I enjoy looking at EBay from time to time, hoping to find that part I need. Lately I find I have to scan through pages of totally unrelated Toyota hub caps or Ford seat covers or multi listings of car covers. There are probably 200 parts for a 38 chev. But 4500 listings to scan through. It's almost not worth it. Is there anything we can do about this?
I agree, Randy. This morning I searched through 6 pages of tinted windows to find the newly listed 38 Chevy parts. I don't know if they include those items if they pay more or what.
Doug
I had the same problem with the 1933 chevy listings but it looks like they cleaned it up in the last week.
You can qualify your search on ebay I often search for 1953 Chevrolet. or Chevrolet parts and 3010 Mule parts, now if you get too specific you may not get any hits.
I think they must be making changes and not getting it right. I noticed that yesterday I couldn't ask the seller a question.
They have something new ( also fits) where the vendor can mark every make, model and year ever made. Not sure how that works but it is really messing up the search for a specific car.
You can always ask the seller a question-click on his name and a 2nd page comes up and has their contact on the left side.
As Mack said, you guys need to be a bit more specific in your search. At first when I click on 1931 chevy, I get a few thousand choices, I then click on vintage to the left and it usually brings me under 500 choices and I go from there.
Much is getting used to using ebay and yes, they do change things from time to time.
Unfortunately, they have made it all but impossible to communicate with them, unless you want to get on a phone.
They are trying to make the system self sufficient with as little human involvement possible. Reminds me of the phone operators in India....
I sent in a written complaint to E-bay on that same exact issue a few weeks ago....as I figured...never got a response..Billu38
Well that is interesting. I though it was because I lived in Canada that my phone company services are handled in India!
Regarding asking the seller a question, I eventually figured out the method you mentioned. The problem is that contacting them that way doesn't link to the item information and they probably wouldn't be prompted in the same way. Some of the sellers have hundreds of items on Ebay. By the way, the feature of asking the seller a question re-appeared later in the day!
I can fit that!!!! Just type in my seller number and see 5 items for a 38 chevy without any problem. 110812802187
Warning ..they may be painted GREEN....
You can exclude from the search results that contain a certain term. For example you can search :
1938 chevrolet -cover*
will take out all the results that contain "cover" in their title (and also will return only those that actually have "1938 chevrolet" and not those from the parts matching system).
I use ebay's 1938 Chevrolet Parts and Accessories as my homepage. One day I noticed what seemed like hundreds of parts for newer cars listed by a company in Canada. I sent them an email and asked, nicely, if they realized their parts were being listed for 1938 Chevrolets. They replied that was where ebay put them. I have never listed anything on ebay and I thought you could tell them where you wanted your stuff listed. It appears that if the ad includes a 38 anywhere in it, it will probably be listed in the 1938 car parts. If you search for 1938 cars, you will see many newer cars that have 38,XXX miles, cost $38,XXX, etc. Again,if there is a 38 anywhere in the car ad, it pops up in the 1938 Cars for Sale. Seems strange that can not be remedied but then again, I guess the ebay people don't really care because the more exposure the ad gets, the better the possibility of a sale and thus more money for them. Back to my homepage, I don't look at it much anymore since the number of items got up over a thousand or so. I occasionally scan the items ending soonest but that is about it. Beamer
WBG 1000, great tip on using EBay. With the ( -cover* ) it cut the Chevrolet 38 search down from 4500 to about 700. The vintage search cut it down too far to 400. The 700 search also dropped items listed as 38 Chevy. If I tried to add in Chevy it would only return about 130 listings. Any way to search Chevrolet and Chevy together or will I need to make two searches. We old guys need a little help keeping up with this new stuff. Thanks again.
Ever notice that all that junk says, "Fits 1938 Chevrolet", Fits 1941 Chevrolet", etc.
Sometimes there are "pages" of the stuff and it is really annoying to get through it all. The trouble with the sinus search is that you never know what to minus.
Charlie
Here's the key..When you list an item ,Ebay asked you which catagories you would like the item to be in. You can choose from about 15 catagories. If you pick more than two , you have to pay more.If you generalize to much ,the item may be overlooked. If you get to specfic know one will find it. It's a close call on what to do. Just my 2 cents.
When you search Chevrolet list it as such: Chev*
To ad to what Ray is saying, try example:
chev* (31,1931)
Then once you've looked through everything, save it in your favorite as "newly listed first". If you go to it on a daily basis it will have a rising sun thingy next to items you haven't seen. Don't forget to hit the space bar between * & (
Good luck, Joe
I have been trying about 10 different searches based on suggestions I have gotten. You must try this, it cuts a 4500 search to about 1300. Any other suggestions will be welcome. 1938 chev* -cover*
That picks up the covers - - - I want to eliminate them.
Just scanned all 1300 listings and only found two (2) covers. Did you put a space after Chev* and use the minus (-) mark before cover* I would still like to find a way to eliminate duplicate listings.
