Ebay going backwards again, eliminating wildcard searches on November 5th

digicat

Normally Ebay just hoses sellers, but now they're hosing shoppers as well. They're trotting this out as if it's an improvement, when in fact it's a grotesque step backwards.

It's kinda funny how they present the multi-term search as some new thing, when it's actually old.

So, what's easier?

Search 1: Buster Posey (au, auto, autos, autograph, autographs, autographed, autod, auto'ed)
or
Search 2: Buster Posey au*

Oy.

From the email they sent:


<< <i>Why are we making this change?
We've made many recent improvements to our search capabilities on eBay that now take into account many spelling variations. This has helped us to offer better search results to our buyers and sellers.
However, after November 5, your wildcard searches will not return the same results you're used to seeing. This means that you may possibly miss out on the new and recently-listed items that you're used to seeing in your saved searches in My eBay and in the emails that we send to you.
Here's how to revise your saved search terms
Replace any * in a wildcard search term with whole words.
EXAMPLE: Replace "Floral silk scar*" with "Floral silk scarf"
You can also include various spellings in a single search term by adding it in parentheses, with each additional term separated by a comma.
EXAMPLE: Replace "Floral silk scar*" with "Floral silk (scarf, scarfs, scarves)"
You can also exclude items from the results for your saved search by adding a "-(items to be excluded)".
EXAMPLE: Replace "Porcelain minifigur* -lot*" with " Porcelain (minifigure, minifigurines) -(lot, lots)" >>




Why would Ebay make a change that would result in fewer people finding what they're looking for? It makes no sense.

sportscardtheory

I love the idea of ebay, but I absolutely hate their company. Most of everything they do is lateral moves or giant steps backwards. It's pathetic.

digicat

<< <i>I love the idea of ebay, but I absolutely hate their company. Most of everything they do is lateral moves or giant steps backwards. It's pathetic. >>



And I thought the Ebay development team spent all of their time doing annoying layout changes every few months. Now they're turning stuff off too.

esquiresports

Agree that this makes no sense. Now I get to type out every variation of a word I can come up with instead of a single asterisk. Also annoying is that I have to go amend all of my saved searches with asterisks or they won't work.

mlbfan2

<< <i>Why would Ebay make a change that would result in fewer people finding what they're looking for? It makes no sense. >>



I'm sure it's mostly BS, but...
"Our research showed that using specific terms to expand one's search was a more effective method than wildcard searches, which oftentimes included unexpected variations that cluttered search results. By removing the wildcard (*) advanced search functionality, we're able to deliver search results more efficiently and faster."

Boopotts

<< <i>

<< <i>Why would Ebay make a change that would result in fewer people finding what they're looking for? It makes no sense. >>



I'm sure it's mostly BS, but...
"Our research showed that using specific terms to expand one's search was a more effective method than wildcard searches, which oftentimes included unexpected variations that cluttered search results. By removing the wildcard (*) advanced search functionality, we're able to deliver search results more efficiently and faster." >>



Fine. But why not let the consumer decide if they're getting 'unexpected variations that clutter search results'. If the wildcard search is inefficient than people will stop using it. Ebay doesn't need to interfere with a process that will naturally optimize itself.

fergie23

When it was first reported I figured the cause was due to the fact that wildcard searches are more expensive from a database search perspective so it is an easy way to lessen the load on the Ebay infrastructure. It would be interesting to know if the total number of items listed on ebay at one point in time has increased with the proliferation of BIN auctions. An item that would have been listed in sold in 5 or 7 days now stays as a BIN for months.
If it is not a technology/performance issue then wildcard search support will return.
Cheers,

Robb

gstarling

Just spent the last hour + modifying my saved searches. Really a frustrating change. I agree that this was an "expensive" type of search for eBay, and they're looking to save money. It has nothing to do with making it easier for buyers.

