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.
