What's going on (or not) with the search engine? I type in a specific request and get hundreds of li

[colfaxstation]

I type in a specific request and get hundreds of listings with absolutely no connections to what was requested.

[lopesjl]

Since one cannot discern tone in the written word, the "get the hang" response comes off as rather condescending.

I've been working with computer for over 30 years, have been using ebay for over 20, and perform both software testing and desktop support for a living.

While I don't profess to know everything, I think I have gotten the hang of using a simple search GUI.

[eburtonlab]

Yes, I use the filters on the left side.

Do you get similar search result numbers using the search links in my post?

[iamalwaysright]

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@luxgoods wrote:

Yes unrelated items that have nothing to do with your search.  I searched for a Lacoste T shirt and I got Generic T-shirts and Shirts from other unrelated companies.  I also searched for shipping supplies only to find pages and pages of China Sellers.  The Search Engine Needs To Be fixed!!!!

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Yep. I've always known this about the search field for selected searches for the past few years. But I just tried to search "Lacoste Shirt" and it seems to be working fine for me. So far the entire first page results of 60 items all show items that have the word "Lacoste" in the title. So it's working as it should. 

However, I've always had problems with searching the phrase "Caterpillar shirt" for the past few years. I was looking for the construction equipment company Caterpillar shirt, and all I hit was a bunch of shirts of Cats (the animal). I didn't type the word "cat" in my search, I used "caterpillar". Lately though I have been seeing SOME Caterpillar shirts in the my results, but still there are a bunch of Cat (animal) shirts as well as totally random shirts that don't even have Cat or Caterpillar in the titles at all. Give it a try and you'll see what I mean, I even see some Trump shirts in the results.

[lopesjl]

No, I don't. I get almost 780 hits, a vast majority of which don't come close to matching the search perimeters.

[eburtonlab]

No, I don't. I get almost 780 hits, a vast majority of which don't come close to matching the search perimeters.

I just tried the same search that had worked for me earlier, and now I also see about 780 results.

I think I may have inadvertently edited the page link and dropped the "Long Sleeve" filter option by mistake. Sorry about that.

This search seems to work for me at the moment:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=peter-millar+small&_sacat=57991&LH_TitleDesc=0&_fsrp=...

I see 62 reasonable-looking results for that particular search.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Possibly due to the orange caterpillar on his head?

Even confuses the bots

[coolections]

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@lopesjl wrote:

I've been working with computer for over 30 years, have been using ebay for over 20, and perform both software testing and desktop support for a living.

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Working with computers and learning to search Ebay and other sites are completely unrelated. You obviously  have not gotten the hang of it if you expect to get a results exactly like you want using many terms and sizes, etc.

[coolections]

Thanks for helping the poster.

[iamalwaysright]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

Possibly due to the orange caterpillar on his head?

Even confuses the bots

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😂It took me a minute to realize what you are talking about. I was like what? cats have caterpillars on their heads?

[eburtonlab]

I've always had problems with searching the phrase "Caterpillar shirt" for the past few years. I was looking for the construction equipment company Caterpillar shirt, and all I hit was a bunch of shirts of Cats (the animal). I didn't type the word "cat" in my search, I used "caterpillar". Lately though I have been seeing SOME Caterpillar shirts in the my results, but still there are a bunch of Cat (animal) shirts as well as totally random shirts that don't even have Cat or Caterpillar in the titles at all.

eBay's search is smart enough to know that some folks use "Cat" and "Caterpillar" interchangeably in some contexts (Heavy Machinery), but not necessarily in other contexts (almost everywhere else). But eBay's search is not smart enough to know which context is which.

So if a search for Caterpillar shirt turns up few results, eBay is likely to broaden the search to include other keywords associated with Caterpillar that return more results. Some of the shirts you saw likely had the keyword cat or cats in the Theme item-specific or elsewhere.

You can get around that keyword substitution feature by putting one of your keywords in quotes to force eBay to search for exact matches to all your keywords. You may have to manually select the category, as using quotes will also bypass the automatic category navigation feature as well.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/185100/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=%22caterpillar%22+shirt&LH_TitleDesc=0

[wmsakalaucks]

Quit being so condescending. The search engine is NOT working properly. I use to be able to enter maker and model number. Now I get stuff that’s in the category, other unrelated items from the manufacturer , and stuff that has no connection, along with the occasional requested item. The hierarchy of response seems to indicate eBay is manipulating the response to what they want to sell, not what is being searched.

[wmsakalaucks]

Exactly what I was saying.

[mementomoria]

I have been doing more searches for ebay items on google. It is amazing what pops up on google and doesn't on ebay.

[coolections]

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@wmsakalaucks wrote:

The search engine is NOT working properly. I use to be able to enter maker and model number. Now I get stuff that’s in the category, other unrelated items from the manufacturer , and stuff that has no connection.

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@wmsakalaucks   You just need to learn a little more about how search works. Once you do that you will see it is not the bad at all. The left side of the page will help tremendously. Also you if you go the top of the page you can use advance search. That is where you will really be amazed. What you are describing is many sellers don't have no clue how to pick the correct category and make correct titles for their items. That is the main reason why you get unrelated results.

[luckythewinner]

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@mementomoria wrote:

I have been doing more searches for ebay items on google. It is amazing what pops up on google and doesn't on ebay.

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I am not amazed at all. Google and eBay have completely different search engines, and Google has far more experience with search engines, and far more resources devoted to theirs than eBay does.