Model Railroading > Ebay model railroad search not working

A couple of days ago my stored Ebay search for HO scale trains stopped working, on both computers.    It would only sort to model railroading and not go the extra step of going to HO scale, it would just sit at all scales.   An impossible search position as it returns thousands of results.    Then yesterday it failed all together now it comes back and says that Ebay cannot find that search and to try again.    I did send complaint about it to Ebay but of course they get millions of them per day so nothing will happen.

When you do a search, you can get to model railroading stuff fairly easily. You then have to select the gauge on the left side options, in order to focus down to a specific size.

OK, I see that and that does work.    But I have had a stored automatic search to go to HO scale model trains for at least the last 10 years and now Ebay says there is no such search.   I am concerned as a seller that this messes up searches so much that my sales will decline.   My other stored searches are still working normally.

https://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/categorychanges/preview2021.html

Why would anyone want to sort by scale?? (That's cynicism; don't step in it, it'll stain yer socks.)

steeplecab
 

Same thing happened to me.  They must have introduced some new "improvements".

Chris Rye,
Atlin, B.C.

Was told last Monday Ebay was eliminating scale sub categories and were grouping all model railroading items into a single category.

Tried a search and all that came up was a map of LA Harbor and an Error 404 code.

Monday night, Ebay in all of their infinite wisdom, changed the search on a lot of items. They know way more about model trains than you do. As with you, all of my searches for brass went bye bye and when I called to complain, Just like Jen Psaki, they go by a written statement and cant tell you anything more. Again. Dec 31st is my last day of ebay as Im not going to have them send me a 1099 for selling my extra train stuff. The change even made the news clips I receive on my phone. The only way it works now is you have to have the exact description, color, year UPC code brand and any other info to find what your looking for. Good luck!

So years ago a buy a locomotive.   I pay tax on that model.   Now I want to sell my model and due to the 1099 I have to pay tax again.  I am not selling stuff that a bought to make money on, I am selling my old stuff, likely at a loss.  That is why our forefathers fought a war for independence.   

Ebay more and more has shifted from being an auction site to becoming a retail site like Amazon.  There are fewer deals to be had, especially under the auction format as many of those people looking to offload previously purchased personal items are no longer listing on Ebay, thanks to the new conditions and regulations on selling.  I will no longer use Ebay to sell items.  I probably won't be buying much longer since I have found the items I hope to find and purchase from sellers on ebay are becoming more and more scarce.

Mike Peters
Brentwood, MO

I agree 100%.     Now that I am aware of the upcoming 1099 issues I think I am out too.    My old stuff will go to the local hobby shop as trade ins or the swap meet for cash.    Ebay can shove it up their tailpipe.

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/letters/blog.pl?/pl/2021/10/1634066530.html

ATSFSuperCap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, I see that and that does work.    But I have
> had a stored automatic search to go to HO scale
> model trains for at least the last 10 years and
> now Ebay says there is no such search.   I am
> concerned as a seller that this messes up searches
> so much that my sales will decline.   My other
> stored searches are still working normally.

I've had some N scale searches for a couple years. I went in last night and re-did them all to fit within the new search parameters. It was a pain, but thankfully it's only a handful of them.

I have sold and purchased on ebay for 20 years. The last 2 to 3 years of improvements are about to drive me away. 

 

With the 1099 thing and now this, I'm out. Enough FB sites for sure and need to look for a few other groups to sell on. I did like putting stuff up and the price going up for some items, plus the amount of exposure was nice. But way too many fees and now all of this junk. 

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

If we can get to a state of public health where swap meets become routine, that could be the end of my interest in ebay both to sell and buy.
I think my recent listing of 7 HO locomotives had a fairly decent response but the prices did not go up and three ended up one bid, my starting price.
I never wholly trust their search paths, how buyers might find what I have listed.....

JETRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have sold and purchased on ebay for 20 years.
> The last 2 to 3 years of improvements are about to
> drive me away. 
>Drove me away when they parted company from Pay Pal as got tired of sellers sayiny have not received payment up to 3 days  even when i made payment instantly  Cheers D.
>  

As someone who has been heavily involved in the buying and selling of used MR equipment for over 50 years now, I believe that the reason eBay auctions for most MR items have fizzled as of late, is due to the absolute FACT that the number of MR enthusiasts is going down every day and the supply of second hand equipment is skyrocketing.   Every single day now, a life long MR enthusiast goes up to that big roundhouse in the sky and their stash of equipment hits the market.  Unless it is rare and extremely desirable, putting things on eBay in "no reserve" auctions is a losing proposition.  "Buy It Now" is the order of the day.

I hope you are all doing well,

Allen Drucker 

 

Yes, it looks like they combined all scales into one category.  It has over 1 million items in the 'railroad and trains' category.   you have to go to that category and then select scale from a 'gauge' drop down menu.  harder but still doable.  my issue is as a seller I had items in N and in HO.  I never worried about specifying the scale as it was in the correct category.  Now I have to go back in and specify scale on all my open listings.  A real pain.  While I agree eBay is getting less friendly (I'm a seller since '98) it still is the best way to get to the widest group of targeted customers.

Mike Stewarf
Oakley, CA

map Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ebay more and more has shifted from being an
> auction site to becoming a retail site like
> Amazon.  There are fewer deals to be had,
> especially under the auction format as many of
> those people looking to offload previously
> purchased personal items are no longer listing on
> Ebay, thanks to the new conditions and regulations
> on selling.  I will no longer use Ebay to sell
> items.  I probably won't be buying much longer
> since I have found the items I hope to find and
> purchase from sellers on ebay are becoming more
> and more scarce.
>
> Mike Peters
> Brentwood, MO
That's my take on ebay as well.