For new newsgroup readers, these are not our forum posts. Any comments to the posters below should be made on the applicable thread, marked in bold below.
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[email protected]
Oct-10-06 08:35 PDT 36 of 203
stuff-4-me
Best Match will emphasize listings that are highly relevant to the buyer’s query.
We’ll determine “relevant” by analyzing what other buyers do on eBay.
Because buyer behavior changes overtime,
you won’t see the same listings bubbling to the top for ever.
dshirl79
Best Match will not omit or collapse listings from the same seller and title.
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From eBay Search Forum
***Introducing Best Match: A new sort option based on relevance***
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000241408&tstart=40&mod=1178272762730
Hi everyone,
I’m Esteban Kozak with eBay’s Finding team. We’re putting up an announcement board post shortly (from me) introducing "Best Match", a new sorting option for buyers on Search & Browse results.
"Best Match" lets you sort the listings you see based on a concept called relevance. Best Match is different from other sort options today that sort based on one piece of information, such as "Ending Soonest" or "Lowest Price". With relevance-based sort options like Best Match, listings are ranked based on the item’s title and description, plus past buyer behavior for similar searches.
Here’s what I mean when I say we’re factoring in past buyer behavior: with Best Match, what buyers do on the site will affect the order in which listings are displayed. In other words, if buyers running a particular search often end up viewing, bidding on, or buying a certain type of item more often, this will be factored into our relevance calculations. The Best Match scores for these types of items will be higher, and might display higher on the page because they are similar to items that have been more relevant for that search in the past.
One very important note: 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 you sort by Best Match.
Where to find "Best Match" sort
The "Best Match" sort is completely optional. You’ll be able to find this option in the next few days by clicking the drop-down menu next to "Sort by" at the top of the results list. If you’d like this to become your default sort view for your search results, use the "customize display" link right next to the drop-down.
One thing I want to make sure I get across: we will continue to use "Time: Ending Soonest" or "Time: Newly Listed" as the default sort orders for Search and Browse results, just as it works today.
We’re also working on another sort option that will let you sort listings by category. We’re hoping to release it later this month, and we’ll be back with an update then.
Following you will find some FAQs with a few of the more common questions we think will be asked.
Sincerely,
Esteban Kozak
Finding team
Question 1: What is "Best Match"?
Answer: "Best Match" is a new optional search results sort feature that will let buyers choose to sort their search results based on relevance. The "Best Match" feature gives buyers another way to organize their search results, helping them more quickly find what they are looking for.
Question 2: How does "Best Match" work?
Answer: When "Best Match" is selected, each listing's Best Match score is calculated using a number of factors, and is tailored to each buying situation. Along with the listing title and other information, one of most important elements in this calculation is the historical buyer behavior on the site for similar searches. The relevance ranking system scores listings higher based on the community's buying activity, so you should see the most relevant listings for your search at the top of the results. One thing to note: Best Match scores are only used to sort listings, and won’t be shown on the site.
Question 3: How do I get my items to show up when "Best Match" is selected?
Answer: Because of the complexity involved in calculating Best Match scores, it can be difficult to predict the position of a particular listing for a particular search. We recommend sellers follow the eBay Selling Tips in order to maximize the opportunity to rank high in this optional sort option.
Question 4: Is this the same as the "Best Matches" sort on eBay Express?
Answer: eBay Express uses and emphasizes a different set of factors to determine relevance. In addition, it utilizes buyer data from eBay Express buying activity, which will differ from eBay.com.
Question 5: When will I see the "Best Match" sort option?
Answer: The Best Match sort will be available in the next few days. You’ll only see it when you select it in the "Sort by" menu. We will continue to use "Time: Ending Soonest" or "Time: Newly Listed" as the default sort orders for Search and Browse results.
Question 6: You mention Best Match scores are based on a number of factors. What other factors are used besides the Community's buying activity?
Answer: "Best Match" scores are primarily driven by relevance ranking, which is based on Community bidding and buying activity for similar searches. For listings that have similar relevance ranking, Best Match scores may also incorporate other data to break ties, such as "time left" or "price".
Question 7: I don’t see my item in the relevance sort - why not?
Answer: The "Best Match" sort doesn’t change which items get returned for a particular search - it just changes the order of the items themselves. If your item isn’t appearing at all, please check this page: ‘where is my item’.
Question 8 (for eBay Developers): How do API users take advantage of the "Best Match" sort option?
Answer: The "Best Match" sort option includes additions to the eBay unified schema API. The GetSearchResults and GetCategoryListings calls will enable you to specify that the best matches are returned first. Additional information will be in version 481 of the unified schema API Release Notes, available by October 9, 2006.
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203 replies Date posted Reply #
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dor** (796 ) Oct-09-06 17:36 PDT 1 of 203
Esteban, I'm begging you, if this doesn't work right, please pull it, please don't make us go thru more agony with glitches during this season-especially store owners, I know you "believe" in it and are trying to do something helpful for buyers/sellers and perhaps it will, but if it takes 2 or three weeks to work right and kills sales it's just going to do in alot of us in.
Dorothy
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bur** (495 ) Oct-09-06 18:04 PDT 2 of 203
I suspect this is an attempt to move auctions that are more profitable to ebay, to the top of the search results. Perhaps it will benefit large sellers over the individual smaller seller. It's fiddling with the true search results, and ebay wouldn't do that unless it effects their bottom line in a "positive" way.
"To HECK with the rules! HECK I SAY!
Gosh darn it..."
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tar** (1586 ) Oct-09-06 18:06 PDT 3 of 203
As a seller, Ive got more than a few reservations about this.
Whilst this may be useful to some buyers - small sellers are surely going to suffer. Logically the searches that lead to the most sales & going to be those by established sellers who have years of creating a listing to appeal to the buyer.
Whilst for buyers trading with longer established sellers will instill more confidence, as a seller on eBay for 10 years Im more than concerned about the impact this may have on future sellers.
One major factor in relevant sales from similar searches is surely sellers utilising the Buy It Now feature - 2 sellers with same item , similar title/description (possibly identical in case of items such as CDs & Books) - most buyers are going to take the item they can have now, rather than wait 5/6/7 days to buy same item for same price.
Buyers can already sort by location, by price, with/without BuyItNow & Paypal as well as duration, amongst other options ... Whilst they can make a further choice based on sellers FB. Therefore, I cannont see what futher benefit this is going to give buyers , whilst I can see it having an extremely detrimental effect on sellers - inexperienced sellers, as well as experienced ones. The buying process should not become so complicated with 101 different search options. Buyers want to come here, buy an item & receive it - if they wanted to spend so much time trying to narrow down something so specific with all these search options, theyd be as well going into town & physically buying the same item.
As a seller who occasionally buys - I find that the buying process is becomingly increasingly complicated, to the point that last night I eventually bought a CD from a retail site (I did get 3 others from eBay) - but ultimately a fragmented buy process sent me away from eBay. Thats not good for sellers, its not good for buyers & its not good for eBay.
Further, if users are put off of buying, they are not going to rush to sell themselves - if new sellers are put off of eBay, then it stands to reason that ultimately less items will become available in sale, which will lead to less buyers - ultimately affecting all sellers , many sellers are already struggling under increasingly expensive listing fees, less listing promotions than ever & other site changes which have already lead to reduction in many sellers sales (unless other discussion boards are acts of fiction). As a multiple powerseller, I fail to see the benefit that this extra tweak is going to have on my sales.
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sto** (2411 ) Oct-09-06 18:11 PDT 4 of 203
Thank God this is optional, and not being forced on unsuspecting eBayers. That will allow all eBayers to draw their own conclusions on whether they want to use this, or not.
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tar** (1586 ) Oct-09-06 18:22 PDT 5 of 203
as a further note re: bottom line...
Its hard not to believe that there is an element re: maximising more profitable listings, however its interesting to note the following:
2 weeks ago, UK cheap_listing_day...
I generated more sales in the following 10 days, than I had in the 2-3 weeks before. Whilst listing fees payable were similar to a normal week - commissions were way up, overall my eBay bill was actually higher than a "normal" listing week. Sellers dont need these "search" gimmicks to try & improve our sales - we need lower listing fees to encourage us to advertise more items.
Financially I cannont afford to carry my full range on eBay every 7/10 days. Whilst we have most items in eBayStores on our various user IDs, the number of items listed in auction/BIN format are more restricted.
The fact that we can generate more income in 7-10 days from 1 day of listing, than we can with regular listings for 2-3 weeks surely points to the fact that listing fees have become too expensive.
Buyers ultimately want to buy an item, not spend an hour trawling eBay in the hope they eventually find something that matches their search criteria.
Being based in the UK I also have to contend with exchange rates - to the point that I chose not to list some items in US$ & A$ because the converted amount is into the next price banding - were fees back at levels they were a couple years ago (when I listed almost nothing in eBay stores & almost everything in auction/BIN format, albeit total range was half what it is now) I would have more items available via auction/BIN (im sure many more sellers would too) which in turn is surely better for eBay than a system where more & more gimmicks for buyers are being dreamt up.
"If it aint broke, dont fix it"...
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pos** (4251 ) Oct-09-06 18:22 PDT 6 of 203
Please leave this as optional.
The common everyday buyer doesn't understand they have options to begin with so they won't mess with it.
Optional only....yes, I just repeated myself. Because if it becomes the "new search" it will be the end of most of us here.:(
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poe** (425 ) Oct-09-06 18:26 PDT 7 of 203
"If it aint broke, dont fix it"...
Ah, but that's what ebay does BEST -- screw up what's working, and leaving broken what isn't.
