ebay search function has imploded

[Peter_Spaeth]

Seems it can't handle a 4 or 5 term search at all -- getting endless irrelevant hits. What the hell? Fortunately my saved searches still seem to update only with correct hits.

[npa589]

I have noticed that too. I used to be able to utilize parentheses, commas, etc - but it is consistently ignoring my search parameters.


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[BioCRN]

This has been a long time problem for me.

ted lilly psa = 1600+ results

ted lilly "psa" = 8 results

ted "lilly" psa = 8 results

Go figure.

[Beercan collector]

Recently started changing my foxx psa (200 results)
Over to fox psa (thousands and thousands of results)
- I know .. not the end of the world ,
but really don’t need auto correct from eBay

[Beercan collector]

I did finally use that annoying feedback box That gets in the way

[Ray Van]

I noticed on the eBay App they also changed the "find" functionality on the Purchases Screen, such that any item that was purchased as part of the same invoice (i.e. combined shipping for multiple items) will also show up on your search. For example if you won 20 different T206's from the same seller and paid via one invoice and then wanted to search for "Cobb" to reference just that card, all 20 would show up on your screen not just the Cobb. Not a deal breaker but also not in the spirit of how and why I would use the "find" function in the first place.

[jingram058]

I find eBay going downhill in several ways. First, far less of the things we all like to collect, not just cards, and far more recent and reprint junk. Second, and I think because of the fact that there is only so much old stuff and the way eBay fees, sellers aren't listing the way they once did. Third, eBay is constantly tinkering with their site, including how you can search.

[ThomasL]

It has been bad for a while...most of my searches are ok...but for some reason when I search for anything related to the Marx Brothers I get a ton of irrelevant items. I simply search "Groucho Marx" or "Harpo Marx" or will include "Signed" or "Autograph" with it...it is terrible

I think the Marx Brothers would love the fact their searches are chaos but I dont like it...have to wade through 100s of irrelevant items

[jingram058]

The pickings have been slim on eBay for some time. Baseball cards aren't the only things I like and collect. Old tube radios. Railroad timetables. The searches come up with less and less, and more and more modern stuff that is junk but somehow metric'ed or otherwise "relevant" to the search. And all the while, eBay continues to tinker with and "refine" their web site. We had a number of sayings in the Navy. One was, if it ain't broke don't fix it. That is meaningless to eBay. They feel they have to continually make it "better".

[G1911]

I've had search problems for several months.

I get that decline in listings is largely out of eBay's control with the new tax policies and that somethings I think of as declining plenty of others like, but the search and categorization seems to be objectively worsening and is fully in their control.

They completely ruined boxing by including tons of listings for "box" in the boxing sport category - something like 30%+ of auction listings under Cards - Boxing are not boxing at all.

On the app, searches like to try and predict a category and I have to tap filter and adjust the filters the app has decided to use for me. I collect in broad swaths, so I'll search "1911" a lot because I collect basically all T and E cards. The app will limit my search results to the hunting category. If I search "E92", it will filter me to auto parts even though my history has 0 auto parts and tons of old caramel cards - it doesn't seem to factor the user at all when it tries to pre-filter and make assumptions. "Tolstoi" will search for "Tolstoy" instead in the books category only - which must be annoying to collectors of the great author as well as old items often spelled his name the same as it is in the cigarette brand and a ton of old collectible books etc. are left out of the results.

Within a specific seller on the app, the search barely works for me. For example, if I'm looking for 1962 Topps cards and I search "1962 Topps" under a big seller with lots of inventory, I'll get say 20 results. But If I don't search and just scroll through the mass of listings that dealer has I can find 200 cards from 1962 Topps with the set listed in the title. It makes checking Battersbox type of sellers to take advantage of combined shipping deals a pain.

If I search "1966 Topps" it works right about 90% of the time, the other 10% it returns tons of cards from other Topps sets that are number 66 in that set, seeming to ignore the "19" part of "1966" on a basis I can't make heads or tails of how it's happening in the backend code. That it happens so inconsistently is weird.

Another weird one I get occasionally is a -1/+1 affect. If I search, say, "1966 Topps Bobby Bell" it usually works right, but sometimes it includes a ton of correctly listed 1965 and 1967 Topps Bobby Bell cards. Not 1964, not 1968, just 1 before and 1 after.

This all worked perfectly fine a few years ago. I don't know what eBay is doing here and why but the algorithm is a mess in many different ways and it's something they fully control and is vital to their revenues. I don't get it.

[Eric72]

I just ran a simple to search to see what would happen. I typed 1958 williams into the search field. The results were fine. I scrolled through roughly 150 search results. Nearly all of them either immediately made sense...a 1958 Ted Williams baseball card. Most of the ones that didn't immediately make sense had values the seller typed in, such as [Season = 1958] for a '59 Fleer Ted Williams.

I suspect more searches would uncover more of what you're all writing about. However, a quick test run seemed fine to me.

[Rich Falvo]

I'm getting a bunch of bogus hits on an annual player search I already advanced to 2024. The search is basically just "2024 topps player name". I thought I was going crazy trying to find 2024 in any of the listings.

[obcbobd]

Originally Posted by Eric72

I just ran a simple to search to see what would happen. I typed 1958 williams into the search field. The results were fine. I scrolled through roughly 150 search results. Nearly all of them either immediately made sense...a 1958 Ted Williams baseball card. Most of the ones that didn't immediately make sense had values the seller typed in, such as [Season = 1958] for a '59 Fleer Ted Williams.

I suspect more searches would uncover more of what you're all writing about. However, a quick test run seemed fine to me.

I just searched 1958 williams and got 42 results, you got 150!

I then searched 1958 "williams" and got 76 results

In the past I've done searches for a card and then excluded certain words like PSA; adding the exclusion brought up more results.

Very inconsistent

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

I just searched 1958 williams and got 42 results, you got 150...

I got 1,200+ results. I only scrolled through 150 or so listings, searching for 2014 Mookie Betts cards or other such nonsense.

[Mungo Hungo]

Like other have said, it's seemed to me in recent months that ebay searches for the year before and the year after when I search under a recent year. So if I'm searching for "2021," I have to also include "-2020" and "-2022." Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the whole problem, because so many sellers, intentionally or not, use the wrong year to describe a card.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

In the past I've done searches for a card and then excluded certain words like PSA; adding the exclusion brought up more results.

Very inconsistent

I've had the same experience - excluding certain terms results in more items.

Seems to me they are going the direction of the search on FB Marketplace, where some type of algorithm is being used to pull up similar items. For example, if I search for a Land Cruiser, it will also bring up Lexus LXs, 4Runners and FJ Cruisers. And the further you scroll down the results list, the further away from the original search terms the results stray.

Ebay knows best. They are just trying to help.