# What is wrong with Ebay?



## Murby (May 24, 2016)

What is going on with ebay? Their search engine is so screwed up it can't even be considered a search engine.

I type is "4 inch stainless Pipe" and I get cake frosting? This kind of garbage has been going on for years now.

I used to be able to type something in and the results would pop right up.. maybe a few bad apples here and there..

These days, 98% of what comes back is garbage and I have to scan through 30 pages of crap to find one item.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

It's probably deliberate. Think of it like product positioning in stores. It's calculated to get you to buy stuff you didn't plan to buy. You never know you need it until you see it. 

It's a PITA that makes ebay tough to use for something you do need.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I sometimes have to try several searches until I get one where it understands what I am searching for. What really irritates me is that I ALWAYS have to do second search to get item+shipping. Ebay search has default as "BEST MATCH" which is best match for nothing. No way to make item+shipping the default. I assume 'best match' is some gimmick sellers can pay extra to be higher in search results.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

Try this search.
stainless pipe 4 inch , or
stainless steel pipe
You lead off with the main words you want for search. 4 inch would be details
Look to the left of the screen and then use one of the sub catergories to filter your search.
If you want ebay motors, go to that section.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/eBay-Motors/6000/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=stainless+pipe+4+inch
Or business and Industrial.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Business-Industrial/12576/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=stainless+pipe+4+inch

And or go to google and use their search. It will also bring you up results for ebay.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

I put in your exact search and all I see are pipes and fittings.I suspect there is a lot of truth in @ladytoysdream suggestion to put most important words first. Also, generally on ebay as well as amazon, 4 inches would normally be expressed as 4".


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...Pipe.TRS0&_nkw=4+inch+stainless+Pipe&_sacat=0

No cake frosting here.............

Perhaps it's time for a brain scan?


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

People people LOL remember it is all about the buck. The more things they show us the more things they think we will buy!


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

sisterpine said:


> People people LOL remember it is all about the buck. The more things they show us the more things they think we will buy!


I was in retail for 35 years. 20 in brick and mortar and 15 in online. Corporate office for both. In both cases, they were the largest in each category. I say that only so that you will realize that I know how they think.

In B&M, it is true that getting you to walk thru the store to get to what you want might prompt you to buy other things. For this reason, they will often put really popular consumables near the back of the store. Traditional examples are milk and diapers. That is OK since you would have had to walk anyway so they are not putting any roadblocks to you purchasing what you want.

In online, it is a different story. If you do a search for a specific product, the online retailer wants you to get right to that product and never deliberately puts anything in your way. They strive to get you to your product and then buy it with the least amount of 'friction' as possible. Once you have found your item and made your buying decision, online does have the ability to then try and suggest other items you might be interested in. Nearly impossible to do in B&M.

So... I don't agree with the suggestion that eBay is intentionally putting items in search results that are not what you are looking for just so they can expose you to other products. That would be friction which any astute online retailer knows is a big no-no.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

logbuilder said:


> I was in retail for 35 years. 20 in brick and mortar and 15 in online. Corporate office for both. In both cases, they were the largest in each category. I say that only so that you will realize that I know how they think.
> 
> In B&M, it is true that getting you to walk thru the store to get to what you want might prompt you to buy other things. For this reason, they will often put really popular consumables near the back of the store. Traditional examples are milk and diapers. That is OK since you would have had to walk anyway so they are not putting any roadblocks to you purchasing what you want.
> 
> ...


Why then prevent permanently setting search to show items with lowest shipped cost first? The BEST MATCH is the unchangable DEFAULT search, you then have to redo it with the lowest shipped cost option. Obviously they are making money off forcing the useless "best match" option.

This change happened few years ago now with software upgrade. You used to could set lowest shipped cost as default in search.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

First, most all sites have proprietary search algorithms that are tailored for the nature of the site. Amazon's search is to find products. Alaska Air is for finding flights. Totally different animals. In all cases, the algorithms are far more complex than you might imagine.

I am quite familiar with how it works on two retail product oriented sites. eBay isn't one of those so I can only speak in general terms.

Lets look at an example that I think will provide some insight as to why 'lowest cost' isn't a good default. I'm going to only use a simple set of logic to show how complicated it can get.

Example - A single word
You are looking for some glass cleaner. If you search for *"Windex"* you will get a listing of products that have the word Windex somewhere in their product information. It might have been in the product name, the description, or maybe in a customer review. That might be a big list even though you were just looking for the 16oz spray bottle. If you were to sort it by *lowest price first* as the default, what might be the first item? Probably something like a roll of paper towels (maybe 75 cents) that a customer review said cleaned their glass real nice using Windex and the paper towels. Surely not what you were looking for. If the site has *Best Match* as their default, it is likely that they would first list products that have Windex in their product name, then description and lastly product review. See the difference?

Example - Multiple words
Now if you have a search of 3 words lets say, the logic gets far more complicated. First would be products with all three words in the name/desc/review, then products with 3 of the words in the name/desc, then products with 3 of the words in the name/desc, then products with 3 of the words in the name only. Then you start carrying it out for 2 words only and 1 word only. This creates a Best Match result list.

This hardly scratches the surface in terms of how complicated the search algorithms can get. In the case of a retailer, they might take into account availability (why show you out of stock items first), popularity, best customer reviews, return rates, margin, special priced (on sale or clearance), newness of items (just released). I could go on and on. All these and many more feed into the algorithm that generates Best Match (often called Relevance).

From a user standpoint, the best results are from the best search terms you provide. I've been doing internet searches since 1994. We used to be able to control some things with the search directives. Like "+Windex +spray - 'paper towels'. The +s and -s were real useful. There were others like *. Seems to me few search engines respect these anymore which makes it even more important to get your words right and in the right order. When I am thinking of how to do a search, I imagine what the best result web page would be and then think what is the most unique set of terms I would find on that page. Then order them in order of importance.

I know this was lengthy and more than you wanted to know. But, I hope it did give you some insight why there is never a one size fits all when it comes to searches. You may favor low price first while I favor relevance first. 

What I do wish I saw more is the ability to filter the result list further and then when you get what you want, allow sort options.


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