*****************************************************
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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web** (1543 ) Oct-09-06 18:35 PDT 8 of 203
Postcardsandmore, I do believe that it is the beginning of the end for those of us here who found this an enjoyable place to be for the last several years (I started in 1997 - talk about problems!!! But Skippy was always there tweaking the servers to try to give us some service). Now you can't even get an intelligible response out of CS.
Sales are down - down - down as people will not spend the time to delete cookies and thus, if like me, are limited to one half hour of painfully trying to figure out what is on the search page before a terminal headache sets in. I don't see this making it better. I need very little info to know whether or not to look at a collectible.
But I believe we are preaching to the choir - ebay seems to be more interested in getting a new customer base than trying to keep the old one. Who knows why?
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kj4** (6239 ) Oct-09-06 18:37 PDT 9 of 203
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - For the love of GOD, stop adding these useless options ! All it will do is further confuse a buyer who is looking for something specific. The items that I sell are vintage versions of brand names that still exist. Surely I will get shuffled to the bottom of the list so that 'new' items will show up first. I can't prove that, but it's just a hunch.
At this time last year, I had about 1200 ebay store listings. I have since grown tired of ebay reporting record profits, then handing the store owners a HUGE price increase. Now I have just over 400, because I'm tired of it. OK, that was a little off topic, but you get the idea. If it works, don't fix it ! Leave the rocket science to NASA, and re-invest in your sellers.
dorothysew (796 ) View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 18:42 PDT 10 of 203
I just did a search for flamingo towels, bases on "nearest".
Some items came up with mileage, but at least 3 showed "united states", when I clicked on them all had locations the same as other items i.e.-xyz, Florida-yet their locations had no mileage and hence were at the bottom, where as they were certainly closer to me than Canada, shown higher in the list.
Now maybe I don't understand all this- but examples like this are why most of us have no confidence in these changes.
Dorothy
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col** (190 ) Oct-09-06 18:44 PDT 11 of 203
Well, this is all very well and good as long as its optional, as a new seller I don't have a problem with established sellers who know how to write their auction listings better benefitting from their superior knowledge and experience, exploiting their ability to write the best titles and descriptions to drive traffic to their listings.
But its more of a "paid extra upfront for relevance" situation when once again, only auction listings come up at the top, and store listings, even if they may be more on target, are stuck at the bottom, or don't even show up on the first page if there are enough search results. I find often that the best bargains are in store listings, and I actively seek out those listings, but many EBay buyers aren't aware of this, and both they and store sellers lose as a result.
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tru** (180 ) Oct-09-06 18:44 PDT 12 of 203
Don't you guys have enough to do every day? Do you just sit around trying to figure out how you can screw things up for sellers? This is not going to benefit any sellers. If it works, it might make browsing easier for some buyers. But it will only hurt sellers.
You even says it's a complicated process. And, you mention to sellers that they should read up on how to make sure their items show up in this new "feature".
We don't have time to keep up with this foolishness, change for the sake of change. I predict you are going to wind up with a lot of unintentional consequence, and at the worst time of the year for sellers.
Ebay management and now techies seem to be running around starting fires every where instead of putting them out. No wonder so many competitive auction sites are popping up everywhere. Fees keep going up and selling gets tougher every day..
In the complicated factors that you came up with in this mental exercise that you are engaging did you even consider that most buyers actually have thought processes and may be looking for something different than they usually do, but your new sort feature will defeat their own thought processes?
Stop messing with us.
trustblue127
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pos** (4251 ) Oct-09-06 18:51 PDT 13 of 203
ebay seems to be more interested in getting a new customer base than trying to keep the old one.
You know I have done everything from cry, to pout to rant and rave about all the changes that have taken place over the past 10 months.
I couldn't figure out why? Why are they destroying such a wonderful site? Why are they kicking all of the sellers who have made them what they are today? Why are they intent on changing every last remnant of the old ebay into something no one seems to know, want or even like?
And, I think you just gave me the answer. I don't like that thought, but I think you are absolutely correct.
That would explain everything Ebay has done this year from search related changes to click ads to wiki's and blogs and now myworld along with all the changes to the site basics
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stu** (29 ) Oct-09-06 19:33 PDT 14 of 203
If anyone wants to see just what a disaster this "Best Match" system is - go to eBay Express where "Best Match" is shoved down buyers throats. It does NOT show all matches... it DOES show items based on popularity. So, the most often purchased item are shown, leading to being purchased even more often leading to being shown higher in the list... etc. To see how bad the "relevance" system is, click on related items (or whatever it is called) after doing a search on eE... rarely will the item be even remotely connected.
Smaller sellers, niche sellers and new items HAVE NO CHANCE with this system. On eE, and a Pink has confirmed this, if an item is not "relevant" according to eBay - IT DOES NOT SHOW IN THE SEARCH.
Of course buyers do not know they are NOT getting complete search results. They do not know that eBay is only feeding them selective (selected by eBay) items.
I sell a niche product and even though it was on eE - it would not show up in a search unless I searched for the EXACT title of the ad. I finally got an answer as to why... it was not placing high in the "Best Match" system and so eE did not show it in the search!! HOW am I supposed to sell anything if eBay won't show it in the search!!
WE PAY FOR SEARCH EXPOSURE - not to be shoved to the back of the search list or not to appear at all based on some goofy Best Match system.
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rai* (1091 ) Oct-09-06 20:00 PDT 15 of 203
I alway search for a very specific item, i.e., only a certain DVD title or clothing items (for ex brown pants 14). I'm not a browser. I doubt this would help me. Am I in the mainstream? Are most searches less specific?
And
why oh why do this just before the biggest selling time on ebay?
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been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and sold it on ebay.
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can* (837 ) Oct-09-06 21:52 PDT 16 of 203
"The fact that we can generate more income in 7-10 days from 1 day of listing, than we can with regular listings for 2-3 weeks surely points to the fact that listing fees have become too expensive."
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THANK YOU, TARTANDOG, FOR BRINGING THE FEE ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN! Really........a simple key stroke will make a title BOLD, but that requires a $1.00 fee? Think of the MILLIONS eBay is making just on that option!! Then throw in high-lighting, and boxes and you're up to $5-6 ON TOP of the insertion fees, additional photos and scheduling a start time!!!
That's ridiculous! Buyers are getting tired of forking out extra bucks just to cover seller's fees. Most buyers don't even know that seller's must pay PayPal fees also! "It's free!" What a joke!
Unfortunately, eBay is the most popular auction site out there right now. And have you noticed that discounted seller fee days are posted RIGHT before that day starts?? By the time one wakes up and notices the discounts, half the day is over!
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[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 22:01 PDT 17 of 203
burtoncharlessmith
Best Match does not emphasize auctions.
tartandogs
Best Match does not emphasize profitable listings.
stuff-4-me
eBay Express uses and emphasizes a different set of factors to determine relevance. In addition, it utilizes buyer data from eBay Express buying activity, which will differ from eBay.com.
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 you sort by Best Match.
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fas** (4451 ) View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 22:11 PDT 18 of 203
Why in God's name are you trying to change the eBay Search, when you can't keep the present one working properly???????...The present eBay Search has been broken since Oct 5th and is still screwed up....
WE DON'T WANT CHANGES.....WE WANT A STABLE SYSTEM THAT WORKS....WE ARE TIRED OF ADJUSTING TO YOUR DAILY CHANGES...DON'T YOU GET THE MESSAGE??????????????GO TO WORK FOR YAHOO OR GOOGLE
bdo** (1592 ) View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 22:13 PDT 19 of 203
Great! Another way to confuse these buyers. Most of them don't even know how to complete the check out process. I waste hours trying guide them through the maze that has become eBay! (Which by the way is NOT a productive use of my time) I answer 20-30 emails a day from people who know I'm there are looking for a specific product that I sell and still can not find it. If you only want to sell more iPods and cameras just tell me and I will stop wasting my time and money here. I can buy more advertising for browndogtreasures.com!!
Bryan
bdo** (1592 ) View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 22:18 PDT 20 of 203
Oh... and I forgot to mention the new SYI form doesn't work. Why don't you try to fix that first?!
stu** (29 ) View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 22:29 PDT 21 of 203
Esteban,
I notice you do not address several of the issues I have raised:
1) This only makes already popular products more popular which only makes those items even more likely to be favored in your search and therefore purchased.
2) This will hurt niche sellers and sellers of new products.
3) This 'technology' (I prefer to call it a scheme - as in a Ponzi Scheme) is based on the failed - and very restrictive, seller unfriendly - eE Best Match 'technology'.
and most importantly:
4) WE PAY FOR SEARCH EXPOSURE - not to be shoved to the back of the search list based on some goofy Best Match system (criteria which sellers will not even have access to).
stuff-4-me
goo** (117 ) View Listings | Report Oct-09-06 23:27 PDT 22 of 203
Esteban - Why are you and your colleagues REFUSING to respond to the posts on the new default search thread pinned to the top of this Board?
We were promised ongoing responses. There have been NONE for weeks.