Many of my searches are now less accurate because I can't say things like -199*, and I have to say instead -(1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999). Since doing that for 1990s and 2000s takes up too many characters for some of my longer (very accurate) searches, I am leaving off that part of my search. Now I'm returning 10-20% more results that are 100% inaccurate.

ldferg

<< <i>When it was first reported I figured the cause was due to the fact that wildcard searches are more expensive from a database search perspective so it is an easy way to lessen the load on the Ebay infrastructure. It would be interesting to know if the total number of items listed on ebay at one point in time has increased with the proliferation of BIN auctions. An item that would have been listed in sold in 5 or 7 days now stays as a BIN for months.
If it is not a technology/performance issue then wildcard search support will return.
Cheers,

Robb >>



Exactly. It's all about the backend infrastructure rather than the front end user experience. Definitely a step backward.

Toro

I cant believe this is a real topic and it's really happening. I once thought eBay was untouchable and a juggernaut......it's beginning to be just another website......

kwtoz

At the cuurent time, mobile apps, at least on ipads, can still do wildcard searches.

digicat

<< <i>At the cuurent time, mobile apps, at least on ipads, can still do wildcard searches. >>



Ebay said that the changes would take effect after November 5th, so check again tomorrow and see if they're still working.

kwtoz

<< <i>

<< <i>At the cuurent time, mobile apps, at least on ipads, can still do wildcard searches. >>



Ebay said that the changes would take effect after November 5th, so check again tomorrow and see if they're still working. >>



It's 5pm Tuesday on the west coast. Wildcard searches still work perfectly on my ipad.

TNP777

don't forget the fact that eBay now limits your search to 100 characters. So, let's eliminate the wildcard search, which causes us to have to spell out specific search terms, and then limit how much info can be put into a search string. I had to break a couple of searches into more than one search string. Very frustrating.

I'm not going to be a happy camper if I miss out on a card that has been on my want list for years because I didn't anticipate someone's shoddy spelling.

SDSportsFan

<< <i>don't forget the fact that eBay now limits your search to 100 characters. So, let's eliminate the wildcard search, which causes us to have to spell out specific search terms, and then limit how much info can be put into a search string. I had to break a couple of searches into more than one search string. Very frustrating.

I'm not going to be a happy camper if I miss out on a card that has been on my want list for years because I didn't anticipate someone's shoddy spelling. >>




Don't forget that you're also limited to a maximum of 100 searches.

So.....

Limit of 100 characters per search

Limit of 100 searches
____________________

I'm currently at 97 searches. What this does is limit the number of items I can search for.

One bigger problem I see is the following:

One of my searches is "t206 psa (taylor,tenney,thielman,thornton,violat,westlake,white)". Notice that there are no asterisks, and it has only 64 characters...well below the 100 character limit. Now, this search pulls 0 results (None).

Now, if I search for "t206 psa white", it pulls up 74 results by itself.

The problem is, I currently need about 75 T206s to complete my set. I obviously cannot do 75 individual searches, since ebay limits the number of searches you can have. So, I am at a roadblock for getting any further on my T206 set. None of my searches work as of yesterday (and none of them have asterisks in them). They just have the individual players' names separated by commas, within parenthesis).

I just sent an absolutely scathing message to ebay under their "tell us what you think" button, telling them that I am DONE with them, since I can no longer trust any of my searches.

As it stands, my collecting days look to be over, as I have no shows or card shops within 200 miles of me. Ebay has been the only available and reliable conduit for furthering my collection.

Steve

shagrotn77

Totally agree, yet another step backward for this obsurdly poorly run company.

digicat

<< <i>It's 5pm Tuesday on the west coast. Wildcard searches still work perfectly on my ipad. >>



The mobile roll out of these changes might not be far behind.

Unless they're hosing pc/mac users and leaving mobile users alone.

kwtoz

<< <i>

<< <i>It's 5pm Tuesday on the west coast. Wildcard searches still work perfectly on my ipad. >>



The mobile roll out of these changes might not be far behind.

Unless they're hosing pc/mac users and leaving mobile users alone. >>



My best guess is that this will be "handled" in a new app release. Of course the new app doesn't have to be installed.

kwtoz

Unfortunately, ebay has now disabled wildcard searching for ipads.