Searching for items

About The Searches Tab

---

Open the Searches tab by clicking on it.

You can always return to the main tab page from any other page by clicking on the tab itself.

The links on this page take you to views where you can create searches and work with existing searches.

Click on the My Searches link to view and modify all of the searches you have saved.
Click on the Search Wizard link to create and save searches.
Click on the Create a Search link to create and save searches.
Click on My Searches Folders link to view and organize all of your folders containing searches.
Click on Create Folder link to create a new folder to store searches in.

You can use the tab menu bar links to move directly to MySearches or your Folders view

Click on the icon to go to a Searches help page.

Creating and Saving a new Search

---

Click on the Create Search link on the Searches tab to open a form that will help you build an advanced search. All of the options on the eBay advanced search are available here with some enhancements to more precisely define search characteristics. Many of the choices presented are optional or have general default choices associated with them.

Give your search a Name so you can find it in the My Searches folder.

Select a folder from the Search Folder drop down list. By default this will show the folder you have specified in My Account Default Preferences.

Looking for featured items
Click on the Search gallery items only radiobuttons to select either Only Gallery Items or Gallery and Non-Gallery Items. The default of Gallery and Non-Gallery Items will search both eBay featured items and non-featured items.  If you select Only Gallery Items your search will only look at eBay featured items.

Using keywords
Using this advanced keyword search, you can use a combination of All, Any and Excluded keywords to create a very precise search.

In the Search All of These Words box, enter a keyword (or group of keywords) you think will appear for EVERY item of interest. Generally speaking, the more words you use here, the narrower your search.

In the Search Any of These Words box, enter the keyword (or keywords) which may appear for ANY item of interest. Generally speaking, the more words you use here, the wider your search.

In the Exclude These Words box, enter a word (or words) which may appear for an item you are NOT interested in. In other words, enter words which will eliminate items from your search results.

(Note that there is a maximum of 300 characters allowed for all three of the keyword boxes. A handy counter which tracks the number of characters you’ve typed so far appears beneath the boxes.)

Be sure to click on the Include Description checkbox if you want to search item descriptions as well as titles for your keywords. Identifying terms, such as color, size, and source can often be found only in the item Description.

Search by Category
You can select a specific eBay category to look in by clicking on the down arrow in the Category box and highlighting the category by clicking on it. Or, you can leave the default All Categories displayed and search through all eBay categories using your keywords.

Looking for items based on price
Enter values into the Price Range boxes or leave them blank. You must enter values in both boxes. Specifying a price range will narrow your search and results will be limited to those in your price range.

Do not enter a currency symbol (i.e., $) as part of your value. The currency type is selected in the Currency drop down list. The default currency is US $.

Looking for items by Location
The default selection here is the radiobutton Anywhere which searches all regions of all eBay sites. You can narrow your search to a specific eBay site.

If you select Located in Country or Available to Country, an eBay site country needs to be specified in the eBay Sites drop down list. The list includes all of the eBay site countries as well as eBay Motors. The default is United States.  Pick another eBay Site by highlighting it in the drop down list.

You can also pick a specific Region within an eBay site country. Once a site country is selected in the eBay sites drop down list, the Regions drop down list contains all of the regions within that eBay site.  The default is All Regions.

If you click on the Selected eBay Website Currency radio button, the currency for the search will be that of the eBay Site specified. The default site is United States so the default eBay currency will be US $.

To change the site currency, pick another eBay Site by highlighting it in the drop down list.

Looking for non-auction items
You can search for items that are specifically Fixed Price and Buy It Now items, just Auction items, or you can broaden the search to include both Auction and Fixed Price items. Select the Item Type from the drop down list, by clicking on it to highlight it. The default choice is Auction Only. Select Fixed Price & Buy It Now if you want to find only those items. Select ‘All’ if you want to search both categories.

Looking only for new items
Click on the New Items Only box, if you want your search to return only items that are new since you last ran the search. This is an important tool for running automatic searches.

Looking only for sellers that accept PayPal
If you only want to find items from sellers that accept PayPal, under Options click to check the box PayPal Accounts.

Looking for specific sellers
If you want to narrow a search by looking for a particular seller (or sellers) from the results, enter the seller’s eBay User ID (or IDs) in the Include Items from this Seller(s) box. Separate User ID’s in a list with a space.