Where are they please?
ccs** (1905 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 00:02 PDT 23 of 203
You Have Certainly All-ready Confused Me With This So Called Great "New Feature" and I've Been With eBay For Nearly 6 Years Now, Think Of What It's Going To Do To Others That Simpley Just Want To Purchase Something? Just Why In Gods Great Name Would You want To Change Something That Works??? I'm Sure This Is Only To Benifit eBay And Not The Little Guy! ccsoldies
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 02:03 PDT 24 of 203
I've been with ebay for over 9 years, but there will not be a tenth year the way things are going. Why is there no response to the top thread of this subject? Why doesn't anyone acknowledge that the new format is causing major headaches (literally) for searchers and a tremendous loss of sales for sellers of collectibles where your NEW search doesn't work. When it is shoved down our throats you will see a mass exodus. WE DON'T NEED EBAY AS MUCH AS EBAY NEEDS US.
kos** (178 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 02:11 PDT 25 of 203
Good Grief! Reading the replies makes me think we have finally found the chicken little society (boy, am I going to get flamed over that!).
I don't think it is necessarily wrong for ebay to do anything which improves their bottom line, as long as they don't, as is being feared with maximum intensity, do so by taking profits away from their customers. I don't believe ebay is dumb enough to do so deliberately!
Since when is it "wrong" for a company, even one as large as ebay, to try to improve its bottom line? Isn't that what everyone who sells on ebay is trying to do, every day? Ebay is a successful business and they are not going to take away those who have gotten them where they are. If they cripple the smaller sellers, they hurt most of the revenue that passes through ebay. I believe the statistics would show that if I could remember where they are! The larger sellers are important to ebay, to be sure, but that does not mean ebay is simply going to toss away everyone else. That certainly would NOT improve their bottom line...
I say, even though there have been problems in the past when ebay made changes, why not at least wait until something goes wrong before complaining about it! I think this feature could be very useful to the buyer, and I do not get the same "read" on it as most others seem to. I do not believe it is defined as a system to place items from large sellers first; it is defined as a system to monitor both the group tendencies (hence the doomsaying), as well as an individual's tendencies, so that the individual who does a search and gets two thousand matches can eventually, after this option has enough examples to "learn" his preferences, the individual will be able to look at perhaps the first few pages and notice that the items are becoming less and less relevent, and decide when he has seen enough. As a frequent "searcher" myself, I know that I abandon reading searches which are too long anyway, often without bidding on anything, but rather, just giving up in frustration. I can see where this option would result in more bidding rather than less, and I don't understand why everyone is so certain that only large sellers will come first? For example, if the bidder does not like to do business with large sellers, that may show up in the profile which builds up of him/her, and those sellers would be lower in the list, rather than higher. I want to see how this works before deciding whether or not to use it.
Let's not hang the prisoner until after the trial. :)
kos** (178 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 02:30 PDT 26 of 203
The message which begins this topic has something in it which I take to mean that the only change that "Best Fit" will make will be to place an OPTION on the listing menu, which most buyers probably use only rarely anyway. Esteban says:
""One thing I want to make sure I get across: we will continue to use "Time: Ending Soonest" or "Time: Newly Listed" as the default sort orders for Search and Browse results, just as it works today.""
So the sort will be EXACTLY as it now is, unless the searcher wants to choose something else, such as BEST FIT.
I cannot see where most of the posts here even address the issues of this ebay change? It looks like most of the "posters" are simply using this as an opportunity to air old gripes about past pricing changes, etc. I admit I am not an expert on ebay or its pricing, and I am only now beginning to "get into" selling on ebay. So I don't know what changes have been made in the past to cause such an outcry against this change? I can't really get much from what everyone is saying here because they are not addressing the subject of best fit, but rather, are addressing some other things they don't like about ebay, and in the process, they take away most, if not all, of the credibility they would have if they could present a more logical and subjective position with more facts and less mud-slinging.
I cannot for the life of me, figure out the basic assumption of everyone posting here, which seems to be, that ebay is out to destroy all the smaller sellers, in favor of the larger ones. Do you know what the proportion of larger sellers to smaller sellers is? That is a fact which ought to be discovered somehow; I have seen, in the past, figures which led me to believe that the smaller ones vastly outweigh the larger ones. So is ebay an evil entity out to destroy the majority of its business in favor of the minority of its business, in order to increase their bottom line? The past success of ebay suggests that they are not that dumb.
I could say more, but I do not wish to appear to be an ebay apologist, because I am not. Perhaps there is information, examples, etc., which support what is being said here (but, what IS being said here? It seems to be spillover from something else only the ones who post here know about in detail..... that should be put in another thread with an appropriate heading so the subject at hand is well understood, rather than the confusion I see here). If so, then it would be MUCH better to support that with information and examples, so those who are not familiar with it may know what is being said, rather than emotional outbursts which only have value to a relatively small number of readers who share those experiences and are unhappy enough to want to say the same things. Maybe you would convince me to "take your side" that way, rather than "turn me off" with this stuff (and I write a lot; anything I "believe in" tends to get a lot of text written, etc.). Wouldn't that be a better use of the time taken to write here?
Ahhh.... what do I know anyway.....
kj4** (6239 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 03:42 PDT 27 of 203
Kosimov and others, The problems have been building for years, and I boiled over when ebay raised the store FVF from 5% to 8%, and then had the nerve to say "It's only a 3% increase". That is complete and total bull. The reality is that the rate almost doubled. Percentage is just that, but I can't pay my bills with a percentage. That takes real dollars. Now to make the same amount dollars, I have to sell alot more items.
The database will not build on a particular user (someone who searches for the same item regularly), but rather on all searchers as a whole.
The main point that I, and others, are trying to make is that ebay keeps trying to introduce new "features" while ignoring the fact that other things (like regular search) are broken. I'm all for everyone (yes, even ebay) to make money. The bottom line is this, we're paying top dollar (and then some) for a service that has become increasingly more difficult to use, and more and more erratic.
Hope that helps....
tar** (1586 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 04:54 PDT 28 of 203
Esteban, Talk about being misquoted!
You chose not to comment on the many valid points I make, yet chose to blatently misquote - stating that Best Match does not emphasize profitable listings
What I actually wrote is:
Its hard not to believe that there is an element re: maximising more profitable listings, however its interesting to note the following:
I only actually mentioned this at all as a follow on from another posters comments, hence the use of phrase Its hard not to believe. Sarcasm is one of my character traits.
However, I then went on to emphasis the fact that within the past month I generated more business from a 1day cheap listing promotion on ebay.co.uk than I had done in the 2-3 weeks before hand. Almost half of Septembers turnover was generated as the result of one cheap-listing promotion.
Ive nothing against eBay trying to bolster their bottomline - they are in business in just the same way as the sellers they rely on for listing items.However - if we sell nothing, eBay still makes money from listing fees & advertising revenues. Yes, they do spend money on advertising with a view of attracting new buyers to eBay.
Bottomline, if we dont list items - eBay doesnt make money. We should be encouraged to list more items at a lower price, not given continual options to buyers which are going to adversely affect a great number of sellers.
I sell many niche items as well. Of 3000 auctions listed under a search of "tartan" - 20% of them are mine. So this scheme may actually work in my advantage. However its not something that sits well with me.
caneartist - eBay_Ireland had a week long promotion 2 months ago, Monday-Monday ... announcement never appeared until Wednesday.
I dont mind promotions being announced last minute - but then after years of this behaviour Ive gotten used to checking for announcements as often as 4 times a day.
As for the extra fees - I simply dont pay them. I only use bold or highlight when using featured auctions. When listing on the ebay.com I dont even use 10day listing - with the items I sell it is actually cheaper to run 4x 7day listings than 3x 10 day listings (i sometimes tag on 10day listings on cheap listing days). Whilst I get 2 days less listing, my items also show up as "new" and "closing soon" more often, the 2 times that most things seem to get bids.
I would happily accept less cheap_listing promos if listing fees were cut back to encourage us to list more items. Bill Cobb came in with many promises - yet to the best of my memory, only the lowest fee catagory saw a price reversal.
Esteban
If eBay Express uses and emphasizes a different set of factors to determine relevance. In addition, it utilizes buyer data from eBay Express buying activity, which will differ from eBay.com.
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 you sort by Best Match. ... then why even bring in the feature?
If it is still going to show all items, but just change the order they are shown - it goes back to what I did actually say in my original post - I cannont see what futher benefit this is going to give buyers
Buyers can already sort by price/location/catagory/time left/items with paypal/get it fast items/gift items/lots/store , they can also narrow it down to items ending within / started within /or/ ending in more than (the next 1/2/3/4/5/12/24hours , 2/3/4/5/6/7 days), buyers can also specify items shipped from specific countries, items that will ship to their country (have I missed anything).
With all these choices to buyers - how on earth is another way of displaying the same results going to benefit them?
dsh** (137 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 05:33 PDT 29 of 203
YES PLEASE KEEP THIS OPTIONAL ~~~
would account for lower amount of visitors to my store items in general as "best match" (correct me if I'm wrong) omits more than one item with similar titles, which i use all the time for similar but completely unique items. please, no more changes (as promised)....
tar** (1586 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 06:01 PDT 30 of 203
Kosimov - actually, the cost of selling IS directly related. Yes, this is only an extra option - however unlike other options, this one is going to push items that are "more relevant", with the relevance being decided on by the buying activity of other buyers!
As far as Im aware, we all pay the same listing & FVF fees - however other search options are fair.
This new option is going to create a gulf within search results whereby some sellers items will get less prominence, whether because they are inexperienced & havent honed in on using the right keywords in titles, to not having an attractive listing that buyers arent drawn in by to make purchase.
Lets say I have an item I sell at $99 , I sell 1 a week. Another seller has similar item they sell at $49 , and sells 2 a week. Unless im mistaken - under this new option, one seller must lose out.
Either the one selling less items at a higher price or the one selling more items at a lower price must be given more prominence. Now imagine that scenario multiplied with thousands of sellers & thousands of similar items.
