To avoid confusion Use words and groups of words related to a specific subject matter. Don't choose a broad topic like "guns" or "coins" or "books". Be more specific: "flintlock pistols" instead of "guns" or "Roman Republic Denarius" instead of "coins" or "murder mysteries" instead of "books". Creating many specific lists will help to keep your searching organized.

When creating your list of terms, avoid using very generic words like "wow", "rare", "mint" or "used". Use descriptive words with other subject type terms. For example, don't use the word "rare" by itself. Doing so would cause the search application to return hundreds if not thousands of useless results. Be more specific: "rare flintlock rifle" instead of "rare".

When using the "search Title and Description" option take into account the chances that the words you choose can be found in totally unrelated auctions. Try to be as specific as you can and use more than two or three words for this option.

Wherever possible use exact phrases to help narrow down the number of results you get. If the phrase may be too long take out words like "the", "and", "of", "that" and use the "all words" option.

To get more results returned use the "all items" option as opposed to "store only" or "auction only" or "fixed-price only" options.

When looking for specific items, use different spellings of the word or words in your search list. This can include the word or words in several foreign languages or using many common misspellings. You can get a leg-up on the competition by covering all the bases.

To avoid long search times, keep the list of terms in the 15 to 25 range and the number of specific categories in the 5 to 10 range.

When searching for titled items like records, movies or books, use the "exact phrase" option and break up the title into a couple different terms. Another method would be to use the "all words" option and leave out the small words like "of", "the", "and", "or" etc. and include the name of the group or author.

Don't be too shy to include categories from eBay's foreign sites. Not everyone lists their items through eBay US. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the category lists of other countries and use them to get an edge in your search.

Use specific as opposed to general categories in your search. Only use general categories if a likely specific category cannot be found for your search term.

Fine tune your list after viewing the results. You may find that your list of terms returns auctions that are totally unrelated to what you're after. Look for the common factors in those auctions and use the "exclude words" or "exclude sellers" options for the particular search term.

Have a good search tip? Email me at aworkman@tampabay.rr.com with your tips and a username you'd like to go by and I will add them to the list and give you credit.