Search and category drop down list.

[david.m.gray]

Hello, 

Is it just me or does the search bar and the "Shop by category" seem to have no relation to each other?   

I would like to search for "vax station", which is a vintage computer, but I know Vax vacuum cleaners are going to show up near the top so I switch the "Shop by category" to "Computers, Tablets & Network Hardware" which surely will remove VAX cleaners, but no, all the results are not for cleaners not vintage computers... 

I've also found that filtering on the right basically wipes out whatever you put in the top.   

Surely these elements of a search should  work in tandem. 

Am I missing the obvious? 

Cheers

[eburtonlab]

@david.m.gray 

When I do a general ebay.com search for "vax station" (without quotes), I currently get nine results; four are computer-related and the others are docking stations for vacuums. If, from that result page, I select the category "computers, tablets and network hardware" using the category filters on the left side of the screen, I am shown only the computer-related items. Alternatively, I could use the category drop down on the right side of the search bar to select "computers..." and then hit "search" to get the same result.

For a better search, try using the single word "vaxstation" (without quotes) to find about fifty results; or for both variations try using "(vax.station,vaxstation)" (again, without quotes).

eBay will sometimes steer a particular general search into an individual category, but that does not seem to be happening in this particular case.

[david.m.gray]

Hello, 

Thanks for your detailed response. 

That's not happening for me as you describe but I have switched off the computer now so can't be 100% sure.  I have just tried this on my Android tablet in Firefox browser and this is what happens. 

Search for vax station (no quotes) 

Set the category (immediately to the left of the search) to computer and tablets

And my search is cleared out, just a load of banners , sort of headline banners. Top one says "computers and hardware"... But zero results. 

Interesting the use of dots for spaces and brackets for OR, never knew that worked. 

I will try out the rest of your suggestions in the morning. 

Thanks for your help