eBay

saturdaystoys · ‎04-30-2024

I am using the updated version of Chrome... but when I try to conduct a search (both when being logged into eBay; and without logging in)... it just tells me there are ZERO items available on eBay; even for a common one-word search.

It seemed odd... so I rebooted my computer and the problem was still there.

As such, I tried to use Incognito... and the search worked perfectly.

Just wondering if others are having trouble with their searches...

eburtonlab · ‎04-30-2024

What location are you using to calculate your shipping estimates when signed in to your account? That can affect what results you see.

Try a general search. If there are no results you should see a "Shipping to" and a country or postal code in the upper right. Click on that and make sure it is set to the right country.

saturdaystoys · ‎04-30-2024

eburtonlab - Thanks for your quick response. Though I wasn't signed in at all... somehow a filter was in place that had limited searches to only one specific seller; one one for which, to my knowledge, I had not tried to search while on eBay. Strangely, I had never seen this issue appear until yesterday.

The same filter had been applied to "Shipping to".

I'll chalk it up as a glitch for now... but I was able to clear both filters and searches seem fine now.

Again, thank you.

eburtonlab · ‎04-30-2024

You are welcome -- glad you were able to sort it out.

It is possible you followed a link from a seller's "items for sale" page that limited the results to that one seller, and then kept searching from the results each time.

If you run into anything like that, it might be worth starting a new search from the main eBay page to ensure you are starting from a clean slate with no filters.

Thanks for following up with an explanation of what was happening!

saturdaystoys · ‎04-30-2024

I've seen that something within the eBay search process... has saved the name of a previous seller... and regardless of how many times I "clear" that search-by-seller reference... it keeps defaulting back to limiting my search to only one seller. Once I clear it... that session's searches are fine... but if I open a new browser later to do more searches... it's back to the same problem. Strange that it works perfect when using Incognito... but not with Chrome. Also strange that I've done thousands of searches and have never run into anything like this. The good news... is that I know how to manually clear the information whenever I do a search... but admittedly, it's frustrating. It's almost as if the system is trying to automatically insert a specific seller's name... but it won't let me get rid of it. It just keeps coming back like a bad penny. I'll watch the boards... maybe someone else will run into the same issue.

eburtonlab · ‎04-30-2024

It's almost as if the system is trying to automatically insert a specific seller's name.

When you search a particular seller's items, the seller's name is embedded in the page address of the search. If you save or bookmark the search, and continue your searches from the results of that search, you will continue to have that seller username in your page address until you navigate to a different page and start a new search.

saturdaystoys · ‎05-01-2024

I find that even if I try an Advanced Search from eBay.com without logging in with my eBay ID... another seller name appears in the search for seller... even though I'm not putting it there. If I click on "clear options" (at the bottom of the Advanced Search page)... it won't remove it. I have to manually place my cursor in the seller search box and delete the text. It then reappears every time; with every other search... whether I'm logged into my account, or not. My instinct tells me that there is likely a simple fix... and that something in my system is holding tight to that automatic insertion. When I place my cursor in that box... it automatically populates with the various eBay accounts that I manage; including their passwords. It may be that this is something that Chrome is trying to do on my behalf. That's not bad when I actually want to log-in to my account... but I'm unsure about deleting my log-in info/passwords from Chrome... as I don't want to eliminate the automatic insertion during a desired log-in. At this point... I'm just trying to figure out what is automatically populating a seller search filter.... and why it won't let me use the "Clear Options" link to clear the seller search reference. It's as if Chrome is populating the box... and eBay doesn't even recognize that anything is there. I'm still puzzled... but at least I can manage it manually.

eburtonlab · ‎05-01-2024

That sounds like something your browser is doing -- saving form data from past uses and applying it on certain pages, like a password manager.

If you do not want to change your browser settings, try using a different browser to search eBay.

saturdaystoys · ‎05-01-2024

I've narrowed down the issue... slightly. I have no problems when trying to conduct a regular search on eBay; both when I'm logged-in... and when I haven't logged in. The automatic populating of the seller search filter appears only when I'm using the Advanced Search option... and that limits the search every time until I manually clear the text from that box.

eburtonlab · ‎05-01-2024

Are you using this link to reach the Advanced Search page?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch

saturdaystoys · ‎05-01-2024

yes... that was the link I was using.

I finally saw no other option... so I just deleted all of my eBay passwords from my Google password manager. When I did that... those seller names were completely removed from the Advanced Search seller filter.

Then, I manually re-added and saved the eBay IDs and passwords to Google password manager. Fortunately, they no longer populate the Advanced Search seller filter (whether I'm logged into eBay... or not).

As such, everything is now operating the way it used to. Advanced Search works fine... with no unwanted filters automatically appearing. Onward! Thanks again for your guidance...