Why do the eBay search functions work so badly ?

[deep_wisdom]

Why do the eBay search functions work so badly ? 

I spend thousands of dollars a year through eBay,

and for what I bring, I expect a professional standard. 

For example, when using the “advanced search” function,

searching for “solar panel”  and select “exact words, exact order” and select “Title and description”. 

This setup should get a tight focus on solar panels, but instead

thousands of irrelevant offerings are listed, many not having the search terms in the title. 

The “exact words, exact order” function obviously does not work !

And I end up with a useless pile of irrelevant junk to choose from. 

The search function persistently reverts to “any words, any order”   

This is outrageous ! 

As a retired programmer, I am appalled that a company as rich as eBay

is too scrooged to provide software that complies with its own specification. 

Searching is one of the simplest of software functions, child’s play,

and by cheating us of best choice with incompetent software,

 this billionaire company treats its customers, its lifeblood, with contempt. 

But it gets worse. 

When I want something scarce, something that gets a handfull of connections,

the search engine is not doing the job. 

I have seen it produce a single product from one supplier,

and when I look at that supplier’s store, there are many items that fit the search parameters, but which did not get listed ! 

The implication of this observable fact is that there are suppliers with the product I want, and they are not being found by the eBay search.   

And if you suspect that eBay employees do not care about serving the customer,

I can confirm that this disgraceful attitude is typical. 

Having raised this issue with the so-called “support staff”

I have the abstractly disrespectful absence of a reply

for my taking the trouble to point out something that needs to be fixed. 

They could not have said it plainer if they had told me “P*ss off, you little sh*t”

I’m fed up with rude and unhelpful internet traders. 

eBay, being the biggest, requires us lesser creatures to abide by ethical standards,

but disregard minimum standards of professional service

when it comes to their own operations. 

Time to go looking for an alternative to eBay. 

That’s what it means to me.   

 

[davewil1964]

Title and description

For starters, 'title and description' means exactly that. Title AND description. So if "solar panel" is in a description the search parameters YOU set up will find that listing.

As an ex-programmer you should be more aware than most what a Boolean is.

Try leaving the 'include description' box unchecked.

Also note that most searches are 3 tiered. The first section is the exact matches, the second is what eBay thinks is related, and the third (if relevant) is international.

[booksahoy_au]

...couldn't agree with you more, am so sick and tired of searching for items using such a disfuncional search tool.  This, more than any other of the stupid changes ebay have made in recent times has impacted quite negatively on my buying habbits on ebay.  My searches are in a wide area of interests, not just what I'm selling and searching for anything has become all ga-ga, not worth the effort of doing the advanced search even though I still do just to narrow down what I want to find but in the end I just give up and DON'T BUY...simple as that.  

[chezzy]

I know nothing about programming but find the search facility a bit funky to put it nicely. I don't even use the advanced search, trying to keep things simple in hope it will bring up what I am looking for. Sometimes the results are very limited yet I can go over to google and put in the same or similar keywords and it will bring up links of interest including ebay! (ones that didn't come up on ebay search??). Have found myself having to search a few different ways including logging onto various other ebay sites around the world. On the up side (?) it has slowed down my buying...

[deep_wisdom]

Hi  davewil1964

If the "Search Including" had "Title Only" as an option which I could use,

your rebuke about boolean operators would have merit. 

I made certain that "include description" box is unchecked, and ran the search yet again.

The clutter of irrelevant dross overwhelmed any useful items, as previously. 

And my observation about the self-undoing of selected search parameters still stands. 

Evidently, you did not run the search that I identified as being problematic. 

Two other traders have agreed that the searches are not performing as they would like. 

For me, the issue is not an incompetent understanding of how to use the search,

but about the ineffectiveness and wasted time associated with a system that is neither thorough nor accurate

in selecting items that match my search terms. 

And yes, chezzy has offered a couple of useful kludges for working around a problem that should not exist,

confirming my experience that often google finds ebay listings that eBay itself cannot find.

Ultimately, this comes down to a very wealthy company not providing a search facility that meets a reasonable standard of effectiveness. 

And the implicit disregard by eBay for the value of traders'  time and goodwill.   

And the sheer ugliness and wastefulness of a job badly done.  

And the silent refusal of eBay's support staff to make a commitment to remedy an unsatisfactory essential feature of their service. 

Your internal boolean procedures have missed the point.    

Maybe quantum mechanics would yield a more incisive perspective.?

Anyone finding that VooDoo with headless chickens works better ?     

[shoppingbag*]

I agree with you wholeheartedly, I am constantly frustrated by the very poor search functions that obviously do not work properly.

[2106greencat]

Why do the eBay search functions work so badly ?

Your answer is right there in the question....

It's

eBay

[zanadoo_56]

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@shoppingbag* wrote:

I agree with you wholeheartedly, I am constantly frustrated by the very poor search functions that obviously do not work properly.

---

eBay probably wants us to look for different stuff if they don't have what we want. (TIC....I hope)

I didn't realise just how silly it has got until I clicked one of my saved searches (no email notifications set) which I've got organised by the artist's surname name under a specific craft category.  Two items have been up for sale for a couple of years now, and only occasionally is there something new.  So I clicked the search and (according to eBay) there was nothing under the specified category so they searched elsewhere.......hundreds and hundreds of listings, none of which appeared relevant.

Today I tried it again and got a multitude of junk again.  On impulse I added the artist's first name and brackets and - surprise surprise - I got......the two usual listed items that still haven't sold.  Under my preferred search category too I might add.

eBay....what the???????

[bsal6160]

Heres a hint, dont like ebay? dont use it. Simple.

[cmcoins2000]

Good evening.

Wasn't aware they worked at all.

Think they are all buried in China.