Search manipulation?

[jonathankirkland]

So a huge online retailer here on Ebay with almost 90k feedbacks is listing items inappropriately in a category they do not belong in.

Can't even message the seller to at least express my discontent for this. And I doubt ebay will do anything about it. But that really should be a punishable offense.

(Example of what seller is doing: Listing a Nintendo game in category for PlayStation, Atari, Xbox and any other gaming system they can think of.)

[coolections]

You cannot worry about other sellers. It is actually rude to try contacting them expressing you displeasure of something they are doing. It's best to hit the back button and worry about your own listings.

[jonathankirkland]

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@coolections wrote:

You cannot worry about other sellers. It is actually rude to try contacting them expressing you displeasure of something they are doing. It's best to hit the back button and worry about your own listings.

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I am talking about as a buyer.

This kind of carp gums up the search results. Should not be allowed.

[computeraidllc]

I see this all the time as a buyer. You are not allowed to do this as a seller. You can file a report with eBay on each listing or simply on a few of them to let them know it is happening.

[eburtonlab]

In addition to using the "Report item" link and choosing the "search & browse manipulation" category, you can also report the seller directly to eBay using this form:

https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022

If you use the last option on that page, and then choose "other" you can include a short text description of the policy violation or issue.

eBay may not take action based on a single report unless the policy violation is pretty blatant and obvious, but multiple independent reports may spur eBay to do something.

Until eBay takes action, you may want to go directly from your search results the Advanced Search page to exclude that seller from your results. Then bookmark or save the resulting search. If you use the link as the starting point for further searches, you can continue to exclude that seller's listings.

[donsdetour]

Well you will most likly find the seller has em listing in more than one category.

There is a report button on every listing if you want to report such..

Waist of time by the way...

[coolections]

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

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I am talking about as a buyer. This kind of carp gums up the search results. Should not be allowed.

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It is not allowed but people always manage to skirt rules. I agree it messes up search. One thing you can do is go to the left side of the screen. Click the box that says Nintendo. I tried it and it works great. Nothing but Nintendo games.

[Anonymous]

Do you honestly think a 90K seller will suffer anything from this? You're wasting your time.

[jonathankirkland]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

In addition to using the "Report item" link and choosing the "search & browse manipulation" category, you can also report the seller directly to eBay using this form:

https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022

If you use the last option on that page, and then choose "other" you can include a short text description of the policy violation or issue.

eBay may not take action based on a single report unless the policy violation is pretty blatant and obvious, but multiple independent reports may spur eBay to do something.

Until eBay takes action, you may want to go directly from your search results the Advanced Search page to exclude that seller from your results. Then bookmark or save the resulting search. If you use the link as the starting point for further searches, you can continue to exclude that seller's listings.

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Thank you I will use this information.

As I type this hours later they are STILL flooding every single category with games from each category.

Example: Putting Nintendo Switch games under PSP, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, etc...

What a never this jerk has to do such a thing.

[katzrul15]

Is there any Delta in fees?  Are they listing under consoles vs games?

[eburtonlab]

Is there any Delta in fees? Are they listing under consoles vs games?

You are thinking there may be a fee avoidance angle?

eBay may be more responsive to a report of such a violation rather than simple "search and browse manipulation" if that is the case.

[jonathankirkland]

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@coolections wrote:

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

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I am talking about as a buyer. This kind of carp gums up the search results. Should not be allowed.

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It is not allowed but people always manage to skirt rules. I agree it messes up search. One thing you can do is go to the left side of the screen. Click the box that says Nintendo. I tried it and it works great. Nothing but Nintendo games.

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That is so simple but I never saw that or thought to do that before specifically for an issue like this, so thanks for the tip.

[doug_5857]

I see the same thing when I search this coin 2009 P Nickel.  There is the same seller ( I think, the postings all look the same) that posted 17 different post in this one category.   1961-P Nickels or 1985, 2006, 2005, and so on.    17 post out of 78 listings.  Thats ALOT and they have been there for 3 months now.

 I wish they would have a look at this category as well Please. Thank You

[luckythewinner]

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

So a huge online retailer here on Ebay with almost 90k feedbacks is listing items inappropriately in a category they do not belong in.

Can't even message the seller to at least express my discontent for this.

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Messaging the seller would not accomplish anything. But you can report the listings:

[the_bookwyrms_lair]

If this is a recent trend you're noticing from this one seller, it makes me wonder if they're using a new assistant to upload and that assistant is using a saved template or hitting "sell one like this" and replicating the error.  Might be worth reaching out to them to give them a head's up. (I like it when people find errors in my listings and let me fix them.  It keeps me humble. 🙂 )