How are sellers manipulating the search algorithm?

[quadcitypickers]

I noticed a lot of sellers from China are somehow getting their items to show up in totally bogus searches.

These are not promoted listings or anything of that nature.

For example..if I search for a particular BRAND of light bulb, say GE, I will see a ton of no-name light bulbs.

They don't have GE in the title, description, brand descriptor, anywhere!

It used to be..if you searched for X, and the item didn't have X in the title, it would NOT show up..period.

It is really irritating as a buyer how broken the search is getting to be, especially when looking for something specific. 

[corvettestainless]

I just did a search for GE Light Bulbs (written just like that), not signed in- and 50 of the first 50 were GE. There were a couple without the word 'GE' but when you click on it, it's in the description and item specifics as being GE. 

Are they really GE- I don't know, but......

[gwzcomps]

Optiplex 320 is a good example of a broken search. You can do -320GB to get more accurate results, but then you might miss out on a sweet deal on one with a 320GB hard drive. Item specific filtering doesn't work and is a waste of time from my experience. At least in my field. When trying to buy solid state hard drives even when I use item specific filters I end up missing out on good deals and still get spammed with unrelated junk.

[zamo-zuan]

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@corvettestainless wrote:

I just did a search for GE Light Bulbs (written just like that), not signed in- and 50 of the first 50 were GE. There were a couple without the word 'GE' but when you click on it, it's in the description and item specifics as being GE. 

Are they really GE- I don't know, but......

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Yup. That's the thing.

If they aren't going to consider TRS or feedback, there's very little in terms of quality control. How can you differentiate a genuine buyer from one who sells knock offs in this case?

The only attempts at quality control these days seem to be in the "returns" system, but they aren't even differentiating between which turns are legitimate and which are not. Plus China sellers tend to offer instant refunds if their quality is questioned, which looks "good" in eBay's system. But it doesn't make up for the upset that the customer had to deal with.

If returns are going to be the only form of quality control, then it only makes sense that we need to differentiate between "good" and "bad" which isn't really happening right now. Just because someone has more or less returns doesn't mean they're a good or bad seller. Especially if we're comparing free returns to paid returns.

TRS and feedback are the best ways to tell if a seller is offering quality items. Certainly a better indicator than returns. It's just sad when sellers with 70% feedback or less, who can't keep TRS metrics, are showing on top of search. That's an extremely high risk for bad quality items, knock offs, or other problems with the products/business.

[zamo-zuan]

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@gwzcomps wrote:
Optiplex 320 is a good example of a broken search. You can do -320GB to get more accurate results, but then you might miss out on a sweet deal on one with a 320GB hard drive. Item specific filtering doesn't work and is a waste of time from my experience. At least in my field. When trying to buy solid state hard drives even when I use item specific filters I end up missing out on good deals and still get spammed with unrelated junk.

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Item specifics seem to change by category, and they tweak it often. 

Sometimes MPN will require an "exact match", sometimes partial matches work. Sometimes interchange part number will suddenly not be searchable, then it will go back to normal. Sometimes custom fields won't work, sometimes they will.

Unsure if it's intended or glitches. But it can certainly hurt search, and yes, it does throttle some listings in search, whether unintentionally or not. 

[eburtonlab]

@gwzcomps 

Optiplex 320 is a good example of a broken search. You can do -320GB to get more accurate results, but then you might miss out on a sweet deal on one with a 320GB hard drive.

Ah the Dell Optiplex line. I have a 3010 at home. Yes, there are no filters for that particular model -- luckily the name is pretty distinctive by itself.

For something like that, you might try searching like this:

optiplex320

That should match "Optiplex 320", but not "Optiplex 7010 320gb". You could also try:

optiplex.320

The period acts like a special character placeholder that will match a dash or a space (or no space). But the results are functionally equivalent to the first search.

Alternatively, you could stick with a search for:

optiplex 320

but limit your results using the Processor filter to only the choices with Pentium variations to eliminate many other models:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=optiplex+320&_sacat=171957&LH_TitleDesc=0&_fsrp=1&Bra...

You will still have some false positives to wade through (some of which you might get rid of with a few well chosen exclusions), but at least you know you will not be missing out on a good deal on a 320.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I'm a seller but pretty soon I'm going to have to wander over to the buyer's board to learn how to search. Boolean no longer works. I've given up several times lately in disgust searching ebay. Does ebay care? Nope!

Google searches are even worse than ebay. Net neutrality is gone and the results are pay to play, destroying the ability to find interesting relevant information that doesn't lead to somebody's wallet. Free information is out there, whether reading current events or any topic you can think of, but finding that information is now buried. 

