Is the Ebay algorhythm that supposedly 'buries sellers items from search results a MYTH or reality??

[of-the-world]

I have heard for several years certain sellers, power sellers, people with stores, some without, they claim they will search for items they list, on a public computer , not their own IP address or a friends computer, on a different network than what they list the items on and they claim the items are not found.

Now,  I have never  had this issue.  I tried it a few times over the years and I can always find my items, unless they were just newly listed and simply haven't populated yet.

Does this come down to a reality in some countries with ebay? Or is this a problem with how people search?  The day I started using ebay in the late 90's.. to find things I wanted, I bookmarked the 'advanced search' and I use it to this very day.
Maybe alot of people even sellers don't know about basic search functions and ways to refine a string?  That's not my battle , but I would like to know if this has happened and how you can provide evidence of such a thing.   Cheers !

[momcqueen]

Myth. Like you, I’ve not been able to recreate the so-called Rolling Blackout theory. If my item doesn’t show in a search, it’s because I didn’t put it there for a reason. Accidentally or deliberately. Or there is a site glitch.

In my opinion, sellers use this unfounded theory to explain sales droughts caused by falling in Best Match. It’s the fastest, easiest explanation that points no blame at the seller itself.

Rolling eBay Blackouts are a tinfoil hat theory. Nothing more.

Cue the vitriol and hyperbole of outrage by people who will vehemently disagree.

It’s impossible to argue with a conspiracy theorist because no matter have logical the counterpoint, any dissenting fact gets dumped in the conspiracy pile.

Now, problems that arise from improper management of the product catalogue are another matter. Those Grouped listings that did obscure items are a real problem which eBay was actively trying to fix after site testing exposed it.

But the conspiracy theories predates that; I don’t see them as the same thing. The folks who Believe would disagree.

[cumos55]

New inventory... books... will be searched on eBay, and only a few listings will be shown in the search report.

24 to 48 hours later  lots more of the same inventory will show up in the search...

A selective group of listings were shown with the first search, while "all"  of the same inventory were shown in the second search.

When new inventory is listed I will try to list with a title  that is based on content and not on the title of the book.    and many times  my listing will sell  quickly.

[cumos55]

When a search is done, one should always go back to eBay's ..... "first"..... page...

Click on eBay's four color logo ... ebay   ....at the top left of a page, and start a new search

Doing  one search after another will not get a good search report after the the first search.

The result or the second search will appear "confusing " if the search does not start with that "first" page

[momcqueen]

Oh yes, when I was a new buyer, I would often accidentally search only a seller's store inventory and think I was getting results from all of ebay. 

[number63]

I just came to this users forum for the very reason that I cannot find a seller's listings. I am in Canada and the seller I am looking for is in the USA. I watch his Youtube videos and he has recently posted a video where he is selling a number of his tools on ebay. He stated that he will post 10 items at a time over the next few weeks. He posted the URL to his first item for sale so that his Youtube viewers can easily click and go directly to his listings.

Well, I can go to that listing, no problem because it is a direct link, but if I do a search on either ebay.com or ebay .ca, I cannot find him using his seller name. Also, on his listing that I am able to view, when I click on his other items, it shows nothing. If I do a ebay search for the item that I am able to view, that item does not come up in the search results.

This seller doesn't list Canada for shipping, but he has a list of exclusions and Canada is not in that list either. To me it seems as if ebay is purposely making listings that do not specifically list Canada as a shipping destination, invisible to a person in Canada doing a search. The thing is, even if this seller chooses not to ship to Canada, what if I know someone in the US who could buy the item for me, or perhaps someone in Canada who has a USA shipping address?.  This could be lost revenue to this seller because I am not able to find his items in order to bid.

Now, perhaps this seller has only the one item listed so far, but I have had this same thing happen in the past, so I doubt that is the problem. I will keep checking his listings.  Not sure if we are allowed to show sellers names or item numbers here so I am not mentioning it. I just logged out of ebay.com and clicked on the 4 colour ebay logo at the top of ebay.com page and did an advanced search for my seller and his item it shows nothing, and I searched his item number, still nothing, yet I can click on the direct link that I have to one of his listings and it shows up, no problem.

[esclyons]

if the seller does not have Canada as a place they will ship to it will not show up in your search, but with a direct link you will be able to see it..

with the direct link, that comes up for you, try clicking on see other items, and if nothing comes up, then they don't ship to Canada.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Once you get to this sellers listing, have you tried emailing them directly? You could also bookmark the seller as a favorite to return easier and save the item you did find to your watch list.

