Wildcard searches discontinued from 5 November

[wizzkids]

Just received an e-mail from eBay asking me to edit my wildcard searches because wildcards will no longer be supported after 5 November. The reason given is because the eBay search facility has been "improved". This sounds like eyewash. What do you think is the real reason eBay has removed wildcard searches?

[berntd]

Just had a support chat and they suggested that I make a 'suggestion' to have a wildcard feature...

(!!)

None of my searches can work withpout wilcards and so I won't continue for now 😞

[ozimandas]

have to agree. i use wildcard all the time. for instance to search for car parts but not lights i could type in "ligh*" and light, lights, lighting, etc would be excluded. now i have to type in each variation. how does this speed up search time? only in some alice in wonderland scenario where my time is less important than ebays. once i have typed it all in i guess the actual computer search time is shorter but only because i have done all the work. weren't computers invented to make life easier?

also note ebay own gumtree.

[namllo68]

Seriously eBay. This is a really dumb move.

How do I now do search for watches from the 1920s?

I used to be able to use "watch 192*" now I'd have to use "watch 1921", "watch 1922", "watch 1923"........."watch 1929"

How is this better and how is this progress?

Please, for the love of god change it back to how it was.

Wildcard searches are a must when you have so much data.