Multiple listing making search so frustrating.

[trishreid88]

I used to be very active on ebay some years ago. Was quite a large seller untill numerous changes led me to shut up shop so to speak.
I rarely buy now but one thing that has become so prevelant in multiple listing options. I can't remember the propper name for them but the listings that have a number of options (colour, size, etc) on the one listing. Don't get me wrong I think this is great for honest sellers but it becomes extremely frustrating when you are searching for an item and think you found one at a decent price, only to find out that price is for some accessory and not the pictured item.

I am not exactly a cheap skate but I personaly won't pay the same price for an item of clothing online as I will in a real store where it is easier to return if it doesn't fit etc. So when the clothing category is flooded with these types of listings it has made me just give up even bothering with it. I have tried using the search option for Australia only as a lot of sellers that list like this seem to be from over seas but many are now also listing item origin as Australia.

Does this tick anyone else off or have I just been away from ebay for too long?

[*tippy*toes*]

It's mostly the Chinese that pull stunts like that, but some naughty Aussie sellers do it too. The title will be something like <designer name> dress size 10, price $1.99. Then when you click on the listing the dress is $100 and the $1.99 item is a hair clip.

Refining the search to Australia only doesn't really solve the problem either because that refinement only shows sellers who sell to Australia only. So, if a Chinese seller only sells to Australia, their listings will still show, even though they are in China. It also blocks out Australian sellers who ship worldwide. There is a search refinement that will show the true cost of what you're looking for in the search results of multi listings, but I can't for the life of me remember how it's done.

Yes, it is extremely frustrating.

[trishreid88]

Thanks, glad to see it is not just me. Would love to know how to search to elliminate that.

[*tippy*toes*]

I just went to a few listings that I knew listed like that and the only way I could get it to show a different price was to put in a price range. If you've got a rough idea of how much the item is you want to buy, you might have better luck by putting in a price range. You can just put in a low price, e.g $30 and that way any of the variations under $30 won't show in the search results. The lower priced items will still appear in the listing, just not in the search results.

If the dress is $40 and the hair clip is $1, by putting in a low price of $30 will stop it showing as $1 in the search results. I'm sure there was another way of doing it though, but that might help you out in the interim.

[linoc6666]

I was just going to post about this subject, but found this via search. It's disappointing that 7 years on, it's much worse.

To the point where my time is probably better spent purchasing from my local retail store, rather than spending ages frustratingly opening/viewing/closing multiple listings, until finding the factual “Price + postage: lowest”. 

I don't blame all sellers, most have just joined in to keep up, compete. I blame Ebay for not putting a stop to it years ago, one item and $ amount per listing.

Just one example - Wireless Keyboard $13.99 to $53.99 - rather than a $13.99 keyboard option, it’s for a mouse pad (not mentioned in the title), the keyboard is $53.99, obviously not the cheapest keyboard available - shorturl.at/rHY02

[eburtonlab]

Using "Lowest Price" as a sort method seems particularly prone to turn up lots of price variation listings. Unscrupulous sellers do what they can to game the system and appear at the top of the results, but even the sellers using the price variation listings correctly inadvertently contribute to this issue since when using "Lowest First" only the cheapest variation matters to the ordering, even if the desired option is at the top of the price range (as often seems to be the case).

You may be better off using a price floor to eliminate the least expensive listings, or else sorting by "Highest First", then scrolling down to your desired price point and working your way back up the results. This latter technique neatly avoids the issue of the mouse pad variations entirely.