neglus
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posted on December 5, 2003 09:27:28 PM new
I have been wondering why it takes so long for my auctions to get bids lately..some days it seems like it must be that mine aren't showing up on the search.
well, it seems that Ebay has limited the "search description" feature to the first 4000 characters...anyone who has tried to edit through the Vendio template HTML knows that the real item description is buried WAY deeper than 4,000 characters!!
Here's the article about it: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m12/i03/s02
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neglus
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posted on December 5, 2003 09:43:58 PM new
I have decided to forgo the VD templates and use a blank one to see if the bids come sooner!
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whatnot3
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:38:26 PM new
How long has this been going on?
I just tried searching for a section of the default text I use that is way below the description and it found all my auctions. I guess if it didn't start less than a week ago then I am safe with the templates I use.
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lindajean
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:52:10 PM new
I just checked mine and the descriptions buried in the listing using Vendio is not showing up.
But, the description for those I listed through CA are so I guess their template uses less characters.
That's too bad! I'm not sure what to do now.
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neglus
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:53:09 PM new
I just tried that too ... I added holiday wishes to my auctions today and they all showed up..WHEW!! maybe it was a glitch that was cleared up! Great! I really like the snowy christmas template!
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lindajean
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:54:21 PM new
Guess it is the start of Ebays way to try and force us to shell out the 50 cents for the subtitle! That will eventually be all that is included in the search...but who can afford that?
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sparkz
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:54:58 PM new
It's not picking up the html. Otherwise a search on any commonly used html term would result in virtually every auction on Ebay that has html turning up.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
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neglus
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:55:42 PM new
I wonder if this is a glitch that comes and goes because judging by bids I would say that are certain days this week that mine did not show up in the search... I don't know what to do about it....I know you can choose to use a "blank" template and customize it to suit you (ie: image placement)..I think I'll use it for awhile even though I like my usual layout!
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neglus
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posted on December 5, 2003 10:57:16 PM new
spakz...while it may not be picking up HTML is it counting the HTML characters?
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lindajean
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posted on December 5, 2003 11:55:18 PM new
A description for one of my postcards listed with a Vendio template had the phrase "Motel and Cottage, Long Beach" in it and it definitely is not showing up in description search.
But, a similar phrase using a CA template is in the search so it must either count the html characters in the 4,000 or Ebay is selectively having search errors.
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NEROTER12
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posted on December 6, 2003 03:36:41 AM new
Wow really interesting you found this Neglus.
I never knew!
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cherishedclutter
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posted on December 6, 2003 06:31:27 AM new
Neglus, that's a piece of news that is both disgusting and depressing. The article you posted also mentions the disappearance of blocked bidder's lists - this has happened to me. I didn't have that many on my list but they are gone now. The author of the article seemed to think these things weren't intentional - hopefully Ebay will get them fixed.
Sparkz - I'm not sure why you think it's not picking up the html. I just did a title and description search on two words (border and padding) that are in my vendio template html. I picked up over 17,000 items. I then read a few that I suspected wouldn't have those words in the description of the item. Guess what, they didn't have those words in the description of the item - but they did have the vendio checkout button on their auctions.
THIS JUST MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM!
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on December 6, 2003 07:25:21 AM new
Neglus,
I'm glad you posted this! This is very upsetting! I am not at all happy with eBay doing this... especially during the holiday season! I just tried searching for text at the end of my listings... and only about 5 out of 150 showed up! (presumably because they had shorter descriptions). I'm not at all happy with this! I expect the "Search titles and descriptions" feature to work properly for several reasons:
1) As a seller, I want my bidders to be able to find my item based on little details that might be important enough to mention in a description, but not important enough (or too lengthy) to take up valuable title space.
2) As a bidder, I use the "search titles and descriptions" feature to scan other sellers auctions when I'm looking for rarer items. Very often it means the difference between pulling up 1 or 2 results versus 25-50 results.
