As a seller, searching for certain Christmas items has been a chore. The search engine is difficult

[frecklesfinery88]

I have been searching for certain fabrics for a quilt project and another sewing project. So being a good eBayer I figured I would look on here first.  I put in a certain fabric, the brand etc.  I got 3800 items, only 6 of which was what the title stated.  It took almost a half hour and a lot of frustration.  I just wonder how our own items are categorized? Sales are slow for us this quarter, How about all of you?

[m60driver]

I often get better search results for Ebay using Google.  Ebay uses some algorithms that statistically favor Ebay rather than any one seller. Resistance is futile.  For some reason my Christmas offerings, very low priced, are not selling even when using promoted listings.

[postcardcountry · Accepted solution]

This is what I was told:

you put in your search -  holiday cotton material  

the search then shows you ANY item with holiday in the item specifics, ANY item with cotton in the item specifics and ANY item with material in the item specifics.   It does not do a holiday+cotton+material

You can narrow it down somewhat by using the filters that appear on the left hand side of the screen.

to get just the "holiday cotton material" that is the way you enter it in search, with the quotes.  That will reduce the number of items that appear in the results.

Of course, I can't find where eBay explains this.  If I hadn't complained to the boards I wouldn't have known.

I think this is why buyers give up.  They are getting too much information that doesn't match all of their criteria.   (sometimes I think you have to have the mindset of a programmer to search)

[dhbookds]

What search term did you use? 

[soh.maryl]

When I search using exactly this (Christmas fabric cotton), I get 98 results.  (Parentheses.) 

[frecklesfinery88]

Christmas Character fabric, Christmas floral fabric, Disney UP fabric.

I am making several small projects for family and a quilt. So I had several fabric searches at different times this week.  It is overwhelming as a buyer. I can understand the frustration.  That is all I am saying.

Thanks

[frecklesfinery88]

Thank you!  I agree.

[eburtonlab]

Try this search as a possible starting point:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=christmas+character+fabric+cotton&_sacat=28162&LH_Tit...

That is a search for christmas character fabric cotton in the Crafts: Fabric category.

[jeff-second-chance-silver]

Good luck I have entered the exact title into the search engine and it showed up on the second page. That tells me the search engine is not using keywords to search. I bet if you were to give 50% more of your profits to promoted listings your sales will go up and you would find your listings. 

[farmalljr]

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@frecklesfinery88 wrote:

Christmas Character fabric, Christmas floral fabric, Disney UP fabric.

I am making several small projects for family and a quilt. So I had several fabric searches at different times this week.  It is overwhelming as a buyer. I can understand the frustration.  That is all I am saying.

Thanks

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It drives buyers away. It's just that simple. Sticking a bunch of irrelevant items in front of them instead of what they are looking for, drives them to Google and they shop somewhere else. Even if they end up paying MORE, they are at least finding what they are looking for. 

[whitewaterford]

For a couple years, eBay has been not so subtly encouraging us sellers to complete item descriptions in theory to help make searches "better" for buyers which in turn helps the sellers.  In this case I think you would be better off using the the Fabric category and then selecting the important criteria for you, which seem to be the material (cotton) and the theme (holiday/Christmas).  That way, in theory, all three things have to be true for the same listing for it to show up in the results.  Keep filtering with more criteria until you find what you want.

[frecklesfinery88]

I just wanted to point out how difficult it really is to find our listings.  I didn't think it really would be so difficult to find some simple items.  Now, I can understand why our items are in a stage/sitting mode.  You would have to figure out the logic.  It really shouldn't be this difficult.  Our sales have dropped, as well as our friends for this quarter.  Its heartbreaking....

[frecklesfinery88]

I understand what you are saying and their logic. But, when you are searching for a specific item as a buyer this does not make sense. Then add the fact that most are shopping on their phone now, it makes it difficult. 

I just want things to be better for eBay and all the terrific sellers. Just trying to help others.

Have a great weekend.

[soh.maryl]

Anyone notice that I used the word "fabric" in my search and not the word "material"?