Yes, there are other criteria - but the answer highlighted in the original q&a by Esteban (question 2), states that The relevance ranking system scores listings higher based on the community's buying activity, so you should see the most relevant listings for your search at the top of the results
As far as I can see there are 2 main ways to measure buying activity - on volume & on finance. You can factor in & score other criteria such as number of views an item gets etc - but somewhere not to far down the road, this option is going to lead to some listings being given more prominence - either the item that generates more revenue, or the item that has a greater volume of sales.
Logically, the more "relevant" items will then get more bids - meaning sellers with their listings at the bottom of this ladder will struggle to climb it & their sales will suffer. How difficult will it them become for new sellers into the market? Their items automatically move to the bottom of relevance searches, simply because they have never been viewed before.
This is not an old gripe about increasing fees , this is concern both for now & the future about the possible impact (less sales) as a direct result of this search option, whilst the fees being paid out to list remain the same or as in the past, increase. Some sellers MUST lose out under this scheme because it creates an unequeal playing field, yet we will all be paying the same fees to list - that cannont be right, whether you advertise 1 item or 1000 items.
Fees therefore are a major factor for all sellers, small or large. I would expect smaller sellers to be in the majority on eBay, but I would also expect that the fewer bigger sellers have the majority of the items listed.
As 1 seller with 8 user IDs we currently sell under - we have something like 5,000 to 10,000 listings between eBay & our eBay store, the majority of these items are multiple-item listings - to the point we have circa 100,000 individual items available for sale just through eBay & eBay stores. I am concerned as much about the future of eBay for smaller sellers as I am for my own business.
trollsareyummy4lunch (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 06:02 PDT 31 of 203
So now ebay is going to track all my purchases and searches and PROFILE ME.
Will this profile be based on my user ID or cookies on my computer?
Is this part of the same profiling ebay is collecting for myworld?
Will ebay be selling my profile or selling ads to 3rd parties to be placed in front of me based on my profile?
Can I opt out of in your face advertising spam on ebay or will it be required viewing?
Is ebay is going to become nothing more than a fancy Yahoo/Google bi-clone? A place to play and look at ads instead of a serious shopping experience?
Is EE, 3rd party ads, teen playgrounds and useless searches the future?
I don't want to be profiled, I don't want to be monitored, and I don't want to be sold to the highest bidder or spammed as I work or shop.
In your face ads and pop-ups are just as rude as email spam. And I'm getting tired of being told "you looked for XXX so maybe you'll want to buy YYY". If I want YYY, I'll shop for it myself.
pos** (669 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 06:41 PDT 32 of 203
The LAST thing I need is someone trying to analyze my buying patterns.
And to reiterate what others have said...If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Every time you people tinker, we have site problems. Maybe, to maximize profits, you should fire all those "idea" employees who have nothing better to do than tweek and tinker with something that was working just fine, for both buyers AND sellers.
goo** (117 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 06:49 PDT 33 of 203
post #31
pure dead brilliant!
tir** (369 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 07:16 PDT 34 of 203
Well!!! Ebay is at it again, They continually try to confuse and foul-up what started out to be a good thing. I think ebay is trying to get rid of the little guy, get rid of the P-ON'S. If they spent as much time getting their site to work right instead of paying out good money to people to dream-up such crazy options. Everytime they try to IMPROVE for their dear customers benefit they screw things up . It is taking me longer and longer to list an item just because everything is getting so senitive. It took me 1 hour to list 1 item last night ( so much for their faster, shorter listing form.)...boy, talk about frustration. Is ANYONE aware of Ebay EVER re-thinking doing something because their customers do not like their changes, I do not...They are going to do what they damn- well please and we can lump it.When I send a concern to Ebay it takes them days to get back to me and then it is obvious they do not understand what my concern was anyway ,I think they have routine answers and do a "best of the multiple choice". I doubt that their emails are compimentary, I would guess otherwise...If anyone read this...I thank you....
jan** (131 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 08:21 PDT 35 of 203
LEAVE THE SEARCH ALONE!!!!!!! The only thing that needs to be changed on ebay is the sellers fees!! They need to be lowered instead of being increased! I used to sell on ebay only part time and I can't afford the fees, so now I am mainly just a buyer. Please leave the searching tools alone. Ebay could charge sellers less if they quit paying people to sit around and figure out how to screw things up.....
I work in the public (at a library with computers) and people have a hard enough time just doing simple searches. Options give people a hard time...If they can't find it easily they are going to go somewhere else and get it!!!!
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 08:35 PDT 36 of 203
stuff-4-me
Best Match will emphasize listings that are highly relevant to the buyer’s query. We’ll determine “relevant” by analyzing what other buyers do on eBay. Because buyer behavior changes overtime, you won’t see the same listings bubbling to the top for ever.
tartandogs
Most searches on eBay return thousands of listings. This new sort option is aimed at helping buyers find the most relevant listings very quickly.
dshirl79
Best Match will not omit or collapse listings from the same seller and title.
tartandogs
I understand your concerns. We’ll be monitoring and enhancing Best Match in order to make sure it doesn’t disrupt any of the great dynamics that other sorts provide to the marketplace.
trollsareyummy4lunch
Best Match uses aggregated data.
.
.
oas** (14085 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 09:23 PDT 37 of 203
Folks this is the same goose that laid the express egg search now really do you think this egg is going to be any different?
stu** (29 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 09:24 PDT 38 of 203
Esteban,
Again you have selectively replied to my points/concerns.
1) Frankly I do not understand how this scheme can NOT do just as I say. You will "bubble" up to the top of a search the most popular listings. Those listings will then be purchased more often because they are at the top of the search. So those listings become even more popular causing them to "bubble" up even more - causing more purchases of the same items which makes them even more popular. Despite what you are saying, you are guaranteeing that the most popular listing will become ever more popular. And that means less popular listings/products/sellers will have fewer and fewer sales.
And you have not answered the rest of my concerns at all:
2) This will hurt niche sellers and sellers of new products.
3) This 'technology' is based on the very restrictive, seller unfriendly eE Best Match 'technology'. True or false?
and most importantly:
4) WE PAY FOR SEARCH EXPOSURE - not to be shoved to the back of the search list based on some goofy Best Match system (criteria which sellers will not even have access to).
stuff-4-me
(I realize the great and wonderful Oz can do no wrong and this will be implemented no matter what and no matter the downside to sellers. I've been around long enough to know that. I am pointing out my concerns in case this is just the first step toward making this the default search. I can see it now: In 6 months, with great fanfare, eBay announces that a comprehensive study of buyers shows an overwhelming clamor for this search and so, at the buyers’ request, it will be implemented site wide as the default search. THAT is why I am speaking out now.)
i-powerseller (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 10:13 PDT 39 of 203
estoban - you said, "Most searches on eBay return thousands of listings..." allow me to inform you that within the last two weeks or so, the ADVANCED SEARCH is broken. please see this thread: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000363033&tstart=0&mod=1160499044759
and work on fixing that instead of trying to manipulate buyer behavior. as part of the FINDING TEAM, you better start FINDING ways to FIX the things YOU BROKE.
Page 1
goo** (117 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 10:48 PDT 40 of 203
Esteban - you don't get it - read post #31 just a little beyond your narrow remit -
Ebay has made us HATE ebay!
- for all the reasons in that post, as well as others including slow seaching cos of all your bells and whistles that now screws those of us who in the past preferred to spend money on stuff we liked on ebay. Now our only option is to buy a new computer to cope with it all and plenty of us will say - " screw you"!
lady** (112 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 11:10 PDT 41 of 203
"Best Match" may or may not be the next great idea for buyers to utilize the search features. I don't know.
Personally, as a buyer, I'm very satisfied with utilizing the newly listed & ending 1st options and having the daily notifications emailed to me.
Since eBay has been tinkering around with the Search features - I have not received notifications for my subscribed favorites since Oct 5th. (15-20 a day - resulting in over 50 purchases in the past month under this ID.)
For me & numerous other buyers - this is a problem.
For me .. NO notifications equates to NO bidding - NO buying - and NO "heavy-duty watch lists" from which to bid & purchase.
I simply do not have the time or inclination to research my many favorite subscribed searches on the saved preferences page on a daily basis. Frankly, I'm busy with 'life-stuff' and count on the notifications for a more expedient method of bidding/buying.
Lack of receiving the listing notifications may be a loss for me as a buyer - but, it's a much bigger loss for the sellers paying all those hefty ebay fees and losing prospective buyers.
I really wish the techs would put more effort into repairing & maintaining the current options rather than adding new ones - especially at this holiday time of year. Many prospective buyers become overwhelmed at "too many choices" in search and just walk away.
As someone stated earlier in the thread - may I reiterate ... "If it ain't broke .. don't fix it."
I'd like to add - Techs, please do fix what is "broken" - the search notifications problem!!
Thanks .... LadyBorden
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 11:59 PDT 42 of 203
kosimov: Perhaps there is information, examples, etc., which support what is being said here
Try these for a start and if you still think it's "Chicken Little", I'll dig up some more.
MIA LISTING LOUNGE. EBAYERS HERE TO HELP *OPEN 24 HRS A DAY
ATTN: NICO/PINKS - Please respond to us about Missing Items
Sandboxing of stores - let's discuss this as a possiblity
There is enough empirical evidence here to suggest there is something weird happening with search results.
Of course you will have to wade through the "emotional responses" to find the meat,
but that's the nature of analytical research.
(but, what IS being said here?)
Perhaps what you are seeing is a response to eBay's continuing practice
of putting changes into production that are full of bugs and
expecting us to live with the system instability they cause.
