Search results - fail

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Hard to figure this one out.   Search criteria:  plink variety pack (no quotes)  

brings back a screen telling me 0 Results Found so instead they are showing me 'pink variety pack' EXCEPT the first 7 results are clearly what I wanted.  5 of them have the words 'plink variety pack' in the title, one of them as the first 3 words. 

I'm used to weird results b/c of I/S's, but this is just odd.   I mean it did return what I was looking for, but it doesn't think it did, telling me there were 0 matches.   The other 800 some results were unrelated, as one might expect since it claims to have substituted the word "pink" (though the first 7 don't use "pink".   I cannot figure out the logic here.  Why would it even sub my keyword, when there are clearly results with my kw.   

[chapeau-noir]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

Thank you @eburtonlab  I'm aware of quotes, etc.  I was a developer for many years & know my way around search.  I'm just pointing out that as a buyer, who is most likely NOT familiar with the nuanced ins & outs of search, these are very confusing results.  Hell, they're very confusing results for someone like me who speaks Boolean LOL.  

I think you're right about the grouping of KW's being inconsisten, but again, this is something the average buyer wouldn't have a clue about.   Still pretty crazy that one of my results has the first 3 words of the title EXACTLY matching the criteria I put in & it's not seen as a match.  

<< When a search keyword returns few results, but a slight variation produces more results, eBay will often substitute the more popular keyword. This can be useful if the searcher has made a typo, but the substitution is not always wanted or helpful, as you indicate. >>

I seem to recall eBay usually ASKING me if I wanted them to search for the more popular word.  You're right, it is a double edged sword b/c if I've made a typo, it's helpful.  But, they s/b erring on the side of correct, not of assuming you made a typo.  Have you seen it before where they just substitue the more popular word, like they did here, rather than ASK you if you want to sub the word?  That was new to me, but I don't search as a buyer that often. 

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@simply-the-best-for-you   This has happened to me a number times - I search daily in order to price my items and have to watch that search doesn't substitute another word, even though items come up in my original search query.  It's very annoying.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@simply-the-best-for-you   This has happened to me a number times - I search daily in order to price my items and have to watch that search doesn't substitute another word, even though items come up in my original search query.  It's very annoying.

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I guess I haven't noticed that, I remembered it asking.  Maybe I'm thinking of someone else's search, that asks.  It really is annoying!   As I've been saying since Cassini was new.  I typed in what I wanted to see!  I know what I want.  eBay does not know better than me, what I want.  

[coolections]

@simply-the-best-for-you 

Since you said you are a developer, I am very surprised you had to ask what I meant by misspelled. Anyway, I checked again, and it shows "exactly" like it is supposed to. For your future reference if a word is used in development of a search common to a spelled correctly word such as pink instead of plink, the search lets you know it is misspelled. Hope that helps.

[eburtonlab]

I typed in what I wanted to see! I know what I want. eBay does not know better than me, what I want.

Unfortunately, if you do not use advanced search operators (quotes, exclusions or parentheses to perform a Boolean "OR" search), eBay will assume that you are not requesting literal results exclusively, and your results will be subject to eBay's "Search Expansion" -- including keyword substitution and automatic category changes.

eBay used to spell this out explicitly in the Help pages, but the old detailed help pages were replaced by newer generic pages with very little in the way of details about how search actually works.

You can still find some of the old Help pages on the eBay Ireland site, though:

https://www.ebay.ie/pages/help/search/search-commands.html

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@coolections wrote:

@simply-the-best-for-you 

Since you said you are a developer, I am very surprised you had to ask what I meant by misspelled. Anyway, I checked again, and it shows "exactly" like it is supposed to. For your future reference if a word is used in development of a search common to a spelled correctly word such as pink instead of plink, the search lets you know it is misspelled. Hope that helps.

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I am a former developer, not familiar with the new languages, but I know Boolean search logic well.  I didn't understand b/c my keyword was NOT misspelled, I was looking for exactly what I typed in.   

How can it show like it's supposed to, when it tells me I have 0 results, yet there are 7 results that match my search criteria?   eBay already chimed in that they've opened a ticket b/c of the weird results. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

@eburtonlab   I'll check that out, thank you.  I know they do substitutions & category changes though I don't encounter them very often.  I'll never forget early on, when I was searching for the brand Wintersilks & eBay kept changing my search to a fabric category search, when it was a clothing brand.  But in this case, since 7 items match my exact criteria, I expect to see 7 results found, plus however many 'here are some similar results'.  

[velvet@ebay]

Hello @simply-the-best-for-you! The tech team came back saying they were unable to replicate this and when I just ran the search again, everything is looking normal for me.

Are you still seeing the funky results? If so, please follow-up with a new screen shot and URL and I'll open a new ticket. Hopefully it's now reflecting the correct results for you too though. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

velvet@ebay  

Hi Velvet, thanks for getting back to me.  Well that's frustrating.  Yes, it's working correctly for me now too.  Though they can clearly see that it was not, by my screen shot & others' comments.  But yeah, it's correct now.  This is the kind of stuff buyers deal with though.  On the 10th, when I posted this, the results were clearly wrong, as proven by my screenshot & now 10 days later, they are clearly right 😞  

Of course, now I haven't been able to see my UNSOLDs for 2 days 😞  Constant glitches 😑  I do appreciate you following up though! 

[velvet@ebay]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

velvet@ebay  

Hi Velvet, thanks for getting back to me.  Well that's frustrating.  Yes, it's working correctly for me now too.  Though they can clearly see that it was not, by my screen shot & others' comments.  But yeah, it's correct now.  This is the kind of stuff buyers deal with though.  On the 10th, when I posted this, the results were clearly wrong, as proven by my screenshot & now 10 days later, they are clearly right 😞  

Of course, now I haven't been able to see my UNSOLDs for 2 days 😞  Constant glitches 😑  I do appreciate you following up though! 

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I hear you about things not working and then all of a sudden working @simply-the-best-for-you. I've experienced that with eBay and other sites. I'm glad it's working for now though. 

As for the Unsold issue, what's going on there? I can see your Unsold items. What happens when you try to view them? 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

velvet@ebay  

Let me start another topic.  B/C it's been buggy for days & I know I'm not the only one.