<Search for something specific like "white nike hightops" and maybe 30% of the results will be what you are looking for.> While I understand your frustration,

<Search for something specific like "white nike hightops" and maybe 30% of the results will be what you are looking for.> While I understand your frustration, there is an explanation. You are thinking of search & filtering as some sort of mathematical / boolean algebra process (hey, it's ok, I'm a CS grad). Amazon is thinking about it as, "what does our show show that customers who have searched for [white nike hightops] have actually purchased in the past?" This is their search fitness function and they don't think they are wrong. I agree on the broader point that 3p sellers and counterfeit products along with spam listings are a mess.