Ebay Parts Lookup - specific year and make?

[32PONTIAC]

Anyone figure out a way to sort/ llookup parts for a specific year and make?

it used to be year and make now all you get is 2or 3 thousand parts that are 

irrelevent !

[Oregon Desert model 45]

as long as evilbay allows sellers to list every automotive term, year, make, model, etc, like this screen grab (plus 3 additional blocks of terms) in their ad, you can't possibly filter out whatever gadget they are trying to sell.  

[Akstraw]

It seemed to me like something changed in they way their search engine worked sometime around March 2022.  It used to work pretty well, but searching by year and make now is almost futile.  With all the advertising dollars that eBay is spending on eBay Motors these days, you’d think they might be interested in such feedback.  I have no idea how to get it to them, or whether they’d listen.  I guess we have to go back to walking up and down all the aisles at Hershey to find what we need.

[joe_padavano]

Ebay has gone out of their way to instruct sellers how to add unrelated search terms into their ads (as illustrated in the post above) to ensure an ad shows up in just about any search conducted. This helps the sellers get more "eyes" on their ad, while frustrating buyers to no end. I continually have to tweak my search strings to exclude some of these terms (like "fits") to at least keep these spam ads to a dull roar.

[Bloo]

1932 Pontiac -"Fits" -"For"

 

Then select ebay motors in the sidebar. Then you probably have to tell it NOT to "streamline" your results. If there's still too many christmas ornaments, galoshes, ceramic figurines and anodized aluminum shift knobs, try limiting condition to "used".

 

I'm so tired of this. I feel your pain.

 

[3macboys]

On the left side of the screen there are filter options after your initial search.  Depending on your needs selecting "Used" under condition filters out most of the junk.  There is also an option to select the manufacture so if you select the actual brand of your vehicle that will also get rid of most of the just.  I also strongly encourage anyone to spend the money on a parts catalog and query by part number.  The catalogs more than pay for themselves by ensuring that you are getting the correct part and the exploded views for various assemblies are usually better than what you will find in a service manual.

[Scott Bonesteel]

I feel your pain.  Amazing how many Mitsubishi half shafts turn up in my searches for mid-30s Mopars.  Not much help, but the only way I seem to be able to plow through and find parts is to search with 'Newly Listed' first and simply search once per day.  Lot of effort and sometimes there are 100s of items not even remotely related to my search, but only thing that seems to work.  It allows one to stop searching when your start to see stuff you saw the day before.

[3macboys]

One other thought is if you want NOS put NOS in your search - I have nearly 5000 listings on Ebay and if the part is NOS, I put NOS in the title.  

[Scott Bonesteel]

One thing I forgot to mention in my 'Newly Listed' approach is you can see in the listing when the item is posted.  If you know the last time you searched, you need only go back to that time/date and you are assured of catching everything 'Newly Listed' that meets your search terms.

[Bloo]

And if you put a part number in your search, be sure to tick the box for "search title and description".

 

[1937hd45]

Ever search using the price option? Highest items first always makes me wonder, when some seller has a price of $2,500. Buy it Now on an item and five other sellers have the same part listed for .99 cents. 

[Terry Bond]

Don't get me started on this one!!! Want a laugh? Type in something like "antique automobile" and see how many Japanese flower vases show up. Evil bay search function has turned the site into one massive garbage dump.

 

[Angelfish]

I quit ebay about 4 years ago, not worth the hassle.   

[39BuickEight]

I find what I am looking for easily by using the “- “ command to eliminate terms that the useless listings have in them.  I also set reminders so I am notified if what I am liking for gets listed.

[Bloo]

8 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

Don't get me started on this one!!! Want a laugh? Type in something like "antique automobile" and see how many Japanese flower vases show up. Evil bay search function has turned the site into one massive garbage dump.

 

It is comical how bad it has become.

[JFranklin]

I think most search functions on the web are woefully lacking in serving the user. 

5 hours ago, Bloo said:

It is comical how bad it has become.

 

[1937hd45]

I figure every eBay "Improvement" is done by some upper management's kid who is fresh out of college and clueless how life works and is trying to do something to justify the money spent on him for the past 4 years. 

Edited May 5, 2023 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

Ebay sucks for searches but with some key words locked out,  you can get it to a reasonable search.  Now one thing,  ebay is messing with searches so that some items don't come up that are actually for sale on their site.  I have actually gone to google images to search for a part,  that then comes up on ebay,  but never showed up on my ebay search using those exact words. 

 

Very frustrating as a seller,  since I'm sure my items aren't being shown to customers, yet I still pay them $18,000. a year in fees.  Not to mention the fees they collect in the 10-20G I spend on their site in purchases. 