Here's an example from August 24th: Heads up Changes to Shipping Section. GLITCHES.
My issue is not just with the "new search".
I am concerned that we will face another Holiday season with an unstable system
because of continual enhancements that have glitches.
Apparently many others are also concerned.
I was taught at an early age that all Rights come with Responsibilities.
I think this thread (Ebay and Responsibilities)
provides an excellent summary of those responsibilities for eBay, Buyers and Sellers.
While I agree that eBay has the right to do whatever they deem necessary to improve profit,
they also have a responsibility to, at a minimum, provide a stable system for those who sell here.
Just my opinion,
Odie
sap** (145 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 12:45 PDT 43 of 203
I want to Thank You, so much, eBay. I's wonderful that the company is working to eliminate impulse shopping that often occurs when a customer has to walk through a few isles, past additional products, to retrieve their intended item.
And thank you for instituting a new function. There isn't a more ideal time to beta test changes to the search function than the onset of the Annual Buying Season.
What a brilliant idea. The timing couldn't be better. Absolute genius.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 13:48 PDT 44 of 203
How and why should Ebay decide which search results are relevant?
Just because I am always looking at one thing, if I sign on and type in key words for something new or something different, I am really, truly positively and absolutely looking for the item the key word matches!
Yahoo killed itself several years ago with a messed up search. At least they did it in the name of trying to make more money.
At one time, I sold as much on Yahoo as I do here. (and that was back when 75% of items sold).
But, one day, they decided to make people "bid" for placement of their items. So, those of us not wanting to pay and pay and pay found our items were hidden on page 100 or so and stayed there.
This will work the same way. Popular items will move to the top of the list and therefore, will be purchased more often, and therefore will stay at the top of the list.
It might not mean they will always occupy page 200, but the less popular items will remain at the back
Many people don't necessarily sit down to find a specific item. They just browse and find something else along the way. You are taking alllllll the fun out of shopping on Ebay.
Quick search and relevant (determined by Ebay) leaves many sellers in the dark. We are a dieing breed. And as sales dwindle, items disappear and all you are going to have left is millions of copies of the 1000 most popular item today
Why am I ranting before seeing it? Because I have seen it on EE and it is terrible! Relevant matches are worse!
And, I can just see the email I'll be getting in 3 or 4 more weeks. It will say something on the lines of "Due to popular demand, the relevant search is now the default search".
Of course, as usual, we never have a clue who votes this so popular. In EE I'm guessing it is the buyers who don't have a clue you aren't giving them ALL results
Just like the "All items" tab now
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 14:57 PDT 45 of 203
Esteban, we want SEPERATE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS IN POST #31, not an "aggregate" answer. The privacy issues, the issues surronding sales of data, etc. are just way too great for me to hang around ebay if you are going to be tracking my every move and make it available to the highest bidder. This whole search thing is making a lot of people HATE ebay, not dislike, not upset, but HATE. Anyone who is not complaining about the new search format has not been exposed to it. STOP FOOLING AROUND WITH THE SYSTEM.
trollsareyummyforbreakfast (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 15:07 PDT 46 of 203
Best Match uses aggregated data.
Wow, that is an excellant aggregated answer to all the questions trolls asked! Sum it all up into one mass and give a single answer that absolutely means nothing but sounds intelligent.
I much prefer to be ignored instead of given answers that are meaningless.
trollsareyummyforbreakfast (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 15:27 PDT 47 of 203
Revalance - you decide:
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000136318&start=0
This thread will make you laugh and cry. Talk about your aggregated data! 
wri** (672 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 16:19 PDT 48 of 203
Hello Fellow Ebay Sellers and Staff!
As I seller I understand the frustration. I also went through it but now see that the new way may be better.
We must work smarter in making up our titles to our goods.
I do miss the Advanced search. It enabled the sellers and buyers to find a needle in a haystack. I miss it. But when change comes I must change with the change and work smarter using my computer upstairs.
Ebay hired the young man Mr. Kozak. I welcome him. I think back on all that Ebay has done for its sellers and can say that they have done the right from past performance. Let's wait and see what innovations Mr. Kozak will bring to the Ebay. If things don't work Ebay can always rollback to a newer version of the old. I doubt that this will happen since the recent items that are served up in my interest seems to be right on target.
We are simply riding a wave of change. I suspect that we will soon be sailing on calm waters in the near future.
I would like to see options to the sub-titles. Such as the sub-titles becoming part of the Search as they once were. A few more words are helpful in some cases. Another option could be to charge sellers an additional amount to be included in the search using the sub-title. This would be up to the Finders team that Estaban is in charge of. I don't mind paying for advertising options since they are for my good and the buyers. When additional Bold, Border or any of the other seller options will help me I use them. Ebay does a wonderful job in providing the extra help tools.
I checked the Ebay stock graph on the Comcast Financial Site. Ebay stock remains at a constant level. This tells me things are fine.
Like Ebay says on a survey site - Now go have Fun!
Ben
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 17:03 PDT 49 of 203
writetoorder, you obviously have not:
1) been subjected to the new search pages
2) dealt with serious one of a kind collectibles
3) tried to make a living at this like so many others
4) watched your sales tank - last year at this time I was listing 40 items per week. Now 0 to 10 because no one can find the items.
It is hard to have fun when you can't search for anyrhing or sell anything, but if that's your idea of fun - enjoy.
cryonic (21 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 18:25 PDT 50 of 203
Wow, I've never seen so much whiney dribbling all in one place as I have just seen now -- and all over an OPTIONAL feature.
I for one am looking forward to seeing how it works. Very frequently I search and see results NOT relevant to my search. If this works better, I may start using it.
I recommend you all test the new search out to find some pacifiers and diapers and climb back into your cribs.
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 18:30 PDT 51 of 203
Esteban
1. Why isn't there an announcement right smack in the middle of ebay's homepage so every member that enters the site will have legal notice that their activity is being monitored, stored, collected, disseminated, etc.?
2. Searches don't work so how do you expect relevant results to be returned? That doesn't make sense!
3. Don't you READ THE POSTS REGARDING THE NEW SEARCH DISPLAY? There are approx. 1,335+ negative posts! Major issues are: it crashes computers, pages don't load, pages can't be read, back button's don't work, constant scrolling back & forth is a pita, etc. etc. Adding more bloated script will only worsen this situation.
4. 1200 IS NOT STANDARD PAGE SIZE! It doesn't work on laptops nor LCD's AND it can't be read by most people over the age of 30! Reduce the page size to 800.
5. We have business to run. How are we supposed to make intelligent business decisions when constant changes like this have a direct impact on sales?
THE FINDINGS TEAM NEEDS TO RESPONSE TO OUR POSTS AT THE TOP OF THIS BOARD!
cryonic (21 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 18:43 PDT 52 of 203
*Whaaaaa whaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaa*
cryonic (21 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 18:54 PDT 53 of 203
From beachgal707: 1. Why isn't there an announcement right smack in the middle of ebay's homepage so every member that enters the site will have legal notice that their activity is being monitored, stored, collected, disseminated, etc.?
I hope you realize ebay.com has been doing this since before you even knew how to spell ebay.
As a matter of fact, anyone can click on your name and see your buying/selling patterns. I believe they implemented this feature... oh... say... back on day 1!
cryonic (21 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 19:00 PDT 54 of 203
From beachgal707: 5. We have business to run. How are we supposed to make intelligent business decisions when constant changes like this have a direct impact on sales?
I'm sure if you post your email address on this board, ebay.com will be more than happy to ask your permission before making changes to their website...
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 19:23 PDT 55 of 203
cryonic
yes, this is ebay's site, BUT we pay the bills!
and they've always gathered info BUT now it's been used for an entirely different purpose & they should be a little more upfront about it.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 19:39 PDT 56 of 203
writetoorder has 1 item listed.
cryonic has 2.
When someone comes here and defends Ebays moves who has been or is trying to make a living here then I will listen!
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 19:40 PDT 57 of 203
I had over 3000 before Ebay started killing off the sales months ago. (just in case anyone cares to comment on my low count).
I had planned on over 10,000 and was ready to branch out into 12 new categories.
Everything I sell is one of a kind collectible type items and everything Ebay does makes it much more difficult to sell them.
boardpostingfirewall (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 19:50 PDT 58 of 203
I have two major problems with this change:
1) It is too close to the holiday season to introduce changes to a critical system. (And according to the announcement search will continue to be altered throughout this month???)
2) What is "optional" today can very easily be DEFAULT tomorrow.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 20:00 PDT 59 of 203
2) What is "optional" today can very easily be DEFAULT tomorrow.
My only complaint. I no longer trust Ebay to leave anything as "optional" beyond today and maybe tomorrow
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 20:11 PDT 60 of 203
cryonic: As a matter of fact, anyone can click on your name and see your buying/selling patterns.
Gee, you're right!
From the "Community" Search Page:
User ID: cryonic - Member for: 7 years 9 months
From the "Member Profile" page:
Total Feedback: 24 - 100% Positive
Granted you have been around eBay long enough to know what is going on
and you certainly have a right to express your opinion
but let's do a comparison with some other people
who have also been on eBay long enough to know what's going on
and who have also expressed their opinion:
postcardsandmore: 3 years 7 months - Feedback: 4968 - 100% Positive
poetryeater: 3 years 9 months - Feedback: 382 - 100% Positive
kj4kicks: 6 years 7 months - Feedback: 8080 - 99.9% Positive
dorothysew: 3 years, 2 months - Feedback: 914 - 99.8% Positive
raincitytreasures: 7 years 7 months - Feedback: 1213 - 100% Positive
oas3: 7 years 6 months - Feedback: 28093 - 99.9% Positive
Seems to me they have earned the right to express their opinions
without being personally attacked by your diatribe.
