www.auctionsieve.com

boo · Active contributor Joined: 23 Nov 2008 Posts: 6

I have a search with the following search term...

casio (fa-1,fa-2,fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p,fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p,602p,603p)

That is, find auctions with "casio" and any of the terms in the brackets. This seems to work OK on eBay US, giving two results -- which are ones I expect to see.

When I use this term in AuctionSieve, no matter which droplist search option I choose, with the store items included, and searching titles and descriptions...

exact phrase: 0 results
all of these words: 1584 pages
any of these words: 14900 results

Could someone please explain how/why a search on eBay doesn't work in AS, even when using "exact phrase"? I hope quotes aren't being put around the search term!!!

How, exactly, can I get this particular search term to work in AS?

Cheers
A

nev · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:27 pm Post subject:

I just tried it on ebay.com and got 12 pages of results - 576 results.
AuctionSieve gave the same.
Steps were :
1. Go to ebay.com
2. Paste in the search term casio (fa-1,fa-2,fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p,fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p,602p,603p)
3. Hit enter

Result page was this :
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38.l1313&_nkw=casio+(fa-1%2Cfa-2%2Cfx-501p%2Cfx501p%2Cfx-502p%2Cfx502p%2Cfx-601p%2Cfx601p%2Cfx-602p%2Cfx602p%2Cfx-603p%2Cfx603p%2C501p%2C502p%2C601p%2C602p%2C603p)&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Is there something else you're specifying?

boo · Active contributor Joined: 23 Nov 2008 Posts: 6

nev · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject:

If I copy and paste your url I *still* get 576 results...

BUT

If I opt out of the 'new search experience' and paste your url, I get the 1 result!

boo · Active contributor Joined: 23 Nov 2008 Posts: 6

This appears to be a BUG in eBay's search. But only when going through shop.ebay.com search... Try searching these;

casio (fa-1,fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p,fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p,602p)
= 576 results.

Need I point out that these 576 results should all have 'casio' AND one of the terms in the brackets IN THE TITLE? They don't! None of them!

Now remove the fa-1
casio (fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p,fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p,602p)
= 0 results.

OK, so it must be the 'fa-1' causing all 576 results, right? Instead of fa-1, remove the 602p at the end...
casio (fa-1,fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p,fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p)
= 0 results

Ah, so it must be the 602p.... Uh oh.

so in essence we have a list of
a AND ( b or c or d or ..... or z )
which gives 576 results
we take out b, we get 0 results
we take out z, we get 0 results
In fact, I can take out just about any one and get 0 results

This doesn't make sense.

Now, when I try the SAME SEARCHES using search.ebay.com...

casio (fa-1,fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p,fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p,602p)
0 results (expected, but now check "search title and description)... 2 results. Voila... now working correctly

Take out the fa-1
= 2 results (correct)

Take out the 602p
= 2 results (correct)

Besides the fact that the LOGIC doesn't make sense when removing the items as shown at the top of this post, as a sanity check, load any of the pages returned by the shop.ebay.com, and try and FIND the search terms in the title... they're not there. They're not even in the page body! This shows that the search is "doctored" and not returning correct results.

Doctored, or buggy... eBay "shop.ebay.com" is not searching correctly! "search.ebay.com" does not have this behaviour. The searches behave differently, as shown. One (search.ebay.com) is performing searches correctly as documented. The other (shop.ebay.com) is not.

I think AuctionSieve should use the "search.ebay.com" search, not the "shop.ebay.com" one!!!

Cheers
A

boo · Active contributor Joined: 23 Nov 2008 Posts: 6

nev · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:43 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately ebay redirects AuctionSieve to the new search results. I think this is because AuctionSieve doesn't know your username and therefore is not 'logged in' to ebay - in which case it gets the default layout which is the new search results. Furthermore, it's almost guaranteed that they'll be turning off the old search experience at some point in the not too distant future.

Now as to the search.

On the new search
If you search for the full string = 576 results
Take out some of the characters in the middle = 0 results
Check search title and description = 2 results

My guess is that you're running up against some limits - either
- length of the search term
- or number of alternatives allowed in parentheses

So to workaround it in AuctionSieve, just create 2 searches in the one sieve. Eg
casio (fa-1,fx-501p,fx501p,fx-502p,fx502p,fx-601p,fx601p)
casio (fx-602p,fx602p,fx-603p,fx603p,501p,502p,601p,602p)