Item not showing in search

[wrm827]

I listed an old Bear Polar Recurve Bow on Monday but it wouldn't show up in search. I realized my title wasn't great so I edited it. Rechecked search a while later and still nothing. Ended the listing and relisted. Still not showing after hours. I checked that category was correct also. The bow is MIA. No messages in my inbox from Ebay saying it is restricted or anything. Any ideas?

[lacemaker3]

---

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     Shows up fine as of 5:38 AM EST on 15 February. 

---

That would be 2:38 am PST. And, it was revised just before 7:00 pm yesterday evening, so it is now visible less than 8 hours after the revision.

[luckythewinner]

---

@wrm827 wrote:

I listed an old Bear Polar Recurve Bow on Monday but it wouldn't show up in search. I realized my title wasn't great so I edited it. Rechecked search a while later and still nothing. Ended the listing and relisted. Still not showing after hours. I checked that category was correct also. The bow is MIA. No messages in my inbox from Ebay saying it is restricted or anything. Any ideas?

---

This board consists of other sellers volunteering their time to help fellow sellers. 

The quality of the responses you will get here depends largely on the quality of your question. 

If you had given us (a) the item number, (b) the search terms you were using to find it, and (c) the sort order you were using in the results, we could have been a lot more help in diagnosing your search issue.

Politeness helps, too - so I'll leave this one to others. 

[eburtonlab]

Why is it some of my items, NOT EDITED, or RELISTED, STILL dont show after weeks?

Which item, and how are you searching?

I can see 61 items you currently have listed.

[dbfolks166mt]

Why is it some of my items, NOT EDITED, or RELISTED, STILL dont show after weeks? Anyone whos not paying MORE $$ to promote their listing, is not getting views. This is rampant and this "community" (its not, but what ebay wants us to think), is ripe with listing rot.

     Can you provide an item number for an item that has not shown up for weeks? 

[recycledhistory]

I am having the same issue of my items not showing up in search. This "indexing" answer that keeps being put out does not compute. Same Items, in same categories with same information and titles that were listed after mine, by other sellers, showed in the search while mine do not. The only difference I can think of is that they are a high volume seller and I am not or they have selected to promote their item. If the issue is "Indexing" why did their item, listed hours after mine, show up in the search and mine did not? I did the search with only two words that were common to both their listing and mine and only their item shows and mine does not. Wouldn't mine have been "Indexed" before theirs or at least at the same time since mine was listed before theirs. By the way mine was listed 18 hours before theirs and their item showed in the search within minutes of them listing. 

It is easy to use the "indexing" answer to "resolve" an issue but what is it really and how does it really work, when is it done, and if it is do to "indexing" why is it not happening to all listings, or is there a different "Indexing" for different situations? Again, this is based on similar, basiclly the same, listings by different sellers.

[lacemaker3]

Indexing is the process of copying each keyword, item specific, piece of data relating to a listing into a bunch of database indexes, so that the listing can be found by the search engine when an eBay member runs a search. Each type of search seems to be indexed separately, and listings have been observed being indexed for one type of search (e.g. search by seller ID) before other types (e.g. keyword search).

It appears that indexing for the eBay search engine also includes potentially flagging some listings, but not all, for "higher review", presumably based on keywords or features that are found during the process. Experience has shown that the basic indexing itself is very fast, usually within a few minutes up to about an hour to complete. However, if a listing gets flagged for higher review, that can take much longer. It probably includes having a person scan the listing, so this will be affected by the availability of personnel to perform the review.  Some categories, item types and sellers may experience longer indexing (review) times more often than others.

[eburtonlab]

If the issue is "Indexing" why did their item, listed hours after mine, show up in the search and mine did not? I did the search with only two words that were common to both their listing and mine and only their item shows and mine does not. Wouldn't mine have been "Indexed" before theirs or at least at the same time since mine was listed before theirs.

Indexing is one reason why an item, particularly a new item just recently listed or revised, might not show up in a search, but it is hardly the only reason. Until a full 24 hours have passed since the last revision, indexing may still be going on and that is the most likely reason for a new item not to appear in a search.

Some other reasons an item might not appear in a particular search:

Sorting by "price plus shipping: lowest first" -- when a lowest first sort is performed, you will often see a message at the top of the results: "We’ve streamlined your search results to show you the best listings. See more results" -- if you want to see all the results, you need to either try another sort, or click on that "See more results" link. Otherwise you are only seeing a subset of the results of that search, despite the number that is shown at the top. In some situations, the results may be filtered and the link may not actually appear. Try another sort order if you think this might be the case.

Wrong Category -- if a site-wide search using a particular keyword returns many items, eBay will often direct that search automatically into one particular category. Sellers should take this into account when deciding which categories to list their items in. If possible, try searching the way a potential customer might, and see where the search ends up.

No Shipping -- if an item does not have a shipping method to a specified location, buyers in that location will not be able to see that item. This is often a problem for export sellers that do not ship to their own location.

Time Away -- if you use this feature, your items may be hidden from search. After ending Time Away it may take a day or two for your listings to be re-indexed and appear again.

Additionally, in the past there have been some known location-specific issues that affected users in India, Hawaii and Alaska that prevented them from seeing local items in certain cases.

What item are you not finding, and how, precisely, are you searching for it?

