Listing does not come up in a search.

[walthamrst]

Decided to search for one of my listings today.   Entered "Lego 6270" (not there).   Entered "Lego Forbidden Island" (not there).   Tried "Lego 6270 Box" (not there).  It only comes up if I search for "Lego 6270 cover" or "Lego 6270 box cover."

No wonder my listings don't get many views if they don't show up with a few words.

Why does eBay do this to us?

The item number is 195730219139.

[wastingtime101]

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Entered "Lego 6270" (not there). 

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That search defaults to the category LEGO (R) Complete Sets & Packs. Your listing is in a different category. When you back out to LEGO (R) Building Toys, your item appears. When you drill down to LEGO (R) Bricks, Pieces & Parts subcategory, your item appears.

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Entered "Lego Forbidden Island" (not there). 

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I do not see your listing come up in the 52 results from the default 3 categories Toys & Hobbies, Building Toys & LEGO (R) Building Toys with those search terms. But if I drill down specifically to the LEGO (R) Building Toys category, your item does appear in the 85 results.

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Tried "Lego 6270 Box" (not there).

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That search defaults to the category LEGO (R) Complete Sets & Packs. Your listing is in a different category. When you back out to LEGO (R) Building Toys, your item appears. When you drill down to LEGO (R) Bricks, Pieces & Parts, your item appears.

[toysaver]

Might help if you put it in another category.  Most of the empty boxes go in storage and display not pieces and parts.  Maybe it confuses the search if the item is in the 'wrong' category.  AI is everywhere.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

When you search on Lego 6270 box, eBay uses "implicit category navigation" to selectively show you only a part of the results -- they choose one category, and in this case the category they chose is not the one that your item is listed in. But if you click on "All" to get all the results, your item shows up just fine.

eBay invented "implicit category navigation" as a condescending way to deal with what they imagined was a confusing excess of Results.  The "All" option for your search term yields only 37 results, so IMHO eBay is getting carried away with this.  And also IMHO your item is listed in the appropriate category for what is is.

[walthamrst]

Thanks... I'm just learning how important and "specific" the category search can be.  I assumed any words in the title would bring up a match.

[walthamrst]

You're right... but I'm hating how the system works.  Like a dummy, I assumed any words in the title would bring up a match without having to jump through hoops to find it.

[walthamrst]

I really appreciate the detailed explanation... thank you.   I just can't put this much thought into all these particulars.  I choose the category I "think" is right, and hope any words in the title will bring a positive search result.

[nobody*s_perfect]

IMHO in this case the category that you chose is more appropriate than  the one that eBay chose to show, which is for full sets whereas  your listing is for just the box.  

But in other situations, where the category is unclear, it can be best to figure out in advance which category eBay will choose for your listing -- just do a search on the key words in your planned title and see what eBay chooses to show in those search results.