Search picks category for buyer (sometimes)

[argusmike]

[Experienced sellers can ignore.]

Today I looked for one of my auctions by submitting a simple search (in this case "Rollei 35," a compact 35mm camera from the 70's).  Two hundred items came up, but not mine.  Then I noticed that eBay had changed the search from "all categories" to "film cameras." So I switched the search back to "all categories." My camera came up immediately - I had listed it under "35mm cameras."

So eBay channels some searches to specific categories that exclude items listed in any other catergory. Anyone who simply searched for "Rollei 35" would not have ever seen my auction unless they were experienced enough to recognize that eBay had confined their search to a single category. For lots of buyers this would not be obvious.

I tried several other camera related searches and found that very specific searches and very generic searches both remained "all categories" searches. But short specific searches like "Rollei 35" were frequently channeled to a specfic category. Wo to the seller who picked another category.

As a follow-up, I tried to add the "film cameras" category to my auction (for which eBay would of course have been happy to charge me a duplicate listing fee). No dice, because "film cameras" and "35mm cameras" are considered "conflicting categories." EBay would rather forego the listing fee rather than allow sellers the liberty of adding a "conflicting category."

In the future I will try a basic search for an item to see where eBay puts it before selecting the listing category.

Mike

[d-k_treasures]

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@argusmike wrote:

[Experienced sellers can ignore.]

Today I looked for one of my auctions by submitting a simple search (in this case "Rollei 35," a compact 35mm camera from the 70's).  Two hundred items came up, but not mine.  Then I noticed that eBay had changed the search from "all categories" to "film cameras." So I switched the search back to "all categories." My camera came up immediately - I had listed it under "35mm cameras."

So eBay channels some searches to specific categories that exclude items listed in any other catergory. Anyone who simply searched for "Rollei 35" would not have ever seen my auction unless they were experienced enough to recognize that eBay had confined their search to a single category. For lots of buyers this would not be obvious.

I tried several other camera related searches and found that very specific searches and very generic searches both remained "all categories" searches. But short specific searches like "Rollei 35" were frequently channeled to a specfic category. Wo to the seller who picked another category.

As a follow-up, I tried to add the "film cameras" category to my auction (for which eBay would of course have been happy to charge me a duplicate listing fee). No dice, because "film cameras" and "35mm cameras" are considered "conflicting categories." EBay would rather forego the listing fee rather than allow sellers the liberty of adding a "conflicting category."

In the future I will try a basic search for an item to see where eBay puts it before selecting the listing category.

Mike

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Conflicting? The programmers probably think that 35mm is the size of an SD card ........

How ebay is that?

[bubbleman2010]

Thats the main problem with search that ebay put into place in April rather than a search defaulting to all it defaults to what someone at ebay put in thinking it would help buyers make a selection,but it backfired sales have tanked because buyers don't want to root around like hogs looking for more items they just leave thinking should be more,but OH well guess their isn't....

[bubbleman2010]

Category I was looking at yesterday search displays 25 items down at the bottom of the page is a link to see all the rest of the 217 listings that are hidden there folks can't bid or buy if they can't see me now....

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Yep. I've been talking about it for weeks. From a buyer point of view it is ridiculous. Many buyers may not even realize it is happening.

And don't get me started on how the promoted listings show up on my phone followed by a bunch of links that look like the bottom of the search and only THEN do the regular listings show up.

Or how the iPad app only shows you the first 200 listings.

I am very unhappy as a buyer at how Ebay has screwed up the search. I sell thousands of dollars of items a month on my website and was starting to come back to selling here as well but nope.

[bubbleman2010]

Some categories are really hose one category I was looking at search returns 2897 items out of a total of 14977 and the bulk of the 2897 items being returned from search are from China.....

[phcd1]

All I ask for are the words in my search be at least in the results. Many times, their not! EBay thinks it knows better then what the person doing the search wants. Those words I search for should always be at the top of the results (in that order for that matter), then, any order, then eBay can make suggestions.