Is eBay being forced into a hostile takeover, or voluntarily bowing to one, Search Engine

[johnfduda]

I was trying to do a search this afternoon prior to making some listings. So I searched on:

Nikon 35mm f2.8 af

I first tried items ended and tried what is currently up.

I get everything BUT what I'm looking for. Why would best match return mostly 17-35mm zooms? Because the price is the highest. But that's not what I'm looking for. I was doing research prior to listing my item. I was thinking auction but am scared off. How would the average eBayer ever find my auction? I tried clicking the option boxes in the left margin... gets worse. One time what came up was Nikonos underwater cameras. I got  mirrorless cameras that that don't take optional lenses. I got a full page of lens hoods when I changed to lowest price instead of Best Match. I've been doing this for years, sold many Nikon lenses. I can't believe how bad the search engine is.

But then the reason for this thread. I was wondering who wrote this search engine? But then I was thinking who tested this? And, who signed off on this. Some new hire programmer is India?? I know the cantseeme search has been criticized for years. But I've never seen the search engine this bad.

Is eBay being sabotaged. Is there an effort to drive down the market value? Give someone a bargain. What better way to lower the value of this web site. Discourage buyers, sellers, lower sales and profits.

And then walk in with a fix after getting a major bargain??

[18704d]

"I was wondering who wrote this search engine?

But then I was thinking who tested this?

And, who signed off on this."

Disruptive Innovators?

Lynn

[kensgiftshop]

I've looked up some items before I list them and I get the same results most of the time. I list a lot of vintage items and when I do a search for them, I get a bunch of Chinese sellers with nothing close to what I'm looking for.

[phcd1]

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@johnfduda wrote:

I was trying to do a search this afternoon prior to making some listings. So I searched on:

Nikon 35mm f2.8 af

I first tried items ended and tried what is currently up.

I get everything BUT what I'm looking for. Why would best match return mostly 17-35mm zooms? ...

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Cassini welcomes you.

Best match does what it does because it can, its that simple.

If buyers can't find the item they can't buy it, simple.

There is a fix, but no end user is going to look up "How to use eBay search", after all, it's a search engine. You type in "Red Widget" you expect a "Red Widget" not a "Blue Thingamabob"

[goodluckselling]

When I do the exact same search you described I get the same results you outlined but what you seem to be missing is that

• the top items all have 50+ product rating for them. 
• I also see all the keywords you used in the title of pretty much every listing. 
• They are not always on the same order but all the keywords are they for about everything I reviewed.

When I switch to auctions only I see very high rated listings at the top, based on seller ratings, product reviews, well defined descriptions and item specifics completed.  These top listings are very good well done listings.  When I go down about 5 listings in the auctions only search results I start to see 35mm only lenses.  Every thing seems to be working correctly from my perspective.  Here is the link I am reviewing from

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_Auction=1&_nkw=Nikon+35mm+f2.8+af&rt=nc

Also just in case you forgot or did not know, once you leave best match (default search results) you are no longer using the eBay search engine as we know it.  You now are being filtered by whatever the user inputs.

When you changed to lowest price first you got exact what you asked for lowest prices for listings that meet your search parameters.  Those lens hoods have the proper keywords so they are included in the filtered search results.  This is exactly how search should work.

As to who wrote the search engine?  Click here to learn more

As far as is eBay being sabotaged?  Click here to see the 3rd quater earnings report  I went ahead and gave you a link to a neutral report so you can not say eBay cooked the books, as if, but just to help you focus on the task.  21 Billion is marketplace product sales for the 2nd straight quarter tells me that either the search engine is working beautifully or no one uses it and still manages to buy at high levels. 

Is it possible you do not know how to work it?  I mean that is a very serious way.  If eBay can produce 21 Billion in sales for 2 straight quarters using a broken search engine, perhaps it is not the search engine that is broken?

Nothing seems out of whack as you are describing.  Some listing rank higher then others and what I see is very well defined and created listing rising to the top of the search results, because they meet your search parameters and rank better than other listings.  They engage buyers and that is why you see what you see when you are searching for products to buy. 

Good Luck Selling!

[johnfduda]

Thanks for the responses.

How do you get the "product rating?

If I hadn't been searching on here for years I wouldn't recognize how bad it's become. If I didn't call it cantseeme then I maybe wouldn't know about the discussions for years on how bad it is. If you set about to lower the value you don't drive sales to zero. Then'd you'd have no value. What'd you do is lower sales so that when you take over you get a bargan, because it's undervalued based on it's potential.

[slippinjimmy]

Are you looking for a camera with that lens or just the lens?

I ask because there doesn't appear to be a single 35mm (only) lens listed on eBay at the moment.

If you don't want to see the 17-35 or 20-35 then try this search

> Nikon 35mm f2.8 af -17 -20 <

Another question....are you restricting your search to US Only or Worldwide? You are more likely to find one of these relatively rare lenses using Worldwide.

Like this one.....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-Nikon-AF-Nikkor-35mm-f-2-D-Fixed-Focus-Lens-EXPRESS-SHIPPING-/131...

[johnfduda]

Saul

This ain't no rare lens. It wouldn't surprise me if there's a hundred listed. I just did another search and got only 17-35's, which is rather rare comparatively. And 20-35's which must be rather new. I got a zoom lens for a Nikonos underwater camera. About a dozen little rangefinder like cameras. I got two non zooms, a 20mm and I think a 28mm.