If you want to narrow a search by excluding a certain seller (or sellers) from the results, enter the seller’s eBay User ID (or IDs) in the Exclude Items from this Seller(s) box. Separate User ID’s in a list with a space.

Scheduling an automatic search
If you want to set up an Auto Search, click on the Enable check box to turn on this option.

Pick a Frequency for the search from the drop down list: 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks. When you save a search with Auto Search enabled, it will be executed immediately and subsequently on the frequency you picked.

You will get automatic search results via email so don’t forget to set up your email notification under My Account – Email Settings. You can choose to exclude pictures from the found items list you get via email. The Include Thumbnails checkbox under Email Options is checked by default. Just click on it, to uncheck it.

Setting Display Options for your search results
By default, Search results display with the items ending first displayed at the top of the list.

Using the Sort By drop down list, you can specify whether you want the search results to be sorted by date with the earliest Start Date or the closest End Date at the top of the list. Or, you can choose to sort the search results by Current Bid Price with the highest, or the lowest, at the top.

Chose the number of items to display on a page from the Show Items Per Page drop down list. The default is 25.

Back to Top

Saving a Search

---

When you create a search by filling the Search Information form, clicking on the Save button at the bottom of page will save the search for future use and editing.

Clicking on the Save & Run button at the bottom of page will run the search immediately and save the search for future use.

If you click Cancel, any changes to the screen are erased and you will need to reset everything before saving.

Back to Top

Using the Search Wizard to Create an Advanced Search

---

The search wizard provides a more intuitive, step-by-step, question-and-answer mechanism for creating an advanced search. Some users may prefer this to the Advanced Search page. All of the options available on the advanced search page are included in the search wizard.

To create a new advanced search using the search wizard, click on the Search Wizard link on the Searches tab.

The wizard will guide you through a six step process to create a new advanced search. After finishing each step, press the next button at the bottom of the page to move to the next step, or you can press the back button to go back to the previous step. At any point in the wizard you can press the save & run button to move to the last step skipping all other remaining steps.

Back to Top

Viewing your Searches

---

Click on the My Searches link on the Searches tab to view searches you have previously saved.

The default settings for the searches that you view is set in My Account Default Preferences. Unless you change it you will see the Enabled searches in the My Searches folder.

The page will display searches you have created showing the Name you supplied, the Folder the search is stored in, the last time the search was performed, the number of results produced by the last search as well as the Auto Search status.

Displaying different folders and kinds of searches
The links in the top toolbar allow you to view different sets of searches.

Select a folder of searches from the In folder drop down box to display only the contents of a particular folder.
Click the All link, to view all of the searches in that folder.
Click the Enabled link, to view all of the searches in that folder that run automatically.
Click the Disabled link, to view all of the searches in that folder that must be run manually.

To change the Items Per Page from the default, click to highlight the selection in the drop down list.

Sorting the list of your searches
You can order the display of your list of searches by the contents of the columns Search Name, Folder, Last Performed, #Results, or Auto Search status.

Click the column label in the row of column headings to change the order. The caret mark indicates on which row the order is based and the direction of the sort, high to low, or low to high. By clicking on the row name again, the caret mark changes direction and so does the order of the list.

Using ActionBar buttons
To select one or more searches for ActionBar actions, click to place a checkmark in the box to the left of the search name.

To delete one or more searches, mark the selection and then click on the Delete button in the actionbar.
To enable one or more searches, mark the selection(s) and then click on the Enable button in the actionbar.
To disable one or more searches, mark the selection(s) and then click on the Disable button in the actionbar
To move one or more searches to another folder, mark the selection(s), select the folder from the drop down list, and then click on the Move To button in the actionbar

Back to Top

Modifying specific Searches

---

To modify a particular search, click on the Modify link in the Actions column on the right. This will bring up the same Search Information form which you used to create the search.
Make your changes.
Click on the Update button to save your changes.
If you click Cancel, any changes to the screen are erased and the previously existing search is unchanged.

Back to Top

Running a Search

---

Manually running specific Searches
To run a particular search, click on the Search Now! link in the Actions column on the right.

You can also run a search when you create it or when you modify it by clicking the Save & Run button.

Back to Top

Using Auto Search

---

If you want a search to be run automatically and email you the results, you need to enable an Auto Search. See below for ways to enable the auto-search.

