"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" asked the Mad Hatter

[1786davycrockett]

Because then it more accurately describes the eBay search vehicle for buyers.

For example -- I just looked up "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine -- August 1976."  Fairly definite, right?  Whole magazine title, with date.  Should not be a problem.

Ah, but that's not how the befuddled brains of eBay's IT team operate, as we all know.

Instead of providing me with ONLY listings for that particle magazine and month and year, eBay feeds me a deluge of 622 listings of RANDOM issues of "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine" -- and it is not until the 41st item on the list that eBay decides to list the August 1976 issue -- followed by one unrelated issue after another, until even Alfred Hitchcock would run amok, screaming "Psycho!"

Is it any wonder that so many buyers have given up making purchases on eBay, when even the slightest item search becomes an infuriating game of Hide And Seek?

After all the years that sellers have been complaining about the search process, why doesn't eBay fix a REAL problem -- instead of uselessly revising the message system, which wasn't even broken.

Oh, yes, I forgot -- because a raven is like a writing desk.

[redlinear]

@1786davycrockett 
   It's turning off both buyers, and sellers.

[luckythewinner]

When I did the search under Best Match as you describe it, I got 13 listings: 3 were the August 1976 issue, 6 were the August 1975 issue, 4 were other 1976 issues or lots with 1976 issues included. 

When I did the search under Lowest Price, I got 3 listings and all 3 were the August 1976 issue.

[jerseyboymusic]

@1786davycrockett 

Love the title... although I read it as "Riddle me this, Caped Crumb and Boy Blunder!" in my best Frank Gorshin voice.

The Ebay search is pretty dumb nowadays. I'm experiencing the same issues

[fbusoni]

Yours is the first hit in my search:

 

[1786davycrockett]

@luckythewinner 

"When I did the search under Best Match as you describe it, I got 13 listings: 3 were the August 1976 issue, 6 were the August 1975 issue, 4 were other 1976 issues or lots with 1976 issues included. 

When I did the search under Lowest Price, I got 3 listings and all 3 were the August 1976 issue."

Well, here's the latest "Best Match" search that I've received, when I put Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine August 1976 in the "Shop by category" bar, under "Books & Magazines" -- 

"624 results for alfred hitchcock's mystery magazine august 1976"

And my new listing from only minutes ago comes up 2nd, after a lot of 4 miscellaneous issues, of which NONE includes that particular issue.  And the next defining issue shows up as #25 now, with lots of unrelated other issues in between.

When I search under "Price & Shipping:  lowest first," I get 8 listings, of which only 3 are that particular issue.  The rest are from other months in 1976 and 1977, plus some mixed lots.

Don't have a clue why out search results should be different  -- but that's eBay for ya, isn't it?

[redlinear]

---

@luckythewinner wrote:

When I did the search under Best Match as you describe it, I got 13 listings: 3 were the August 1976 issue, 6 were the August 1975 issue, 4 were other 1976 issues or lots with 1976 issues included. 

When I did the search under Lowest Price, I got 3 listings and all 3 were the August 1976 issue.

---

Makes ya wonder... 13 listings, then when sorted lowest $ 1st, you lose 10 listings. 

[tsme35]

Same deal on my own store search, ebay screw it up a few months ago.

[1786davycrockett]

@fbusoni 

"Yours is the first hit in my search:

Mine was added, after I had started this thread.

[eburtonlab]

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

I heard that both were famously written on by Edgar Allen Poe.

[jg.mason]

14 results, yours was the first then the 7th, 8th and 9th all the rest were for other issues.

[my.chic.boutique]

When I'm searching for something that specific, I put the "August 1976" in quotes. That way it will only pull up listings with that specifically in the title. 

[1786davycrockett]

@my.chic.boutique 

"When I'm searching for something that specific, I put the "August 1976" in quotes. That way it will only pull up listings with that specifically in the title. "

Sure -- but how is that supposed to help out  the average potential buyer, who is totally unaware of all these unpublished, secret and esoteric eBay hints.

It's not as if eBay were displaying that suggestion in it's search instructions:  "If you really want one particular item -- instead of a random mess of  loosely related materials -- just put quotation marks around item specific words in the title."

It doesn't assist the buyer -- period.

And it is also of no direct benefit to sellers.

This "upgrade" was created several years ago by the IT "brain trust" at eBay -- and, despite numerous complaints from buyers and sellers alike -- it still remains unfixed.

Guess that's what happens when the lowest bidder at the IT Job Fairs gets the jobs.

Hopefully, these same IT wizards won't be upgrading any 911 phone centers. . ..

[fbusoni]

@1786davycrockett 

I used only three of your search terms (in three different browsers that I have on my Mac -- two of which I almost never use and which have no cookies set by eBay or anyone else) and your book still came out on top for all three:

 

[johnrj1226]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven

Dissected the  "The Raven" by E.A.P. in 1963  H.S.  in Senior Theme writing.   No mention or reference of Alfred Hitchcock - saw him on the B/W tube though