Ebay's Search Engine Does Not Work!

[threebears63]

Hi All,

Last night I was trying to find a movie that my daughter wants called Tai Chi Zero.

I went to the DVD/Blue Ray section and typed in the search bar:  Tai Chi Zero.

The search engine did not find ONE SINGLE match.

What I got was the too often seen "we could not find a match for your search", then," here are some items related to Tai Chi Zero".  And it showed an entire page of the Jet Li movie Tai Chi Master, it did not show any other item, not one other thing with Tai Chi or Zero in the title.

I was thinking to myself that there is no way there isn't a single copy of this for sale on ebay, it's a fairly new movie, I know someone has to have it for sale.

Next I decided to type in TaiChi Zero, omitting the space between the first two words. Then this is what I got, the little error message of  "did you mean Tai Chi Zero?" and it put the space right where I had it originally, then it gave me 32 listings of the movie Tai Chi Zero. WHAT THE HECK??

There is something seriously wrong when a search engine can't find an item based on it's exact title with proper spacing and spelling!

I have even searched for some of my own items using proper titles and brand names and not come up with my listings, but will get items that may have a word in common, when I know my item is listed and should have come up in a search, namely right near the top based on my search criteria.

So, how often are customers typing in the name of something I have for sale discovering that "we are sorry we could not find any items to match your search"?

This is very frustrating!

Heather

[surplusdealdude]

On  the US site,

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.XTai+Chi+Zero+movie+Bluray&_nkw=...

On the Canadian site

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=Tai+Chi+Zero+movie+Bluray&_s...

[pinetreecottage]

Hi Heather, well it seems you may have discovered why nobody is selling much.  I have had very popular items listed for the 5 day duration, and have had 0 visitors.  That is statistically imposible.  I am sort of technically challenged, so I can only speculate why.  I suspect there are just too many listings for the system to show all of them on demand.  I used to sell most of the items I listed, many had over 100 visitors and multiple bids.  I'm not sure what ebays end goal is.  Without sales, they get no fees.   At this rate many sellers will simply give up, what's the point of listing, when nobody is looking, let alone buying.  I had 10 fun and profitable years, but I'm done, as of yesterday.

Thank you for posting your experience.  Cheers.

[cosadolcestore]

I'm having the same issue. My listings do not come up when I search for them. It has nothing to do with the amount of listings there are. I have a Danier leather coat for sale. When I search for just Danier, it does not come up. Flabbergasted at this, I narrowed the search to women's clothing-coats.and jackets . Still nothing. I suspect it is our Canadian address that ebay is filtering out. This eliminateds 95% of our selling potential! I have moved on to other places to sell my items and I don't recommend eBay as a place to sell anymore. What this situation does for savvy shoppers is this: knowing that Canadian listing are not showing up on ebay.com, they go to ebay.ca - knowing there is less competition to buy that item - they get a bargain and the seller loses out.
Please fix this situation eBay! I want to be loyal to you but you're making it difficult.

[saboo_taboo]

It's more than frustrating. I consider it Globally Suppressive.

Though I am not oppossed to the suppression of violent searching.

[reallynicestamps]

 I have had very popular items listed for the 5 day duration, and have had 0 visitors.  That is statistically imposible. 

What makes you think that?

I've had items listed at Fixed Price for two or three months with zero visitors.

I only noticed this when they sell.

(My sewing patterns, vintage paperbacks. philatelic collectibles and postcards are slow movers. And that is accounted for in my business plan.)

There are 140 million items on eBay every day, we are told.

Only a few customers will be looking for Saudi Arabia #73 VFNH or Maternity Wedding Gown Sz 24 vintage or Royal Albert teacup Cottage Garden NIB.

We can list up to 50 items free of charge. One hundred free if we use both dotCA and dotCOM.

The more items we have up, the more likely someone will find one thing and check out more.

And only about 15% of listings are still in Auction format. Even those often have a BIN price. And of the others many end with only one bidder.

[reallynicestamps]

ZOMBIE THREAD

FROM 2013

The problem with Zombie Threads is that the information is often out of date or incorrect.

[tyler@ebay]

Hey everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began I have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread!