eBay

springvalleywi · ‎03-12-2018

Baffled again why some items are shown when I do a search. Search terms: martha stewart white duvet cover. White is not mentioned in the title nor description but some other item suggestions at the end of the listing have the word white in their titles. So does the search look for the word white in the title, item specifics, as well as the other suggested items? Tired of wading through what I am not looking for. Also, as a seller if the search is looking at the item specifics I can put my limited number of item title characters to better use.

chrysylys · ‎03-12-2018

@springvalleywiwrote:
Search terms: martha stewart white duvet cover. White is not mentioned in the title nor description but some other item suggestions at the end of the listing have the word white in their titles.

"Martha Stewart Collection Desert Flower 5-Pc. Full/Queen Berry Comforter Cover"

But all of the other words in your search are.

Your search will include any of those words in any order, but not necessarily ALL of those words.

Try using your search terms enclosed in quotes.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

bigchief2472000 · ‎03-12-2018

I frequently search for a specific brand of pocket knives, which I also sell a few of, and kept noticing that none of my listings would pop up in my searches when I used the terms "Benchmade knife". I would have the brand name (Benchmade) in the title of my listings and they were in the "Modern Folding Knife" category, but the search algorithm wasn't able to put 2 & 2 together unless I actually put the word "knife" in the title of my listings. Therefore, I think the search just goes by what's in the title.

bubbleman2010 · ‎03-12-2018

You could also add the size to your search it would narrow it down to 10 queen sized and 9 king sized.. Not much waddling there..

d-k_treasures · ‎03-12-2018

@chrysylyswrote:
@springvalleywiwrote:
Search terms: martha stewart white duvet cover. White is not mentioned in the title nor description but some other item suggestions at the end of the listing have the word white in their titles.

"Martha Stewart Collection Desert Flower 5-Pc. Full/Queen Berry Comforter Cover"

But all of the other words in your search are.

Your search will include any of those words in any order, but not necessarily ALL of those words.

Try using your search terms enclosed in quotes.

The default search is (supposed to be) all words, any order.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

chrysylys · ‎03-12-2018

@d-k_treasureswrote:
The default search is (supposed to be) all words, any order.

But it doesn't work that way. If I enter five words in th esearch box, I will get listings that only contains some of those words, not necessarily all.

I have to carefully craft search terms to get the results I rerally want, whether or not I should have to do it that way.

.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

d-k_treasures · ‎03-12-2018

@chrysylyswrote:
@d-k_treasureswrote:
The default search is (supposed to be) all words, any order.

But it doesn't work that way. If I enter five words in th esearch box, I will get listings that only contains some of those words, not necessarily all.

I have to carefully craft search terms to get the results I rerally want, whether or not I should have to do it that way.

.

I know it doesn't - just that's the way it's supposed to work.

Like everything else here .........

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

chrysylys · ‎03-12-2018

What makes it worse is when people fat finger the search terms like I did that post above. Then the system spits out things based on what it thought the searcher meant. That's when it can get REAL fun.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

timemachine777 · ‎03-12-2018

@springvalleywiwrote:
Baffled again why some items are shown when I do a search. Search terms: martha stewart white duvet cover. White is not mentioned in the title nor description but some other item suggestions at the end of the listing have the word white in their titles. So does the search look for the word white in the title, item specifics, as well as the other suggested items? Tired of wading through what I am not looking for. Also, as a seller if the search is looking at the item specifics I can put my limited number of item title characters to better use.

eBay's search has become less relevant over time. All your keywords are suppose to be included within the body of the listing which would include the item specifics. It doesn't need to be a match in the title itself, nor anywhere else in the listings, though all keywords need to be present combined with the title. Quotes " " are suppose to pull up all listing with the exact sentence structure.

Example: Your original title in quotes gets 0 results, but "martha stewart white" gets 90 results, all in order.

luckythewinner · ‎03-12-2018

@springvalleywiwrote:
White is not mentioned in the title nor description but some other item suggestions at the end of the listing have the word white in their titles. So does the search look for the word white in the title, item specifics, as well as the other suggested items?

It has nothing to do with the other suggestions.

It has to do with eBay's product catalog.

The UPC code used on that listing is linked to an item in eBay's catalog, and the color listed in the catalog for that UPC code is "white" with a pattern of "floral".

https://www.ebay.com/p/Martha-Stewart-Collection-Whim-Desert-Flower-Full-queen-Comforter-Cover-Set-5...

swenson8781 · ‎03-12-2018

You are asking for an explanation to the unexplainable...

But, when I search anymore, I type in the FEWEST keywords, so to find what you are searching for I'd simply type Martha Stewart Duvet, then I'd sort the search down using item specifics. And in that type of search, if I scroll down to the bottom of the screen, it will also give me more items with fewer matching words.

I've found that to be the best way I can find the MOST items I'm searching for in any given category/title, if that makes sense.

ted_200 · ‎03-12-2018

Please explain ebay's search results

It is inexplicable. And proprietary. Inexplicable by design.

It has to do with eBay's product catalog.

AKA: Making a bad situation worse.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

luckythewinner · ‎03-12-2018

@ted_200wrote:
Please explain ebay's search results
It is inexplicable. And proprietary. Inexplicable by design.
It has to do with eBay's product catalog.
AKA: Making a bad situation worse.

eBay has pushing sellers to standardize around the product catalog for years.

You can love or hate the product catalog, but the fact that they are matching search terms to the information in it seems like a pretty obvious move to me.

ted_200 · ‎03-12-2018

@luckythewinnerwrote:
@ted_200wrote:
Please explain ebay's search results
It is inexplicable. And proprietary. Inexplicable by design.
It has to do with eBay's product catalog.
AKA: Making a bad situation worse.
eBay has pushing sellers to standardize around the product catalog for years.

You can love or hate the product catalog, but the fact that they are matching search terms to the information in it seems like a pretty obvious move to me.

That's OK with me, I guess, but it isn't real well suited to OOAK items. And it's certainly not helpful to have them associating my listings with a product page that's not what I'm selling... which would explain people seeing my listing when that's not what they searched for.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.