[recycledhistory]

The response to the indexing question sounds good but still does not answer why two almost identical listings, by two different sellers, get "indexed" differently, one showing up a few minutes after posting and the other taking over 24 hours.  You would think that if Ebay has set standards and rules they would apply the same across the board. The optics in this situation makes it look like Ebay is "Playing Favorites". It would be better if Ebay came up with a way to either expedite the process or standardize it. 

[recycledhistory]

In my post I am referring to two almost identical listings, by two different sellers, get "indexed" differently, one showing up a few minutes after posting and the other taking over 24 hours. 

[buyselljack2016]

It would not surprise me if selling history is a factor in the indexing time.

Seller having sold hundreds of items vs seller having sold thousands of items.

[eburtonlab]

In my post I am referring to two almost identical listings, by two different sellers, get "indexed" differently, one showing up a few minutes after posting and the other taking over 24 hours.

"Almost identical" is not the same as "identical". Even the exact same item, described in the same manner using the same keywords, but listed by different sellers, may be treated differently for a variety of reasons, including how many other items were submitted between those two listings.

eBay does not say very much about how indexing is actually accomplished, just that it can take "up to 24 hours", and that revising a listing can delay that. In some cases, it may take longer.

Nowhere does eBay promise that items will be indexed in any particular order; items may not necessarily appear in the order they were listed.

If you want an item to appear as soon as possible, list it as early as you can and do not revise the listing until after it finishes being indexed and appears in the search.

[recycledhistory]

In your reply you have answered the question with your statement "Even the exact same item, described in the same manner using the same keywords, but listed by different sellers, may be treated differently". Like I stated An item identical to mine listed 12 hours after mine was "indexed" within minutes mine is still waiting after 24hours. The other sell has a feedback of 11983 I only have 2618. I guess if you sell a lot ebay gives you more advantages. Even if there are minor differences in the listings, like I said, the optics of this is not good. You can keep reciting the ebay mantra of "indexing" and "relisting", my item has not been relisted, and "not all listings are the same", but it still looks like ebay is giving advantages to some sellers. 

I am just pointing this out so ebay can take a look at their system and policies and provide an even field like we had in their beginning, I have been on ebay since 1998 and most of the changes I have seen over the years have been a mixed bag of good and bad. Maybe this indexing and delay in showing listings can be looked into and addressed, The loss of 1 to 2 days at the beginning of an auction can mean a lot and your item can drop down quite a way on the search list in that time. Also it changes a 7 day auction to a 6 or 5 day action. I though over the years that computers and automation where to speed things up but it looks like it has slowed them down on ebay. 

[recycledhistory]

Well I found out my answers. My item finally showed up in the search, exactly 24 hours from my posting. That is strange that ebay says there might be a 24 hour delay for "indexing" and an items is delayed for exactly 24 hours, but a seller with more activity on ebay is indexed in minutes. So the answer is not "indexing" it is a 24 hour hold on your listing for selected items. So next time I will plan on a 24 hour hold on some items from listing searches. Luckly my item only dropped 5 items on the search list in that time. On popular items this delay could mean that it would be on the second page of a search, well behind other similar items. 

[eburtonlab]

Like I stated An item identical to mine listed 12 hours after mine was "indexed" within minutes mine is still waiting after 24hours. The other sell has a feedback of 11983 I only have 2618. I guess if you sell a lot ebay gives you more advantages.

You are making a lot of assumptions based on one data point.

Nowhere does eBay indicate that it treats every seller the same. New sellers are treated differently than experienced sellers. Sellers that have had policy violations are treated differently than those that have not. Sellers that have sold items in a category for a while are treated differently than sellers that have never sold in that category before.

The number ways that sellers can differ is very large.

eBay has also changed a great deal since 1998.

Things that may have worked one way when there were two million users and a million listings may not necessarily work the same way when there are over a hundred million users and two billion listings.

[lacemaker3]

---

@recycledhistory wrote:

In your reply you have answered the question with your statement "Even the exact same item, described in the same manner using the same keywords, but listed by different sellers, may be treated differently". ... You can keep reciting the ebay mantra of "indexing" and "relisting", my item has not been relisted, and "not all listings are the same", but it still looks like ebay is giving advantages to some sellers. 

I am just pointing this out so ebay can take a look at their system and policies and provide an even field like we had in their beginning, ...

---

eBay does not promise, or even suggest, that all sellers are treated the same.

One example is that over the past year (2023) eBay began using performance metrics for items-received and buyer-experience that are only applied to export sellers (those who are selling on eBay.com but are not based in the USA) and not to sellers who are registered in the USA. Some of these export sellers have been restricted from listing anything on eBay.com even though their performance metrics are fine according to the standards for sellers in the USA.

eBay only has 3 basic tiers for seller performance: top-rated seller, above-average, and below-average; and only the first rating is publicly visible on the site. However, eBay is open and transparent that all sellers are compared to the average performance of their peers, and eBay can and does take action based on how a seller's performance is evaluated over time.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/service-metrics-policy?id=4769

In general, eBay does not give detailed explanations of what actions may be taken, only broad possible results which may include adjusting or limiting the visibility of some listings.

I would expect that, in some high-risk categories (such as fire-arms), eBay may exempt some sellers from lengthy delays during indexing reviews. For example, if the seller has a lengthy selling history of a high number of items in that category without many recorded issues or concerns, their listings might get through the review process more quickly than a seller with an "average" selling history in that category. Even though the "average" seller's record would not be considered below standard, they just don't have as much of a track record.