eBay searches returning offensive images

[flatforksellers]

I have been selling on eBay for 9 years. I also use eBay searches to look at pricing and what similar items have sold for as well as basic google searches of other marketplaces. Very recently some of the searches I do for specific items return unrelated provocative images and listings for "adult items"...For example yesterday I was checking standard pricing for a vintage leather top silver chest/box...the search results returned images of women's breasts scantly covered with semi-transparent silvery garments adorned with what looked like bondage-type accents. with the statement that no exact matches were found. Even as I tried different search terms I got the same images. I then used the same search terms in Google search. Those results returned items I was looking for, but also an eBay link to items on eBay I was looking for that eBay searches was saying no exact matches were found. I am concerned that customers searching for the vintage furniture and home decor I sell are being subjected to the same "adult only" images and postings that could be offensive to many customers just wanting to buy a vintage silver chest...is anyone seeing more "adult clothing, lingerie" in search results?

[siamjane8]

This happens with 90% of my searches.... I have to go to Google to find eBay listed items because the ebay search shows everything BUT what you actually searched for.  It's like they have over manipulated the search algorithms to the point that it just doesn't work anymore. Always trying to guess what you "really" want but in doing do ignores what you really tried in the search box. It no longer makes any connective use of a string of qualifying words like you tried. It will pick one and run with it while ignoring the rest. 

It's broken as a search engine.... If not, is over of the worst designed searches on the internet.  All anyone wants is to be shown what they search for....... And google does it with 1000x more things to sift through...... eBay can't even search it's own site. 

[whorunbartertown]

I had a similar experience, when I searched for a book called 'trigger warning'.

[meme6253]

Agree, But One Should Not Be With The Other

[nocoolnamejane]

I have no idea what that means.

[flatforksellers]

I agree with your algorithms statement...eBay is a shopping site...If I go to the grocery store and buy say bread and go back the next day and there are just aisles of bread with bags of flour...I'm not there for that I already have the bread and do not need the flour...I am there for something else...specific...not similar different and specific. I have found myself using Google more also to find things on eBay as eBay's search engine has been missing the mark completely...not even close to anything I would be remotely interested in. BUT, I will say within the last 24 hours eBay searches have been spot on...so I am unsure what is going on...my social media sites cannot get the algorithms right either as the ads they show me are also completely irrelevant.

[siamjane8]

Over manipulation. Monotiling the search.   It is like trying to improve on a hammer. All i want it to do is pound in nails.. But now they added a flashlight in the handle, but wait there's more- a soft cushion grip and a 4 way screwdriver comes out the side.  Just added a keychain so you don't ever have to wonder where your keys are. now with digital tape measure- just requires 4 "D" batteries. Order in 5 vibrant colors to match your mood. -Newest version comes with a new AI chipset to help you analyze your swing in real time and sends the data back via wifi to better help you with your aim.

BUT DOES IT HAMMER? not really- it too cumbersome and bloated and heavy an unbalanced.....

DOES EBAYS SEARCH SHOW US WHAT WE SEARCHED FOR?- not really- too bloated and manipulated to show promoted listings and only in a certain geographical location at one time and guessing what you want based on the dress your wife bought 3 weeks ago and preselecting a category based on one word in a stream(incorrectly) and relying heavily on item specifics that are completely spammed by sellers and in general- just ignoring the most basic and important part- the keywords input by the buyer!!!!   The search does not fulfill its basic function anymore- to show us what we type in the box

[flatforksellers]

Well, basically what I found offensive that others in this thread overlook were the fact all the unrelated images were of women only. Women with large breasts and hard nipples...Women in dog collars with leashes with their sex organs with blur spots...by the other response's explanations there should have been just as many male images with search words that included chest and leather...there was only one result of a leather harness that was not on a person or manikin...but advertised as a "gay" man's body harness...I found those listings to be derogatory and sexist as they were presented to me...women with enhanced breasts in skimpy clothing and women in dog collars with leashes, a body harness that apparently will only fit a gay man...and no "sexy" images of men that by any standard offered here should have been equal to the images of a woman by the same search standard that people in this thread have commented that I should have expected that by using search words in any combination that included chest, leather, box...I personally think that is overmanipulating the system to show items for sale rather than related to the other keywords like sterling and silver and wooden...I am a male but a feminist and for eBay, I found it in bad taste and for the sellers, I thought it was quite derogatory in presentation and description.

[siamjane8]

The trend of relying on computers to do our thinking can not be good- computers can not learn common sense... and even more frightening is that less and less humans are being born with it! lol

[nocoolnamejane]

Kink may seem sexist or degrading to a "vanilla" person, but consent is a very important principle in BDSM.

[moondogblues]

This has also happened to me off and on over the years.  I complained about it here a few years ago, was basically told to just look away.  Glad I don't have kids sitting next to me.  Some were incredibly offensive and I am a very liberal child of the Sixties.

[flatforksellers]

That doesn't mean I want to see it...My sister has already had to pull my 9-year-old nephew off eBay because of images he comes across searching for some stuffed characters he collects...and your condescending tone..."vanilla" is inappropriate...as an adult I know people who are into kink but they do not flaunt the attire or the actions in my face when I'm shopping with them for groceries...plus I didn't say kink was sexist...I said the fact that many replied with what did I expect to see with the search words I used...those were none gender terms but it only returned images of females in see-through clothing wearing dog collars and leashes or medically enhanced breasts cover in thin silver cloth....only women..and one leather harness with the title "gay man's leather harness" again derogatory as it would have fit any male in that size.

[flatforksellers]

I am also very liberal and not prudish at all...the images were images of women and those images were over-sexualized...before I would occasionally pull up a 1950's drawing of a pin-up image but nothing this graphic...but after checking around I also did not know eBay touts itself as having the largest collection of adult sex stuff on the internet...so perhaps I need to sale my chests, boxes, leather top furniture on another facilitated site...or maybe its the reason I have been selling more "chest" to male customers on eBay at night...lol.

[nocoolnamejane]

Vanilla is simply a term to designate people who aren't part of the BDSM scene, it's not meant to be an insult or condescending...

[flatforksellers]

It is considered an insulting term even in the BDSM scene. Perhaps you should look it up before you throw it out there if you are unsure of its meaning. And as you know nothing about me or what I'm into or not into...it could only be insulting and cheeky as you are assuming too much and deflecting, for whatever reason, from the original post by name calling...whether I'm into or not into bondage was not the issue...the issue was if that is what my customers are seeing when they are actually looking for a "chest" of drawers or a "leather top table", etc...I need to know to reconsider what I post as not to have my business associated with something a lot of adults find offensive to be thrown in their face when they were not looking for it...in general anything that depicts sex people do not want in their faces until they do at their own free will. What I do in the privacy of my bedroom was not the issue here and I will not tolerate you deflecting because you have nothing else to add to the conversation. The question was...are people seeing more of this type of returns in their searches that were unrelated to the search and are sexual in nature? Yesterday the search for a "silver chest" was spot on...today, bulletproof vests and body armor.

[nocoolnamejane]

Well your scene is toxic. In all the communities I’m involved in, we don’t yuck anyone’s yum and vanilla has never had any derogatory connotations in this context, it’s simply used as a descriptive.

And I did contribute. Certain words together will pull up unwanted search results, whether on eBay, Amazon or any other selling platform, especially where the item listings are user generated.

I’ll come across car parts when looking for cross stitch embroidery or sex toys when searching for yoga equipment but I just pass them over.

In any case, children shouldn’t be on eBay, Amazon, Wish, etc, because there’s always the risk of age inappropriate images that can come up.