Ebay search engine bugs?

[retrogeekaustralia]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone else been noticing glitches in the search engine not displaying their listings properly? It has only been happening on a couple of my listing and it's probably one of the listings with the most sales so it's killing me.

For example one of these listings i have is usually around about the 4th spot on the first page when i search a particular keyword, but there were a few days last week when i would search it and it was nowhere to be found on the first page. Now this was on the default search option so best match was already selected, however when i pulled the the drop down menu down and selected best match manually the page would refresh and listing was showing up where it was suppose to, search the keyword again in the search field and it would dissapear.

Now since Sunday night two of my most important listings are having this issue, these ones have been around 2nd and 3rd place in the search result for months now. And when i search for it it is nowhere on the first page. Now close the top 10 listings here are all completely Aussie listings, there is 1 hong kong listings amongst them but when i select "Australia Only" from the search criteria my listing shows up in the spot it should be. Now i know this is definitely a glitch and not just a drop in my listing because in this view my two listings are between two other sellers, now when i switch back to worldwide these two sellers still appear close to the top of the page and mine are nowhere in between them.

This is really frustrating and costing me a lot of progress in getting my listing to the top of the results, i usually sell around 5-8 between the two of these items a day and now since Sunday night i havn't had a single purchase as no one can freaking see them!! It's not even about the imediate loss of money that i am worried about it is the progress of getting it to the top of the search results that i am going to lose, it took months of sales to get it that high and now a few days of no sales will just kill this listing off.

I've contacted eBay via chat, phone, email telling them to sort this out but they are useless! Telling me it could take days before they sort the bug out but it is days i don't have!! Unless they want to compensate for the next few months of sales when my listing drops even further down because it is invisible on the search results.

Sorry for the rant guys, i guess im just hoping maybe someone from ebay will see this and get there act together (highly doubt it though)

Is anyone else experiencing this issue lately because i have no idea what to do

[wendy_collection]

We have same problem as you did,

One item in first page  of search result page for almost one year!, now went to 10th page since last week, also, the search result will appear in different ranks in different computers, no idea what happen, years hard work , just gone, unfair.

[jazzybazzar]

If you have some time, have a look at this http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/ebay-cassini-search-engine/

[crazy-technology]

we have the problem, i have called ebay regarding for the search engine issue, the customer service said the search engine is working well and have not any problem at all. however, lots of my friends who running the ebay business also suffer this problem, One item in first page  of search result page for almost one year!, now are disappearing since 22/06/2013, also, the search result will appear in different ranks in different computers even i delete the brower history. it is unfair and ebay seems not care about this issue.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

I think the ploy is designed to get sellers to conform to TRS plus to regain the exposure that they had prior to its introduction.

ie. by stealth ebay is intimating "this is your new "standard" search ranking but if you conform to TRS plus then your search ranking will improve".

For the sellers that previously had top ranking items if their ranking was not dropped then the TRS plus program would not have been viable

.... I am not saying it is right

but think about it.

If you have a top ranking item why would you conform to ebays new trs plus criteria????

Now that you do not have a high ranking item will you be more likely to introduce the new criteria and learn to embrace it or at l;east live with it ???

testing... testing  I am not giving excuses or agreeing with ebays actions

I am just giving my opinion of what is occurring and possible reasons why

[retrogeekaustralia]

Hi Colic, i thought what you said definately sounded like it could be a high possiblilty as to the reason why peoples listings are having issues. So i thought i would test this out, I then changed all my listings that are currently being affected by this glitch to match the requirements of Top Rated Plus and still nothing. Listings are still dissapearing from search results and some even dropped little lower.

I have left it like this for a few days now thinking it might take a little while for it to kick in but to no avail.

So unfortunately im still convinced this is a glitch and not being done on purpose by ebay, they are just simply ignoring the issue.

[gps*stewart]

Having read this rather long thread with a great deal of interest, perhaps I could suggest a solution. Firstly, I think it's important to understand that no amount of complaining will fix the problem, and a problem I believe there is in more ways than one. Instead do what I did..........start your own website and concentrate your efforts in that direction instead, using eBay as some sort of supplement (It need not be an expensive exercise). Ebay is not the "be all, end all" of building a business entreprise, I simply treat it as a useful sideline to my business. The alternative is to be continually frustrated and stressed out, not a good business decision.

[retrogeekaustralia]

Completely agree with you gps, I am currently working on getting a website up and running. Iv only every really seen ebay as a starting point to build what I really want for my business. At the same time though it is very frustrating when we are paying ebay for a service, essentially an advertising service with high visibility for our products and yet it is currently riddled with glitches. Some sellers have spent months/years getting their listings to be noticeable in the search results and now these glitches are throwing that all way by making them Invisible. Some products especially high volume items can take a drastic drop in positioning in only a matter of days if its not making sales, and my listing has been affected on and off for months now.
But your right, no one should be relying solely on ebay, otherwise your leaving your business in someone else's hands.

[gps*stewart]

Yes, you're right. We're paying for a service that in many respects, could be a whole lot better. But, you know, I don't think it's ever going to change, it may even get worse! However, I still find Ebay a very good way to generate turnover, albeit with low profit margins, as regardless of all the faults and glitches, it still remains a site that has large traffic flow.

Good luck with your website, ultimately I believe that's the best way to go, but it does take a lot of time and effort.