-Lotz

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @number63 - you've been given some great tips already, but also wanted to mention that you are able to view all active listings from a particular member from any of their listings directly by using the 'Visit store' or 'See other items' links to the right of the pricing information too. Hope that you're able to nab some tools!

[retroman_studios]

On the subject of visibility, did not eBay warn that if sellers were listing in categories where the new product catalog was used and didn't use a catalogue item that it could affect searches?

[femmefan1946]

If a seller does not ship to Canada, choose a country that he does ship to (usually the USA).

Then change your own location to that country . For USA which requires a zipcode, I use 90210.

Now eBay thinks you are in that 'approved' country, and will show you all the available listings.

The sellers still may not ship to Canada, so don't try to buy until you have looked at the shipping cost to Canada.

And if it is not there, don't try to buy.

[pjcdn2005]

The seller might use another shipping  block that would prevent a Canadian from seeing their listings in search.  Try this...on .ebay.com, search for an item  using the price plus shipping  view. Right under the view option, change your location  to the US and put in a zip code, 90210 works.  Then do a search for the seller you were looking for.

[pjcdn2005]

When a buyer searches for a specific item, eBay will sometimes default to a specific category so if that sellers items are in a different category, they won’t see their items unless they change the category.

[of-the-world]

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far! Some great solutions!

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

The search is quirky when it comes to categories, subjects and keywords.

We once posted a WW1 related item that wasn't a WW1 collectible directly. The subject was WWI but the object was a painting. It was a stronger argument for painting as the artist was notable.

When posting it in the Art Category it didn't show in searches for WW1 or related military keywords used in the title. When it was moved to the Military category it showed in searches for military keywords but not for Art keywords.

The only logic I could figure was eBay is trying to force buyers to purchase a second listing category when one will do just fine.

The problem with this is of course buyers just search. They don't always find what they are looking for, then they look elsewhere and sales suffer for everyone.

[reallynicestamps]

I'm not sure I'm the norm, but I rarely use Categories when I Search.

Keywords are more important to me.

Given how often sellers forget to change the categories when they get on a tear while listing, this seems more a propos.

YMMV.

Only if I get too many results for my keywords, will I correct for the category- after I correct for size, value, colour, etc.

[ricarmic]

When I am searching for stuff here is my normal course:

Because I'm a stamp guy I usually start with my bookmarked "stamps" high level category.

Then 99.5% of the time, I use keywords within the "stamps" category.

Oftentimes I have stuff that might be somewhere else (postcard for example). In this case I will try "all categories" but this often does not work as I get everything under the sun then.

Note that I do not ever remember searching within a specific subcategory of stamps.

PS I use the optimistic way of thinking of "burried" as not being sufficiently elevated to get views. IMO there are many ways to increase one's visibility, experimentation within a category is normally required to figure out a system that works....and probably spending some $$$ too.

[momcqueen]

I next-to never filter via categories as I find too many casual sellers misplace things. I use keywords only. Filters by Location. Then Condition. Then Price: Highest First to separate wheat from chaff by working backwards to my comfort zone.

[momcqueen]

But I’m buying toys or craft supplies on eBay. Rarely household goods. Sometimes books. I’m not sure how my tactics work for other shopping interests.

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

I buy antiques/art on eBay as well as the occasional second hand photography equipment or electronic and sometimes books.

Search Scheme:
- Keywords first
- Filters on "Highest Price + Shipping" backwards ("Lowest Price + Shipping" if it doesn't return chinese spam)
- Location

Purchase Scheme:
- Feedback Check (check the sales volume, and FB - as a seller it can be easier to differentiate bull FB from legitimate FB)

- Other Items Check (Preference for Individuals or Small Mom & Pop Shops. I'll rarely purchase from a large volume reseller or enterprise. If they are legitimate its likely i've already checked retail against their website and I don't purchase refurbished. Legitimate second hand is preferable.)
- Check everywhere before purchasing anywhere, when possible.

A Note to eBay:
- If I run across listing spam I go elsewhere fast. (Listing Spam is here defined as a seller who has multiple listings with the same product; a seller who sells part of something as if its the whole thing; a seller like wayfair who lists new products in the antiques category or with antique keywords--- these are violations and I'm sick of high volume sellers getting away with keyword or category abuse. And AI should have manual overwrite: as a legitimate seller if I list more than one item, its because they are different items! (Two vases of number 4242 from 1920 are unique and not mass produced - the variations can have a legitimate and notable effect on product and cost. As a buyer this is important. *ends mini-rant*) And it's equitable treatment I behave the same way at Amazon, Etsy, even our local Antiques Market & Fair.)