3) As a seller, I use the "search titles and descriptions" feature to enforce my own copyright protection. I use a key phrase in all my descriptions. When I do a search on that description, it pulls up all auctions using that phrase. Since it's a unique phrase, it invariably shows me any of my competitors who decided to copy my auction text word-for-word.
Now... since the thing isn't working... I can't do any of that anymore! It's very frustrating... not to mention, very misleading if they're going to keep calling it a description search! I hope this is just a glitch and something they're going to fix SOON! (not that it will really matter... since my last auctions for the holiday end this Sunday!) Is there anything we can do to get eBay to fix this??
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Roadsmith
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posted on December 6, 2003 10:02:01 AM new
Can someone tell me this: Is this happening to sellers who have very fancy templates? Or to everyone? Mine is just plain--a background color and photos on the left. I'm going to check in a few minutes. Adele
___________________________________
"In order to avoid poverty, just do three things: finish high school, marry before having a child, and don't have that child until you're at least 20 years old. Only 8% of people who do all three of these things wind up poor, but a staggering 79% of those who fail to do them wind up in poverty." ~William Galston
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neroter12
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posted on December 6, 2003 10:21:44 AM new
yeah, I am curious as to whether it has to do with the templates as neglus and others have mentioned. (From the article, it doesnt sound like it though?)
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neglus
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posted on December 6, 2003 10:59:41 AM new
I don't know for sure but if you go to"revise" your auction "description" and you have to scroll through a lot of vendio stuff to get to your description you COULD be exceeding the 4000 characters...even if your template isn't all that complicated..BUT maybe the HTML is not included in the 4,000 character limit..I dunno but sure would like to find out!
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wgm
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posted on December 6, 2003 12:16:19 PM new
I don't think HTML is included in the character count. I just did some searches of some of my items, and every single one showed up in search description - and I use a template from Vendio.
__________________________________
If you had one phone call to make before you died, who would you call, what would you say, and why are you waiting?
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lindajean
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posted on December 6, 2003 01:01:04 PM new
I have decided it is just a general search error!
I did another search and if you put in two or three words and click search you will get xx items. Then, hit refresh and the list will grow to double that and when I clicked a third time mine finally fell in place.
There must be a timing issue or something causing it to give out inconsistent search results.
And, they don't have anything to do with new items being added between clicks. (I checked that).
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miscreant
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posted on December 6, 2003 01:03:43 PM new
Do not blame Vendio ebay's search is just plain broke. Do a title search on one item, in this case Niloak, and I get 151 results.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&ht=1&query=niloak
Do a title and description search and I get 35 or 163 results.
http://search-desc.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=niloak&ht=1&sosortproperty=1&from=R10&sotextsearched=2&BasicSearch=
Some of the ones that show up in the title only search do mention Niloak in the description. The results can vary every time you do a search and it can vary between browsers.
Check and uncheck the description search and hit the button again after each result in both searches and watch the amount it varies. The database is not very good about handling searches.
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Damariscotta
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posted on December 6, 2003 01:42:24 PM new
The search function is definitely having problems.
I was doing a one-word search. Sometimes I would get 40 results, other times 15. When I would get 40, I could go to item, but using browser's back button would give me the 15 - would not return the 40 without "refresh".
Two of the items were "featured" - sometimes you see them, sometimes you don't.
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on December 6, 2003 06:58:15 PM new
Well... looks like eBay's finally aware of the situation... they just posted this on their anouncement board:
***Search Title and Description***
Date: 12/06/03 Time: 08:51:56 AM PST
Some members may be experiencing inaccurate item counts when searching by Title and Description. This is not affecting search by Title. We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it.
Thank you for your patience.
Regards,
eBay
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on December 7, 2003 08:27:08 AM new
Well...looks like the problem has been fixed. The ebay announcement board now reads:
***Search Title and Description***
Date: 12/06/03 Time: 08:07:46 PM PST
Earlier, some members may have experienced inaccurate item counts when searching by Title and Description. This did not affect search by Title. We have resolved this issue, and thank you for your patience.
Regards,
eBay
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