eBay “Best Match” feature

[knee-action]

Does anyone see any value in the eBay “best match” feature? I’d guess it has been around now for about 5 years. I understand that it is an algorithm that weighs different characteristics of a listing (ex. price, shipping cost, etc, etc) and assigns a value. Thus the order in which items appear on a page. If I am looking for a shop manual for my 56 Plymouth, do I really care if a 59 Plymouth shop manual is a “better match”? A better match to what? It’s a little annoying that “best match” is the default setting on each and every page, but that’s not a big deal. Again, is anyone making use of this feature?

[auburnseeker]

You can gety rid of alot of the ebay crap results by putting what you are looking for in quotation mark. "1956 Plymouth shop manual" You can almost eliminate most of the undesired search results by putting( 1956 Plymouth shop manual -ad -magazine -collectible ) This will eliminate every result with the words you added at the end with -Ad -magazine etc. Works great to get rid of all the junk.

[Bleach]

You almost have to attach the entire English dictionary to filter out any crap you don't want.

I've saved my successful searches in my "followed searches" folder in my ebay.

[cahartley]

The trouble with quoting is you miss out on a lot of pertinent items.

If there is a key word that keeps cropping in results such as "fits model a ford" or "fits 1959 chevrolet" you can remove all listings using FITS in the title by searching for example: 1959 chevrolet -fits

All ads using the TOTALLY misleading FITS in the description will be filtered out.

[MochetVelo]

My peeve is all the hot rods that appear in vintage car listings. You used to be able to put "-rod" or the like to filter them out. For example, 197 of the 598 cars in the "Pre-1939" category have "rod" in the title. Now, there is a message: "Please enter a keyword you would like to search for followed by the terms you'd like to remove. Example: shoes -nike."

Phil

Edited August 6, 2014 by MochetVelo (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I wouldn't eliminate the word rod, as a lot of people selling original parts or cars put the word rod in the title or listing so they get more people looking at it that might have otherwise not seen it or necessarily been looking for it. I do and I sell very few parts for hot rods unless it's an original part someone retrofits to their hot rod.

[Bleach]

Right now I search strictly for Ford parts and unless I use very specific filters, I get crap for GM's Mopars, etc. that have absolutely nothing to do with my search, I have no idea how or why they come up.

Using "-fits" only eliminates the blatant crap. Ebay never used to be like this. In the past if I wanted to expand my search criteria, I would check the box "include description". It's the other way around now. You get an expanded worthless search want to or not.

I find ebay more and more frustrating to use anymore so I only very seldom browse anymore. I'm often finding online vendors outside of ebay that are less expensive. Even Amazon has had better results.

I was really upset went they stopped giving you ebay bucks for ebaymotors purchases. I used to get a lot of nice freebees from that.

[30DodgePanel]

Personally I've never used the Best Match feature, I only use the "Newly listed" feature. I've tried best match but to me it seems to random. I like to see what's new on the block daily with a click.

I find that once I am interested in a said item if I save that search then I can just go through my list daily.

For instance "antique side mirror", if I'm looking for a antique or vintage side mirror as an example I'll type in "antique side mirror", then if it gives me 500 matches I'll save it then go through and view all 500 of them. From that point on every morning I only have to see what is "newly listed" because the rest of them I've seen before. Saves a lot of time, hassle and junk.

I save different combos and it only takes me a few minutes every morning to go through my list to get caught up. Sure, looking through the list initially is time consuming but you only have to do it once. Kind of like using an accounting program for bookkeeping, takes a long time to load it but when you need to pull it all together at tax time it's a snap.

Edited August 6, 2014 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[28 Chrysler]

With best match I get a high percentage of crap.

One more time waster is the "also fits" . Why go through a lot of Ford stuff when looking for a Studebaker part.

[wayne sheldon]

I find that the "best match" and their suggestions are all completely useless. Their computers and their programmers know NOTHING about antique automobiles.

Just be grateful that you are not searching for "Paige" memorabilia and/or literature. I have a 1927 Paige five passenger sedan. Try it sometime. Remember that I can't search too restrictedly, because I would not find most of what is there. But be aware that many of the listings they show you may contain rather objectionable photos.

Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

[JD in KC]

I own Packards between the years of 1941 and 1950. I put together a parts search for newly listed items that removed many of the vendors of "Fits Packard" junk that have nothing to do with Packard. Using keywords, I excluded items that flooded the screen with hideous bucket seat replacements, brake hoses from Argentina, etc. The search was also limited to the year range of 41-50. I would get on average about 12-20 hits a day and the results were e-mailed to me. This was good. I found and purchased a number of needed items.

They [ebay] apparently no longer recognize the model year range so unless I search year by year, my search now produces results from 1899 to 1958. Hundreds of items that are useless to me. I'm not happy.

Edited August 9, 2014 by JD in KC (see edit history)

[Studemax]

Let's face it, folks. eBay doesn't give a crap about your search problems. They just want to get paid with listings, and sales transactions. Everything else is irrelevant.

[JFranklin]

I make sure I ask to omit the word fits, it saves plowing through a lot of what doesn't fit!