I despise Keyword Spamming   Unethical sellers pollute your searches by loading your search results with auctions for their merchandise which has nothing to do with what you're searching for to begin with.  Keyword spamming wastes your time just like email spamming--you have to sort through the "good" search results, and dispose of the spammed results.  I don't understand why these evil sellers think people will buy from someone so obviously dishonest, but it's common as dirt, and just as nasty.

Some spamming is obvious:  they've loaded up the title of the auction with keywords unrelated to what's being sold, or, they're selling "universal" stuff with specific keywords.  So perhaps they're selling ordinary mechanics grease rags, but they've tarted up the auction title by specifying that these rags are for use with Camaros, Mustangs, and Harleys.  Everyone who is looking for bonafide Camaro, Mustang, or Harley-related merchandise now has to filter out the plain old ordinary "rags" some idiot is shoving at them.
 
Other spamming is less obvious--even invisible.  The worst, most dishonest, unethical spammers use "white on white" text that is totally invisible.  There is a way to find hidden text, however:  If you use Firefox or Netscape as your browser, you can use the wordfinder feature.  You go to any web page--an auction, for example--and type in a slash and then the word you're looking for.  (Be sure you're NOT typing into a text box that may be on that page.)  Netscape and Firefox will take you to that word, if it exists on that page, and they highlight the word so you can see it easily.  (And, there is a control panel that pops up near the bottom of your screen, and you can click there to see if there is more than one occurance of the word you're looking for.)  I can't put hidden text into this guide, or I'd suggest you practice right here.  You could still type in a slash and the word "xxxxx" and see if it takes you to the xxxxx on this page.  On my computer, the "found" words are highlighted in green.

If you wanted to see if "Harley" was on a web page, you'd type in    /Harley
If you wanted to see if "Lauren Hutton" was on a web page, you'd type in    /Lauren Hutton

You can use this on any web page, but it works really well for finding deliberately hidden text.

There is--probably--a way to accomplish this in Internet Explorer as well.

Want to find ALL the hidden keywords?  Highlight the auction with your cursor, as if you were copying the text.  The hidden keywords are now visible.

PLEASE REPORT ALL KEYWORD SPAMMERS using the link near the bottom of every auction that reads Report this item   It's a fairly simple process once you've done it once or twice, and it's anonymous so that the seller/lister is not told your name.  You can read about the official eBay listing policies, including keyword spamming, by going to the eBay home page, and click on Policies towards the bottom of the page.

If this guide has been helpful, please give me a "Yes" vote by clicking the button below.  If you have suggestions for improvement, you can contact me through the "My Messages" feature of eBay by clicking Contact Member
Thanks, all.

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