Fighting Ebay's All Inclusive Search Engine

Is there any way one can search for a specific Scott # on eBay Stamps without triggering thousands of results from 'All Categories'? Today I was searching for a US Scott #18 in the Nineteenth Century Used category. I was getting returns of 2-3 thousand other listings including auto parts. I used to enjoy searching for my needs on there. Now the eBay Gods apparently have decided I don't know what I am looking for and they are going to be 'helpful'. Try as I may I cannot prevent a search from extending into other, even non stamp related categories.

What exactly am I not doing or doing incorrectly?

You'll have to play with it but this works;

#18 - Used US Stamps (19th Century)

after the dash I mimic the eBay category and can avoid getting searches covering all categories.

Nothing works for the type Ia US Scott #500. The best solution for fixed priced listings is to go to HipStamp. Many eBay listings are synced on HipStamp.

To search for Scott US 18 type in US-18. (HipStamp recommends US-#18 but I don't agree with using the pound sign (#) character in titles because it is a waste of one character. In any case the HipStamp search appears to find stamps without a pound sign in the title. If you want to find the stamp on eBay and pay the sales tax, copy the title and search for it. Otherwise, buy it on HipStamp and avoid paying sales tax on items from out-of-state sellers while it lasts.

I also notice that HipStamp search returns more than the simplistic string matching used by eBay sot that variations in punctuation of use of standard philatelic marketplace technology is more likely to work. While the HipStamp search is not perfect, I noticed that it could also be used to quickly find at least some state revenues with a search string like DE-B39 to find a Delaware beer stamp. And, no motorcycle parts.

An impossible situation. You are expecting accurate and consistent results from inaccurate and inconsistent input by sellers, not to mention the interference from other occurrences of the number sequence.

You can narrow your search with boolean search string expressions. eBay does recognize some operators for example if do a search with in US Stamp for:

494

You'll get all kinds of junk. So first get a little more specific with 494 Washington or SC 494 Washington or add Scott, 3 cents, etc... Just be aware that the more specific you are, sellers are inconsistent and you may miss some ads.

If you put in: 494 -cover -covers -panel

It will remove many of the stamps on cover that come up. You can use multiples to tailor your search. I usual start out using the simple search and start adding -term to remove the junk. As you see more items you don't want to see, keep adding a -term to remove them

Make sure you put a space between each and no space between the minus sign and term. Just as shown above.

If you click on advanced search by the search button, you'll find some options there to tailor your search too.

Easier => 494 -(cover,covers,panel)

bobby131313: Right!

Using advanced search helps, a bit. But I am still getting returns from 'all categories'. It seems I need to type in a nearly full description of what I am looking for - and even with that I pull up auto parts and clothing. When in heck did this change? I haven't really been searching for specific items for a few months. It seems not long ago I was more or less able to narrow down a search. What a dumb way to program this.

HipStamps, here I come..

I just went to the stamp section on eBay, selected the category "Used US Stamps (19th Century)" and then searched for Scott 18 within that subcategory. It returned 105 items. Not all of them were the stamp Scott #18 as some had "18" in some other part of the description but certainly it's easy to scroll through 105 results. Check to see if the box next to the search box is limiting the search to 19th century used within the Stamps category.