Quick tip: better ebay search strings...

Just a quick tip on how to help you navigate the crap on ebay.

Build up a single search string by using ebay's paran...parenthe...parenthesis? Parenthesis =) And separate each item with a comma.

For instance, say you are looking for new headlights for your Infiniti car.



The search string "2008 2009 infiniti head light" might miss out on certain results.

First, you want either 2008 OR 2009, not both:
"(2008,2009) infiniti head light"

They could be typing the years differently:
"(08,09,2008,2009) infiniti head light"

They could have made the common misspelling of the car name:
"(08,09,2008,2009) (infiniti,infinity) head light" (alternatively, you could use infinit*)

And head light could be spelled several ways:
"(08,09,2008,2009) (infiniti,infinity) (head light,head lights,head lamp,head lamps,headlamp,headlamps,headlight,headlights)"

Say you don't want all these crappy tinted ones, and you don't want blue ones...use the minus key:
"(08,09,2008,2009) (infiniti,infinity) (head light,head lights,head lamp,head lamps,headlamp,headlamps,headlight,headlights) -(smoked,smoke,tint,tinted,film) -(blue,neon)"

This particular example took us from 7 search results that didn't find what we want, to 90 search results...and those 90 were mostly what we wanted.

These search strings are also particularly useful for those emailed results. Saves you time having to sift through all that, um, "stuff".