Jan
17
eBay is testing the waters with their “Best Match” as the default search result sort order on the US eBay.com site. I noticed it over the weekend as I was doing some testing on ListingTicker. It was officially announced on Wednesday.
Normally, results are sorted by listing end times, with the auctions that are ending the soonest appearing at the top of the search results. This method provides parity for all listings, as all of them eventually work their way to the top spot of eBay’s search results. eBay’s Best Match search results are supposed to serve up results that are relevant to the buyer according to historical buyer behavior. According to a post announcing the feature, “using this sort won’t change which listings are returned, it only changes the order in which listings are presented. No listings will be added or removed when [sorted] by Best Match.“ Additionally, “[Best Match] actually learns and never stops learning. … [It] learns from aggregated buyers’ activity over time and accordingly adjusts product rankings. … Product rankings are dependent on what buyers are looking for and clicking on.”
eBay’s Best Match announcement stated that the test was confined to 5 categories - although I saw it in “collectibles” (not listed below) when searching for “Star Wars Comics.” The categories (officially) included in the test are:
- Consumer Electronics
- Computers & Networking
- Cameras & Photos
- Cell Phones & PDAs and
- Toys and Hobbies
eBay’s Best Match’s Impact on Sellers
Unfortunately for many sellers, their auctions aren’t ever making it to the first page of the auction site’s search results under eBay’s Best Match algorithm.
If a seller’s auctions aren’t making it to the first page of the search results:
- buyers aren’t clicking through to their listings
- so, they aren’t bidding on their goods, and
- items aren’t selling or are selling for less than they normally would
One seller reported on the eBay message board that over the weekend, page views for their auction listings were down over 60% based on statistics collected from their hit counters. Sellers are up in arms trying to figure out how to get their auctions to the top of the listings in order to survive.
Best Match is about Business
eBay is quick to claim that Best Match is about improving the buyer experience. Sellers are quick to claim that Best Match is about crushing the “little guy.” The truth of the matter is unsurprising. Raghav Gupta, the developer who created eBay’s Best Match algorithm states on his eBay Labs web page, “when used appropriately, this capability [eBay's Best Match] will open doors to significant revenue opportunities, not just for eBay, but also for the vast network of affiliate developers.”
Same Name - Different “Best Match”
The auction site employed a search algorithm called Best Match on eBay eXpress a while back that was a miserable failure. Sellers frustrated with the current situation are quick to question why eBay would employ Best Match on the main site when it was such a disaster before. But as Raghav Gupta is quick to point out, this Best Match is a completely different system. He says:
It’s disappointing that the name “Best Match” was ultimately chosen for describing the sort by relevance functionality on the main site, in particular because it has nothing to do with the “Best Matches” mechanism used in eBay eXpress. The two do not share the same algorithm, the same code, or the same implementation…except the name.
Where Do We Go From Here?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Best Match is here to stay. eBay is only testing to see if Best Match results in increased revenue and how much. They won’t be swayed by the thousands of sellers expressing their frustration with the new eBay Best Match search results, if it makes them more money. Just as some webmasters have learned to climb to the top of Google’s search results through search engine optimization and profited from it, smart eBay sellers need to do the same with best match. The sooner we decipher the algorithm, the faster we can use eBay’s Best Match to our advantage. That’s what we will post about tomorrow…
Tomorrow, AuctionInsights decodes eBay’s Best Match!
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5 Responses to “Making Sense of eBay’s Best Match”
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Hi, what’s your opinion on how Best Match will affect sellers that deal in collectibles and vintage products? The argument has been that Best Match caters to lowest common denominator (e.g. most popular) items which would hurt obscure and hard to find items.
Excellent post! I was unaware of this search engine change being implemented on eBay. It makes sense that eBay should engineer their search function so buyers have the best experience possible when searching through eBay’s massive listings of auctions. As an eBay seller whose opinion eBay did not consult with
I will adapt to whatever eBay search algorithm they employ. I look forward to reading your next post on “decoding eBay’s Best Match”.
[...] this is interesting. Just finished reading a couple of excellent posts over at Auction Insights explaining eBay’s new “Best Match” [...]
Ongoing ebay corporate arrogance, period.
Ebay Best Match… Should be BEAST MATCH… Ebay are sinking FAST!!! Their shares lost 6% in value in just 1 day recently… Ebay Sellers have been betrayed. My advice is SELL YOUR SHARES NOW!!! Before it is TOO Late!!!