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Before the Auction: Performing Better Searches continued ...

Second, use multiple or alternate keywords. Don't limit yourself to a lone standby. If you collect autographed photos, don't rely on "photos"; perform searches for "photographs," "pictures," and "pix" as well. Partial word searches also can be surprisingly effective. And remember: The more clever and creative you can get when it comes to keywords, the better the chance you'll have of finding a great bargain that you otherwise might have missed. All it takes is a little extra work.

Plus and Minus Symbols
To filter your search results further, use either the plus (+) or minus (-) symbol. Placing the plus sign before a word designates that the word must appear in the area you are searching. To find a clock with "grandfather" in the title, enter "clock +grandfather" (note that there is no space between the plus sign and the word that follows it). Conversely, you can use the minus symbol to exclude a word from your search results. So in order to find a clock without "grandfather" in the title, enter "clock -grandfather." You can also exclude multiple words like so: "clock - (grandfather,digital)."

Truncation, Pluralization, and Capitalization
So you're looking for a printer for your Macintosh? Well, you've got some choices. Entering "Macintosh," "Mac," "Macintoshes," "Macs," "macintosh," "macintoshes," "mac," and "macs" could all yield different results. In general, most search engines interpret lowercase letters as unspecified, while uppercase will match only uppercase (there are some exceptions). Some search engines allow for truncation; that is, if you do a search for "bike" it will also crawl for "bikes." However, there is no standard for truncation, so it's best to do both singular and plural searches.

Dictionary Not Required
Misspellings are rampant on auction sites, so don't hesitate to do a search for variant spellings of a particular word. Not having any luck with your search for "Mickey Mouse cartoons"? Then why not try "Mickey Mouse cartons" just to be safe? Who knows. You might get lucky. Also, people's names are commonly misspelled. Don't just settle for "Brett Favre." Try "Bret Favre" and "Brett Farve."

All Search Engines Are Not Created Equal
Once you develop and refine your search techniques, don't assume that you can necessarily transfer the same methods to different auction sites. Some sites offer more powerful searches, while others provide users with less comprehensive and minimalist searches. Search functionality and capability can vary greatly from site to site. For example, the search engine on Amazon.com Auctions doesn't read the plus or minus symbol, so this tactic won't help you. By default, Yahoo Auctions searches both auction titles and auction descriptions. As for multiword searches, they're usually interpreted as having an implicit "and" between each word (as is the case on eBay, Yahoo Auctions, and Amazon.com Auctions), but other sites, such as uBid and Onsale, automatically insert an "or" into any multiword searches. Therefore, a search for "Pentium III" also will yield matches for Pentium II computers.

Your best bet is to get to know the search engine for a particular site. The initial investment of time will be well worth it in the long run.

Go Global
To find what you're looking for, you don't have to go any farther than Vendio. Our Stores Search provides search results from more than 300 auction sites (including eBay, Amazon.com Auctions, and Yahoo Auctions), thus maximizing your chances of locating the best deal.

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