Here is how to STAY INDEPENDENT of the EVER CHANGING front-end:
Fortunately, ebay is not all Java scripts (yet) and good old parameters in the URL itself still work - so you can
do all your searches with a carefully constructed URL. May look complicated at first, but the beauty of this solution is that you can re-use your URLs, in a form of favourites/shortcuts, on the banner or on the desktop, etc. and have them within 'one click' for later use. Until, of course, ebay changes the whole engine... So here goes:
1. Observe the address bar when you select a category - each category has its code, for example your "eBay>Collectables & Art>Toys & Games>Models & Kits" is:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_1842061
2. Play around with various filters, sortings, etc. to find out what parameters should go into a "query URL" after the "?"; for exaple, selecting "Buying Format: Auction" in your category changes the URL to:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_1842061?LH_Auction=1&mag=1&rt=nc
and selecting "Buy It Now" filter returns:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_1842061?LH_BIN=1&mag=1&rt=nc
so now you now know that:
"LH_BIN=1" is for "Buy It Now", and
"LH_Auction=1" is for "Auction"
3. Sadly, you will NOT find the parameter for "location" here (for reasons known only to ebay web developers); HOWEVER, searching for anything in the main search window will bring the old list of filters on the left hand side. For example, let's search for "teddy" in the main search. We can now select a location "UK Only" and figure out the location parameter. The resulting URL is:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=teddy&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1
Therefore, the parameter we are looking for (the UK Location) is "LH_PrefLoc=1"
4. Let's now combine your category's code with the location parameter, to get the URL for the search you wanted (i.e. "UK Only" in "Models & Kits"):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_1842061?LH_PrefLoc=1
and it will return all items in the UK only and Bob's your uncle.
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NOTE:
You can combine parameters, for example:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_1842061?LH_Auction=1&LH_PrefLoc=1
will return UK only & Auction only items.
The format is always: "?" after the "address part" of the URL, followed by the parameters (each separated by the "&").
The beauty of this solution is that you can re-use your URLs, in a form of favourites/shortcuts, on the banner or on the desktop, etc. and have them within 'one click' for later use.Until, of course, ebay changes the whole engine...
Have fun!
