03-23-2019 08:32 AM
As a buyer on ebay, I am fed up with their search engine.
I can put in a exact description of a product or.. even simplify it. Yet what I am looking for will NOT come up in the search list. But.. if I put in a part number, it comes up??? (with the title description I previously put in).
It seems like ebays search is rigged for some reason. Very bad.
03-23-2019 10:09 AM
If you expect to enter a search term and have eBay's search engine spit out every item that has that exact search term in the title, you will be frequently disappointed.
eBay has several "smart search" features that can depart significantly from logical expectations. But then, eBay is not really interested in providing logical, complete search results; eBay is interested in sales. And the results that drive the most sales for the marginal user can often produce perverse results in certain situations.
One "smart search" feature that often causes problems is called "implicit category navigation" -- which is when eBay steers a search into a particular category where its statistical analysis indicates most of the sales from that search occur. If you notice that after your general search you wind up in a particular category you did not select, you can change the category dropdown back to "all categories" and run the search again for more results. But you have to notice the category change first. If you get tired of manually changing the category, you can try adding an exclusion term to your original search to defeat this smart search feature. Instead of searching for "cash register" (without quotes), search for "cash register -octopus" (without quotes). The former search will default to the "Point of Sale" category, the latter will remain in "all categories".
Another "smart search" feature is known as keyword substitution. eBay will often search for synonyms of your carefully chosen search terms, or will change your keyword if a different spelling turns up more results. If you want to search for an exact term and avoid any substitutions, try putting your individual search terms in quotes "like" "this".
It would be nice if eBay provided a simple way to bypass the "smart search" features, such as a checkbox on the search page, but until that happens your best bet is to try to outsmart the "smart search".
03-23-2019 10:22 AM
On similar topic - EBAY WON'T DISPLAY COMPLETED OR SOLD ITEMS WHEN I'M SEARCHING FOR AN ITEM - EVEN IF I PUT IN AN ITEM # FOR SOMETHING I SOLD - ANYONE know what's happening - been going on for about 3 hours.
03-23-2019 10:40 AM
EBAY WON'T DISPLAY COMPLETED OR SOLD ITEMS
This particular issue seems to be related to Adblock rules -- if you temporarily disable AdBlock Plus you should be able to search completed or sold items again.
See here:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Technical-Issues/sold-ltems/m-p/29631954#M54866
03-23-2019 10:46 AM
AdBlock Plus has never been an issue before - did something just change? It only started happening this morning.
03-23-2019 11:27 AM
It appears the latest update to the "EasyList" subscription of AdBlock blocking rules causes problems for eBay's search results of completed items. It does not seem to be a problem for every browser, so there are likely other confounding factors. But for most folks having this problem, temporarily disabling adblock on eBay seems to allow the search results to be visible.
It is not yet clear if there is an easy way to roll back the EasyList filter list to the previous version, or a way to edit the filter list, or if there is a suitable substitute filter list.
03-24-2019 07:09 AM
03-24-2019 04:44 PM
Duuuuuuude or duuuuuuudete..... YES...... and if you watch in your search it will bring up the same item over and over again from the same seller page after page.... it does it in the sold listing to...... What IS GOING ON? Smart search my rear........
03-25-2019 08:21 PM
A good thing to do is watch a item in a category you like to search. Open that item before searching and then at the top of the page open that category in a new page. The run your word search to get the results in that category you are interested. Now here is the kicker...… you can only do 1 search in that category and any refinements or new searches will default back to a broad search of ebay so they can push promoted items at you. Every time you want to do a new search or refine your search you will need to go back to the original item page and open the category again in a new page then run your new search.
It is a obvious tactic to push items you do not want in order to get extra money because the seller is paying them to promote the item. The part they are ignoring is if buyers can not find what they want they go else were and take their money with out making a purchase. So rather than taking a sell and making 10 percent off of the sale price they are losing a sell because they tried to get 16 to 17 percent. Then they lose a buyer who no longer comes back and make purchases. Sound familiar well its just back customer service but now its called innovative ways to make money that really does not make money.