 

Ebay is only rivaled by facebook.  The absolute worst search engine on the planet.  I won't tell you how much stuff listed in my own back yard I was specifically searching for daily that I was never shown or shown as they were selling and had already been listed for over a week. 

[1937hd45]

eBay has a system that Judges the sellers that has NOTHING to do with buyers Feedback. My goal is to have happy buyers, not please some math formula that rates my eBay dealings on a monthly basis.

[greenie]

It’s proof you CAN kill the goose.

[auburnseeker]

13 hours ago, greenie said:

It’s proof you CAN kill the goose.

Just look around the world today.  Seems lots of companies are trying to do it.  Whatever happened to assessing market and determining if the next move seems right with the customer base you have and that which you are trying to expand to before making the move?  Seems companies are using dice or a spin at the wheel of chance to make business decisions these days.   Of course there have been huge blunders before, but not at such a break neck pace.  It's like they are trying to out do each other. 

[greenie]

I understand eBay wants to be Amazon 2.0, I get that. It’s tough that eBay was once a great place to buy and sell antique auto parts; and many of the changes implemented over the past few years have made it hateful to do either. But look at the bright side. They have spawned a late rebirth in the popularity of swap meets. 

[Jim Bollman]

I have about 10 saved/bookmarked searches that I check most evenings. I have honed them over the years with excluded words and must have words. In addition you can exclude sellers so if I see multiple items coming from one seller that are spoofing the system I exclude them in the search and resave the search. If you know an item is never going to show up for less than a set amount or you're not willing to pay more than a certain dollar, set a range that knocks a lot of crap out. I occasionally miss something this way but I can go through my groups of searches quickly and move on. Most of my tricks don't work if you just stop in for a quick one item search but work well to cut down on junk for general searches. 

[auburnseeker]

15 hours ago, Jim Bollman said:

If you know an item is never going to show up for less than a set amount or you're not willing to pay more than a certain dollar, set a range that knocks a lot of crap out.

Would that also throw out positive matches from the guys that start stuff stupid cheap with no reserve?  I have bought some very good stuff that way,  because the seller not only didn't list the item properly but may not have known what they actually had. 

[JFranklin]

I liked it when you looked for a '23 deco widget, and that is all it showed you! If some of the large enthusiast clubs could get together and pull off an old car hobby buy/sell platform the way ebey used to be, it might just catch on.

[PONTIAC1953]

Ebay took something that was a great tool for finding the things or parts you were looking for, and completely ruin it, allowing all the clutter you don't need or want to see, tacking on more and more fees, I won't ever sell on feebay again, and my buying things I need for my project has dropped 99%.

[1937hd45]

Try this............... Type in "US Stamp Pope Motorcycle" then hit search, you will get a few listings. First one is for $1,000 PLUS $4.50 postage & handling, another is for $1.90 Plus 80 Cents for postage & handling. Who is the idiot, the guy asking someone to pay that amount, or the guy thinking of paying that amount? It happens on all types of items people list. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[Terry Bond]

5 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

Try this............... Type in "US Stamp Pope Motorcycle" then hit search, you will get a few listings. First one is for $1,000 PLUS $4.50 postage & handling, another is for $1.90 Plus 80 Cents for postage & handling. Who is the idiot, the guy asking someone to pay that amount, or the guy thinking of paying that amount? It happens on all types of items people list. 

You see that kind of crap all the time. Here are a few absolutely insane examples - first, the person selling this "print" has had it listed for at least two years.  Almost weekly, they will change the price. I've seen it listed as high as $50K.  It's some kind of sick game they seem to be playing.  If they were really serious about selling it, let it float and see what happens.  It might make $60 on a good day.   The second item is a car mascot that also has been listed for a couple of years.  If you read the full description, the seller is an "expert" so don't bother trying to tell him his listing is a joke.  Maybe that's what it is?  I could go on - and on...but will leave the topic for others to discuss and close with the worst example of one of these Taiwan special brass taxi horns I've ever seen.  Sometimes people will pay ten bucks for one just to get a decent rubber bulb for a shelf decoration, but this one doesn't even have a bulb on it.   If you do the translation from British Pounds to American Dollars - this piece of junk will cost you almost $900- shipping not included of course.  If nothing else, evil-bay remains quite entertaining.

Terry

 

[30DodgePanel]

If everyone sends me a MO for $50 each I'll find every part you want. 

Disclaimer:

I cannot guarantee in what lifetime it will be, so please be patient. Thank you!

 

Honestly it sucks, but eBay is still the king of the search via fingertips until someone else cares to take up that mantle for a true parts friendly site.

I think if they were to penalize some of the obvious topics that don't apply to used parts that would be a huge help but they'll never do it. It's all about ad revenue and maximum exposure no matter the topic.