What happened to the search feature? It's horrible now!

[emmarose1999]

I used to praise eBay's search feature compared to that of Amazon's which was seriously lacking.  EBay's search used to be fantastic, but not anymore.  When I'm looking for something specific, that's what I want the search to show me.  Now when I search, not only do I get similar items that I don't want, I get tons of unrelated items popping up which do not even contain words of the item I'm searching for in the title.  I noticed this happening the past few months. What the heck is going on here?

[varebelrose]

Its been going on for YEARS, its not a recent thing. Just one of many flat-out fails on this site.

YMMV

[eburtonlab]

Can you give an example of a search that provides results that do not match your keywords?

If you can figure out where the search is breaking down, you may be able to work around whichever "feature" is causing the issue. Most likely it has to do with Search Expansion, where keywords are often substituted or can be used to choose a particular category.

See this old page from eBay Ireland for some details about Search Expansion:

https://www.ebay.ie/pages/help/search/search-commands.html#expansion

Search Expansion can be disabled by using a search command such as an exclusion term, quotes around a keyword or using multiple terms in parentheses.

[allkindagoods]

eBay SEARCH IS SEVERELY BROKEN. And this is a VERY serious problem which needs to be immediately addressed.

Please, eBay! This is extremely important!! Take a look at this!!!

I have a vintage Nirvana "Come As You Are" t-shirt listed. When this is searched (by All Categories), it states there are 112 of these items available. When counted, only 33 TOTAL listings are posted.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: My Smashing Pumpkins "World Is A Vampire" t-shirt was also searched by All Categories, and there is (supposedly) 90 of them. Count the ACTUAL number of these listings, and there are 15 listings, and another section below which states "Results matching fewer words", and another 32 are shown, for a total of 47.

If just "shirt" is searched, or if the category search changed, the results are similar- again, a certain number of the item or items are posted, but the actual number of them shown is much less that the amount stated.

As a buyer, I would feel very "short-changed" by this. If all the listings I search for are not appearing, then I am not being shown ALL options available to make an intelligent purchase decision. And may take my business elsewhere. Isn't eBay in a competition with other ecommerce sites for buyers right now? And with less folks with money to spend at the moment, it would be assumed that no one wishes to lose customers.

Also, sellers are paying for these listings, and are not receiving the service that they paid for. Yes, it is stated in the eBay User Agreement that all items may not be shown no matter what in search, but this is a basic, essential site function.  If eBay is compelled to hide listings (haven't figured out why this makes a bit of sense), the GMV of everyone will suffer. Isn't the object of an organization who makes a commission on all merchandise sold to maximize sales????

If a certain number of items is stated to be available, and they are not shown, this is not only a disservice to all who use eBay, it seems to also be illegal (to not provide a service which has been paid for). Would someone walk into a retail store, buy something with their hard-earned money, and then have the store take it out of their hands before they could get it to their car? Of course not!! 

[eburtonlab]

@allkindagoods 

I have a vintage Nirvana "Come As You Are" t-shirt listed. When this is searched (by All Categories), it states there are 112 of these items available. When counted, only 33 TOTAL listings are posted.

The reason that fewer item listings appear compared to the number of results shown at the top of the search is often that many of the listings shown are multiple variation listings. If an item has multiple sizes or colors available, each variation counts as a separate "result".

For instance, this search:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Vintage-Nirvana-Come-as-You-Are-T-shirt-1992.usa+SZ.H...

returns, for me, "6 results" but only one actual listing (plus some others that match fewer terms below the actual search results). Opening that one listing reveals that the shirt is available in six sizes.

Note that there are other reasons why the number of results may not match the total item listings that appear; sponsored items may be inserted in the search that do not sort or count toward the results. Also, when using search by "Lowest First" sort, in some cases there will be a note at the top of the results indicating that some of the results are not shown, with a "show all" link -- using that link should display all the results (though the number does not change).

eBay's search has some quirks, and some of the built-in defaults and assumptions are not always what the user might intend -- and sometimes the search just plain fails to deliver. But all-in-all the search does a decent job of finding some results based on a user's keywords (even if they are misspelled) without requiring each user to learn a great deal of search syntax. The more complicated the search, or the more exhaustive the results desired, the more effort is generally required to bypass the default "user friendly" assumptions.

eBay certainly could stand to make the underlying assumptions more clear, and provide some options to bypass some of the "smart" features, and eBay should definitely update the help pages that are supposed to describe how search actually works.

[lasantino]

I am on ebay every day for multiple hours a day. either listing or researching.  Something has happened in the past 2 or 3 weeks.  Search is almost worthless.

