Okay, I noticed a post with someone mentioning it would be a good time to buy things on Ebay, because of the con. And that got me thinking about searching for joes. I usually do the following searches:

1. G.I. Joe
2. GI JOE
3. GIJOE
4. G.I. Joe Tank
5. G.I. Joe Plane
6. G.I. Joe lot(s)

Then I take the different variations of the GI joe and take it through the others.

Now, if someone wants to release some of their search secrets I would like to see what other look up. Hopefully, this thread will generate some other search ideas for newer collectors/newer bidders/long time ebayers.

I've noticed recently though that ebay is learning to look up variations of the same word on its own. For example if you type in GI JOE FIGURE you will get say 100 results, then if you type in GI JOE FIGURES you will still get the same 100 results. I personally think that kind of stinks because I really enjoyed doing various searches and finding deals but ebay is starting to get smart. :mad:

i click on the link for gi joe figures 3 3/4

i click on the link for gi joe figures 3 3/4

ditto!! :p
sure makes searching a WHOLE LOT easier

I use that too, but I wanted this post to be searches not everyone usually does. Sometimes I put in army men, tank or plane. Stuff like that. What do you guys do that is off of the click the 3 3/4" link?

Misspelled stuff is always good.

Vehical(s)
Vechicle(s)
Gaurd

Or less specific listings, like

Cobra water thingy :D (my personal favorite)
Bunch of GI Joe vehicles

I also get a good bunch of hits from specific dates. (I don't feel bad sharing b/c half the time I can't afford what I find)
eg. 1980's, 1980s, 80's etc. (All of my auctions have 1980's in the title)
1985, 1986 each get about 500 hits, then click on GI Joe to narrow it down.

i just click on the gi joe header and search through it every night..

I have the link to the 3 3/4 site saved in my favorites, it really saves time. But you do find bargins in off the wall links.

i click on the link for gi joe figures 3 3/4

Yup, same here. But i also click the ending soonest button when i'm not searching for anything in particular to see which auctions are ending in minutes to see if theres anything going cheap that i can snipe.:D

So I'm sure this will lose my auctions, but here's my tip...

eBay has some fairly smart searching techniques, as mentioned earlier.

(single quotes are there only for clarity in examples)

Say you want to search for 'gijoe' and later 'gijoes'. You can do this in 2 searches, but its easier to do it in one. Try the search 'gijoe*' The asterix on the end finds all auctions with with the prefix 'gijoe'. This includes results for "gijoe" (it technically has an empty character at the end) and "gijoes"

Also, YELSEW uses six searches, BUT again you can do it in one like so
'(G.I. Joe, GI JOE, GIJOE, G.I. Joe Tank, G.I. Joe Plane, G.I. Joe lot*)'

The list is parenthesized and comma-separated. This will find all items with any of the searches in the list. Notice also you can put the asterix in there to find 'G.I. Joe lot' and 'G.I. Joe lots'. The only side affect with the asterix is that it will find ANY word with 'lot' as the prefix...like 'G.I. Joe lottery' or something.

Kind of related too; double quoting your searches. This gets you the exact phrase, rather than any combinations of the words. Like typing 'joe gi' will get you any combination of those words, such as 'gi joe' in addition to 'joe gi'. Searching '"gi joe"' however will get you only results of the sequence and form 'gi joe'.

I've just figured out some of these myself and heard one from a friend, so I'm sure there's more ways search. I'd guess eBay has a guide for this stuff somewhere, it's just a matter of looking into it.

That is awesome information robotic! I did not know any of that and have been ebaying for 6 years now. I will save time with that information, because you are right, I do six searches.

No problem, glad to hear it helps. I've been on for about 6 years as well and I've only picked up these search tricks within the last year. I'm guessing they weren't always available, or else more people would have known about them.

Also, I listened to my own words and found eBay's page on search commands, here http://pages.ebay.com/help/find/search_commands.html

I pretty much covered it, but they touch on some slightly different stuff too. Like adding a minus sign to ignore results. That seems really helpful to narrow down results.

Most search engines have boolean options. Very similar, but there are quite a few more than what has been mentioned here. If you're interested, take a look at the faq at Google or Yahoo, & you'll probably find more tips, I'll bet most of them would work.

I normally watch for stuff closing at odd times of the day...

Like rush hour in the morning or late afternoon. Hardly anyone's around to bid during those times if you can get into work early, or stay a little late.

Tanner

I normally watch for stuff closing at odd times of the day...

Like rush hour in the morning or late afternoon. Hardly anyone's around to bid during those times if you can get into work early, or stay a little late.

Tanner

i find myself doing that alot too, or i'll look for stuff at 4 AM under star wars, there are still some good finds to be had.
also i avoid the G.I./GI by just putting JOE
JOE TANK, JOE HAMMERHEAD, JOE SNAKE EYES, seems to work.

i click on the link for gi joe figures 3 3/4

Same here... However, I have learned that when you are broke like me, the "lowest priced" button is a nice friend. LOL

I also like to search using #'s + figures, such as 2 figures, 3 figures. Sometimes people do not know what they have, and title their auction *2 G.I. Joe action figures* or something along that line.