Spur found a search engine serving cleaning kits when customers looked for gaming consoles

Bug Book — Back Market
Someone searching "gaming console" on a tech marketplace was getting accessories, like a cleaning kit, instead of actual consoles. The AI search wasn't matching intent, just keywords, and sending buyers down a dead end.
TYPE OF TEST
AI Feature Error
SEVERITY
High

What this run

has verified.

Spur's AI Feature Testing agent searched for "gaming console," then checked whether the results actually contained gaming consoles. They didn't, accessories came up instead.

Search relevance

Results matching the intent behind the query, not just the keywords.

Product discovery

High-intent shoppers landing on the category they searched for.

AI accuracy

Showing consoles when someone searches for them.

Conversion path

A clear route from search query to the right product page.

Compare

The customer's live site,

captured by

Spur

during the run.

Spur Agent Analysis

Failure reason: Searching "gaming console" on the marketplace returned accessories like a cleaning kit instead of any actual consoles, the search was matching on keywords rather than intent.

3 - Step failed

What this

one catch saved.

10hrs

Dev time saved

Shipped, this needs someone to dig into the search ranking logic, figure out why accessories are surfacing above consoles for that query, and test the fix across enough search terms to be confident it won't break other results.

$80K+

Lost potential revenue

Every session that hits a broken search result on a high-intent query is a lost sale on one of the highest-ticket items in the catalogue.

4hrs

Manual QA time

Catching this manually means searching across a range of product categories and reading the results carefully enough to notice when the intent doesn't match, easy to miss if you're only spot-checking a few queries.

The actual test

in

Search Mismatch

A 6-step AI feature test on a technology marketplace. Spur searched for a gaming console, verified the results matched the query, then tried to add one to cart and check the price carried through to checkout correctly. It never got past the search results.

Accept all the cookies and close any promo banners that interfere with the test through out the test

Search for gaming console

Check that the results shown are for gaming consoles and select any gaming console

Search is showing no gaming consoles

Extract {Product_Name}, {Product_Price}

Add the item to the cart and proceed to checkout

Check that the product name and product price on the checkout page matches Product_Name and Product_Price

CASE FILES

More bugs, same playbook.

Site Merchandising

Mild
Spur spotted a shoe page recommending backpacks, hats and travel bags instead of shoes

Site Merchandising

Medium
Spur found a "Fit" accordion filled with materials and sustainability info

Checkout Interactions

High
Spur caught a product page displaying tote bag reviews instead of hat reviews

Accessibility

Mild
Spur noticed the cart image for a women's sock was labelled as a men's product in the alt text

Payment

Medium
Spur spotted a $100 e-gift card showing Afterpay installments of $250 each instead of $25!

Checkout

Mild
Spur spotted a pickup-only item sitting under the "Items to be Shipped" header in the cart

UI/UX

Mild
Spur flagged three subtle issues on product pages

Checkout

Critical
Spur caught an Add to Cart button blocking every purchase