Hunting for Dogs on Ebay (Part Three)

In Part Two of this series, I showed you how to do refined searches for specific items of desire by using the categories Ebay.com provides, as well as the subcategories or ‘sub-sections’ within them. I also explained the different results one can obtain by using all-category/full-site searches and auction description searches, and demonstrated how to effectively determine exactly which key words to use in your treasure hunts. Sellers, or those considering selling their wares and collectables, were shown how to use Completed Item Searches to determine, among other things, if a particular item will sell on Ebay, how much one might expect it to sell for, what category would give the item (or service) optimal exposure, and how to best describe and feature it. Sellers and potential sellers were also treated to an overview of Ebay Stores and shown how and why this optional sales feature and its included marketing tools can help build and run online business, or enhance an existing one. In this last segment, we are going to take the art of “sniffing out dogs” on Ebay to a new level, one I know you will enjoy and find very helpful.

One of the biggest frustrations when searching on Ebay.com, or any website for that matter, is undesired word associations. Undesired word associations are those unrelated words and phrases that show up in your search results; words and phrases you do not want to search for but show up anyway. In my previous article; “Hunting for Dogs on Ebay, Part Two”, I used the example of the word ‘exercise’ showing up in search results when looking for a fancy dog-themed writing pen. You may not want an ‘exercise’ pen or ‘x-pen’, but sure enough, search Ebay using the words ‘dog/s’ (or a specific breed) and the word ‘pen’ and you will get hundreds of results, many of which will not offer anything near what you’re looking for.

To remedy this, you have two options available to you, both of which produce difference results and make searching more fun. The first, and also the fastest and easiest, is to just type “dog pen” into Ebay’s search engine (search box), click the ‘search’ button, and then look to the left of the results page. Categories and sub-categories will be listed for you, all of which can be clicked on with your mouse, linking you to sections featuring auction listings that match, or seem to match, your search.

For instance, when doing a general search of the entire Ebay site for “dog pen”, 308 item listings with titles matching “dog pen” were found. A list of Matching Categories appeared on the left-hand side of the results page, breaking down those 308 item listings, and number of related items in each category, as follows:

Home & Garden (137)

Pet Supplies (134)

Home Decor (2)

Wholesale Lots (1)

Collectibles (132)

Animals (119)

Pens & Writing Instruments (8)

Animation Art, Characters (3)

Advertising (1)

Decorative Collectibles (1)

Housewares & Kitchenware (1)

Knives, Swords & Blades (1)

Consumer Electronics (19)

Gadgets & Other Electronics (19)

Art (6)

Everything Else (3)

Pottery & Glass (3)

Toys & Hobbies (3)

Baby (2)

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (2)

Crafts (2)

Business & Industrial (1)

The Pens & Writing Instruments section, of course, is a good place to start. However, since some sellers will list a writing instrument in other categories, I encourage you to check those that most closely relate to what you are looking for. During this search, I clicked on ‘Animation Art, Characters’ and found a miniature pen, shaped and decorated like a little white puppy, complete with a cell-phone strap to keep the pen easily accessible. An unusual and interesting little object, that pen was not I was searching for specifically, but it was a nice surprise, and there are many nice surprises to be found on Ebay if you open your searches by clicking on the various Matching Categories, even those you wouldn’t expect to find treasures in.

Another, and more effective way to eliminate undesired words and phrases is to use Ebay’s Advanced Search feature; a link to which is offered to the right of every Ebay search box/field. Click on the Advanced Search text-link to be brought to a new page that offers a variety of exciting search options. This Advanced Search page allows you to customize your searches to include:

·         a selection of all words you tell the Ebay search engine to use in your search

·         a selection of any of a combination of words you offer the Ebay search engine to use in a search

·         an exact phrase

·         an exact match only

There is also an area where you can tell the Ebay search engine to “exclude these words”. This is the place where you will type those annoying unrelated words and phrases that keep popping up in your searches and making your results lists much longer than they need to be. Excluding specific words of your choosing instantly ‘blocks’ them from your search/es and therefore, eliminates them from your listing results. Just as with the basic search, an Advanced Search allows you to search titles only, or titles and descriptions, and the additional search options the Advanced Search offers, such as the ability to search between price ranges, seller locations, and types of listings, really adds to the thrill of the hunt!

Now, what if you’d like to have the Ebay search engine look for a specific kind of item but choose between one of two key words? No problem! If you want to do ‘either/or searching’, you can simply enter your select keywords in parentheses separated by commas, making sure to use no spacing after the commas. When I wanted to find dog-themed horse brasses and copper items, but did not want to be shown selections of copper horse items, or items that combined brass and copper, I simply put the following text in the Ebay search box, typed exactly as you see it here:

(horse brass,copper) dog

What I got were item listings where “dog” was used in the title with either the word ‘copper’ or the words ‘horse brass’. I found some lovely items, such as:

• a beautiful antique copper flue cover with a raised hunting motif of a retriever, hunter, and ducks in a marsh
• an assortment of very old and decorative, breed specific horse brasses
• a collection of copper cookie cutters in a variety of dog breed sizes and shapes.
• unusual vintage dog-themed jewelry; bracelets, pins, and brooches, in either copper or brass

To learn more searching secrets, go to Ebay’s Advanced Searching Commands page at:  http://pages.ebay.com/help/search/search-commands.html and check out all the tips and tricks offered for outstanding searches.

I hope you have found this three-part series helpful, fun and exciting. Searching Ebay should be an adventure, not a frustration. Discovering dog-related treasures should be a thrill, and now you know exactly how to make it one. Here’s wishing you many exciting adventures and great doggie discoveries!