topic Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK? in Seller Central

Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

poshboutique2 — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 16:25:00 GMT

The search algorithm on eBay is a total nightmare if you are in the UK. Random results unrelated to your initial search show up in their hundreds, as well low value items from Chinese sellers. It is positively discouraging to buy from eBay, especially on the app which is what most use. And the so-called 'filters' are time consuming and fiddly to use. Even after applying filters you're left with items totally unrelated to your original search. I am sure people give up and try another platform. Contrast this to Vinted which is an absolute pleasure to use as a buyer. Their search is super effective and really easy to use - finding the items that you want as well other related items based on your initial search. I've bought more from Vinted than I expected to because they make it so easy to find items that I love.

eBay's search is a mess and I actually think this is a major reason for their declining sales in the UK.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

theretrodetective — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 18:55:04 GMT

For my business I often have to check what items sold for previously so I filter by sold and then sort by "ended most recently". It cant even manage that, I have to be really careful because it might just chuck in a random listing from 2024 in the mix for 0 reason at all. The order is all messed up so I cant trust what im looking at. You cant even view listings from that long ago normally, but somehow they pop up in this search. My theory is that these were promoted listings, and ebay is still prioritising them regardless of search parameters, even after theyve been sold ages ago which is insane. Their site and app has been broken for a while now. Im also sick of the constant notifications about things I never asked for, yet for my saved searches or selling an item/receiving an offer, its crickets from ebay.... But the random item I clicked on and off just to do market research, yes lets bombard me about it for the rest of the week. I also dont need 50 different notifications for a parcel turning up.

Id love if they fixed the app but at the same time im not sure I trust them too without breaking it entirely. If you have the option to browse on desktop do that, it works a little better.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

moonlight-rhapsody — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 20:23:52 GMT

"eBay's search is a mess and I actually think this is a major reason for their declining sales in the UK."

For some people it may not be a single reason that causes them to stop using ebay, but a dissatisfaction with the site in general - all sorts of little things that aren’t enough on their own to cause a departure, but together add up to it being more trouble than it's worth. I’m sure the broken search function is one of those factors, plus the dominance of unwanted sponsored listings, plus the deceitful listings which offer, say, a 20-piece tool set for £1.99 then you discover it’s actually only a screw for £1.99 and the tool set itself is £50, plus the multiple listings of the same item from the same seller, plus probably a dozen other little things. And if you do order something, it probably won't arrive when you expect it because of the unrealistic timescales that ebay gives.

It’s just all so tiresome. Sadly there’s nothing about ebay these days which makes shopping a pleasure, and once it stops being a pleasure, you stop buying and you go elsewhere. I wish it were otherwise, but again sadly, I see nothing to suggest that anything’s going to change any time soon, if at all.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

*devils.advocate* — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 20:48:43 GMT

Can only agree with both smarts-gaming and moonlight-rhapsody comments.

And to add one thing, as a buyer, since the “free to sell” emphasis began, there’s an increase in the really obvious rubbish which is being listed by the new sellers attracted to the site.

Saw one tonight when searching - described as “a collector’s item” - dreadful picture, an obviously damaged item and listed at a stupidly ridiculous price.

All these clog up an already broken search (broken for so many years) and, as above, makes searching feel like a useless and futile exercise.

Mixed in with all the other changes (especially the silly prices for postage) eBay seems to want to create the ‘perfect storm’ to drive buyers away.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

*maetrix* — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 21:14:17 GMT

Couldn't agree more...I used to do approx 90% of my online shopping on ebay...now it's got to a point where i've almost forgotten that ebay is still a thing..a bit like zavvi,you just stop using these sites and eventually forget all about them.

Scandalous how somebody has turned ebay into the horror-show it now is.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

vinylscot — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 08:28:03 GMT

I think the poor search experience, since Cassini was introduced back in 2013 or so, was the beginning of the current dissatisfaction with eBay.

The only thing eBay appears to have done to ameliorate it has been the introduction of "item specifics", and after making sellers jump though hoops to comply with new rules and regulations, they completely failed to educate buyers on IS. It is still pretty simple to find what you want on eBay IF you know how to use item specifics, but few buyers do.

I reckon just about every change they have made since then has been to attempt to claw back some of the lost business (number of sales/listings and profit) suffered since this disastrous new search engine was brought in.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

moonlight-rhapsody — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 09:29:09 GMT

'The only thing eBay appears to have done to ameliorate it has been the introduction of "item specifics",'

Unfortunately it's the Item Specifics that can skew the results, in my experience. I've posted about it several times before and yep, the Grand Canyon and other inland items are still appearing at the top of search results for "original watercolour painting seascape" when sorted by Price because the sellers have wrongly put "Seascape" in Item Specifics.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

catbatfink — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 12:19:41 GMT

Yes the search algorithm is now so bad and it's really frustrating 😫

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

suelel1968 — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:02:20 GMT

@catbatfink there is usually a "tell us how we are doing" button on the screen. When searching for something I always end up doing a 1* rating and give a comment "make my default UK ". Or "if I put white in the description why don't you show me white"?

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

theelench — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 21:40:47 GMT

I've done that a couple of times when I've had a specific problem. But I wonder how many millions of 1's and accompanying specific negative comments ebay have had over the years and how many have even been addressed ?

