Jul

21

eBay Compromising on Best Match?

Filed Under Best Match 




According to AuctionBytes:

eBay is starting to roll out (or test) the new search-results design that shows a scrolling horizontal gallery with “auctions ending soonest” above regular search results.

This is something eBay has been testing extensively on their Italian site.

This was first reported on the eBay Observer Blog where you can see a screen shot of how a scrolling horizontal gallery of listings that are ending soonest are posted above the regular Best Match search results.

This appears to be a fairly limited test in the U.S. affecting a very small sample of visitors to the auction site.

However, it could mean eBay is considering a compromise for the disaffect buyers and sellers who are dissatisfied with the Best Match sort order in the search results.

Will eBay put this new feature into production?  It really depends on the impact to their bottom-line.  If it generates additional revenue - they will almost certainly make this feature a mainstay of the search result pages.  If it doesn’t impact sales either way, I would imagine that they would make the change anyway - so they can tell those users who don’t like Best Match that, “You talked, and eBay listened!”  If the feature detracts from their revenue - forget about it!

The fact that they have decided to test it on the eBay.com site after analyzing the data from their initial experiments on the Italian site is a positive sign though.   It obviously worked well enough to move along to the next phase of the evaluation.

Related Posts:

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  • Free eBook: Best Match Made Simple
  • Best Match Inventor Leaves eBay - Unhappy with Management’s Implementation
  • Best Match: New Ways DSR’s Can Affect Your Search Rankings
  • Listing Type Influence on Best Match Rankings: Baby Category


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    2 Responses to “eBay Compromising on Best Match?”

    1. sun on July 21st, 2008 3:55 pm

      I keep eBay auction format is dead, but in reality there’s still categories that benefit from such a format. eBay still needs to keep the illusion that their site is the best deal in town. By promoting auctions, perhaps buyer perception on pricing will remain positive. Add the lower fee structured proposed later this year and you might go from perception to reality.

    2. Jesse on July 23rd, 2008 2:24 pm

      You gotta love how eBay keeps shooting itself in the foot. I sure hope they know what they’re doing.

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