Search automatically changes from ALL CATEGORIES to specific category, excluding results

[seanb]

Seems people have complained about this before as far back as 2015, but it's just started to happen to me every time I search. Whenever I search for anything, in ALL CATEGORIES, ebay will automatially change the category I'm searching in, probably going to the category with the most results. Like if I searched for Disneyland in All Catergories, click search, ebay AUTOMATICALLY changes to the category 'Dineyana', exclusing MANY search results that are in other categoies. I then have to manually chose All Categories to see all searcg results. It's EXTROIDINARILY annoying.
Does eBay not want us buying stuff on their website? Why are they screwing things up so badly?

[nobody*s_perfect]

This is just another manifestation of eBay's basic disdain for their actual users, combined with misinterpretation of the data available to them and assumptions about how eBay should work.  I suspect that many of the decision-makers and programmers have never bought or sold a single thing on eBay.

[seanb]

Does anyone from ebay ever read this stuff? Any way to get message to ebay tech team? This is really a huge problem.

[nobody*s_perfect]

They don't see it as a problem. It is a deliberate feature which they call "Implicit category navigation." See post #44:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Weekly-Chat-with-eBay/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Mobile-Team-Oc...

[berserkerplanet]

eBay does not read this forum (or never shows any indication that they do).

There is no message to get to the tech team - that search change (implicit category navigation) is intentional.

eBay apparently doesn't care about the few "power searchers", but instead is courting noobs who can't string a search together, with I presume, the idea that shoving a couple of targeted results at them on their phone will produce a sale.

[rfmtm]

I agree this is really bad news for both buyer and seller. 

It is bad enough they often do the "We removed some search results to show you the most relevant listings.", routine, but to then change categories on you is  frustrating my buying and worse seriously affecting my selling (on another ID), to the point where a page will be completely void of all my listings.

Add this to the issue of serious errors in the ebay catalog and ePID's that are incorrect and you have a real mess coming into the holidays.

Just what is ebay's thought on how this is good for anybody, including ebay?

Make sure you use the "Feedback" or the "Tell us what you think" button on the search page.

[rfmtm]

Hidden categories are killing my sales (on another ID).  I am listing in the correct category, but there are others that are similar and/or maybe as correct as well, depending on the buyer you want to find your listing.  However, because I am not in the category were most others are, I get hidden.  Buyers are just not seeing they need to select "all", or they do, and then the next search just reverts back.

At the very least if ebay is going to work this way, then there should only be one correct category for an item.  Of course I could change my category, but then I will be paying a higher FVF and may still not get to the buyers I want.

Also the "show only most relevant" makes it even worse, again taking out all my listings from view from a particular search.

As a buyer, this is just as frustrating, to never have a search do what I want it to do.

@jesse  Please read this entire thread.