eBay

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

Better question is "why" do we have to figure out which one to use? They mean the same, they should be treated the same in search results.

Example: I have a doll set from Beauty & the Beast.

My title: "Belle & Gaston Doll Set Beauty & the Beast Live Action Disney Store"

1st Search: Belle & Gaston Doll Set

Results: 33

2nd Search: Belle and Gaston Doll Set

Results: 27 (My set is not in this result)

So if a potential buyer types "and" instead of an ampersand they will not see my item. This is the kind of thing that is limiting visibility. In order to cover each type of search I would have to add "Belle & Gaston" and "Belle and Gaston" in my title. That is ridiculous! It would probably be considered spamming a title doing it that way too, so you can't win.

Just typing in "Beauty and the Beast" you get more results than "Beauty & the Beast". There should be the same number of results in both searches. Buyers are not going to know that, that simple detail is preventing them from seeing other items.

Can we please ask that the search bar treats "and" and the ampersand the same? This can't be that hard to update. It has been requested before and it is still a problem.

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

This works on basically any sellers title who is using "and". Just search your item with "and" and then switch it out for an ampersand, you'll get a different amount of results. So this makes it really hard on sellers to try and figure out which to use in their title. What is the buyer going to use in their search? Sometimes "and" is better and sometimes "&" will give you more results. It shouldn't be this way.

A couple more example: I typed in address & shipping labels (89K results) vs. address and shipping labels (40 results). DVD & Bluray (924K) vs DVD and Bluray (44K).

There should not be a difference in those result numbers. So depending on what you use in your title your visibility can be compromised. They mean the same, so they should show up regardless of which you use.

modulok! · ‎11-15-2019

Would this work...Beauty & And The Beast?

eburtonlab · ‎11-15-2019

@monstertoybox

I was perusing one of the old help pages on ebay.ie and came across some search tips that advised searchers against using "and" or "&" in their searches at all.

The first example given was "Beauty and the Beast".

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

As a workaround for sellers, you could probably get away with using "and" in the title and then using "&" in the item specifics somewhere (or vice versa) to avoid having an awkward title.

I agree that the current rules are needlessly confusing, but I am also afraid that whatever replaces them will be worse and require ever more drastic workarounds to make search usable.

this*old*attic · ‎11-15-2019

This is a prime example of EBay tech and management pulling away from the users

In the early days, Blues were on the boards all the time and respected boarders were invited to be on the Voices Committee.

Everyone worked tirelessly to make sure keywords were coded correctly- like your example.

zamo-zuan · ‎11-15-2019

In most search systems I've seen they have references for similar phrases. I'm not sure why eBay does not use them.

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

@modulok! wrote:
Would this work...Beauty & And The Beast?

I changed the title and used "&" and "and" and it did come through on both. But, that will drive me crazy! It's very awkward looking, like I made a mistake. So I don't know if it's worth it. But thank you for the suggestion.

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

@eburtonlab wrote:
@monstertoybox

I was perusing one of the old help pages on ebay.ie and came across some search tips that advised searchers against using "and" or "&" in their searches at all.

The first example given was "Beauty and the Beast".

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

As a workaround for sellers, you could probably get away with using "and" in the title and then using "&" in the item specifics somewhere (or vice versa) to avoid having an awkward title.

I agree that the current rules are needlessly confusing, but I am also afraid that whatever replaces them will be worse and require ever more drastic workarounds to make search usable.

I went in and updated the item specifics (character) to read "Belle and Gaston" and waited a little bit and did a search, it still did not come up with the "and". UNTIL, (thank you for sharing that link also, because this is where I learned about this) I clicked the box under the search bar, that says "include description". Then it did show up.

Honestly, I've been on Ebay for over 10 years and did not even know that box (search descriptions) existed. Which as a seller, kind of upsets me because I was under the impression that what you put in your description also matters. But that is only true, if a buyer clicks that box. Which, like I said, I've been on here forever and didn't even know about it, so how many buyers do you think use that?

Why does search have to be so complicated? This particular issue shouldn't even be happening. Thank you for your suggestions and for that link.

dhbookds · ‎11-15-2019

just to add another suggestion:

Belle + Gaston seem to = Belle and Gaston

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-15-2019

Did you try using using Belle and Gaston........Beauty & the Beast

That way both are in the title

When I searched using Beauty & Beast, titles with and but without '&' still came up so perhaps it is better to use and all of the time.

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

FYI, just in case others don't know about it.

This box is not on the home page search, by the way, so it would have to be a secondary search in order to "include descriptions".

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

@this*old*attic wrote:
This is a prime example of EBay tech and management pulling away from the users

In the early days, Blues were on the boards all the time and respected boarders were invited to be on the Voices Committee.

Everyone worked tirelessly to make sure keywords were coded correctly- like your example.

I agree they should have a way to suggest something like this to someone who'll do something with it. Or at least look into it.

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

@zamo-zuan wrote:
In most search systems I've seen they have references for similar phrases. I'm not sure why eBay does not use them.

I thought so. Why would you think that they would program this search engine to not acknowledge "and" and "&" as the same thing? Is there some reason for this? Or is it just something that should be fixed? Give us your expertise Zamo!

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

@dhbookds wrote:
just to add another suggestion:

Belle + Gaston seem to = Belle and Gaston

Interesting! It does work that way.

So, I tried to see if it worked the other way around, by updating my title with a "+", but unfortunately it doesn't. It won't come up when I search for "Belle and Gaston" with "Belle + Gaston" in the title. Thanks for the suggestion though.

monstertoybox · ‎11-15-2019

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Did you try using using Belle and Gaston........Beauty & the Beast
That way both are in the title

When I searched using Beauty & Beast, titles with and but without '&' still came up so perhaps it is better to use and all of the time.

Thank you for the suggestion. What I decided to do is remove the "and" between "Belle and Gaston", so now my title reads: "Belle Gaston Doll Set Beauty & the Beast Live Action Disney Store". Waited a bit and searched both ways and guess what?! It came up both ways. So I guess, when in doubt, leave it out!

That does not fix the fact that "and" and "&" should be the same in search though. Unless there's some technical reason why they aren't seen the same. This should definitely be something that should be fixed, if it can.