ebay garbage lisitings

[dpledger]

Like most of you, I check ebay regularly for K parts, and it's generally paid off well. Lately it seems there is so much garbage  that comes up on a Kaiser search (seat covers, car covers, plastic wheel covers, etc etc) that it is getting painful to check through every night. Has anyone devised a search protocol that will eliminate most of the gorp? I can't seem to come up with anything that doesn't knock out desirable stuff too.

[Fid]

I agree. I was thinking about contacting ebay and complaining about that too. Those parts do not fit the cars they say they do. Those sellers are parasites and really make it difficult for those who want real KF parts to find them. I once sent a message to seller that had this pipe hold that "Fits Henry J" informing him the  Henry J does not have a dash that you can set something on and that I was going to report it as fraudulent ad - he removed it.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

My experience with eBay on this is that it is up to the seller to prove it fits on a car, not eBay.  Sellers say for instance, that it will work on a Kaiser IF the owner converted it to 12 volt, IF the owner puts a V-8 in instead of the motor that came with the car, IF...IF...IF

Perhaps since interstate commerce is involved, the Federal Trade Commission might get involved but they claim that they don't have the resources needed to police internet stuff.  They say it is up to eBay to do the policing.

Which will bring us back to .....

[joefrazer]

When running a search, if you don't want certain items in the return, put a dash (-) in front of what you want suppressed. For example, when I look for Kaiser parts, my search looks like this:
kaiser -helmet -cover -caps -mats
The above search will return everything but things like those german WWI helmets, a car cover, wheel cover, hubcaps, and floor mats. Note that a space has to be placed between each item but not between the dash and the item you want to suppress. Give it a try, it works!

[Terry T]

I have used the "contact" option to ask the seller to remove Kaiser/Darrin/Henry J from the "fits" area of the listing since items do not apply.  No response other than some sellers have blocked ME from buying their junk or contacting them again!!

[custom]

I just used the - (dash) method on a Kaiser search and saved to my desktop. Now when I search, it eliminates the "garbage". Thanks for the tip!

custom

[pnw_oldmags]

That is a great tip!  I would suggest also using it with quotes around two word sets ... use -"car cover" instead of just using -cover.  Stops you from hiding a few covers you might want to see.

[blackcat429cj]

That is a great tip!  I would suggest also using it with quotes around two word sets ... use -"car cover" instead of just using -cover.  Stops you from hiding a few covers you might want to see.

I just tried this on a search for "1954 Kaiser Darrin"  which returned over 1400 listings - I added -mats -cover -covers -caps which lowered the results to 225

when I searched 1971 Mercury Cougar and added the same "-"  I also included -bolts it reduced the seach from over 14000 - to 1200 listings. 

[dpledger]

Thanks for the tip Joe-just what I was looking for. In the old days there were boolean logic type things of that nature, but haven't seen anything like that discussed of late.

[amkfken]

Another way to get rid of the garbage aftermarket stuff is to list auctions only, most of the other stuff is "buy it now"

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

A number of interesting vendors -- including Walter Miller, the big literature guy -- appears to be switching over to Buy It Now for many slower-moving items.