Search not returning appropriate results

[ezpchardware]

I have being using the search on this site and it doesnt return appropriate results, example:

G5 Laser should return my G5 Laser mouse as auction but it doesn't even list it, it list a lot of other auctions that has nothing to do with my search...


Anyone else think the search is out of wack?

[sniperace66]

hello i just search the "G5 Laser" and your auction was listed page 2 about middle of the listing

[sniperace66]

Ok see what you mean first search I did “G5 Laser" I found it on the 2nd page but I did a search on the full title that u used
In your listing and it brought up a bunch of mouse pads. Then i did a search on "G5 Laser mouse” and the same thing.
Looks like someone spammed their listings because there are a lot of these mouse pads from the same seller and only minutes apart.
This could be the problem.

[elkaye]

If you are using the basic search on the site it will return any listing that has any of your search terms in the title. For example, if you search for "red shirt" it will return any listing that has "red" or "shirt" in the listing. It will even return any listing that has the word "scared" or "bored" in the title as both of those words contain the character string "red". So, yes, as far as I am concerned, the search is not all that useful right now.

[Lanascountry]

Sometimes when I search, I key in the LEAST amount of words that are possible.
Now this LIMITS your search, but also brings up the least return. Just make sure that
that word or words is unusual (if possible) and is also a key word or words.

[smartin87]

Yeh search function could use a bit of work.

Probably should change it to assume criteria+criteria2 instead of or. Also might be worth sorting results by relavance or something similar instead of time to finish as this encourages listing spamming so that they are always finishing first.

Site still needs tweaking but seems to be a great alternative to ebay.

Steve

[mj-trading]

We have alot of items here and the best way we found to find them is to go to advance search. put just a couple words in and the ZIP CODE! Works good for us!

[Gary321]

The search engine on this site really sucks. Buyers dont want to jump through a bunch of hoops to find what they want. I have tried finding things with the basic search and never get what I am looking for bad bad bad. This needs to be improved. Even the advanced search is not good. Can someone please pay some attention to this its really hurting all of us here. :mad:

[Lanascountry]

Hi Gary...
I just got back on line and I will send this on to our Admin immedietely.
Please be patient and I will get him in to try to help and explain.
And yes we DO have a search problem sir..
Also please send a help ticket?
Thanks,
Lan

[Lanascountry]

Gary.. I have contacted admin..

[James Sager]

The search engine on this site really sucks. Buyers dont want to jump through a bunch of hoops to find what they want. I have tried finding things with the basic search and never get what I am looking for bad bad bad. This needs to be improved. Even the advanced search is not good. Can someone please pay some attention to this its really hurting all of us here. :mad:
Our current search function uses "boolean" search, which searches for all terms entered. So if you do a basic search (from the toolbar) for "pioneer sterio", it will search and return results for any auctions that have "pioneer" or "sterio" in the title.

If you do an advanced search (by clicking the advanced search link), you would get results from any auction with "pioneer" or "sterio" in the description. So if the seller had "sterio headphones", or "pioneer receiver" in the description, these would show as results.

So it would actually return better results by only entering a single descriptive term from the toolbar.

We are currently developing a new auction platform, with totally different search, that will provide much better search results. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this is causing you at this time. We want to assure you that we are aware of the faulty search on the WeBidz site, and we are currently working to resolve this issue.

[Gary321]

Thanks for passing this on. This is key to the sucess of this site. I know as a buyer I get fed up with sites that take me everywhere but where I ask to go. I think all of us need to address this issue or webidz will start getting some really neg reviews.

[Gary321]

James its nice to know your on top of this. And just so you know I did try single words different words, parenthess, ect. in basic and advanced search but Kept getting non related items. Also alot of spam in the search results. I spent several hours searching through the pages of my requests and most didnt pertain to what I asked for. Im just really concerned. Im looking forward to the new platform and am curious as to when you plan to launch it?

[James Sager]

gary,

Thanks for understanding. Since this is a total recoding and not just an update, this is still quite a ways away. I do not like to give specific dates, as I don't want to give false information. My best guess at this time would be mid next year. It may be possible that we could release an improved search before that time, but do not want to make any promises. I am not sure when we will get to the testing phase, but we will be looking for about 50 members to go through a 60-90 day testing period. These members will be compensated, but not sure the full compensation details at this time. We are not accepting beta signups yet, but will post more details on this at a later date.