Differing search results depending on Browser - Amazon Error?
Hi,
Has anyone noticed Amazon returning different results depending on what Browser you are using?
As an example, if you type the term ’ gifts for women ’ or ’ fathers day gifts ’ into Safari, you get a completely different set of results to when you type those example terms into Chrome.
When you type those terms into Chrome the only search results that are returned are from the ‘Handmade’ category.
This must surely be an error by Amazon and not something that is by design? Surely Amazon does not only want to show ‘Handmade’ products for those terms… The system is simply ignoring all of the other categories.
Anybody noticed this difference in results for other search terms when using different search browsers?
Cheers.
PS THIS HAS ONLY BEEN AN ISSUE FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS
25 replies
Seller_JVTfjuLs0moo6
Different browsers have always given different results tbh. Sometimes it’s slight, sometimes it’s drastic.
Seller_BS5lg2keRs2QO
Search results are to an extent personalised. I would imagine using a different browser with different cookies may have an impact.
Seller_UUJAfV9h2D90D
Worth checking that any saved addresses etc are the same in each browser, that could effect things like location of listings thus bringing up certain products as prime and others not.
Sounds daft but I tend to use MS Edge for all business related stuff and that has all of my company addresses etc saved in it and I use google chrome for all personal stuff (I just find it easier) 
Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL
Are you logged into your buying account on both browsers? Search results are very tailored to the buyer based on their account and cookies/browser. Ensuring both sessions are logged in will give the best options of similar results.
Remember Amazon is always tweaking the search algorithms and will be engaging in at least A/B testing for sales optimisation. I wouldn’t expect the same browser to return identical results over multiple repeat searches, let alone two different ones.
Also (arguably) searching again for the same query without having looked at anything could cause Amazon to change the results because in its view the first results didn’t match what you were looking for.
Seller_9Bz0mOk3ooUEU
I have noticed this in the last few days. One of my products lines has completely dropped in sales, upon doing a search on the Amazon via Crome, explorer, and firefox, they are all only showing ‘HANDMADE’ products in the featured offer. There must be a glitch somewhere. I have raised this with seller support but as yet they haven’t been helpful at all.
Seller_Srd7oYvAEAw3x
It has to be a glitch and not by design or even a test.
For example, the majority of products in the ‘Handmade’ category are customised and shipped out from the seller, taking approximateley 4 to 7 days to arrive with the customer.
Fathers Day is on 19th June this year. Will Amazons ‘Fathers Day Gifts’ sales see a huge drop off around 12th June when the customer realises that the majority of the offering won’t reach them in time?
I’m aware that there are personalisations within the search and differences depending on which browser you are using, but this is different. This has to be a fault with the search optimisation algorithm.
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
This has been so for years and years, especially noticed in the book category.
I can remember many years ago a few book sellers did a test where a few of us looked up a particular title and author, all using a different browser, then compared results - all were somewhat different.
Seller_Srd7oYvAEAw3x
We know that Amazon gives slightly different results depending on various factors including the browser.
However, this is different in this case.
Apart from sponsored ads the entire catalogue of returned results comes from the ‘Handmade’ category…No other categories are included at all.
So big search terms on Amazon such as Gifts for women and Gifts for men only show results from ‘Handmade’.
It’s broken!
Seller_ZjZ4slOF0jHpk
As an aside to the possibility of a glitch -
Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, etc., are following you around the web. Displaying ads, keeping cookies on your device. Amazon and the others use that data (your browsing history) to tailor what you see in search results (Google do it too) and see in news feeds. They’ll even use what you didn’t visit.
So two browsers with different search histories and different settings regarding cookies, then you probably will get a difference when doing the same keyword search on one browser to another.
Seller_Srd7oYvAEAw3x
I’ve read on another forum that you might get a response from the following email addresses:
I’ve written an email to all 3 explaining the issue.
Seller Support don’t appear to be equipped to deal with issues like this, so writing to these addresses has to be worth a try.
