EBay's corrupt Search Engine

[pillarboxred]

It's become very hard to sell on eBay as the competition is fierce. That is why "keyword spamming" is so wrong and unfair: you list a "porcelain teapot" and, then, in the search for "porcelain teapot" you find many items that are not teapots nor porcelain. This makes your item harder to sell (but remember you can pay for promotion). Item Specifics are useful and you have freedom to create your own Specifics. However, IMHO, they should not be self-contadictory like in this listing (see below). Faience can be maiolica but it can't also be  18th Century Doulton Spode. I complained about this listing just for my own interest (can I do this too?) and was told what I've pasted as a screenshot below. This situation damages the selling prospects of listings using keywords properly and now here is the nub: eBay wants us to BUY promoted listings AND doesn't want us to sell our items for good prices! That might seem crazy but eBay is engaged in a war with Amazon to be the cheapest online place to buy so if an eBay seller gets a good price that harms eBay's cheapness profile. Therefore because all the spam reduces the saleability of good items by reducng their visibility and their prices, that's a "great deal" for the buyers. Sellers meantime pay eBay fees for items that don't sell or sell for miserable amounts. It is also demeaning to receive "repiles" like  the [bleep]  reply I've screenshot  and posted pumped out by "Artificial Intelligence".

[dch2112011]

Item specifics are a form of search engine optimisation, which means that popular search terms are filled in by the seller, this does mean that the descriptive words can be not true to the item being advertised purely to theoretically gain a wider visibility.

I can totally understand the frustration when searching for a 'specific' item that the search term you use brings up a plethoria of non specific items.

I can also understand sellers wanting as much visibility as possible to catch non specific buyers who may be attracted to the listing advert.

The only way to try and overcome this is to make your search criteria more specific and include more description which could only apply to the item being searched.

This is the only way I have found to produce more results for items that I am specifically looking for - Amazon is pretty much the same when searching.

Ebay are not in a position to be an expert on every item advertised and to be honest nor are all buyers eg if you search teapot - you get all teapots 490,000 plus    but if you search vintage porcelain teapot it comes down to 60,000 results - keep adding descriptives  and the search results become more specific and fewer in number.

[theelench]

My pet hate in vintage glass listings is the 'multiple choice' title.  i.e "Green glass vase  Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Bagley, Sowerby, Inwald interest".

Especially as so often the item is common enough that five minutes searching in (say) "vintage green glass vase" will quickly bring up the exact same vase correctly attributed, often several of them.

It's one reason I don't bother searching on ebay anywhere as near as much as I used to.  What is the point when a search for (say) "Bagley Green Glass Vase" will result in a first page of (60) results where about half the items are anything but Bagley and might not even be vases.

The only excuse, if porcelain is anything like vintage glass, is that the IS are confusing and not specific enough.  So inviting (even myself sometimes) to do the "best I can" with what's suggested.  

Is something similar going-on in your example?  I know little beyond a few of the more famous names in ceramics but is it really possible for one item to be "Spode, Doulton, Chelsea, Worcester, Derby, Wedgwood and Minton" ?