Here are some tips and tricks for using eBay's search engine to find exactly what you're looking for. This skill is useful for both buyers and sellers.
For buyers, mastering the eBay search system allows you to find hidden gems that others don't see. Generally, the fewer watchers/bidders an item has, the lower its selling price will be.
As a seller, understanding eBay's search system helps your bottom line. Being aware of how buyers might search for a product helps you create listings with more descriptive titles. Further, search mastery helps you find competing listings so you can price your item accordingly.
1. Use more words
eBay's search engine only finds listings that contain all the words you typed in the search box. That means the more terms you use in your search phrase, the more precise your search results will be. Consider all the features / functions / traits of the item you want. Some possible attributes to include:
- Manufacturer / Brand
- Model Name / Number
- Color
- Size
For example, let's say we're searching for floor mats for our vintage 1967 VW Beetle. A search for "beetle floormats" would return thousands of results with very few relevant ones. Using more words -- eg., "VW vintage beetle floormats ladybug black" -- returns fewer, much more relevant listings.
2. Use different words
Most sellers try to cram as many ways to describe an item as they can fit in the listing title, but there is never enough room for all the variations. To cast as wide a net as possible in your search, think of all the different ways your item might be described. Then think of synonyms for those terms.
Some ways to generate more search words:
- Different ways to say the same thing. For example, laptop / notebook, Bug / Beetle.
- Abbreviations. For example, Volkswagen / VW.
- Misspellings or alternate spellings. For example, floor mat / floormat.
In our search for floor mats, we could try different phrases to find as many listings as possible. For example:
- VW beetle floormats
- volkswagen bug floor mats
- ... and so on ...
3. Capitalization doesn't matter
Lowercase, uppercase, mixed case... it doesn't matter, so don't worry about it.
Sellers: This is a good tip to remember when creating listings. Use capitalization in the title and subtitle to draw attention to your listing, not to have proper grammar. The floor mats listing might be titled like so to maximize visibility:
FLOOR MATS complete set rubber VW BUG BEETLE vintage
The all-uppercase words immediately catch the reader's eye and tells them the most important information about the item for sale.
4. Use parentheses for OR searches
To search for one word OR another, put the words in parentheses, divided by commas.
To further refine our search for floor mats, we can consider other ways to describe the item. For example, the VW Beetle is often called the Bug. We can look for listings that contain either of these words by surrounding the words in parentheses:
(bug, beetle)
You can also have multiple OR groupings. For example, the following pattern looks for listings that contain "bug" OR "beetle" AND "vintage OR air cooled OR collector" AND "vw OR volkswagen":
(bug, beetle) (vintage, air cooled, collector) (vw, volkswagen)
5. Use minus sign (-) for negative words
If you put a minus sign in front of a word (eg., "-carpet"), you're telling eBay's search engine to not include any listing that contains those words.
This feature is useful for eliminating items related to the one you're looking for. For example, in our search for the perfect lady bug rubber floor mats for a VW Beetle, we might use negative words like "-dodge", "-carpet", or "-jetta" to focus our search results.
The following example says look for listings that "contain 'VW' and 'floormats' but not 'jetta'":
vw floormats -jetta
This pattern also works with an OR grouping. For example, the following pattern means "DO NOT include listings that contain 'carpet', 'jetta', OR 'passat':
-(carpet, jetta, passat)
6. Use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard
An asterisk (*) in your search phrase means "any combination of any letters, numbers, or symbols can go here".
For example, searching for "floormat*" would match "floormat" and "floormats".
7. Use quotes to be literal
If you put double quotes around a phrase, the results will only show listings where the words in quotes are in the exact order you specified.
So if you put double quotes around "lady bug floor mats", only listings that match the order of the words will show up in the results. That means listings that use the same words, but in a different order, will not be included.
8. Mix and match tactics
Using a few of the preceding tactics, we can create a super search query that gets us exactly what we want.
(vw, volkswagen) (bug, beetle) (floor mat*, floormat*) -(jetta, passat, rabbit, carpet)
This search query is asking for listings that match the following criteria:
- contains "vw" OR "volkswagen", AND
- contains "bug" OR "beetle", AND
- contains words beginning with "floor mat" OR "floormat", AND
- does NOT contain any of the words "jetta" OR "passat" OR "rabbit" OR "carpet".