks it because they don't ship there.  It shouldn't work that way but it does seem to be working like that right now.

[eburtonlab]

@zamo-zuan 

Could you let me know which item you seen this on?

This is the item, though it appears to have been updated since I did the screen grab -- I no longer see Puerto Rico excluded on the current page:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Engine-Motor-Mount-with-Bracket-2012-2014-for-Honda-Civic-1-8L-for-Au...

I happen to still have the original tab open, here is a wider shot that shows the listing itself: