"Maps" - exact search term without any extra clutter.
Hello everyone.
Can someone tell me what I have to type in the prompt to get exactly the word "karten" without being flooded with other terms? Otherwise I get "telephone cards, card game, business cards etc." to look at, which I don't need at all.
What used to help, like
_in_kw=3/4
%28++++%29
%22++++%22
are now ineffective.
Thanks for any helpful tip.
21 comments
bigzmej
OP2 years agoApparently there’s no solution...
Unfortunately, my private message to Miriam@ebay and ainja2006 didn’t go through (probably too long, too threatening, too undemocratic, whatever). Otherwise they could enjoy how perfectly the search system works (sob).
Conclusion:
With all the "useful filters+rules+exclusions" etc., the word you’re looking for completely disappears after about 27000!! "very helpful" results!
Too bad!
Is it explicitly intended that the customer only gets to see what Ebay has forced on them??
Or are the coders just too lazy/incompetent?
over_dog
·2 years agoHello, for years the search function has shown a “mind of its own”, this has been discussed here countless times! I think that the controlled / mentioned mind of its own and the guided one go hand in hand.
That’s why I often search via Google with the search term and added Ebay! Links to Ebay are always right at the top among the results. With one click you’re then back in the results screen of the Ebay search. This result is then much freer of “collateral finds” and again and again real hits turn up that the Ebay search itself doesn’t show at all!!
Regards, Jürgen
It’s simple because simple is simple!
ainja2006
·2 years ago@miriam@ebay: Why private PM though? That’s something a lot of people here are interested in, why tons of offers fall by the wayside = get dropped = are no longer seen / no longer found. I had given a clearly understandable example above in # 7; could you please address that here?
miriam@ebay
If this isn't "too personal" for @bigzmej, examples can of course also be shared here with us, @ainja2006 🙂.
Best wishes & have a lovely weekend
Miriam
ainja2006
·2 years ago@miriam@ebay: Thanks for your reply. I’d still be very grateful if you could take a look at my example mentioned above and explain where the offers went.
bigzmej
OP2 years agoLet's see if they get through.
Now it shows about 26k results. Last time it was about 27K.
The prompt is about the same as at the time the thread was opened.
If you add any arbitrary exclusion word with +- - the search jumps to zero...
bigzmej
OP2 years agomiriam@ebay
Thanks for the feedback, @bigzmej - I received the link to the search and we can only recommend that you exclude search terms based on the prompts, since including the prompts (+term) is probably no longer fully supported. I can't edit your search without getting the error "Please shorten this text to 300 characters or less" (translated).
Since we recommend using the existing search filters to narrow down the search results, unfortunately at this time we are also unable to give you any further tips here, @ainja2006.
Your request to take the prompts more into account in future product development has already been passed on.
Kind regards
Miriam
ainja2006
·2 years agoHello @miriam@ebay ,
unfortunately, this is once again not an answer to my point in #7; I asked you about this on 12/06 and reminded you on 14/06.
Here is the reminder again:
An example: %22Spielkarten22% yield 1,200 listings.
Reduced to e.g. "Comics and mangas", there should only be 97 listings left; but only 47 appear under the search item "Best Match". Sorted by "lowest price" or "highest price" "or newly listed" or "ending soonest", then only 9. So listings are effectively disappearing. We have already complained about this here many times, when listings are in fact no longer being found.
Where have all the listings gone here according to YOUR search criteria? There have already been so many inquiries about this and never has an explanation come from you.
Another example - could also be simulated with 1000 other products:
I search for "Campingbus". No quotation marks, no prompt, nothing, no categories, just with the filter "used".
Shown to me in the left column under condition: 773. But they never show up here anymore:
Under best results: 406.
Under lowest price with/without shipping: 160.
Under highest price with/without shipping + newly listed + ending soonest: 646.
That's a pretty bad joke, isn't it?
Who searches under conditions like that?
But the next minute or tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in a week, in a month, it could already look completely different again. And we're supposed to be able to rely on that?
miriam@ebay
Hello @bigzmej and thanks for the request for more ways to narrow the search using prompts. We’re following your exchange and the tips you’re sharing with each other, and I even learned something new myself today.
We’ll pass along this request again accordingly, but as has already been written here, the search results can be narrowed down using the appropriate filters. Teams and systems specialized in this are continuously working to optimize them for a better user experience.
