[Discussion] Search radius when not using an account

[StrandedKitty]

It looks like FB ignores search radius parameter when not logged into an account. Even though it shows the provided radius in the sidebar on the left, the search results shown on a page are always the same regardless of the radius value -- I think it just defaults to 65km. I don't know of any ways to circumvent it, the only "fix" is to use an account.

So these two URLs show the same results:

• https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/portland/search?query=Go%20Pro%20Hero%2011&radius=500
• https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/portland/search?query=Go%20Pro%20Hero%2011

Are you aware of this limitation? It's not communicated anywhere in the project.

[BoPeng]

The two links, after removing the nagging screen, show

respectively, so at least facebook accepted the radius parameter, right? Can you try some more common items like ipad?

[StrandedKitty]

Upon further analysis, I think that radius GET parameter gets ignored completely, even when searching with an account. A lot to go through here, bear with me...

I'm going to use sortBy=creation_time_descend for this test to make sure facebook doesn't sort items based on some black-box algorithm.

After opening https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/portland/search?sortBy=creation_time_descend&query=go%20pro:

Search radius is 40 miles, as shown in the sidebar.

Now let's try https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/portland/search/?sortBy=creation_time_descend&query=go%20pro&exact=false&radius=500 in another tab:

It show 311 mile radius on the left even though the results are the same.
Now if I click on the radius in the sidebar, then I see this:

...so it must be showing the actual search radius only here in this modal window, not in the sidebar.
And after selecting 500-mile radius in this modal window, this is what I see -- I believe this is actually 500-mile radius now:

Now, what's funny is that if I close this instance of Puppeteer and start a new one from the same initial state (same cookies, same proxy, etc.), then it doesn't matter what radius I specify, I see the same results as on the last screenshot. Even though I see the number from radius in the sidebar, if I actually click on it then it's clear that it memorized 500-mile search radius and uses it every time.

I think Facebook maintains a user state server-side which contains things like applied filters, so things like city and search radius are saved between browser sessions. I'm ruling out cookies/localStorage because I'm starting my browser with Puppeteer from the same state every time, and somehow it remembers things (I'm not talking about ai-marketplace-monitor but my own research). It's just something to always keep in mind.

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And when it comes to using the marketplace without an account, it's pretty clear that radius is always ignored, and manually changing the radius via the modal window does nothing.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/portland/search/?sortBy=creation_time_descend&query=go%20pro:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/portland/search/?sortBy=creation_time_descend&query=go%20pro&radius=500:

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So to sum up, I fail to see radius param having any affect at all. Radius adjustments clearly don't work without an account. And it doesn't work when you are using an account because it simply applies your last selected radius value instead.

Also, I've already digged quite a bit through facebook's GraphQL queries, and when using their GraphQL in isolation from the marketplace website, I can see that filter_radius_km field gets ignored when not logged in.

[BoPeng]

So radius should work if an entire logged in session uses the same radius?