In all fairness, note that searches used to work much better than they do now. They have never been perfect, which is why I never used them, but simple things worked just fine.
Things stop working at AS when eBay makes a change... and they make many that you and I don't notice. Add to that, the problems with changes at eBay.com, and not to other eBay sites. Things get very complicated, very quickly. Searches are very low on my list of priorities, and apparently the same is true for AS staff and management.
It wouldn't bother me at all to see searches deleted altogether from AS. Might even be a wise business decision. But...AS seems committed to keeping them, and I'm afraid they will be forever trying to patch holes and bailing water from a sinking ship.