There is something massively wrong with search!

[popblox]

I tried to list a doll this morning, and, while researching comparisons, I noticed that the total items shown didn't match the total search results. It showed there were 6 results, but only 1 was shown:

I thought maybe it was a "clear your cache", etc. issue, so I did all that and got the same result. Then I tried searching from a private window, where the same search yielded accurate results. Incidentally, I had several items to list and this happened with every item I searched, so it wasn't a one-off.

Another member posted here about how ad blockers are preventing promoted listings from appearing in search, and the results were accurate after I disabled AdBlock.

However, all my listings are promoted, I've used chrome with AdBlock as an extension for years, I research comps routinely, and sponsored listings have never been "hidden" like this, nor have the number of results been noticeably different from the number of listings shown.

I don't know if this is a change with AdBlock and/or chrome and/or eBay, but I do know that my sales have been down dramatically for about 2 months. I've previously accepted this fate as just part of the business, but if promoted items aren't appearing in searches for people who use ad blockers (literally everyone I know), it's safe to say that's going to affect sales.

velvet@ebay:

This certainly seems like an issue that eBay needs to address immediately, especially with the constant emphasis on promoted listings. Sales for everyone using promoted listings are being lost every single second.

[popblox]

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@optimus.prime wrote:

I thought they were too. 
I tested AdBlock Plus on Chrome and it blocked the same listings AdBlock did.

Makes this issue twice as difficult to get resolved.

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Exactly. I also sent an email to support@adblockplus.org, but I doubt a single email to either of these companies is going to do anything, especially given the fact that they're providing a free service. I also left a review, but I don't anticipate anything will change unless they get bombarded.

Imagine all the sellers this is happening to that have no idea it's even going on.

[backpacktreasures]

I am using Adblock Plus with Google Chrome and my listings are being blocked.

[wastingtime101]

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@popblox wrote:

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At any rate, search results are hidden entirely by AdBlock, but it appears the issue is limited to FireFox with ABP (as tested by @wastingtime101).

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With the disclaimer that my settings allow non-intrusive ads. Those with more strict settings might see more blocks.

And my testing was on a Mac with OS Monterey, so PC users may see different results.

[rad_media_and_collectibles]

Knew something was off when looking at recently sold listings and couldn't see anything.

eBay, please fix this ASAP! At the very least do what you can on your end while users also petition AdBlock and ABP. This could lead to serious financial issues for many of your sellers if left unresolved.

[optimus.prime]

 I have good news. A AdBlock Plus developer responded to the Issue Ticket on GitHub. He said..

“I’ve made some adjustments, which should resolve the issue you’re facing, it can take up to an hour give or take for you to see it reflected on your end, but try to update your lists on the extension.”

I just ran multiple test with the ABP filter on, and nearly all of my listings are showing. It appears to be hiding a few still, but this could be because they are promoted. But out of about 30 searches, 27 are now showing.

Thanks again to @eburtonlab for creating the ticket on GitHub.

I strongly recommend everyone that was having this issue, try to search for your listings again. Remember, this was a correction for AdBlock Plus. Not AdBlock. 

We must now get ahold of AdBlock. They don’t have a GitHub I don’t believe. They use a ticket system. You get report a bug in the app or open a ticket on their website. I urge all of us to open tickets, to get their attention.

[popblox]

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@optimus.prime wrote:

 I have good news. A AdBlock Plus developer responded to the Issue Ticket on GitHub. He said..

“I’ve made some adjustments, which should resolve the issue you’re facing, it can take up to an hour give or take for you to see it reflected on your end, but try to update your lists on the extension.”

I just ran multiple test with the ABP filter on, and nearly all of my listings are showing. It appears to be hiding a few still, but this could be because they are promoted. But out of about 30 searches, 27 are now showing.

Thanks again to @eburtonlab for creating the ticket on GitHub.

I strongly recommend everyone that was having this issue, try to search for your listings again. Remember, this was a correction for AdBlock Plus. Not AdBlock. 

We must now get ahold of AdBlock. They don’t have a GitHub I don’t believe. They use a ticket system. You get report a bug in the app or open a ticket on their website. I urge all of us to open tickets, to get their attention.

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Thank you @optimus.prime, that is a refreshing update, to say the least! 50 Million users down, 40 Million to go. 

Encouraging everyone that has a moment to please submit a ticket with AdBlock here:

https://help.getadblock.com/support/home

[eburtonlab]

Thanks for the update, optimus.prime! Good news!

I would like to make further tests, but so far the quick checks I have done indicate agreement between the numbers of results shown at the top of the eBay search results page and the actual listings displayed, which is a very good sign.

I believe that Ad Block Plus and Ad Block use the same abp-filters-anti-cv filter list, so if changes were made to that list, once each ad blocker is updated to the latest version of the list things should work again. Ad Block Plus has an indication of when each filter list was last updated and a button just above the list to update all lists manually, if needed:

Ad Block is somewhat similar:

If you disabled the ABP filters in Ad Block Plus or the Anti-Circumvention filters in Ad Block, try enabling them once again, manually updating if it is not done automatically, and testing your search results.

