Fix Your Search Engine

[maryinlikely]

Hey Ebay! I just asked to see Shrek figures and you show me five items which were all the same figure. I went on Google and found you have dozens of figures for sale on Ebay. How are you going sell stuff if you hide from your search engine?

[wastingtime101]

What were your exact search terms and parameters?

[maryinlikely]

I used Shrek Figures, then tried figurines. Same five new in package figures are that were shown. So then I tried using vintage Shrek figures and then figurines and the same five figures popped up and nothing else, though the figure were new items and not vintage.  Then I went to Google and you had dozens of Shrek figures on Ebay. I have noticed that Ebay's is not working very good lately and decided it was time to let you know. Who ever has your Search Engine throttled down needs to be removed and a better person knowledgeable about the reason and use of search engines should be in charge. The old Ebay that ruled the World never hid items. Somebody in charge should be looking into that matter. I have sold on Ebay since 1996 and have never seen the mess the Ebay's Search Engine has been spewing up when you try to search for items as I am seeing this past year and it is getting worse. Also I use Google Chrome as my browser just in case you think the problem is with me. 

[selsa84]

Search is atrocious and has been for quite some time. 

[eburtonlab]

@maryinlikely 

If you are looking for listings that include a single action figure, try searching shrek figure, like this:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=shrek+figure&_sacat=0&_sop=10

Or a search of shrek within the Action Figures category:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=shrek+&_sacat=261068&_sop=10

[maryinlikely]

No thank you. If I have to start stringing advanced URLs to look at something  I can just go to Google and find somewhere else to shop. 

[eburtonlab]

No thank you. If I have to start stringing advanced URLs to look at something I can just go to Google and find somewhere else to shop.

That first search example can be recreated by going to ebay.com, entering shrek figure into the search bar and then using the blue search button.

Some people seem to want things to be much more complicated than they actually are.

[tarotfindsandmore]

There is nothing wrong with the way you searched.  There is definitely something wrong with eBay's search engine.  I did a search of a few of my own items this past weekend.  Three of them have titles that start with the exact same three terms, but only one showed up in the search results.  I actually had to delist and relist two of them to get them to reappear on the results page.  

I was a librarian for many years and this is not the way a properly functioning database works.  My search terms should have pulled up all three items. If your search terms yields results in google (for eBay), they should work here.  You don't need instruction, eBay needs to get its act together.

[wastingtime101]

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@maryinlikely wrote:

I used Shrek Figures, then tried figurines. Same five new in package figures are that were shown. So then I tried using vintage Shrek figures and then figurines and the same five figures popped up and nothing else, though the figure were new items and not vintage.

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Hmm, that's odd. Were all 5 results you saw labeled "sponsored" in small gray font @maryinlikely ?

When I search Shrek Figures eBay automatically filters down to the action figures category and shows me 1800+ results. I can see more results if I back out by clicking on All categories.

When I search vintage Shrek figures eBay automatically filters down to the action figures category and shows me 126 results. I can see more results if I back out by clicking on All categories.

Are you still replicating the same problem today or was the issue exclusive to your Oct 23 searches?

[sassykzt]

I feel your pain!  I tried to shop for several items tonight.  Had a h*ll of a time.  Then went to 2 different search engines and found exactly what I wanted most on eBay.  So why couldn't eBay show me these items?  Is this why I constantly get bombarded by emails and phone calls to push promotion outside eBay ads?  Min. is $5 per day with a min of 30 days.  That's 150.00 ( regardless  if item sells)  they want so they don't have to fix the search engine.  No!

[maryinlikely]

I tried several times with different words and nothing changed. Also yesterday, I was looking for an item in collectibles and got a few ads shown. The rest of the page was for car parts. How they figure that is a collectible I do not know. What I do know if a buyer cannot find what they are looking for, they get frustrated and go somewhere else. I see the same problems at my local stores. They no longer carry items that I have bought many times over the years because new management took over and decided to switch inventory to his own tastes. That forces me to shop elsewhere and they lose business. Look at Donahoe, he just got sacked by NIKE because all he wanted to sell were high ticket shoes.