Best regards
Miriam
ainja2006
·2 years agoNot just "narrowed down," but in fact massively reduced. I have never read an explanation from Ebay here as to why listings simply drop out, so that you have absolutely no access to them. Where did the listings go?
der_einzig_unwahre_heino
·2 years agoAnd announcements like "We will pass along the request accordingly once again..." have been read here for years, and yet the functionality (not just the search software) has kept being restricted further and further; this now even applies to the most basic core functions. And that leaves only one possible conclusion: that's exactly how it's supposed to be. And it inevitably leads to a single fitting term: anti-customer hostility.
luden_hut
·2 years agoSo, yesterday I searched for synthesizers and only cards were shown to me 😜
But you should keep in mind that it's no longer a real search function, but is called "Find" !!
In the spirit of: "Find something here and give us your money !" 😎
bigzmej
OP2 years agoDear Miriam,
with
"... as has already been written here, the search results can be narrowed down using appropriate filters..."
that does not work!!
The "appropriate filters" are useless after about 450 exclusion terms at the latest (e.g. "+-card case+-pokemon+-phone" etc) because the search system then jumps from about 27,000 results straight to zero!
And mind you - I have also excluded at least 100 sellers from the search - such as postcard sellers, office supplies etc.
So the 27,000 hits are just garbage-value anyway, because it is unrealistic to simply browse through that many items without clicking...
I would have liked to post the link here - however, that is probably not allowed either, or the site software (forum script) sees it as some kind of threat and won't let it be posted (laugh).
It shouldn't be hard to just give the stupid customer the option to find exactly the word he came up with out of his own stupidity.
Right?
miriam@ebay
Hello @bigzmej - I'd like to take a closer look at what you're describing here. Could you please try sending me the link to the search and more context about the search results you'd like to see in a private community DM. Does that work?
Kind regards
Miriam
ainja2006
·2 years agoBut your prompt with percent and 22 does work, though, in a sense? Here you get 78,000+ results.
With the search term in "" you get 1,300,000+ results.
Completely without "" and restricted ONLY to the search term KARTEN, you get 6,600,000+ results.
And if you then were to narrow it down in the search terms or the search term accordingly, what kind of CARD/S you actually want, it would become smaller and smaller.
Using the left column too, excluding everything you don't want, including Private/Commercial, you should get to a relatively manageable number ...
An example: %22Spielkarten22% results in 1,200 offers.
Reduced further to e.g. "Comics and mangas" there should only be 97 offers left; but only 47 appear with search item "Best results". Sorted by "lowest price" or "highest price" "or newly listed" or "ending soon" then only 9. So in fact offers are being dropped. We've complained about this here many times already, when sellers in fact can no longer be found.
So you can narrow it down, but that runs the risk of not showing everything.
miss-chili612
·2 years agoThe search by map may be inaccurate, but sometimes I get the feeling it doesn’t matter at all what you enter.
I searched for something today and although I spelled it correctly, I was shown the following :
Where does the i come from? No idea. The search is no longer what it used to be a long time ago.
rotoskop-kulturfilm
·2 years agoHello @bigzmej
eBay apparently disagrees with you.
You've probably already tried "cards" (including the quotation marks)?
At least that brings up significantly fewer results...
All the same, the term "card" by itself is really a bit imprecise.
But you're right, the search engine doesn't work like it used to anymore, since eBay would like to.... influence sales a bit...
Regards
RKF
bigzmej
OP2 years ago@rotoskop-kulturfilm
the (no longer working) ones I used in the prompt
%22suchwort%22 is also
"suchwort" - just translated for the machine.
The search is really great if you're looking for something ordinary, like specific concert tickets.
But if you're looking for something like (electron) tube SRSxyz - you get flooded with exhaust/solar/cable/water pipes where the SRS you're looking for is completely missing (but the seller pays for the advertising of their goods).
And the annoying thing is that this "srsxxx tube" can be in at least 4-5 (partly hidden) categories.
And yes - thanks to everyone who got in touch.
Had hoped to hear something from the Ebay team..
hasjana
·2 years ago~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
you can make the search more precise - cards can mean a lot of things after all ... maps, admission tickets, playing cards
if I wanted to search for admission tickets, for example, my first step would be the corresponding category, without even bothering with the search - the same goes for other items
der_einzig_unwahre_heino
·2 years agoApparently this doesn’t work anymore either. But that’s how the “global corporation” has been for years already. Instead of exact search results, they’d rather serve customers frustrating data junk. Come on, eBay, what have you become?