One must be careful about selecting search criteria. The more items that you eliminate the greater chance you take in eliminating an item that you really might be interested in. Of course you might not see it when scanning all the garbage if you don't eliminate it in the search.
Another thing to consider. If you only search for 1938 you eliminate the items listed as 1937, 38, or 1936-1940 as examples. If your goal is to look at the least number of items then that will do it. But if you are looking for all the parts for your car it will not be effective.
Then there is the situation where the lister does not know exactly what he has for sale. These tend to be real bargains as they are listed as fitting something (Model A and Model T are really popular for early parts). The real owners of those vehicles know they don't fit so ignore them. The rest of us don't find them with our search criteria so don't ever see them. Try searching for the part type and use the categories on the left column. You might be surprised what you find. Finally if you only search titles you risk eliminating items where your search term is in the description. On the other hand some listers have a "search" list on the bottom of their listing to try to get the maximum number of people to see their stuff. Ebay is a challenge and opportunity.
I think E-bay has finally hit the pits....this morning nothing but seat covers, floor matts and Epoxy paint for every car, year and color known to mankind...ALL UNDER 38 Chevy! ..Oh, and occassional repro mirrors...another good thing going bad...Billu38
I feel your pain. 1941 Chevrolet is the same. You have to wade through pages of paint, seat covers, car covers, etc.
Charlie
Well, if you were searching for 1938 Chevrolet, I would say you should be happy to be getting get a wide variety of items. narrow your search to be more specific. Also a lot depends upon how the items are listed, often a seller will be able to have their items listed in about any topic you search for. Are you a new eBayer? Maybe if you are it is time to go to eBayer school, or read a book about useing eBay. There are the good things about such a wide assortment of items for sale on eBay, and there is also the bad things and, yes, even the ugly things on eBay. But I doubt that eBay is close to being dead, more like frustrations and growing pains.
NO, I'm not a new E-bayer and NO I don't need to go to E-bay school...I know exactly how it works and doesn't work...fact is E-bay has recently been SATURATED with all sorts of general items not even associated with the topic selected...regardless of HOW you select an item. Sorry, but I don't agree with your comments, but thanks for your input...Billu38
I feel your pain Bill, and have also been using E-Bay for many years. I have also gotten some great tips from this topic and it has encouraged me to try some searches I had not thought of previously and some have had extrordanly good results. I think it is a poor decision for E-Bay to let vendors clutter up basic searches but I guess we will have to learn how to work around the problem.
I have been enjoying EBay again lately. The key has been the minus sign . When searching anything I add -cover* -hub* -mat* -seat* -paint* and save the search. Try it, you will like it. I'm sure there are other good tools for using EBay. What do you know that would help the rest of us?
O.K. I tried it and I like it...Thanks , Kevin
Try to put your key-word in " " . It would be as such, "1936 Chevrolet starter". I guarantee you won't see a cover unless it comes on the starter.
OK Billu38 so you don't agree with my comments, that is fine.....I guess it is fair to say I don't agree with your comments on my comments..LOL
And yes it seems that many many vendors are using the saturation method to hawk their wares. How many entries do you need to hawk a car cover that covers over 300 vehicles? Copy and paste is getting to be big business. Reckon if we started saturating these vendors with many frivilous questions they may get the idea, that we are fed up with their methods?
Joneses, I tried your approach with the -cover* type additions. Under 1937 Chevy there were 4009 entries; when I added a -mirrors* it went to 1537 entries....that's 2472 mirror entries...sounds awfully high???? Am I doing this correctly? Billu38
...I had tried -trucks* and it seemed as if I got nothing but stuff FOR trucks...oh , boy...
Don't forget the space after your last word before you put the minus. Maybe that will help.
Joneses...did that...Billu38
OK Billu38 so you don't agree with my comments, that is fine.....I guess it is fair to say I don't agree with your comments on my comments..LOL
And yes it seems that many many vendors are using the saturation method to hawk their wares. How many entries do you need to hawk a car cover that covers over 300 vehicles? Copy and paste is getting to be big business. Reckon if we started saturating these vendors with many frivilous questions they may get the idea, that we are fed up with their methods?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
COMPLAIN TO EBAY about KEYWORD spamming. Then click on one of the vendors adverts and use the thing on the page where you complain to ebay about it. Never done it but i know its there.
Also choose your words carefully and do not click on the IN TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS BOX, that will get you sooooooooo much stuff you do not want to see.
You can also use the advanced search where you select specific words in your search criteria.
Try differenct methods
mike
Good info Mike, maybe I also need to do attend another class eBay school!
That was it...now it's just "pick-ups" & "GMC" , lol...this is lots better...!
Bill, I just start with a basic search, say 1938 chev* then select parts and accessories. Find and click on vintage, then do the search and note how many listings you get. Then I start doing the minus thing one at a time and hit search after each one and note how the listings have changed. If you do one that doesn't make sense back it off, I have had to do that, don't know why the search program doesn't like some commands but just try something else. When I am happy with the results I save it to my saved searches. Good luck
Every chance i get where ebay asks me my opinion of them i let fly with what i really think !!!!!!!!!! No punches pulled, i let them have it, both barrels.