You will get automatic search results via email so don’t forget to set up your email notification under My Account – Email Settings.

You must specify a frequency for the Auto Search. The only way to do this right now is on the Search Information page reached through Create Search link on Searches tab or the Create an Auto Search link on the My Searches menu bar.
      Pick a Frequency for the search from the drop down list: 4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 7 days.

If space in your in box is an issue, you can exclude thumbnail pictures from the email list of search results.
      Uncheck the Include Thumbnails checkbox under Email Options by clicking on it

Enabling or Disabling Auto Search
There are several ways to set a search run automatically. Search results are sent to your email address. Remember, the timing of these searches is specified on the Search Information form and is saved with the Search.

1. Click on the Modify link in the Actions column in the MySearch page. Check or uncheck the Auto Search Enable checkbox. Click Update to save the change.

2. Select one or more searches from a list of your searches by clicking their checkbox, the click on the Enable or Disable button in the Item ActionBar

3. In a list view of your searches, click on the Disabled or Enabled link in the Auto Search column for the search. Clicking on Disabled switches the setting to Enabled. Clicking on Enabled switches the Auto-Search setting to Disabled.

Back to Top

Viewing your search results

---

When you run an immediate search the results are displayed on a Search Results page that shows the Item Title, Item#, Price and Shipping cost, and Time Left in the auction.

Search results that you receive via email display the same information:

Multiple Items which have been listed by the seller under the same name will be collapsed into a single search result. You can recognize these items by noticing the + button under the checkbox.

You can expand these results by clicking on the + button.

Back to Top

Adding search results to your Watches

---

From a Search Results page in your Buying Manager session, click on the Add to Watch link in the Actions column.

From search results in an email, click on the Add Watch link on the item in the list.

Back to Top

Bidding on search results

---

When you view immediate search results on a Search Results page in your Buying Manager session, each item has a link in the Actions column which allows you to place a bid on the item.
Click on the Bid on Item link to bring up an Add Bid screen.
Enter your Max Bid in the box.
Enter the Quantity in the box.
Select a Folder to place the bid in from the drop down list of your folders.
Enter a Comment in the box. This can be left blank.
Click on the Place Bid button to submit the bid.

Back to Top

Using the Search Wizard

---

The Search Wizard is not yet implemented.

Back to Top

The Search Now Feature

---

The Search Now feature allows the user to quickly run a search from the Searches tab.

Enter keywords in the search for box. Note: this is an all words search. For an item to appear in the results it must contain all of the keywords entered.

Enter words you don’t want to be included in the results in the exclude text box.

Check the Search titles and descriptions check box to search item descriptions in addition to item titles.

Click Search to run the search.

Searches ran from the Search Now box cannot be saved. If you want to create and save a search use the advanced search page.

Back to Top

Search Groups

---

A search group is like a searches folder but with the added feature of being able to run all searches in the group at once. Search Groups are most useful when you have a number of related searches that usually return few results. When searches are run from a search group the results from all the searches in the group are displayed on the same search results page. Also, you can enable and disable all auto searches in a group by simply enabling or disabling the search group.

To Create a Search Group

• Click on Create Search Group on the Searches tab.
• Give your search group a name and description. Descriptions are optional.
• Check the Email me my search results check box if you want to receive search results in your email.
• Choose how often you want to receive search results emails from the Email search frequency drop down list.
• Choose a color and click the Create button to create your search group.

To Add Searches to a Search Group

• Searches are added to a search group the same way they are added to a folder.
• Select the searches you want to add from the My Searches page.
• Select a search group from the drop down list next to the Move To button in the Action bar at the bottom of the page.
• Finally, press the Move To button to move all selected searches into the search group.
• Later if you want to remove searches from the group, use the same process to move the searches to a different search group or folder.

To Run a Search Group

• Click on the My Search Groups link on the Searches tab.
• Find the search group listing for the group you want to run.
• Click the Run Group button on the far right side of the listing.

To Delete Search Groups

• Click on the My Search Groups link on the Searches tab.
• Select the search groups you want to delete by clicking on the check box on the left side of their listings.
• Click the Delete button in the Action bar at the bottom of the page.

To Modify a Search Group

• Click on the My Search Groups link on the Searches tab.
• Find the search group listing for the group you want to modify.
• Click the Modify button on the far right side of the listing.

Back to Top