[eburtonlab]

@ersatz_sobriquet 

Boolean no longer works. I've given up several times lately in disgust searching ebay.

It is still possible to use Boolean expressions to search, but the syntax has changed over the years. eBay has not done a good job of keeping its help pages up to date, though. Some good info can be found on the old help pages, since removed from ebay.com but still available on some other sites such as ebay.ie in Ireland:

https://www.ebay.ie/pages/help/search/search-commands.html

[ersatz_sobriquet]

@eburtonlab 

I've used + signs, parenthesis, doesn't matter, still get a bunch of stuff not relevant.

[coolections]

@corvettestainless 

I did the exact same search and got the exact same results as you. There was not a single bulb in the search result that did not have GE either in the title, or showing a picture of the box with the GE logo.  I do not understand this search problem people are coming up with. They are all GE bulbs. If you do not want overseas just click US only and now you not only get all GE bulbs, but you also get US only. 

[eburtonlab]

@ersatz_sobriquet 

I've used + signs, parenthesis, doesn't matter, still get a bunch of stuff not relevant.

Can you provide an example of a search that returns non-relevant results? I am curious to see if I can figure out what is going wrong and if I can figure out a way to get more relevant results.

Plus signs, despite their inclusion on that page, do not count as advanced search operators since they do not affect default search operation. Using quotes, exclusion terms preceded by a minus sign and "OR" terms (using parentheses and multiple keywords separated by commas only) should prevent keyword substitution, though.

[gwzcomps]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

@gwzcomps 

Optiplex 320 is a good example of a broken search. You can do -320GB to get more accurate results, but then you might miss out on a sweet deal on one with a 320GB hard drive.

Ah the Dell Optiplex line. I have a 3010 at home. Yes, there are no filters for that particular model -- luckily the name is pretty distinctive by itself.

For something like that, you might try searching like this:

optiplex320

That should match "Optiplex 320", but not "Optiplex 7010 320gb". You could also try:

optiplex.320

The period acts like a special character placeholder that will match a dash or a space (or no space). But the results are functionally equivalent to the first search.

Alternatively, you could stick with a search for:

optiplex 320

but limit your results using the Processor filter to only the choices with Pentium variations to eliminate many other models:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=optiplex+320&_sacat=171957&LH_TitleDesc=0&_fsrp=1&Bra...

You will still have some false positives to wade through (some of which you might get rid of with a few well chosen exclusions), but at least you know you will not be missing out on a good deal on a 320.

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Thanks I will have to give those a try.  Sadly I can't expect most buyers to understand all the search functions eBay supports.  I suppose it will make my life a little easier when doing product research.

[eburtonlab]

@gwzcomps 

You are very welcome.

Every buyer has their own preferred search methods -- some use keywords heavily, others prefer category browsing without using search terms at all. Some prefer to find an item and then use suggested links or "related" suggestions under the search bar. Some find a list of sellers whose taste they like and simply watch the sellers for new items. Some have a series of saved searches, others create them on the fly using the app. Some prefer to find their eBay links through google. Others mix and match various techniques.

[patd3283]

That is not exactly true.  A lot of China sellers have themselves listed in the US but further investigations show products and sellers are in China.

[Anonymous]

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@quadcitypickers wrote:

I noticed a lot of sellers from China are somehow getting their items to show up in totally bogus searches.

These are not promoted listings or anything of that nature.

For example..if I search for a particular BRAND of light bulb, say GE, I will see a ton of no-name light bulbs.

They don't have GE in the title, description, brand descriptor, anywhere!

It used to be..if you searched for X, and the item didn't have X in the title, it would NOT show up..period.

It is really irritating as a buyer how broken the search is getting to be, especially when looking for something specific. 

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Hi @quadcitypickers, I would need to see the search terms you are using to test this out, but can confirm that search results will be generated using all of the keywords you provide and won't be limited to a specific brand that you are looking for by default. Though the brand name in your keywords will help to place an emphasis on that specific brand, you would need to use the filters to the left side of the search results to limit results to only items of a specific brand. Additionally, other related items may be shown in the positions in search reserved for promoted listings. If you would like to share more details on what you are searching for and what search results you are seeing, I will be happy to look into it further with you and ensure everything is working as intended.

[the_fancy_fox]

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@coolections wrote:

@corvettestainless 

I did the exact same search and got the exact same results as you. There was not a single bulb in the search result that did not have GE either in the title, or showing a picture of the box with the GE logo.  I do not understand this search problem people are coming up with. They are all GE bulbs. If you do not want overseas just click US only and now you not only get all GE bulbs, but you also get US only. 

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I tried it and got a mixed bag. Half were GE and the rest were not. Using “ GE light bulb” got this: