Items not being shown in search properly.

[riderleangle]

Has anyone else been having issues where listings you've had up for days aren't showing up when you search for them? I've had items just floating there with very low view counts despite being promoted listings but if you search for those items on ebay they're not showing up in the results, is there something wrong with ebay's search feature causing listings to only show up if you're searching for them under the exact titles (which they do show up as) but if you search for any variation (like people would be inclined to search) they're just completely absent from the searches? 

[eburtonlab]

Which item(s) and how exactly are you searching?

eBay will often steer a search into a particular category based on the keywords used. If your item is located in another category, it may not appear in that search at all. Try searching for your item using general keywords that a typical potential buyer might use -- not necessarily the exact item title. When the search results page loads completely, check to see which category is shown to the right of the search bar. If it says anything other than "All categories", your search has been steered into a particular category where eBay thinks that the majority of sales for those keywords take place. That is where you should be listing your item if you want to to appear when users search using those keywords, even if you think another category makes more logical sense.

[pjcdn2005]

Could you please give a couple of examples of listings that you can't find along with which search terms you are using. Someone here may have an idea on what the problem is.

[riderleangle]

The specific items that aren't showing up (one not at all, the other not showing up properly) are 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304035205540?hash=item46c9e911a4:g:2m8AAOSwBplgwnQV

which I've searched with terms that buyers would use looking for that kind of reshell like "clear purple joy con"/"clear purple joy cons", "Atomic Purple Joy Con"/"Atomic Purple Joy Cons", variations on those like joy-cons instead of joy cons or specifying "controllers" in those searches and nowhere to be found in the searches. This one is the biggest problem for showing up.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304019309697?hash=item46c8f68481:g:XHEAAOSwf3Zgt~op

This one kind of shows up since under "NES Refurbished" or "NES Console refurbished" they show up on page 4 despite being promoted or page 3 under "NES new pins" or "Nintendo Entertainment System New Pins" or page 15 of "NES Console" but won't show up at all under "Nintendo Entertainment System Refurbished", "Nintendo Entertainment System console" 

[eburtonlab]

Regarding your video game controller, you have listed that in the video game category here:

Video Games & Consoles > Video Games

A search for nintendo switch joy con controller is steered into the following category:

Video Games & Consoles > Video Game Accessories > Controllers & Attachments

Since your item is not listed in the latter category, it does not appear when that search is performed. If you want your item to appear in that search, you must list it in the latter category rather than the former.

[riderleangle]

Welp, thanks for that catch, I guess ebay did me wrong when it figured out what it was and added that info.