I don't think the search has got noticeably better because of any issues that have been solved.

Instead of fixing the basic problem it seems that ebay would rather spend its time and money thinking-up easier ways of plugging the revenue gap by squeezing more out of the declining sales it still manages to get.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

suelel1968 — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 23:04:00 GMT

@theelench makes me feel better though. Tonight I was trying to find similar items to a vintage Airedale terrier wooden brooch. I got rolling pins as well. TBF that big river shop search is dreadful as well.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

theelench — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 23:23:54 GMT

Yes, it does relieve the feeling of exasperation, temporarily at least !

But at my age raised blood pressure as a result of searching for something that shouldn't be so frustratingly difficult to find isn't such a good idea if done too often.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

cooldryplace — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 04:53:57 GMT

I have noticed this myself over the past year. It is clearly done intentionally to encourage more sellers to use Promoted Listings, paying eBay more fees.

First, I noticed quite a while ago that, the search brings up, as you say, random results in their hundreds. For example, you search "Tina Turner Foreign Affair White Vinyl", with a view to compare pricing or purchase this LP on white vinyl and it will bring up ANYTHING with ANY of those words in, ignoring the word "White". This is a nightmare for sellers and buyers.

More recently I have noticed that even when sorting by "Lowest Price + P&P", eBay disregards this and will show more expensive items at the top of the list.

And in the past few weeks, I've noticed that when searching for items, all sorting options work, EXCEPT "Lowest Price + P&P".... Coincidence? I think not. So to do a price comp, You have to sort by MOST expensive item, scroll all the way to the end of the listings, and work backwards.

Come on eBay, if you're going to try and cheat us, at least do a better job of trying to hide it.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

stamp_hammer — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 07:54:49 GMT

Add speech marks to White in your Tina Turner search and you'll get much better results

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

gjalp — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:32:42 GMT

Whilst some people will know about adding ‘extras’ to search terms, many buyers do not and will simply put what they are looking for in the search bar….and end up with anything and everything in the search results. Then give up. Search does not work properly and hasnt done in ages.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

theelench — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:47:05 GMT

Exactly that !

When the search matched the words buyers wrote in the search box with the words sellers wrote in their item titles it was intuitive and worked very well.

All the "extras" are there for is to help ebay channel searches towards the items ebay wants buyers to see and buy and exclude those it does not. Hence the whole arcane 'science' of SEO.

It was some clever seller on here that explained to me that I would get more results in my "Walther and Sohne" search, if I wrote it "Walther & Sohne". Totally counter-intuitive when many know that searches ignore "special characters".

Add in I.S that are supposed to 'refine' the search but so often do not have the specific word that defines the item being sought on their endless lists.

And add to that ebay's stated intent to 'refine' the results by excluding some results by not searching all categories or by searching taking a buyers previous searches and purchases into account.

It all gives endless permutations of un-necessary 'refinements' that ebay can fill with promoted listings.

To paraphrase something I wrote on another thread:

"There would be no need for "Best Match" if the search searched for what I wrote in the search box. I.E. blue glass vase.

Instead it throws up results for 'blue glass bowl/candle holder/stained glass window and quite possibly blue grass music, various non-blue vases or anything else with blue/glass/vase in the title".

If ebay ever was trying to be helpful by reducing the number of irrelevant results, those days are long gone as with I.S most searches now start with(tens of) thousands of results that buyers are supposed to whittle down to find what they are looking for and which so often results in failure.

Something else I've said before. "I sell more items on a smaller site, not because they're my better items, or because they're cheaper. But simply because buyers can find them there when they can't find them on ebay."

Why is that possible? Because the other search is still Key-Word based and searches for what buyers write in the search box.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

cooldryplace — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 17:02:35 GMT

Boom, very helpful indeed, thanks 🙂

Will be very useful for me when doing comps, but as others say, the average user will not know about this feature.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

gjalp — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 09:02:22 GMT

I know how to optimise my search terms but you know what? Most of the time I can’t be bothered as I like to browse so just enter what Im wanting to look at. I do if Im after something specific but its rare I search on ebay for that, preferring to go elsewhere as ebay is such a faff these days. I bought 2 items on ebay in the run up to Christmas and had issues with both. One had to be returned as I was sent the wrong item and the other was never sent at all and there was no communication from the seller. Both items were then purchased from different websites with no issues.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

theretrodetective — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 09:25:16 GMT

Im still waiting on 2 items I ordered December 21st. The first has just been shipped yesterday, and the other one the lady messaged me after a few days saying theres an issue with her payment provider and as soon as its sorted she will send it? Its still just sitting on "paid" so ive just put in a cancellation request. Stupid.

Re: Is eBay's awful search function the reason for eBay's decline in the UK?

c_of_e84 — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 10:00:06 GMT

I think some people are under the big ilusion that all there data is held in one data centre which it is not, when you use ebay it places parts of the site functions in many different data centres, when you search and want to recal the informaton the user interface pulls the data from all the different data centers with a high probablity that not all will be the latest or even instantly available so the system finds what ot can and cobbles together a result especially for your request in the hops you will not notice a problem and go away happy happy happy 🙂