Keyword spamming - alive and well, Ebay don't care

Mutton_Geoff

I'm interested in buying a classic Ford and have a search set that a recent seller triggered with their title "Ford Orion 1.6 ghia not RS turbo xr3 xr2 coswoth". If they spelled Cosworth properly they might have even wasted more people's time.

Since the car for sale is not one of the models I'm looking for, I reported the listing for keyword spamming. Ebay quickly responded and said nothing wrong with the listing. I escalated it with an appeal, another hour later "We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made by a customer service agent."

The seller is clearly in the trade (see other items) but has listed as a private seller, presumably to avoid seller fees. Again, Ebay don't seem to care.

After more than 20 years as an Ebay buyer/seller, they are rapidly going down in my estimation.

RFW

It seems to be a growing situation that no one cares about keyword spamming. Google used to crack down on it but now they sell ads that encourage it.

Woodstok2000

Just to play devil's advocate, evey time i sell on ebay i get messages from people asking 'is it x, y or z' when I've put the full description in the title and advert. Maybe the listing owner just wants to avoid the hassle of those types of messages?

Lorian

Use filter and select model.

ButterCheese

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857097#Comment_81857097

Yes I've had the same. But with cars and motorbikes it seems to be rife, when the eact model is stated and displayed in the pictures there can't really be any confusion. That said, I don't see it as a huge problem, and if Ebay or any other platform owner wants to ignore it, they are free to do so.

The only exception I'd make is when the listing is obviously false or misleading. I've reported such things to Amazon and they don't care either

RFW

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857770#Comment_81857770

On Amazon they end up being search suppressed, as I said earlier though it seems to be less of a no go area for all of them. Google used to have a big problem with it but, presumably, worked out it was losing them money so now it's a free for all.