As of today, I can no longer search eBay by the decade ...

[Chris Counts]

For the past 10 years, I have been using searches like "193* Reds," for instance, to find Reds items from the 1930s. I have saved dozens of similar searches (194* baseball, 196* Bazooka, 192* Exhibits, etc.) in my browser because they work so well in narrowing down a search. As of today, they don't work anymore. Is anybody else having trouble searching by the decade? Does anybody have any other tricks for searching by the decade?

[hammer]

Same here you just have to love E-bay.

[egbeachley]

There is a thread within the last week that stated that wildcards (*) would not work anymore. Ebay put out this new policy to enhance the buying atmosphere or something to that effect.

[D. Bergin]

It's for your own good.

Never thought anybody could break a "Search", but Ebay has given it their best shot.

[36GoudeyMan]

I've got dozens of saved searches designed to pick out certain years, types, players, etc., almost all of which use the * wildcard. Now, all of them are useless. To replace them, I have to go in and recreate searches using "(1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939)" instead of "193*". My buying experience is not enhanced.

The way eBay addresses (or wholly fails to address) its buyers' and sellers' wants, needs, objectives, etc., leaves me longing for another super-populated site that offers true auctions, treats buyers and sellers fairly, and permits regular commerce on fair terms. Until all my sellers move to that fantasy site, I'm stuck at eBay....

[wolf441]

Yeah, the whole "-" to keep items out of your searches (like -reprint) is out the window as well.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

It's for your own good.

Never thought anybody could break a "Search", but Ebay has given it their best shot.

yep

[collectbaseball]

This is the most frustrating thing ever... even for the most basic things. I used to search for autographs using the player's name and (sig*,auto*). That covered just about any way someone can list one. Now I'll have to use the player's name and (auto, autos, autograph, autographs, autographed, sig, sigs, signed, signature, signatures)... or something like that. And those won't find any spelling errors, like autogarph or signiture, like the old search did.

Looks like there should be some good deals to find, if you've got time to dig. Sucks for sellers, sucks for buyers who don't have an unlimited supply of time. Pretty infuriating.

[Sean1125]

I think everyone should call and fill up their customer support lines asking for the feature back until they get the message.

And I've never used it before but that is an INCREDIBLY useful tool they took away - I'm sure they LOSE sales by doing that (you won't find cards you normally would have and they won't get bid up).

E-bay is e-baying it up in e-bay town...