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 20:59 PDT 61 of 203
I’ve checked in with my colleagues on the finding team about some of the other problems reported on this board. The team has been actively working on both the Advanced Search and Favorites email problems which have been affecting some users, and I’m happy to report that fixes will be released soon.
.
.
aqu** (43 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 21:24 PDT 62 of 203
Well...this may be the first acknowledgment from an eBay staff that there IS a problem!......But I beg to differ on the choice of words:
"problems which have been affecting some users"
The problem is systemic and it's real simple: ALL Puncuation including the + and - which are placed manually within a search query box, whether via a new search typed into or an old search retrieved from one's "stickies" or one's Favorites, is being rejected/deleted by the search engine.
kj4** (6239 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 21:40 PDT 63 of 203
Ahhhh, Admission of fault. That's a step in the right direction. Now if it actually works, I'll be impressed. I still have a very bad feeling about the upcoming selling season. I think it's time to put a shopping cart and inventory on my website, and stop directing people to my ebay store. Who knows what they will find there, if anything ??? If they can't find "it", they can't buy "it" !!
Thanks odiescoins for pointing out the fb ratings. I don't like to brag, but yes, I've been doing this a long time, and I am proud of my track record. Not that it gives me any more right to complain tahn anyone else, but I've seen this hocus-pocus act before, and it ain't pretty.
Cryonic obviously bought rose colored glasses as his/her ebay purchase.
Good Luck to all you sellers. Hope your buckled up for the next bumpy ride on the ebay roller coaster....
KJ.
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 22:06 PDT 64 of 203
estebankozak I’ve checked in with my colleagues on the finding team about some of the other problems reported on this board. The team has been actively working on both the Advanced Search and Favorites email problems which have been affecting some users, and I’m happy to report that fixes will be released soon.
Wow, a breath of fresh air!
I have been actively watching these boards for over 3 months and this is one of the few responses I have seen that gives a direct answer.
Thanks, I needed that.
Odie
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 22:37 PDT 65 of 203
kj4kicks: Thanks odiescoins for pointing out the fb ratings. I don't like to brag, but yes, I've been doing this a long time,
and I am proud of my track record. Not that it gives me any more right to complain than anyone else, but I've seen this
hocus-pocus act before, and it ain't pretty.
No thanks required, but I appreciate the kind words.
It irked me that someone who has only 24 feedbacks in over 7 years
posts the garbage we saw when the cryonic ID hasn't sold anything during
a Holiday season since 2003.
Maybe after he/she experiences the system instability we had last year
at the peak of the season, the insults in future posts will change.
But I won't hold my breath waiting, for either new posts or an attitude change.
BTW: You have every right to brag. IMO, anyone who can do business on eBay for over 6 years
and maintain the kind of feedback you have must be doing something right
and has earned the right to post their concerns without being insulted.
Odie
lad** (112 ) View Listings | Report Oct-10-06 23:34 PDT 66 of 203
Originally Posted by: Esteban Kozak
Oct-10-06 20:59 PDT - 61 of 63
I've checked in with my colleagues on the finding team about some of the other problems reported on this board.
The team has been actively working on both the Advanced Search and Favorites email problems which have been affecting some users, and I'm happy to report that fixes will be released soon.
Hi Esteban .. 
Thank you very much for addressing my concerns regarding the favorites email notifications. Your response is SO very appreciated!
I think many of us experiencing this glitch simply needed to know that eBay's techs were aware of the problems, acknowledged them and were working on correcting them.
I feel reassured now and will try to be more patient. Thanks again!
LadyBorden - 10/11/06 2:30 AM EDT
suz** (42 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 00:54 PDT 67 of 203
Esteban,
"What is past is prologue." Shakespeare
eBay tried this a few years ago. It didn't work. In fact it was a dismal failure. It was called something different, but it was based on the same premise as the examples in the screen shots.
I remember one memorable search I did for shoes that brought up results for lamps, tire irons, and a few other equally bizarre "intuitive" suggestions. Thankfully this Search enhancement quickly and quietly disappeared into the ether.
Has the thought occurred to anyone that a better use of the Find Team's time would be to fix basic and advanced Search rather than adding to the problem by introducing a feature that has already been tried and proven to be unreliable and unwanted?
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 03:17 PDT 68 of 203
esteban, is there any chance that the results will be on a single line to accomodate the eye and brain function of those over 30? Based on what I've been subjected to I really think that if someone on the findings team doesn't consult with someone who has perhaps at least taken a 100 level course in design and functionality ebay will be in the midst of the largest defection ever. The format I saw was totally unuseable and caused confusion and headache after a VERY short period of time.
oas** (14085 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 06:18 PDT 69 of 203
Esteban according to the announcement board several weeks ago ebay was aware of the search problems and several hours later they announced the issues had been corrected,but here you are on the finding team,by the way that title makes me chuckle and pretending that this is the first you've been made aware of it. What ebay do you work at?
oas** (14085 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 06:24 PDT 70 of 203
Esteban gather your finding team around the monitor for the next post... It will break down the search problem and show what the problem is and what needs to be done to correct it,but it is so massive and will require alot of time I do believe ebay is aware of it and has just said,, well it works for some and some it doesn't,so lets just leave it alone...
oas** (14085 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 06:26 PDT 71 of 203
Courtesy of the "Psychic One" ... ;)
All right, here is the workaround for the Advanced Search issue being discussed the past several days on the subject in the Dread Threads.
Get to ANY copy of the Advanced Search page. It doesn't matter if it is a broken one or not, since we will be repairing all the problems.
In your browser, View the source. Select it all, copy and paste it into your favorite text editor, preferably one that numbers the lines for you (such as Notepad++)
Save the copy as Search.htm on your desktop (for the time being).
In your editor, use the Find option to locate the first occurrence of
&
If you have a line numbering editor, this will be line 13 in the module calling ebay.oDocument._getControl("signIn")._exec(stuff here...)
Replace the & with &
Try to find another occurance of the same string. If you don't find one, that's okay. If you do find one, replace it as above. If you have the "bad" version, it should be on line 117 in the module ebay.oDocument.oPage._getControl("commonsearch")._exec('UpdateCategoryChar')
Next, go back up to the top of the document.
Find the occurrence of (this should be line 77)
id="amp;sspagename"
Take out the amp; portion so it reads
id="sspagename"
Just past that part on the same line, you'll see another error: name="amp;sspagename"
Take out the amp; portion so it reads
name="sspagename"
Save the changes.
You will now have a 100% functional version of eBay's Advanced Search on your desktop. Use this until eBay fixes their versions of Advanced Search.
This code in NO WAY impacts eBay code, other than making something that's broken work the way it is supposed to. It is on your OWN machine, but WILL call the same pages on eBay as if the code had been located on eBay servers. There are NO security implications using this code. It is NOT a violation of any eBay policy.
Addendum: The anomaly of slightly varying results (e.g., "806" and "794" alternating as you continue to hit the Search button. It toggles.) is unresolved. I can not fix this, other than to recommend launching a new Search from your desktop EACH time you want the MAXIMUM (accurate) return on your query.
lyn** (493 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 06:33 PDT 72 of 203
I assume this has to do with why search has changed so that EXclusions have changed to INclusions, meaning that search will come up with NOTHING WHATEVER if the option to search the ad copy as well as the title is checked on. This started last Friday (that is, with anything posted since midnight going into Thursday the 5th), and has effectively wiped out search. Most people won't have any idea why they aren't getting any results :)
Just the ticket to help wipe out eBay sellers in what should be the best part (10-20th) of the best month (October) of the best quarter (Christmas). (Glad I gave up selling LAST October.)
Perhaps the tech kiddies figure they can get it worked out by mid-November. Sorry, kiddies, that isn't the BEGINNING of the season, that's the END.
As for me, I've reset my eBay.com auctions into eBay.co.uk - altho it does eliminate anyone who doesn't sell internationally. My eBay.de auctions are working correctly. And, since search results are filtered thru eBay.com, I'm not getting results emailed from anything excepet the handful that don't have exclusions - which VERY RARELY have results.
Lynn
wen** (4142 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 07:30 PDT 73 of 203
Hi Estaban, welcome to ebay!
now please take some time to HEAR what the sellers and buyers want! we want things left alone! this is our busiest season of the year! we plan all year and save merch for this time! so we can pay our bills in advance to get through the slow time of the year!
This is my ONLY income... I have no spouse no other income! this is it! I have worked my but off for years.... I think I have a stable job (here on ebay) so I buy a house.... couple months later POOF ebay starts messing with our livlihood!
let me turn this for you......
ok you go to work all week put in 12 hour days and lets just say your check is based on what we / sellers think of you new item we get to vote... and based upon our vote... is what you get paid!
guess what you just lost 90% of your paycheck!
yes my sales are down 70% my views hits and bids are off. my customers are telling me they aren't seeing my stuff... not getting notices I listed... they think I have taken a break!
well the only break I have been taking is from running to bank to deposit money!
ok so back to you..... now you didn't get paid after working all week.... go tell your landlord/ bank... I will hopefully pay you next week IF I my new not needed search feature gets a better vote!
ok so yeah it is a little different,... BUT I am trying to put it to you in simple terms.... we are loosing our paycheck! that is why we are mad!
also No I do not need my buying monitored! it's like the stoopid grocery cards for store sales... I use mine for the sale items and pay seperetly for all others! it is no ones business every move I make!
also keep in mind I RESEARCH on ebay to see what to buy and list..... it doesn't mean next time I go in to search I want the other stuff thrown in my face!
yes I am MAD.... this is my income it is being messed with! period! again why not do this over the summer when it is slow.... why mess up the holiday season!
also stop coddeling the buyers... they are not dumb..... and they do not PAY EBAY WE DO
so why don't we get any say!
also on the KNOWN broken features / searches... I was told 3 weeks ago they are working on it and will fix it! yeah when!
stick with keyword search plain and simple!
whew!!! thanks for listening (if you did)
now I really need my coffee
Wendy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my siggie has gone to the the dogs!
why is my azzzz so big? So I Can keep pulling miracles out of it!