I didn't get a single 35mm f2.8 Nikon lens. AI AI'd AIS, AF nuttin.

Is all good man!

[luckythewinner]

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@johnfduda wrote:

I was trying to do a search this afternoon prior to making some listings. So I searched on:

Nikon 35mm f2.8 af

I first tried items ended and tried what is currently up.

I get everything BUT what I'm looking for. Why would best match return mostly 17-35mm zooms? Because the price is the highest. But that's not what I'm looking for.

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If you are looking for a lens, it would help to use the word "lens" in the search terms. 

And if you are looking for a fixed or prime lens, it would help to use the words  "fixed" or "prime" in the search terms as well.

[ted_200]

How do you get the "product rating?

Those come along with the eBay Product Catalog... if you list your item using the eBay Catalog, your listing will show the product rating stars. 

Anyhow, there's a link to who devised this thing here already... and he no longer works at eBay, so whatever he left behind, no one seems to know how to use it, fix it, or build on whatever it is supposed to be doing.  I don't think there's any way to know if he's shorted eBay stock.

I've used it, I have the same complaints.    People can point to $21 billion, I don't know that it wouldn't be $28 billion without it.  What I do know is it was probably developed to sell mass-market NIB consumer retail goods at a fixed price, which may not be the best thing for selling used camera lenses in a one-off transaction at auction.  Whatever they've done, my own shopping attempts here seem to include more and more irrelevant listings, and less of what I'm looking for.  It's hard to even get search results, you'll land on a lot of "category landing pages", eBay Product Pages, or lists of curated results consisting of listings eBay wants you to buy. 

Also just in case you forgot or did not know, once you leave best match (default search results) you are no longer using the eBay search engine as we know it.  You now are being filtered by whatever the user inputs.

Best Match is a "relevancy" algorithm, that is a search sort option.

Cassini is a search that is based on the same algorithm, regarless of search sort option.  All of search is now run from a "relevancy" algorithm.  It is the same search engine, no matter which search sort you pick, and the results will include items that don't match the exact keywords, and will omit some items that do, based on "relevancy". 

[goodluckselling]

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@johnfduda wrote:

Thanks for the responses.

How do you get the "product rating?

If I hadn't been searching on here for years I wouldn't recognize how bad it's become. If I didn't call it cantseeme then I maybe wouldn't know about the discussions for years on how bad it is. If you set about to lower the value you don't drive sales to zero. Then'd you'd have no value. What'd you do is lower sales so that when you take over you get a bargan, because it's undervalued based on it's potential.

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Product ratings are the 5 star potential ratings that buyers leave for purchases ( not seller feedback but product ratings) they bought.  You find them near the title of an item page.  These reviews hold a lot of weight because they hold info from actual users and buyers of the exact item being looked at.

I think you might just be jumping on a bandwagon of other sellers who all think bad about everything eBay.  It seems your posting history supports this.  The search engine might not be 100% perfect But can find things to buy based on my search perameters.  This also seems to be the case for other

1. buyers who spend 21 Billion dollars in products on the eBay marketplace every 3 months. 
2. If they are not using the search engine, and as you have talked about before eBay gets no traffic from google
3. buyers are upset at all the changes
4. the shopping cart does not work

There has to be some way that buyers are spending 21 Billion dollars in products on eBay every 3 months?

I get it that some sellers will grab at every possible reason and hold on to it until others believe them and start to spread it as truth.  But at some point you sellers have to come to a realization that eBay is not going to drown anytime soon, and buyers are liking the changes regardless if you can see or believe what is right in front of you.

Good Luck Selling!

[johnfduda]

Saul

Just the lens, no camera.

And I never search only US when I'm looking to see what my competition is.

Been doing this for what maybe 15 years. I quit buying 9 years ago when my health went south. But I still have a lot of stuf I never listed. I might've sold a couple hundred Nikon lenses. I've done this search for not only for these lenses, but other brands. Other camera types than SLR's. Lots of searches. I used to use the free site that gave you info on what you were listings, what was that name...can't remember.

[ted_200]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-Nikon-AF-Nikkor-35mm-f-2-D-Fixed-Focus-Lens-EXPRESS-SHIPPING-/131...

Go to the Breadcrumb on that (or any listing) and click "Lenses".

Then just follow the pictures - no searching.

Click Nikon.  Click 35mm.  Click 2.8

You get this:

https://www.ebay.com/b/Lenses/3323?Brand=Nikon&Focal%2520Length=35mm&Maximum%2520Aperture=f%252F2&rt...

[johnfduda]

the top items all have 50+ product rating for them. 

I do know what the 5 star product rating is. Got messed by the typo (?).

From my perspective I ignot that. If I'm selling a 20, or 40 year old Nikon lens the rating was earned by the product which I have no control over. With a Nikon lens, even 40 years old, the ratings would be pretty high, I think. You can still use most of the lenses from Nikons first SLR of 1959 on a current digital camera. Some I've tried and won't mount. The 55mm f1.2, the 6mm.

But the lousy search engine...........

[sharingtheland]

I think you might just be jumping on a bandwagon of other sellers who all think bad about everything eBay.  It seems your posting history supports this.

Wow, you took the time and effort to research OP's posting history? 

There's enough shaming the victim stuff going on right now; don't have to do it here, too.