SEARCH ENGINE ISSUES

[bullpup]

I am a very long time buyer and seller on the Ebay platform.

Recently, when I search for a specific item, the results include items that have nothing to do with what I am looking for.
Example... 1942 CHEVROLET SHOP MANUAL, even when 'Exact Words, Any Order' is selected, the search results show 81 listings, very few of which have anything to do with a Chevrolet Shop Manual.
This is just one example, but it happens every time I try to search for any specific item.

This is very frustrating, and based on the complaints I read in the community forums, I am not the only one having this problem.

What happened to your search engine???
It is almost not usable any longer.
No one wants to have to scroll through pages of listings that have nothing to do with what they are searching for.

Please fix as soon as possible...

[eburtonlab]

Are you limiting your results to the "Manuals & Literature" subcategory of eBay Motors?

Here is what I see when I do that using your keywords without using the Advanced Search exact words:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/6029/i.html?_nkw=1942+CHEVROLET+SHOP+MANUAL&_sop=10

I see about one hundred and fifty results that seem to be relevant, though some are for multiple years, not just for 1942.

eBay's search can only be as good as the information that sellers are providing.

One issue with automotive searches is that some sellers stuff their item listings with unrelated keywords in the item-specifics so their items appear in the maximum number of searches regardless of how relevant they are. That can be a problem if you are performing a very general search for all kinds of parts for a vehicle, but it is less of a problem for narrow searches in a particular category or when using very specific part numbers or when searching exact phrases rather just a few popular keywords.

Here is what I get using the "exact words, exact order", all categories:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=1942+CHEVROLET+SHOP+MANUAL&_in_kw=3&_sop=10

I see twenty-one results that all appear to be relevant; some are in the Collectibles category.