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SolvedSearch Problem that dates back to the days of Bidstart

Gregory TanicoGregory Tanico
edited April 2019 in Bugs 0 LikesVote Down
It would seem that the same search problem exists from waaaaaay back in the day, and its not just with the ancient stuff. I sold a stamp Trieste #125 on another site, and I went to cancel the listing here (I have not, so you can search for it as well). When I typed in the word Trieste, it returned 8 listings. Impossible. I have plenty of trieste in the store. I type in #125, and there it is. I type in Trieste 125, no stamp. I type in the item number and it is there. When I reported this problem to Bidstart and later SG, I was told it was strange but nothing could be done about it. It makes you crazy and frankly it happens far too often because what will ultimately happen is that if I did not know I had so many Trieste, I would have just thought that I never listed it here and down the road someone would purchase it and I would scratch my head. I've probably paid a decent amount of fees over the years to the various names this site has had due to this problem, as well as making a lot of apologies. Is it me? Try the search both on the Trieste and the #125 and see what happens when you do it

Greg

Comments

  • 7 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Gregory TanicoGregory Tanico
    0 LikesVote Down
    So you might say the answer is search for the numbers not the country. Nope. Here is another. Germany #3N2a-13a. Search for the number, not there. Search on Germany, there it is. Reverse of the other. Makes it a chore to find stuff to be sure. Search on Germany 3n2a-13a, nope.
  • Ted TyszkaTed Tyszka
    0 LikesVote Down
    Greg, your listing says Germany #3N2b-13a Mint, and the details tab says 3N2b
  • Ted TyszkaTed Tyszka
    0 LikesVote Down
    Your Trieste is listed under the country "Italy." To see listings using the search term "Trieste," the stamp needs to be listed under the country, "Italian Offices Abroad - Trieste."
  • Mark RosenbergMark Rosenberg Staff
    edited April 2019 0 LikesVote Down
    On HipStamp, when members search for a Country and Catalog Number, we automatically detect this, and only show matches for listings which match that specific Country and Catalog Number - based on the Country and Catalog Number fields within the item listing. This is why search results are orders of magnitude more accurate than compared to bidStart, SG, ebay, etc.

    In general, if you, as a Seller, do not specify the Country and Catalog Number fields, we'll automatically extract that information from the title. We also normalize it so if you use any abbreviations, variations, etc. it's standardized (ie: if you enter Trieste, we'll automatically convert it to "Italian Offices Abroad - Trieste"

    It looks like in this specific case, because the Country wasn't provided explicitly, we automatically filled in "Italy" for you based on the title. We'll update our abbreviation and alternate names list for "Trieste" to include "Italy Trieste" which should ensure if you list items like this in the future, and label them as "Italy Trieste" they will get picked up correctly.
  • Michael GeneraliMichael Generali
    edited April 2019 1 LikesVote Down
    I don't think that "Offices Abroad" is a proper category for Trieste anyway. The territory was divided into two after World War II, with the Allied Military Government administrating the northern section (Zone A), and Yugoslavia the southern (Zone "B"). Between 1947 and 1954, the stamps issued for Trieste (Zones A and "B") are more occupation stamps than anything else.
  • Gregory TanicoGregory Tanico
    edited April 2019 0 LikesVote Down
    Guys I bulk load the items with a spreadsheet. No way on earth do I have the time to list one at a time here. The rest of my inventory was converted. I think I have added a single item once or twice. Way too complicated and time consuming to do it without a spreadsheet.
  • Mark RosenbergMark Rosenberg Staff
    0 LikesVote Down
    When you create a listing, whether it's through the site itself, or through the Bulk Lister, you have the option to explicitly specify the Country name. However, in most cases you don't need to do this, because we can automatically extract the Country from your title about 99.9% of the time. That being said, we've already update our list of alternate names for countries, so there's nothing you need to do. Any listings you create for "Italy Trieste" will get picked up in any search for "Trieste" in the future.
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