Searching for What You Want

Searching on eBay is very easy once you get a feel for how the site and the categories are set up as well as the sorting possibilities. So, let's look at where to start:

• To start searching, click on the "Buy" link at the top of the page

• On the next screen that comes up, there are two ways you can search. You can either dig down in the category list or type in a keyword and leave it at all categories or choose a specific category

• For example, to narrow your search, if you are looking for shoes, click on the Clothing, Shoes & Accessories category:

• Then click on the related subcategories to get more specific. In this example, we will use Men's shoes

• If you click on Athletic, you will see that it narrowed-your search down even further. It is now only showing things that are related to Men's Athletic Shoes.

• However, you may want to narrow it down even further. One of the ways you can do this is to search by keyword within this category. For example, say you only want to look at Men's athletic shoes by a specific manufacturer. In this case, we will use Adidas© as the example:

• When you perform a search this way, you are narrowing it down to only the items that contain adidas in the title of the listing. You can also choose to expand your search for adidas in the description as well by checking the box next to "Search title and description" underneath the search boxes.
• Click on Search and you will see that it now only shows items that contain adidas in the title of the listing:

• You can now either browse these listings or you can narrow it down even further. Each category has it's own features in which to narrow it down as well as features that are available in every category such as location. In this category, you are given the specific options of narrowing it down by size, type and condition. So for example, if you wanted to narrow it down by size because you wear a size 11, you can choose this size and it will narrow it down to only those available in size 11

• So here you can see that it is now narrowed down by size 11's. You will see however that some items are included that don't specifically match the criteria because they may have size 11 somewhere in the description for some reason. But for the most part it should now be narrowed down to mainly size 11's.
• However, if you notice, there are still 413 items showing even with the filters we have added. There are several more ways you can narrow it down even further. One is by type of shoe. So you can narrow it down by running, basketball, cleats, etc:

• You can also narrow it down by New shoes only. Choose the drop-down under condition that says "New":

• This will now show only items that are brand new
• You will see in this example it has now narrowed it down to 217 items. You can further narrow it down by location and other options:
• Here are is a screenshot of some of the choices and explanations are below the screenshot:

• Location: In this drop-down you will find the choices US Only, North America and Worldwide. Different locations have both different shipping prices as well as shipping time-frames. If you want to receive them fairly quickly, you may want to narrow it down to the location that you currently reside in.
• Items Within X miles of your zipcode: This is the same concept; the closer the item, the faster it can get to you.
• Items Listed with Paypal: Some sellers offer more options to pay than paypal and some don't accept paypal (however those are very few), so if you would like to use paypal you can use this to filter out those that don't offer paypal as a payment option
• Buy It Now: We will get more in detail about this service in a later chapter, however the difference in Buy It Now and an auction is that with Buy It Now, the price you are shown is what you will pay and you are purchasing it immediately instead of waiting for the auction to end.
• Free Shipping: Some sellers offer free shipping, so if you would like to narrow it down to those that do, you can choose this option. However keep in mind that on certain items there are very few things that include free shipping. Also, for many sellers that offer free shipping, they make up for it in the minimum bid price. So be aware that you may still be paying for shipping as some just add it into the price; always compare the price of the item to others, if it is significantly higher, this may be an example of the shipping being added to the price.
• Get it Fast: Many sellers offer this choice and guarantee that they will ship it quickly as well as offer expedient shipping choices such as Next Day and Priority Mail. So if it is something that you want or need fairly quickly, you definitely want to use this choice to filter your item.
• Completed Listing: You don't want to use this when you are looking to buy as these are items where the auction has already ended. This option is usually used by sellers to do research on what a similar item as theirs sold for or how well a particular item did in auctions and buy it now listings. You can also use this as a buyer to research how much a similar item that you are looking to buy sold for, but keep in mind this is only used as a research tool, you cannot buy items from these listings, as they have already ended!
• Gift Items: If you are looking to purchase this item for someone else and would like it wrapped and shipped to them instead of to you, this is something you want to choose. The seller has agreed for an additional fee, to offer services such as gift wrapping and shipping to an address other than the purchaser's for their item.
• Items Listed as Lots: This means that the items are being sold in multiple quantities. This is usually used by those looking to resell or if you want more than one of the same item. Usually the seller is giving a discount for buying it this way. Just keep in mind that you are getting more than one of the item, and the exact quantity will be shown in the listing.
• All items including Store Inventory Items: We will go into this option later
• Listings ending within: You can use this option to narrow it down to auctions that are ending in the next couple of hours or days. This can be beneficial as you may get a good deal on an item if no one else has bid on it. However, it may be better to leave this option open as you can sort by "ending soonest" in your search results. This way you won't narrow your choices down too much!
• Items priced: This is a great tool if you have a specific price you are willing to pay for an item and don't want to look at anything higher priced than your budget! This is especially helpful for those of us that tend to spend more than we should as it keeps us from looking at items priced over our intended limit!

• For some searches you may not want to narrow it down as it will limit your results, or you may not be quite sure what you are looking for. For instance if you are looking for any type of toy that has to do with Strawberry Shortcake. You may want to just type in Strawberry Shortcake and choose the category "Toys & Hobbies". In this example you would want to place quotes around Strawberry Shortcake and do not check "search title and description". I will provide an example for both to explain why the search differs this way.
• Here is the search without quotes around Strawberry Shortcake and including the "search title and description":

• Notice that this search also included items for Thomas the Tank and Star Wars as well as Clifford. This could happen for several reasons; one may be that they included Strawberry Shortcake in their description because they may also be selling that item in another auction and referenced it or they included it as a keyword as Strawberry Shortcake is also a toy that may appeal to those who like other toys. The next example shows the search with Strawberry Shortcake in quotes, meaning that exact phrase so that it won't include the word strawberry or shortcake by themselves, as well as the "search in title and description" being unchecked so that it ONLY searches the title for a more effective search:

• Here you can see that more relevant items are listed, and the star wars and clifford items aren't here anymore. This is because it is searching only the exact phrase "Strawberry Shortcake" and isn't searching for erroneous keywords in the description.

• If you would like to now narrow this search down, you can choose some of the choices on the left hand side. For example if you are looking for only antique or stuffed animals, you can click on those links to the left and it will show just those items. You can also narrow by location just as we did in the prior search.

• These are just basic search options, we will get into more advanced options later on. For now, it is suggested you browse around and become familiar with how things are listed as well as the many things that are available on eBay.

*Keep in mind that your search results will be different as the items listed on ebay change by the minute, hour and day.

• Another way to sort the items is by things such as price, time left and shipping options.

• You can click on any of these to sort this way or choose one from the drop down box. If you click on the column and it sorts the wrong way (for example highest to lowest price and you want lowest to highest price), just click the column again and it will reverse it; or just choose the item from the drop down menu.
  • Price: You can sort from either lowest to highest or highest to lowest. This helps when you are looking for the cheapest item listed. However keep in mind that you also have to factor in the time left if it is an auction. The price will go up if people bid on the item.
  • Shipping: If the seller has entered a shipping price, it will show up here. Some sellers will put in a fixed rate for shipping that is the same no matter where you live and others will put in a weight and shipping is then shown estimated in this column based on YOUR location.
  • Time Left: this will show the auctions either by most recently listed or by ending soonest.