Search results missing many items compared to using search bar on website

[sebbyonline]

When I use the search API, there's a lot of items missing when using sort/limit. When I try the same search via search bar on ebay.com, I get many more results. For example, if I search (tcg,cards) on ebay and sort by ending soonest, the top 10 listings end in 1-2 minutes.

However when I make this call:

https://api.ebay.com/buy/browse/v1/item_summary/search?q=(tcg,cards)&sort=endingSoonest&limit=10

I get 10 listings, with the oldest ending in about 10 minutes (should be 2 minutes like the above). Is there anything I'm missing or doing wrong?

[shipscript]

No answers - just questions to consider: Are you using the sidebar to limit your search bar results? My search bar query finds 10 million results, with the first page ending within seconds - a mix of domestic and international. Is your API query matching the settings used in your site search? Is the API finding international or only domestic?

If everything matches, then, as a possible explanation, the API is often used by third party eBay Partner Network apps. So the intent may be to allow viewers time to log into eBay and review the item before the listing ends.  Displaying listings ending in a shorter period of time could be frustrating to EPN buyers and to the revenue stream of EPN members.

[sebbyonline]

I'm not changing anything or using filters, I'm just comparing the API call to hitting "search". If your explanation is the case, why even use this endpoint over a web crawler/scraper?