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 09:35 PDT 74 of 203
Hi aquariusrex
If you're going to quote someone, you need to do it accurately.
You 'quoted' esteban as saying: "problems which have been affecting some users"
What he actually said was far different: ..."some of the other problems reported on this board."
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
trollsareyummyforbreakfast (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 09:53 PDT 75 of 203
Glenda,
If you are going to reprimand someone you need to do it accurately.
Esteban said: "I’ve checked in with my colleagues on the finding team about some of the other problems reported on this board. The team has been actively working on both the Advanced Search and Favorites email problems which have been affecting some users, and I’m happy to report that fixes will be released soon."
This is a complete cut-n-paste of esteban's entire post, which aquariusrex quoted correctly.
I know you work hard to defend ebay, but at least do it accurately.
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 09:58 PDT 76 of 203
trollsareyummyforbreakfast:
How did that one taste? 
![[Spacer]](http://www.masshome.com/images/spacer.gif){kind=small}
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 10:14 PDT 77 of 203
I thought I would add a note here.
PLEASE EVERYONE....DON'T PLAY AROUND WITH THE NEW SEARCH TO TRY AND PROVE WHETHER IT IS OR IS NOT WORKING!!!!
Just as I was all set to go play with it on a few searches, I very very troubling thought came to my mind.
If we all spend a few days playing around with it, then the stats Ebay is keeping will show thousands of people (or hundreds of thousands of clicks) have chosen this as a search method.
Then, they will decide it is sooooo popular it really should be the default
So, just don't go there! PLEASE!
dimesy1 (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 10:21 PDT 78 of 203
Oh, I don't know. Even eBay would pay attention at seeing hundreds of thousands (or more) of clicks that never convert into sales.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 10:30 PDT 79 of 203
dimesy1...you would think so, wouldn't you?
But, it's not working that way over on EE.
Page 2
trollsareyummyforbreakfast (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 10:32 PDT 80 of 203
But, it's not working that way over on EE.
LOL, Ain't that the sad truth!
dan** (175 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 10:39 PDT 81 of 203
"Even eBay would pay attention at seeing hundreds of thousands (or more) of clicks that never convert into sales."
As long as they're raking in fees, they don't care.
They never look at end results for any of the garbage they dump on us.
If they see all these clicks, it justifies their theory of how good this piece of carp is. It makes them "right" and us "wrong", and that's more of a concern to them than whether we can pay our bills or not.
Off to St. E.
Y'all have a good day
Oh - that's a very enlightening thread that was mentioned in post #47 (I think it was that one, or it's real close). The thread is a game they're playing on the EE board with this "Best Match" search.
I think everyone - including the entire eBay staff (LOL) should check it out. If this is what our regular search could end up like, ummm...
Yep, I'm off to St. E.
dsh** (137 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 11:31 PDT 82 of 203
So far I do not see this best match option on my list. I even searched for a " blue backpack ", just to see. (*gratefully*) It's obvious that ending soonest should remain THE default search. I doubt that will change. I'd personally hate to go back and found out I missed out on an awesome deal just because i was not set to the right search to show ALL items from ALL sellers ending soonest.(which, by the way, most newer users wouldn't even think about changing anyway)
fan** (2048 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 11:46 PDT 83 of 203
Well whatever you folks have done everyones US sales are dead, no bids no activity no emails, that is across the board in sellers in my category. Does Ebay believe that the buyers are all uninterested in the one of the biggest selling months we will have? We are relisting hundreds and hundreds of auctions and shy of international business there is no one to see the ads. When you talk to support they say we are working on it, but no completion date. Last Friday everything just stopped dead. Great job just superb, someone call and explain to my kids why we are going to have to close the doors if this keeps up
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 11:50 PDT 84 of 203
postcardsandmore, boardpostingfirewall, wendel22, dshirl79
We will continue to use "Time: Ending Soonest" or "Time: Newly Listed" as the default sort orders for Search and Browse results, just as it works today.
.
.
glen** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 12:19 PDT 85 of 203
Hi trollsareyummyforbreakfast
You're right, and I apologize. The part quoted was his second sentence, and I focused only on the first.
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 12:24 PDT 86 of 203
Thank you estebankozak...that does make me feel a little better
I'm just now recovering from the shock of the new fees on store. And, so are my sales
I didn't want to see something else pop up to block them (at least not this fast).
goo** (117 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 12:44 PDT 87 of 203
Esteban
You got some kudos for responding in this thread about solutions to problems with advanced search etc (have you thanked/paid Rockboss yet?) which are not in your narrow brief, yet you remain totally silent about concerns with the proposed new default search format posted here & in the thread pinned above your own. Hundreds of these concerns have gone unanswered for weeks. With all due respect to you & your topic, the default search layout is a damn sight more important than Best Match.
You say you are part of a TEAM. If you wont respond, where are your team-mates? You are treating your users with extreme disrespect. Why am I not surprised?
fan** (2048 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 13:14 PDT 88 of 203
what team???? it is their way. Ee have sold for here since 1998 and the first thing that you learn is they rule and they pick and choose what to respond to. There are 768 million users, do you think they care if several of us go broke because their default serach engine does not work.
Support has told me to adjust my keywords, told me the search engine does not work, they do not have one solid answer, or a time frame to fix it
We have 1800 ads and have had three sales today when we normally have 25-30, they are all Canada, we have not had a US customer in days, But the dang best match project is on course and proceeding as planned. All of the sellers left just need to move to Ebay express and sell
But Esteban will likely get a good perfomance review because the project is done on time, everything else is broken but this is done on time. God Bless Corporate mentality. No big picture thinking just deadline and project driven,
Change for changes sake so they can justify existance.
Thats why the majority of us that do this full time do this fulltime, we no longer wanted to work in companies that had that mentality
It is a great thing we put our faith here
cho** (2039 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 13:34 PDT 89 of 203
oh great, you're part of Nico Posners crew. You post like him too. I suppose this will be another 1700 threaded post with people saying no and that means buyer accepted to you.
Why don't you guys get it, you're not going to shift the internet to search the way you want them to search. The minute your team rolled out Making Buyers Effecient was the day you ostricized the buyer community
Y'all ain't GOOGLE, so get out of the search business and stick with your IT commercials
What's next with FINDING? You give buyers a Plinko coaster and whatever they find they own?
CSS
Shields up, beware of the cloaking devices!
jay** (154 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 13:45 PDT 90 of 203
for the last few days my saved searches have not been working properly. Daily email search updates have stopped and it apears that parentesis () in the search string are being ignored.
Could this new bug be related?
Jayson
trollsareyummy4supper (0 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 14:09 PDT 91 of 203
Esteban,
Since you can't or won't answer the questions from post #31 and you can't or won't give us any hint at when all the search problems will be fixed.
Can you at least tell us if the team is even remotely contemplating rolling back search to the way it was six months ago so that sellers can at least try to have a decent holiday season? Or has the 'enhancements' gone too far now to turn back?
cho** (2039 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 14:28 PDT 92 of 203
we're in the news! Information Week is pointing to this thread.
Google: ebay best match worries and you'll see the article.
I hope the public realizes that since August we have been subjected to numerous changes, not only in the search of stores being disadvantaged, but of the Finding Team Nico Posner tinkering around with us being guinea pigs, changing the screens constantly and up and leaving us 1700 buyers and sellers posts saying please stop. and NOW this new change. You penalize my merchandise and tell me I'm diluting the magic, what about buyer experience? What about change management and testing before you deploy? Not here on Ebay. You buy what they want you to buy or else!
For every 1 thing they announce they're doing, they tweak and break 3 other things! We have disappearing listings too! This isn't a venue, this is wonkavision
CSS
Shields up, beware of the cloaking devices!
sleeping.beauty (17 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 14:37 PDT 93 of 203
perhaps Information week article ought to go to the Today show for comment
cho** (2039 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 14:39 PDT 94 of 203
I can't wait til the Quarterly Conference call on the 18th!
CSS
Shields up, beware of the cloaking devices!
can** (837 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 15:15 PDT 95 of 203
"In other words, if buyers running a particular search often end up viewing, bidding on, or buying a certain type of item more often, this will be factored into our relevance calculations. The Best Match scores for these types of items will be higher, and might display higher on the page because they are similar to items that have been more relevant for that search in the past."
Esteban: Let me get this straight. If Hong Kong mega-sellers are getting more BUYERS, then they will rank higher than those who sell less volume. Is that right?
That certainly leaves out the "little guys" now, doesn't it? I sell one-of-a-kind canes. I can't PRODUCE thousands at a crack! Neither can any other artist.
All the "seller's tips" on earth won't work for that! You can suggest making the listing bold, highlighted, or boxed, but THAT WILL INCREASE THE FEES WE PAY, won't it? (All sarcasm intended.)
