eBay to make changes to search in 2024!

[siamjane8]

I saw that an eBay moderator said that the search team has seen all the complaints about irrelevant eBay search results and is going to make changes in 2024. 

   Wonderful news. It has gotten worse month over month for the last 7 or so years. Sarah decline in showing what people actually type in the box.

   What do you think they need to focus on?

Less PL add placement?

less manipulation and more focus on accurate organic results?

   I think they finally realized that buyers must use Google to find eBay listings because the dumb AI eBay search engine can't find active ebay listings!

[eburtonlab]

They have now taken away the search description button.

I still see that option on the search results page using Firefox. If you do not, the option can still be reached via the Advanced Search page or using the "More filters" option and going to the "Show only" filter.

It's clear why - now when you search for anything it checks both the title and description by default

The default search is the title and item-specifics. Searching the body of the description is a separate option.

For example, try searching for "GG". You get tens of thousands of results that have no GG anywhere in the title or even description.

Try this as a starting point for GG seaches:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=%22gg%22&_sacat=0

You will likely have to narrow your results further, as I see about half a million results that contain those two letters, but that is about a hundred thousand less than if you leave the quotes out.

[eburtonlab]

I have searched for an item I listed, using the first 3 or 4 words of the listing, then some keywords, and my own item doesn't appear.

Which item, and how are you searching?

[eburtonlab]

I remember the good old old days when the search results brought up exactly what I wanted and no more. I wonder what's the reasoning to make a search HARDER for buyers?

Most likely eBay believes that the changes make it easier for most buyers to find something to buy, even if that does make some things harder for others (primarily sellers). Or at least eBay believes that the changes lead to more revenue for eBay than they cost, on net.

That does not mean that eBay always guesses right, though. But if a change leads to less revenue for eBay overall, eBay has a big incentive to notice and undo the changes.

Not all the differences between "the good old days" and now are strictly due to changes made by eBay, either. There are many more sellers now, and more sellers that are determined to get their listings to appear at the top of the search results, whether those items are being searched for by buyers or not. Some of the unwanted results you are seeing are likely related to some specific things that sellers are now doing that they may not have been doing before to get their items seen.

Who has time to sift through irrelevant search results and/or to refine your search by excluding all the irrelevant search results?

What are you searching for and how are you searching? Chances are there are some tweaks you could use to filter out those irrelevant search results and save yourself some time. The more time you currently spend sifting, the more time you could potentially save yourself by picking up a couple of tricks.

[rockyroadtradingpost]

The first part of what you said makes total sense, and I should have thought of it myself -- they want buyers "wandering the aisles" to buy more than they intended. 

But the second part -- Wow, that's an eye opener about sales restrictions and lack of growth.

Thanks.

[rockyroadtradingpost]

Thanks --- It depends on what I search, and I do know how to refine my searches by excluding search terms and limiting the fields. But as I recall, back in "the old days" if I typed "shirt size medium" all I got was mediums. There are more steps to get to that result now.

[eburtonlab]

But as I recall, back in "the old days" if I typed "shirt size medium" all I got was mediums. There are more steps to get to that result now.

Fair enough.

Searching using shirt size medium keywords will match any results that contain those keywords, anywhere in the title or item specifics, which matches a lot more than just the medium-sized shirts.

But even when you could search title only and there were no item-specifics, there were plenty of searches that were very difficult to perform using keyword text matching alone -- consider fractional-sized O-rings or pipes where sellers used nonstandard terminology to specify inner diameter, outer diameter or thickness. Try searching for 1/4" ID tubing without also getting 2-1/4" ID tubing, or 3-1/4" OD tubing. Yes, you could search for exact text and use lots of exclusions, but then you would miss out all the listings that used slightly different notation to say the same thing.

Even for things like shirt sizes or shoe sizes, using a filter can provide much better results than searching using just the keywords alone ever could.

[yor-mario]

ALL THESE DISCUSSIONS JUST PROVES IDIOTS IN THEIR WHITE TOWER RUN EBAY.

[allstar-comics]

new update once again dropped sales  

[asset_liquidators]

Well as of 4-15-24 it has still only gotten worse, and by a longshot. This site is pretty much unsearchable which means buyers are going elsewhere.

Over the last 24 hours I have had several searches that returned COMPLETELY irrelevant results as the top matching item in "best match", then, the actual item I was looking for followed the irrelevant best match. The best matches also were not even promoted listings in those instances so it can't be blamed on that.

Of course, I know that I then have to use the Advanced Search but the casual buyer is not going to waste their time doing that. They are going to just leave, and that is evident in the amount of page views and more importantly, sales. 

[asset_liquidators]

Yet eBay always solicits sellers to "grow your eBay business", all the while, capping your sales so it can't grow.

[wilsonharborsales]

Merchant partner accounts and managed account holders are selling like crazy.  Some have more than doubled their sales volume.  We just need to figure out what they are doing that we are not.

[denisevanpattendolls]

I just want a real title-based search for my collecting buying.  As an option!  Let me drill down and find it under the "customize" option.  So when I type in "#4 Vintage Barbie" I JUST see that. Not all the Barbies. Or all the Vintage items. When I search for a "#4 Vintage Barbie", in the first few results I got things like modern Holiday Barbie dolls, 4 Cupcake Sprinkles Dolls, and a Skooter!

Spent some money as a buyer here for my collections this weekend, and it was a frustrating experience.  Wasted a LOT of time. 

I find item specifics not very helpful for collecting categories, especially for browsing in the manner a collector's mind works.

[eburtonlab]

So when I type in "#4 Vintage Barbie" I JUST see that.

Unfortunately, eBay does not provide an option to search just titles, the number sign is not searchable, and sellers do not necessarily use standardized terminology to describe that particular doll. You will likely have to try some different strategies to find such listings and avoid irrelevant items that have the same keywords in a different context.

Try these searches as starting points:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/262346/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=barbie+%28number.4%2Cbarbie.4%29&Character=Bar...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ponytail+barbie+4&_sacat=0&Time%2520Period%2520Manufa...

[transamcc]

SAD, but REALISTIC. I still remember when they had a good search engine with lots of room provided in the search string box for excluded words, and an excluded sellers section. I am still running some of those searches today, since I BOOKMARKED them instead of "saving searches". Most contain a lot more specific terms  and will narrow down many of my searches to the few dozen that meet my wants instead of many thousands of results on first search.

[mam98031]

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@allstar-comics wrote:

new update once again dropped sales  

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@allstar-comics 

Do we know if Ebay has actually made any changes to the search?  I know they said they are going to make changes in 2024, but that doesn't mean they exist yet.