And i'm only trying to use it for research.  If I was  a buyer and started realizing the search results were completely messed up and a waste of time , I would close the ebay tab and not bother.  Part of ebay search is the hunt.. however, when results are inconsistent and theres no rhyme nor reason to the constant changes that are made, Its a HUGE HUGE HUHE deterrent to buyers who are searching for something.  

[eburtonlab]

@lasantino 

What problem with search have you been experiencing in the last two or three weeks?

There was an issue that occurred last week that briefly (which I think has since been fixed, though perhaps not for every user) that caused items to sort incorrectly -- when sorting Newly Listed or Ending Soonest auction items sorted differently than Buy-It-Now listings.

If that is what you are experiencing, see here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Sort-by-newly-listed-not-working/m-p/31108811#M73207

If not, please describe what you are seeing.

[lasantino]

hi,,i'm too tired to write a properly descriptive example right now.  I will write a proper response tomorrow including what search terms I used and a screen shot of the results. This will be a much better way of showing the problems.   

[allkindagoods]

".....sometimes the search just plain fails to deliver."

Exactly. If you can't see it, you can't buy it.

I asked a couple of my friends "if you are searching for something to buy online, and the site states that there is (supposedly) over 100 examples of the item you are looking for, but only a fraction of them are shown, would you continue to shop on that site??"

The overwhelming answer was "NO!!!", and they were in disbelief that an ecommerce website would actually do this.

An average buyer should not need to know certain tips and shortcuts to perform a simple item search. That being said, it must be assumed that most customers want to compare all options available to them before making a purchase decision. Again, eBay's search engine is broken, and needs a repair and / or overhaul.

Here's hoping the new CEO addresses this and the many other problems which plague this site, and costs everyone money: buyers, sellers, and eBay themselves.

[eburtonlab]

@allkindagoods 

It sounds like the search you are doing is delivering the results you want, you just have an issue with the way the results are described. Would you prefer that the search results said "100 results found in 31 individual listings"?

An average buyer should not need to know certain tips and shortcuts to perform a simple item search.

A typical buyer does not need to know any tips or tricks to get search results.

If you are doing research, on the other hand, and you want exhaustive results, it might be worth it to learn a bit about how search works. If you spend a lot of time looking at search results, a little bit of time spent refining your searches can pay off.

The search is designed to put results in front of potential buyers; not provide data for researchers. Not everyone searches the same way; for every user put off by not enough results, there are likely just as many overwhelmed by too many results. There is not a single search method that will satisfy everyone; the default settings are a compromise, and if you want a specific result, you will likely have to do some customization if you are not happy with what you get initially.

I see far more complaints from sellers worried about whether their items can be seen in searches than I do from actual buyers complaining that they cannot find what they are looking for.

That said, the search is far from perfect, and if you have an example of a search that does not find an item that you think should appear in the results, I would be interested to see that.

[bshopgoods]

I have had difficulty searching this past week. When I put Denizen by Levi's Boy's Denim Blue Jeans into Search, I get Men's Levi pants. Same with looking for girl clothes, I get women's. I was looking for Disney Girl's Jumper Dresses. Kept getting women's.

Definitely a change with Search. Didn't used to be that way until August.

[noturns]

Ebay search is broken.

I'm finding listings via Google which I can not find via ebay search, not even when I copy-paste part of the title of the ebay listing.

It's disturbing.

[eburtonlab]

@noturns 

I'm finding listings via Google which I can not find via ebay search, not even when I copy-paste part of the title of the ebay listing.

That can happen when items are sold or ended and not relisted. Such old listings are typically removed from eBay after ninety days. In some cases, eBay may remove listings earlier than that if, for instance, the listings violate policy.

Google's search prioritizes web pages that have been around for a while or that are linked by many other sites, which may not be the best way to search for auction listings such as eBay's which tend to come and go relatively quickly.

Having spent a lot of time trying to track down items that were sold on eBay months ago and finding only cached images in a Google search, I agree that it can be quite frustrating.

[redmodelt]

General reply to to any one person;

Taking multiples out of the picture. For example, if I am looking for "1920 Dodge Brothers -fits" I not not interested in all the other stuff that is not related showing in my search. The non related stuff is not even a fit to my search. What does 2020 Dodge have to to with 1920 Dodge? This would be a search in eBay Motors, Vintage and Antique parts. Not by location (except by USA or North America), not by price. So I would say there are issues with the search engines because they are wasting my time when I look having to go past stuff that isn't what I need or will even buy.  If I was looking for 2020 Dodge parts that is what I would be searching for and conversely would not need to see 1920 Dodge parts.

[odd_lots_doesnt_do_paypal]

This is EXACTLY the problem. Putting it in "" marks Does not help. Searching for a three word exact quote such a "2.5 mod gear", simply returns results with any of those three terms that ebay has selected today.......by the thousands sometimes.