How to avoid Search Dialogue Box Glitch in eBay Stores

Ever wonder why you cannot locate an item using the keyword dialogue box within your (or any) eBay Store, when in fact, you know its there?

There is presently a glitch (or intentionally fatalistic design flaw) in eBay Stores, whereby if you search for an item using the keyword dialogue box within an individual category, it is not treated the same as using the keyword dialogue box within all categories (that is, from the homepage). Try for yourself and see. The example below is just that -- an example.

A search from the Store homepage: Store Search ===> Widget
2 items found for Widget in All Categories

is not being treated the same as:

A search from the Store category pages: Category ===> Store Search ===> Widget
2 items found for Widget in Category

User behavior is not such that buyers would first exit the category in which they are currently immersed in order to run a keyword search. No buyer -- no matter the ecommerce site (especially this one) -- will ever know (or be willing) to return to the homepage every time they want to run a keyword search. However, that is what is neccessary in order for these same shoppers to locate all relevant items within your eBay Store. Although brief, the popular auction news site AuctionBytes has now written an article on this issue ("eBay Glitches Plague Stores Search", Auctionbytes-NewsFlash, Number 1340 - August 08, 2006 - ISSN 1539-5065).

The Guide solution below addresses only one of the problems with eBay Store searches. It does not fix all of them. An example of what it will not fix is the "periodically fluctuating current store inventory count", a bug that has been documented since eBay Stores first opened in early 2001. Still, ensuring your shoppers searching success any way you can is a very important step for your business to take.

Here's how you may wish to try and resolve the issue. The real solution comes after the generalized lip service approaches; however, if you want the issue addressed properly, those must be paid some attention. First, make sure to raise the issue with eBay Storesteam (until resolved) at each of their monthly "Brown Bag Lunch" forum discussions on the eBay Stores Discussion Board. Second, if you have an account representative, mention it to them. Third, let them know on the eBay Stores support phone number hotline. Fourth, and most importantly, don't hold your breath. While eBay likes to go through the motions of addressing issues such as these, its usually slow going. To avoid a stalemate while they look into it, we suggest a workaround solution. What follows is just one such solution. It's not going to be for everyone (technical requirements, willingness to learn, time to work on it, etc.), so be forewarned. No additional upgrading of your store subscription level will be neccessary.

We highly recommend that you use Internet Explorer (IE) as your web browser in order to make these changes. The reason is simple: eBay's coding has left several variabilities in how Store editing page elements are displayed across the various web brower alternatives. If you must use Firefox, or Netscape, you must also have those browsers to have their preferences set to use Internet Explorer as their "rendering engine". If you have no idea what we just said (LOL), please stick with using IE as your web browser for the purposes of this exercise, even if you hate using it on a regular, daily basis. At this time, we do not recommend using Opera as your web browser to make these changes. For this eBay Stores modification, we similarly do not recommend using any web browsers not already mentioned. (Will this procedure work with a Mac? We are not certain if the steps are identical using a Mac, as we do not have a Mac in order to test (however, sufficed to say, the steps will be quite similar, if not identical). It is recommended that Mac users work amongst each other for a final resolution if they encounter difficulty with the outlined approach).

Before your head explodes, just bear in mind that once you've made the change, no further action is required, and its just as easy to undo, as it was to do.

Are you now ready for a possible fix? Here goes nothing ...

Go to eBay > My eBay > Manage Store > Store Design (Display Settings) > Theme and Display (Left Navigation Bar Settings) > Change (appears on the right) > De-select (uncheck) the checkbox for "Search Box" > Save Settings.

Sounds counterintuitive, but keep reading ...

At this point, you have a decision to make. Doing nothing else would put your buyers in the position of having to browse your store. That may or may not help your business. It will work for some, but not work for others. Taking authoritative, non-user-centric stances may not be in the best interest of every store. Thankfully, there is a way to replace the keyword dialogue box that you just removed.

Note that the following, more advanced, solution (described below) will only work if you have design space available for eBay Store Promotion Boxes, and are not already using eBay Store Promotion Boxes, or if you still have room to adapt (modify) your existing promotion boxes. If it destroys your design to implement this solution, then perhaps its either time to redesign for more flexibility in your layout, or perhaps this workaround may not be for you at this time. Only you will be able to be the final judge of that. This is just an idea to help get you started on self-resolution, rather than waiting for eBay to come to the rescue. (Analogously, they do come to put out fires, eventually, but usually its after the building has already burned down! LOL).

So ... as we were saying ... to continue with the instructions ... on the page you just landed on after following the steps above, under "Store Design", select "Promotion Boxes". After you arrive on the Promotion Boxes landing page, select "Create New Promotion Box".

Go to eBay > My eBay > Manage Store > Store Design > Promotion Boxes > Create New Promotion Box

On the create a new Promotion Box page, select a Location for where you would like the box to appear. For Categories, select "All Categories". Under Box Type, select "Custom Text/HTML". Give the Promotion Box a name. Select Save.

On the resulting page, make sure to select the tab for "Enter Your Own HTML", rather than "Standard".

