ebay Search engine only bringing up limited numbers of items

[bscgn9]

Hi all, has anyone noticed in last 24 hrs that when searching for items its only giving a very small number of results ?? my example is "Athearn Ho Scale" this should normally bring up thousands of items globally but only giving 1183 today!! And the search results is all messed up too, it gives a pile of stuff that is not related like security cameras. maybe I should have phrased the search "give me everything except Ho scale"

[sandypebbles]

I just had a look, using your example and got 4083 results, all being under the category heading

Toys, Hobbies Model Railroads & Trains Radio Control & Control Line Diecast Vehicles Collectables

[papermoon.lady]

3649 for me. I wonder why we all get different results?

[padraicpaul91]

I have found this to be the case for some time, perhaps over a year. If I wish to search the items from a seller with a large inventory  there may only be 4 pages of results: 800 items. This varies. To see more, I then need to refine the search, such as items in various price ranges, brands etc. These have been primarily US based sellers.

I did read, somewhere, this was to reduce the strain on searches, if that makes any sense.

[eburtonlab]

The number of results depend in part on the keywords, category searched and the shipping address used to calculate shipping.

Here is an alternative search using athearn as a keyword in the Toys, Hobbies category, the HO scale filter and a Sydney postal code:

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=athearn&_sacat=220&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc&_dcat=1802...

Somewhat more results using athearn ho as keywords, searching All Categories:

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=athearn+ho&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc&_stpos=25...

[bscgn9]

normally I'd get about 3000ish just for oz and 20k+ globally but last couple of days its been very low with a lot of hits with no relation to the search. Even trying different combinations gives mixed results 

[twyngwyn]

anything here?

Monday Night Massacre: Years of eBay Saved Searches Gone (ecommercebytes.com)

[bscgn9]

just did a new search same 'Athearn ho scale" got 2 hits in the default ,when ticked Australia got 83 and 174 when tick worldwide.....normally would be 20k+ worldwide for a general search. Something is busted

[bscgn9]

yeah that link describes pretty much what has happened in the hobbies areas too. Its all completely stuffed! Still getting lots of random items in searches too eg. weights!.....searching for model trains and it gives you a weight set as no1 item

[damned87]

I reported a similar problem when searching under model building thinking I was highlighting a potential problem to ebay and it's users only to have the issue dismissed as me being an idiot with anger management issues. This of course led to me developing one and having my replies pulled. Such a shame because I used to enjoy searching on ebay but at least it has made me search other websites which are working out better for me.