How to use the Product Search on Cyprus Stamps website.
The information below will help you to understand the Product Search field option using text and images.
It explains why when searching Cyprus Stamps website, you may not always receive the expected results - and offers different ways to Make the SEARCH PRODUCT Work!
Those website visitors who correspond with me on a regular basis will know the Product Search function is not my most favourite piece of kit when it comes to trying to get results.
Recently we were asked for some specific stamp issues for a collector who joined us just this year. He's looking for only certain years for a particular reason, which I will not go into - and in trying to assist with his quest, I came across an oddity which is what prompted me to produce this article.
Let's say you're looking for a particular stamp - for example SG 652 (one of the stamps in the set SG 648-662 1985 6th Definitives)
First off let's show you the one I mentioned above: 652 Product Search - a simple search option:
As you can see in the image above, you get a fairly short and simple list (but unfortunately, we do not have SG 652 single stamp available in our online shop at this time).
However, it shows perfectly how the search performs with a straightforward number search in that it will bring up results containing the numbers 652 where they appear together.
Next up, we'll try using SG 652 - to show a short phrase search results:
As you can see in the above image, if you type SG 652 into the Product Search field you will see something you really wouldn't enjoy!
You can see there are 38 pages of search results simply because you entered SG with a space before the number 652.
Not a good look, is it?
Want a longer list but with more results? That's an easy one!
If you know the year the stamp you are looking for was issued - then just type the year into the Product Search field.
Next example, know the year of issue? Simply type it in the Product Search field:
You can also use quotation marks around a 2 or 3 word search, but it helps if you know the stamps you are looking for contain those words in the title such as: "intellectual personalities" or "boy scouts" (see example below)
As you can see the Product Search field performs quite differently depending on what you enter there. The easy solution is to type only a single word, or number search then hit the Enter key or click on the magnifier/search icon to get a sensible list of results.
I hope my "How to..." guide will help those collectors who perhaps in the past may have been as frustrated as I have when trying to find either a single stamp or a set.
As an extra tip, when we list Cyprus stamps in full sets we do not put a space between the hyphen, so SG 648 to SG 662 will be listed as SG 648-62
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FOR THEMATICS or TOPICAL STAMPS COLLECTORS
If you're a Thematics or Topical Collector - please take a look at the left hand side column (visible on any page of the website) for some of our most popular searches made by visitors to Cyprus Stamps website (see the screenshot of the column below).
Mobile Device users may need to scroll down any page until they see the side column.
Note: we will be removing the side column over the coming few weeks - and meantime we're building a new page with a selection of popular thematic and topical searches that our website visitors often perform.
For now, you can keep an eye where we're up to by clicking on the link to the new page here: Thematics, Topical & Popular Searches. (Sample search topics in image below).
