bring back some of the old structure with catergories by make/model etc.

Goodonya Scott.
There has been alot of contention over the changes in the past but as has been stated "make,model and year" is the way all parts are sorted in the motoring game..
One more thing.
Can you try and get the spam listing out of the search.
Multiple listings of the same items is annoying but belt buckles,t-shirts,key rings,hats etc in a parts accessories section is down right frustrating.
These items are merchandise not parts and accessories

Many collector desirable second hand parts are listed by original genuine part number.
If an optional field was available during listing creation then buyers could search by part number.

This is possible at the moment using the advanced search feature including the body of the listing in the search but including an optional field and promoting the new search field would be far more buyer friendly

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the comments so far. One thing that I would like to make clear is that these changes will affect filtering after a search has been made, as well as sellers when they list their items.

These changes will not affect the overall search, which is a whole other issue that is being looked at.

If you are a buyer or looking for a part, the aspect that will be affected is the "Refine Search" column on the left hand side. We want to make the categories more specific so that people can quickly filter down to what they actually want.

Hopefully this will allow accurate filtering so that you can find the part you want, and 2barkingbeagles can avoid the $2 Aston Martin keyrings. If you have any questions on that filtering process or the proposed changes, please let me know.

Regards,
Scott
eBay.com.au Category team

I was interested in Holden wb parts when I first joined ebay. I simply looked in holden hq-wb and wow the bits i was interested popped up. Then it all changed and I couldnt be bothered any more. List by make and model. Simple...cant be simpler can it?
I also check other categories and get so frustrated with featured items.4 and a half pages of featured items before you can actually see anything that is remotely of interest. I am not interested in the same cheap chinese junk listed over and over again. Give them there own category and call it new cheap crap that no one wants.
Just a thought.

Hi 2barkingbeagles,

I'm a bit confused by your statement of "no way in this world" to be able to search for Toyota 4Runner parts.

Try this:
For the Motors home page, click the Parts and Accessories tab, highlighting "parts and accessories".

A search result page will come up with all of the current parts on the site.

on the filter refining on the side:
click "Toyota", page will refresh pulling in all Toyota parts
click "4Runner"
click "Wheels & Tyres"

You have a search result page with all of the listings for wheels and tyres for Toyota 4Runners, and it took 4 clicks to get there. You can further refine as you want.

Sorry for the confusion, but the last step is the item we are asking for feedback on. The category structure will have the most impact on the buying experience there. We are looking to address the wider issue of matching all relevant listings to make/model/year/variant, and that should also be addressed next year.

Again, sorry for the confusion.

Regards,
Scott
eBay.com.au Category Team

Thanks fatnote,

We agree completely, and that is part of addressing the wider issue that I referred to. Unfortunately, the main issue as you said is fitment, being able to come up with relevant listings that will fit the make/model/year/variant that you have, but do not specifically state so in the listing.

For instance, if you were searching now for a spark plug leads for a Maloo, you would miss this: 400083674494 (there are hundreds of similar examples, and this is something that we know we need to fix).

We want to surface all of the relevant listings of original equipment manufacturer, performance parts, budget replacement parts, and salvage. With some parts having fitment in multiple makes/models/years it gets data intensive quickly.

In the flow for selling a part we do have a make filter, but it isn't mandatory. Some parts categories have good adoption (allowing you to find it easier) and some don't. We have found that if we require sellers to put all fitment through there down to make/model/year/variant it can take a lot of time. Usually, that means that past a certain time sellers get frustrated and leave, and the part isn't available to anyone.

The solution would be to use parts catalogues, to aggregate all of the parts that are sold in Australia (original equipment, performance, replacement, salvage, etc). If you are able to do that, you can return more relevant listings, and have search like what have been rolled out on the US Motors site:

Link

Unfortunately, there is not an easy source for all of that information in Australia in one place, which means it's slow going and a lot of work.

I hope that this has cleared up some aspects of the make/model dispute. What we are trying to do here is improve and update the filtering process on the buyer side. We know that it won't fix everything, but it will mesh with a make/model/year/variant search if and when we can get that up.

Again, sorry for the confusion on this thread around search vs. post-search filtering. Please believe me that if it was a simple solution, it would have been done already.

Regards,
Scott
eBay.com.au Category Team