Personally i wish they would JUST LEAVE IT AS IT WAS 2 YEARS AGO . Stop screwing around with a formerly good system . Stop bringing in all these so called improvements, that just make it harder to navigate around.
If a person wins your item and does not pay........BAN THEM FOREVER.
If a buyer/seller gets legitimate negative feedback he/she is suspended for 30 days.
Have you noticed as a seller now you cannot leave a deadbeat non payer NEGATIVE FEEDBACK , but the buyer can leave negative feedback for you !!!!!!!! Nice improvement !!
I figured out how to beat that the other day......click on leave them positive feedback, then leave the hairball a whole line full of negative words as to their non paying for everybody to see. Hopefully the numbnuts is not smart enough to figure out how to get it removed for along time for everybody to see.!!!
mike
At least leave a neutral feedback with the negative comments!
I suppose we have run this ebay thread into the ground but just one more comment, okay.
About twice a day, on average, I check in on ebay at "1941 Chevrolet." I'm not looking for anything in particular. I just want to see what is out there that I may want now or think I may have a need for in the future. For instance, I recently bought a rebuilt, correct housing number water pump and a bushing for the steering mast. I wasn't looking for either item, in particular.
In the last two weeks it seems that there has been a plethora of seat covers, steering wheel covers, car covers and full rim hubcaps. Pages and pages of these things. The problem is you don't know when a good item may pop up in the middle of these multiple listings and, if you try a specific search, miss something meaningful.
I don't suppose that there no good answer to the dilemma. If there is a way to delete or hide these items during a general search, then I'd like to know how.
Life goes on,
Charlie
There
is one good thing about all the hubcaps, covers, etc. They all fit 1941 Chevrolets. Grin.
If you read my first post in this thread and add the quote marks you will only find 1941 chevrolet stuff. I just checked and got 264 listings in total from ebay motors and no seat covers or miscellaneous items& no fits. Try it. "1941 Chevrolet"
J,
It worked like a champ. I need to pay better attention.
Thanks,
Charlie
Charlie, I agree with J if you are looking for a particular part, "1941 Chevrolet starter" but if you are brousing EBay to see what you may find that will cut your search much to short. A 1941 Chevrolet search resulted with 6,&291, a 1941 Chevrolet search under parts & accessories resulted with 5,302, adding vintage car and truck resulted with 1,995. I looked at all 1,995 and quess only a couple hundred of non related items. You would be missing very many cool items to consider. When I searched "1941 Chevrolet" I only got 138 hits. Bottom line is try several different searches till you find what you like.
I don't know why you picked up so few as 138 hits, I just tried "1941 chevrolet" in ebay motors and got 268 hits, all 1941 chevrolet. In all categories I got 649. Of course if the seller does not put 1941 Chevrolet in the title you won't see his ad. Maybe different browsers find different things but I can't imagine why.
I don't know where you guys get the numbers you get. I just checked on ebay 1941 Chevrolet in Cars and Trucks and got 14 cars and trucks. Then I checked on 1941 Chevrolet in Parts and Accessories and got 7,367 items. I know these numbers change by the minute as items are sold and added but the numbers I found are a far cry from some shown in the postings above. Beamer
After going to parts and accessories click on vintage car and truck parts. It's refine it further and get rid of a lot but it still showed over 1900 when I did that.
Tiny got about the same as I did, not an unreasonable number. 200 or so is way too low.
I agree! I am tired of going down through all of those seat covers just to look at 1937 chevy parts and accessories!
Hey, thanks for the advice. I will try that.
In his infinite wisdom ebay decided today to drop wildcard search. Thus stuff like "193* chevrolet" is no longer supported. I've written to them to complain, perhaps if some of you fellows that use this search method would do the same they'll eventually come to their senses.
Yup,
Now you have to put (1930, 1931,....1939) instead of the wild card *. They claim it does the same thing. It may be better because it eliminates 19304 or any other more than four digit 193_ number from coming up in the search. We will see.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/19/us-ebay-idUSTRE70I71W20110119Ebay profit was almost 11 BILLION in 2011. If the new proposed tax goes in where tax has to be paid to the government on every purchase, Ebay will lay off thousands and the stock will tumble.
I called customer service and complained about them no longer supporting a wildcard in search criteria.
The poor person on the phone said that something new and great was in development, but couldn't say when "it" would come out.
I made the point that they shouldn't take a function away until the replacement was in place, was tested, and deemed truly an improvement.
One hint about what might be going on is he said that the wildcard 'slowed their system down'.
If this is the case, they need more horsepower in the system. It's not MY problem as a user or customer.
Frustrated. Dean
The nice thing about the wild card it helped us find items that may never been found. I used to try chev, chevy & chevrolet. The wild card helped me find the items posted by people who couldn't spell any of the names...Joe