Why do search result quantities change when changing the sorting from Best Match to something else?

[emilime75]

Example, I'm searching for a set of 4 car wheels that are 19" in diameter, 9.5" wide with a 5x114 bolt pattern.  So I type in "19x9.5 5X114 Set" and receive 46 results under the default sorting of Best Match.  When I choose to sort the results to anything other than Best Match, the search results quantity drops to 15.  Why?  This wasn't always like this and it makes zero sense why the quantity would change.

[stainlessenginecovers]

No idea- but, do you use the "" (quotation marks) when searching?

For wheels, maybe just input the word 'wheels'  (no quotations or apostrophes) and then use all the boxes off to the left (item specifics) you may wind up with even more items to see?

[eburtonlab]

Not sure what is up with Best Match, but I see very similar results to what you are seeing.

41 results using Best Match, 15 results in other sorts.

Perhaps eBay has made some recent changes, or else there is something about that particular search or those keywords. eBay will sometimes group certain keywords or treat keyword groups as unique keywords that may not follow the usual matching rules.

I notice that there are a lot more results -- thousands -- if you change your search terms very slightly to search for 19x9.5 5X114.3 Set instead. Results are limited to the Wheels category by default.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=19x9.5+5X114.3+set&_sacat=0

Sometimes changing keyword order can affect the results as well by disrupting the grouping:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=set+19x9.5+5X114.3&_sacat=0