Once you have selecting the tab for "Enter Your Own HTML". in the box for entering your own HTML, enter the following:

<form name="search" method="get" style="margin: 0;" action="http://search.stores.ebay.com/search/search.dll">
    <input type="text" name="query" value="" length="16" style="font:8pt" />
    <input type="submit" value="search" style="font:8pt; color:black" />
    <input type="hidden" name="srchdesc" value="y" />
    <input type="hidden" name="fcd" value="2" />
    <input type="hidden" name="fcl" value="4" />
    <input type="hidden" name="fts" value="2" />
    <input type="hidden" name="sofp" value="0" />
    <input type="hidden" name="sasel" value="XXXXXXXX" />
</form>

Select Save.

Are we done yet? No! Not yet. :) You're almost there ... Don't give up now ... Please keep reading to the very end, as it is neccessary for a full set of instructions and to make sure you have accommodated all neccessary modifications. It is important that you understand what parameters you are working with, and what variables to replace.

The code, as it is written above, assumes that you want to have your search defaulting to a search of both titles and descriptions, but also not give the ability for users to toggle between using one (titles and description) or the other (titles only) independently of one another.

The style (length, color, font, font color, height) of the dialogue box can be changed. For those familiar with HTML, there are several ways to customize the dialogue box, as the ability to add a checkbox to enable toggling between titles and descriptions and titles only, with either one checked or unchecked by default. In order to have text pre-filled into the search dialogue, in the line that reads <input type="text" name="query" value="" length="16" style="font:8pt" />, replace value="" with value="{put your prefilled text here}".

Above, you will see "XXXXXXXX". This string will need to be replaced with your store ID #. All stores have one. Be sure to get it entered correctly, or you'll be sending your buyers to someone else's store! To find your store ID #, mouseover (do not click! first, read tip below) the Stores icon next to your userID at the top of the Manage My Store homepage within My eBay. It will look something like this: stores.ebay.com/id=########?ssPageName=ME:F:ST -- You would replace "XXXXXXXX" with the number (#) as it appears in the URL.

A tip: depending on your browser, the address will display in the lower left bottom of the browser "chrome" (Internet Explorer (IE), Netscape (w/ IE rendering engine), Firefox (w/ IE rendering engine)) when you move the mouse over a link.  Write down the number (#) that is part of the link. Or, when hovering the mouse over the link, right-click the address referred to and use "copy shortcut". After you've cut and pasted the link to another window or application, you can take it apart. For the purposes of this task, you're only interested in the number (#) portion and only inserting where described.

We will not presently be going into explanation as to what several of the other "value" parameters represents (we'll have to save that for another day -- it will take some time to cover this info. in useful detail.) Needless to say, for example, some have to do with display (list view vs. gallery view), while others have to do with sort order ("ending soonest" vs. "newly listed"), etc. It is best advised that you play around to see how these values actually work, so you can see what effects they have on your store display. That said, what we're getting at is that after you do so, you will be a much more educated store operator if you know what the variables are, and how to change them. We found that this is best learned as an exercise of trial and error. No one wants to hear that, but it's the truth. We hope you can handle the truth. :)

What will the the code above yield? Essentially, the information that the dialogue box that comes standard with an eBay Store is not showing. Said another way, its what users want. It will yield a keyword search, of your store, using any keyword the user wants, searched across all categories, from most anywhere in your store, using Gallery view, Ending Soonest. It works. It works well. Visit our store to see for yourself. Visit and see how well it works. :) Half serious, half joking that you use our store as a test bed, but we have no qualms about implementing the solution described.

Another very important note about trying to use this workaround is that eBay Store Promotion boxes do not like form code. You can use form code, but after you create the Promotion Box, when you select to Edit it, there won't be any code to edit. eBay's RTF editor won't display it. It will show the preview, but not the tool to edit it. What this means is, you'll either need to work in an external application to get the code right, or you'll also find yourself recreating the Promotion Box until you get it right. To do that, you would need to permanently delete the Promotion Box you just created and start over again by creating a new one.

For this reason, although that is a decision left up to personal preferences, you may want to use an alternative to the Promotion Box. That alternative is to embed the code in an optional Store Header display. Here's how you can enable this option:

Go to eBay > My eBay > Manage Store > Store Design (Display Settings) > Theme and Display (Left Navigation Bar Settings) > Store Header Display > Change (appears on the right) > {radio button} Yes > {Enter Code} > Save Settings.

The step at which you {Enter Code} is where you would enter the HTML search form code referred to above.

Select whichever method you feel that meets your design or your technical abilities. You are of course, under no obligation to make any changes at all. Users may be accustomed to a dysfunctional search mechanism, but the decision to help your users find your items more easily is up to each individual store owner.

Hope that this write-up helps someone out there ... its complex, but what about running these Stores isn't? Just another hurdle to clear ... Please don't shoot the messenger!

About the Author

Beyond the Treeline is dedicated to bringing the finest in adventure sports clothing, outerwear and outdoor fitness apparel to market. Our practical experience, technical knowledge, and mutual respect for the outdoor lifestyle inspire our customer-friendly service. Since 1999, we have consistently met and exceeded the needs of serious athletes by offering a superior selection of authentic, new, first-quality, high-end, name-brand camping, mountaineering, hiking and active lifestyle gear for all seasons.

Beyond the Treeline Inc. (BTTL) is not to be held responsible, in any capacity, for variances or inaccuracies in any of the information presented above. Although we have taken reasonable precautions to ensure accuracy, data is only as good as its original source and its input. Please proceed with its use accordingly. Final decisions will be your own.

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Best Regards,
Beyond the Treeline // beyondthetreeline
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