[popblox]

UPDATE:

I just ran several searches, including the search from my OP - I can now see all my listings, as well as the others that were missing. So, it appears as though the issue might be resolved with AdBlock as well.

I'm hesitant to believe that this has been resolved permanently, so I will be adding "see if your listings are hidden" to my morning checklist and would encourage others to do the same.

If anyone is still experiencing issues seeing your listings, I would recommend submitting a ticket that includes your eBay selling ID to AdBlock.

A very big thank you to members of the community that helped get this resolved, especially @eburtonlab 🙏

[gottasellemall69]

That's great to hear! Noticing however eBay has not made a sound over this being a thing....still. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anonymous]

I've said the same thing. Did a search for Peter Frampton import cds and in the results, lo and behold! David Bowie and Pete Townsend import CDs were in the first 10 results. Just a couple but enough to say, "These aren't Peter Frampton import cds." I mentioned it on a previous post and someone said that it has to do with clicking the right item specifics, but it still goes back to "These aren't Peter Frampton import cds." IMO, I think there's a number of folk programming the search engine that aren't discussing things that need to be done between themselves, thus causing hassles with the site. I don't know what's going on really but what I do know is that my sales have been down for awhile now.  
Hands cut off, ain't nothing we can do... -E.Solo.
 

[velvet@ebay]

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@popblox wrote:

velvet@ebay adsteam@ebay brian@ebay 

My listings, along with many other sellers, are not being shown in eBay search results to users who have an ad blocker active in their browser.

*If this post is still somewhat accurate, then approximately 65% of buyers on eBay make their purchases from an internet browser. That's about 103 million users.

*Of those 103 million buyers, about 43% actively use an ad blocker. That's approximately 44.5 Million buyers on eBay who do not see my listings if/when they search for an item I sell.

*These results are the same whether the listings are promoted or not, as there's no indication that an active promotion on a listing is the trigger that causes a listing to be hidden. Rather, it appears to be seller account specific - all my categories are affected, even my auctions aren't visible in search.

I realize there have been "ad blocker" discussions that went unresolved previously, but this is a fairly recent issue for me. I've never had any problem seeing my listings in search results until now.

My sales have dropped dramatically (60-80%) in the past 2 months. All 931 of my items are being hidden from 44.5 million buyers on eBay. Why?

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Hi @popblox! It sounds like whatever was causing this major search issue to occur, has been resolved, but it also sounds like it's been somewhat of a concern for a bit now on a smaller scale. We'll try to have this looked into closer. Thanks for the tags!

[eburtonlab]

"These aren't Peter Frampton import cds."

If you just search for items containing the keyword Peter Frampton, you will find results that are not necessarily Peter Frampton albums, but that nonetheless contain the keyword Peter Frampton in the item specifics because he was a contributing musician.

Using the Artist filter may help, unless sellers are inappropriately including his name there when he is not actually the artist.

[Anonymous]

I know. I still think that any cd not related directly to the original keywords of the search should be at the end of the search results. As I recall, before Cassini, it gave what one was looking for. I also did a search for cookbooks awhile back and in the first 10 results were tarots cards and Bibles. THOSE aren't cookbooks. So I think the search engine is wonky, along with many other folk who think the same. What's worse is that sales are down everywhere and it's been like this for awhile, so I guess I won't sweat the search engine problems.

[tori_729]

So I really thought this was why I'm getting such slow sales but I've been messing with AdBlock and it doesn't seem to affect my listing results. I have "allow non-intrusive advertising" selected but when I turn it off, it doesn't seem to change anything. 
I guess that still could be a reason my sales are down b/c others are just not seeing them even though I am. I hope that's the case, it's been really lame lately for me.

ETA: I just saw the updated issue on github. Maybe it's fixed!!

[eburtonlab]

I still think that any cd not related directly to the original keywords of the search should be at the end of the search results.

The keyword search only checks to see if the keyword is present in the title or item-specifics. If the keyword is there, the listing is considered a match and appears in the results.

How the search results are ranked depends upon the sort order chosen. It is possible that if you use the Best Match sort that eBay may give some weighting to certain listings based on the placement of the keywords, but for the other sort methods the order of the results is strictly determined by the user's chosen criteria: date, location or price.

I also did a search for cookbooks awhile back and in the first 10 results were tarots cards and Bibles. THOSE aren't cookbooks. So I think the search engine is wonky, along with many other folk who think the same.

There are certainly some very wonky things about eBay's search, but the vast majority of those kinds of issues are caused by sellers using "sell similar" and not updating the item specifics, or by eBay changing the category structure after the listing was posted, causing an old narrow search to suddenly point to a much broader category. Or by badly targeted sponsored listings.

A current search for cookbook turns up lots of cookbooks at the top of the results in various sorts for me, though there is at least one charity/sponsored listing for Ghost Girl that shows up at the top of the Best Match sort for some odd reason. I doubt that would influence anyone looking to find a cookbook, though.