Ebay "fits" items in search results

[Steven S.]

1st I apologize because I hate to put up any posts about ebay, but I have to vent

I don't know if anyone is as annoyed at this as I am, but a little while back ebay had changed their search feature to include items that are listed to "fit" the vehicle you are doing a search on, say you search "1966 Corvette" in parts, now any part that could "fit" a 1966 Corvette will be displayed, for example like three pages of new head gaskets, water pumps, edelbrock carburetors, HEI distributors, etc. Trying to use the "new, used, or unspecified" filter feature doesn't work as most people don't specifiy anyhow, and adding sellers in the exclude feature is a losing battle as I just can't keep up, every day there are a dozen more to add. If there is a way to filter it out, I sure can't find it.

Anymore there is just too much new retail items on ebay, and why a seller has to list two pages of the same thing is beyone me. I've about had it, too much B.S. the last couple of years with ebay.

Alright, I'm done now.

[William C.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

So true! They seem to have lost focus under the new management! Unfortunately, no competitor has emerged.

[Bill M.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

1st I apologize because I hate to put up any posts about ebay, but I have to vent

I don't know if anyone is as annoyed at this as I am, but a little while back ebay had changed their search feature to include items that are listed to "fit" the vehicle you are doing a search on, say you search "1966 Corvette" in parts, now any part that could "fit" a 1966 Corvette will be displayed, for example like three pages of new head gaskets, water pumps, edelbrock carburetors, HEI distributors, etc. Trying to use the "new, used, or unspecified" filter feature doesn't work as most people don't specifiy anyhow, and adding sellers in the exclude feature is a losing battle as I just can't keep up, every day there are a dozen more to add. If there is a way to filter it out, I sure can't find it.

Anymore there is just too much new retail items on ebay, and why a seller has to list two pages of the same thing is beyone me. I've about had it, too much B.S. the last couple of years with ebay.

Alright, I'm done now.

I just switched my sort from "time ending soonest" to "best match" because I was getting 5 pages of timing chains. That has helped.

[Bryan M.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

One thing to try is to narrow your parts search to Vintage Car & Truck Parts. That seems to cut out most of the vendor ads.

[Peter V.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

Just got through sending Ebay a blistering survey result for this very problem. Type in "61 Corvette" and you get over 4,000 items, only about 1/4 of which actually might be used on a '61 Corvette.
Let's keep up the pressure - answer the surveys and tell them you will not purchase from any Ebayer that "floods" the site with items not suitable for the search vehicle.

[Randy G.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

I agree. It sure stinks to see 75 car covers in a row followed by 75 shock absorbers. Each fits a different car (not even Corvette) but the way they run the adds it allows all of them to pop up.

[Steven S.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Bottom line is ebay could care less, they are getting paid for every one of those auctions that are polluting our searches and wasting our time. I've been using ebay for over 10 years now, and I can honestly say I'm about ready to say goodbye. Somebody else really does need to step up with a fresh new format.

[Larry S.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

Try this link. At least it doesn't have the 'universal' parts.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Parts-Accessories-/6028/i.html?_nkw=%281963%2C63%2C1964%2C64%2C1965%2C65%2C1966%2C66%2C1967%2C67%29+%28Corvette&_pcats=6000&_rdc=1

[Bruce B.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

Steve,
I agree with you 100%.
I have been selling and buying on Ebay for 10 years and it is now pretty useless.
Thier feedback system is designed to keep everyone happy. Not honest.
Thier fees are out of control averaging 13% if you sell an item.
PayPal charges you the comission on item price and shipping price so they get a cut of every cent you thats billed.
For a while they gave 5 free listing a month but they charged a larger comission to make thier numbers.
They just lowered thier listing fees to "help" the sellers if thier item does not sell, an indication that thier percentage of sales id down.
Ever since the new president (of Ebay) took over the company has become more user unfriendly.
It is almost time for me to retire from Ebay.
I just don't understand why a competitor has not emerged although I do understand somewhat the complexity of an auction site.
The end...

[Alexander C.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

I just type the exact part numbers of everything I want and save the search so it emails me when an item is listed, or I can do it by keyword too. Aside from that I never go near eBay.

I also got ripped off for $1600 as a seller 6 years ago and PayPal refused to cover me and then deducted the amount from my account. F* these thieves.

[Kenneth L.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

We just had a tirade on this exact same subject on the Corvette Forum. Some guys only weeded out the pages of b.s. items by using several search words (like "NOS", "Original", etc). And one of the larger vendors (initials "CC") is guilty of this big time, plus substitutes generic crap parts for original correct parts, which you are led to believe you are getting.

[Ronald L.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

About a month ago we got some great help on how to filter out the scammers.

#1 - if you want an alternate - bonanzle.com is trying to compete.

#2 - to filter out those super big merchants, summit racing, etc.

On your 61 corvette filter, choose edit search and the after say 1961 Corvette put "-" and the users name of who you want to delete.

By blasting out summit racing, summit scam this and that, corvette central (yes they are part of the problem too), and those others...

My case 1966 4700 results went to less that 1300 by eliminating 5 merchants.

ebay won't do anything, save your time, if you look at a merchant like summit racing that has OVER 200 super seller positive ratings PER DAY!!!, how many parts do they sell? Well the had 500,000 listings the last time I looked and that means so much revenue to ebay they won't listen to us at all.

Give it a try, look at our posts about a month ago for more detailed help.

[Loren S.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

I click on auctions only, to get rid of the buy it now merchants, reduces the results by 90%, makes it much easier to search for the best parts/deals.

[Randall K.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

About a month ago we got some great help on how to filter out the scammers.

#2 - to filter out those super big merchants, summit racing, etc.

On your 61 corvette filter, choose edit search and the after say 1961 Corvette put "-" and the users name of who you want to delete.

Excellent suggestion - works well for getting rid of the big merchants that have polluted the listings.

For example, today on Ebay a search using "72 corvette" returned ~8400 listings. By modifying the search to "72 corvette -carpartscanada", I reduced the number of listings returned to ~2200.

Unfortunately, I've not found a way to specify multiple vendors to ignore. The Ebay search engine ignores subsequent -USER entries. If anyone figures that out, please post your method.



Give this a try to eliminate the mass vendors and look for those items that might actually be desirable!

[Ronald L.]

Re: Ebay "fits" items in search results

I understood this works for multiple vendors, you have to put a "," between vendors & I'm failry certian this gets rid of any and all you wish.

So search string would look like this:

1961 Corvette -Summit Racing, -Summit Equipment, -CorvetteCentral, -partsladi...