diff --git a/LibItemSearch-1.0.lua b/LibItemSearch-1.0.lua
index d611df3..f0428e3 100644
--- a/LibItemSearch-1.0.lua
+++ b/LibItemSearch-1.0.lua
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ local ItemSearch = ns.LibItemSearch
 --[[ general search ]]--
 
 function ItemSearch:Find(itemLink, search)
-	if not search then
+	if not search or search == "" then
 		return true
 	end
 
diff --git a/frames/MainFrame.lua b/frames/MainFrame.lua
index 7ee7c7c..f648143 100644
--- a/frames/MainFrame.lua
+++ b/frames/MainFrame.lua
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ local NUMROWS = 14
 function ns.NewMainFrame()
 	local GVS = CreateFrame("frame", nil, MerchantFrame)
 
+	local search = ns.MakeSearchField(GVS, scrollbar.Refresh)
+
 	local rows = {}
 	for i=1,NUMROWS do
 		local row = ns.NewMerchantItemFrame(GVS)
@@ -27,15 +29,15 @@ function ns.NewMainFrame()
 		rows[i] = row
 	end
 
-
 	local scrollbar = ns.NewScrollBar(GVS, 0, 5)
 	function scrollbar:Refresh()
 		local offset = scrollbar:GetValue()
+		local searchstring = search:GetText()
 		local n = GetMerchantNumItems()
 		local row, n_searchmatch = 1, 0
 		for i=1,n do
 			local link = GetMerchantItemLink(i)
-			if ItemSearch:Find(link, GVS.searchstring) then
+			if ItemSearch:Find(link, searchstring) then
 				if n_searchmatch >= offset and n_searchmatch < offset + NUMROWS then
 					rows[row]:SetValue(i)
 					row = row + 1
@@ -47,9 +49,7 @@ function ns.NewMainFrame()
 		for i=row,NUMROWS do rows[i]:Hide() end
 	end
 
-
-	ns.MakeSearchField(GVS, scrollbar.Refresh)
-
+	search:SetScript("OnTextChanged", Refresh)
 
 	GVS:EnableMouseWheel(true)
 	GVS:SetScript("OnMouseWheel", function(self, value)
diff --git a/frames/SearchField.lua b/frames/SearchField.lua
index e65753c..872cf2f 100644
--- a/frames/SearchField.lua
+++ b/frames/SearchField.lua
@@ -2,15 +2,9 @@
 local myname, ns = ...
 
 
-function ns.MakeSearchField(GVS, Refresh)
-  local editbox = ns.NewTextInput(GVS)
-  editbox:SetPoint("BOTTOMLEFT", GVS, "TOPLEFT", 55, 9)
-
-  editbox:SetScript("OnTextChanged", function(self)
-  	local t = self:GetText()
-  	GVS.searchstring = t ~= "" and t ~= "Search..." and t:lower() or nil
-  	Refresh()
-  end)
+function ns.MakeSearchField(parent)
+  local editbox = ns.NewTextInput(parent)
+  editbox:SetPoint("BOTTOMLEFT", parent, "TOPLEFT", 55, 9)
 
   editbox.placeholder:SetText("Search...")