This is such a clever scheme it sickens me. I may as well give up. You don't allow website references because allegedly outside purchases are not covered under your protection plan. GIMME A BREAK!!! You're afraid you might lose out on some FEES!!
I think it's time I just put an insert at the beginning on my listings explaining how certain searches result in favoritism and discrimination.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 17:28 PDT 96 of 203
Ebay owns the ball. And just like the spoiled kid on the block who said "it's my ball and we'll play by my rules" they are going to be left standing in the middle of the playing field holding the ball with no one to play with.
Sure hope that the press can jump all over this one and scare the bejesus out of the board. Nico, Esteban, and the rest of the team will be "on the street" and we can once again enjoy buying and selling instead of spending our time on the boards (one of the few things left that works).
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-11-06 18:52 PDT 97 of 203
JUST READ HILARY'S POST #1357 ON THE BIG THREAD. SAY GOODBYE TO THE CHRISTMAS SEASON.
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-12-06 00:34 PDT 98 of 203
webpaper
think you're right . . . good bye xmas!
THANK YOU FINDINGS TEAM!
oas** (14085 ) View Listings | Report Oct-12-06 02:48 PDT 99 of 203
Esteban,probably not your dept. but could you send the finding team out and find out why pay for features are being added to listings that weren't checked at the time items were listed and no charge incurred at time of listing,but on the store listing the charge is incurred on the relist? Gallery is being auto inserted onto selers items without most buyers knowing. Live help says dump cookies and cache. Store live help said DUH!!! I guess we are aware of the problem,but don't really know what to do to correct it. Maybe if we sellers are just a little bit lucky one of your members of the finding team might find out the answer to that question..
lee** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-12-06 04:41 PDT 100 of 203
The previously broken Advanced Search works again.....
mcn** (7713 ) View Listings | Report Oct-12-06 05:37 PDT 101 of 203
it only works if the bidders comeback before we all go broke remember they d General maintenance tomorrow, that always fixes things LOL
kom** (216 ) View Listings | Report Oct-12-06 11:02 PDT 102 of 203
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193200546&subSection=Breaking+News
Wow. This thread made the news.
(Now, if only all the threads about the real eBay searching problems could make the news...)
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-13-06 13:05 PDT 103 of 203
A crowd of 1 has spoken.
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-13-06 13:15 PDT 104 of 203
postcardsandmore: A crowd of 1 has spoken.: ^O
Looks like he/she spoke and then self-destructed.
Got this e-mail about the thread:
"You are watching the thread "***Introducing Best Match:
A new sort option based on relevance***", which was
updated Oct 13, 2006 9:55:06 AM by cryonic."
(Emphasis mine)
and I get here and it's gone.
I'm heart-broken.
Odie
odi** (231 ) View Listings | Report Oct-13-06 13:16 PDT 105 of 203
Also looks like the smiley's are broken
: ^O should be :^O
lad** (112 ) View Listings | Report Oct-13-06 13:44 PDT 106 of 203
Thanks Esteban for whatever you did to "fix" the subscribed favorite search notifications I opined about several days ago. All seems terrific.
My search features work just fine and notifications have resumed. I received about 7-8 yesterday afternoon and 21 today.
Happy camper here ..
Thanks for listening & reponding.
LadyBorden
mcn** (7713 ) View Listings | Report Oct-14-06 05:39 PDT 107 of 203
Yesterday and overnight my sales levels have returned to normal, we will see if they stay that way today, perhaps this issue has been put to bed?
ado** (Private ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 01:02 PDT 108 of 203
I would very much appreciate the ability to see a list
of countries, with clickable boxes, so I may select all
the countries I want display in search results, and none
which I will not buy from. This would save much time and
frustration.
ado** (Private ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 01:13 PDT 109 of 203
Since the jewelry, gemstones, and percious metal industry
is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, it would be
helpful to have an option to search by:
natural, synthetic, cultured (pearls only), or simulant.
Also, a way to search stones by size range would be helpful.
Maybe: .001ct-.24ct, .25-.99ct, 1-5ct, over 5ct.
Right now, there is no way to sort by size, no matter how
hard we try using search qualifiers.
cha** (708 ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 06:35 PDT 110 of 203
I buy local historical memorabilia. I have all my favorite searches listed in my eBay which are names of towns in my local area. I've used these same searches for years. Now, all of a sudden, it tells me I'm receiving too many hits - that I have to "refine" my search! Why is that? I have the town and state names. What more should I have to add! I'm now getting all these categories to go through. The town name could be on anything from postcards to salt & pepper shakers. I just want across-the-board results. These keywords have definitely not returned too many hits in the past, and now all of a sudden they are??? By the way, what number of hits is now too many anyway????? DOES ANYONE FROM EBAY EVER ANSWER QUESTIONS POSTED ON THIS BOARD? THEY ASK OUR OPINIONS, BUT I DON'T SEE ANY RESPONSES TO THE COMMENTS.
B.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 08:35 PDT 111 of 203
The town name could be on anything from postcards to salt & pepper shakers. I just want across-the-board results. These keywords have definitely not returned too many hits in the past, and now all of a sudden they are???
I came over here to check on this problem. It is costing us and Ebay $$$$$$ here.
HELP HELP HELP .... MAKE IT GO AWAY!
I can't search for anything anymore. I also want across the board results for my key words. I just gave up and quit looking. How many other buyers are doing the same
How many are too many????? It used to return them all.
FIX THIS PLEASE!!!!!!
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 11:00 PDT 112 of 203
Hi Chattylady and Postcardsandmore
I'm having the team check into this issue. I too have many favorite searches to search for anything from my hometown (you never know what you're going to find!) but I haven't seen this problem personally.
When posting problems on the boards or to Customer Support it is extremely helpful to include example searches where you're seeing the problem so we can try and reproduce. If you wouldn't mind including some examples here I'll make sure they're investigated.
Adove2000,
These are both great ideas. Thanks for the input. We are working on a solution for this that will allow more flexiblity than eBay's attributes for search refinement.
Thanks,
Jeff
.
.
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 15:23 PDT 113 of 203
ESTEBAN PLEASE RESPOND!!!!!
have you guys heard of a PLAIN BOLLEAN SEARCH????
it's plain, simple, easily understood, and it works!
it's what everyone knows and expects.
the new search you've created is a joke! it has resulted in a no win situation for buyers and sellers. buyers can't find anything and sellers are giving up.
we sellers have businesses to run and we'd appreciate it if you guys would stop this nonsense and go back to basics.
to give you a perfect example of how messed up your new search is, last nite i listed some coconut shell napkin rings and then did a search using the words COCONUT SHELL NAPKIN RING.
since when is CHOCOLATE a best match for COCONUT SHELL NAPKIN RING because my search results contained everything from chocolate candy to chocolate molds.
WAY TO GO GUYS! WHICH ONE OF YOU PROGRAMMED THAT?
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 16:14 PDT 114 of 203
Jeffking, so glad you are not having problems. EVERYONE ELSE IS!!! Think about the fact there won't be any sellers left for you to search for items to buy from.
GO BACK TO GROUND ZERO!!!!!
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 18:35 PDT 115 of 203
Webpaper and Beachgal,
I've read every post on this board and have a team of people looking into the issues that were reported. I understand the frustration that folks are having on the site. As Esteban previously mentioned, there were several bugs, impacting a small percentage of users using advanced queries, that have been identified and fixed.
Nonetheless, I am unable to reproduce the issue you're reporting with Chocolate and Coconut shell napkin ring on the site or in your store. The new Best Match technology has not yet been released to the site and it is in no way impacting this issue you're having. Nor will it have any impact in default search when it is released.
I'm willing to continue to engage with you on this board and hope we can keep it professional.
Thanks,
Jeff
.
.
pos** (Private ) View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 19:01 PDT 116 of 203
[email protected]
I am unable to reproduce the issue you're reporting with Chocolate
OH?????
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000367396
http://buy.ebay.com/chocolate
The new Best Match technology has not yet been released to the site
OH?????
Finding team member write released
hope we can keep it professional
OH?????
professional mates check fact 1st okidoki?
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-17-06 20:48 PDT 117 of 203
Hi possessedarewe,
Thanks for pointing out the other discussion, I didn't connect that folks thought that this 'Chocolate problem' was driven by Best Match. It isn't. The page they're seeing for the keyword 'chocolate' is behavior that has been in place for years.
I've posted an update to the discussion on that thread.
Thanks for participating in the discussion,
Jeff
.
.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 00:03 PDT 118 of 203
Thank you Jeff.
I will make a notation of exactly when and what search causes this result next time it happens. I've been getting some very strange search results in the last couple of days.
Everything from the category page instead of search results to one time I thought you guys had NARU'd me. It said that store didn't exist. Refresh brought it all back and there my listings were, but I nearly had a heart attack when I first saw it.
Thank you again and please keep us posted if you discover why it is happening. I'll be away from the computer a few days as I have company coming in but will see if I get it during my regular Sunday night searches.
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 00:49 PDT 119 of 203
jeff - thank you for responding.
yes, i am getting very strange search results, lol.
but you didn't answer my original question. why don't you guys go back to using plain old fashioned bollean searches? i've been using them in legal data bases for years (lexis) and they work better, especially considering there's a lot for information to search through than ebay will ever have.
and would you mind looking into a problem i'm having because i'm not sure who to address this issue to. after i add new listings or hit the BACK button, my categories & subcategories start disappearing, then listings start disappearing & reappearing.
this problem is intermitent and has been documented by live chat & store support. store support has escalated this issue but i was just curious about what you thought it could be. thanks!
.
.
Page 3
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 08:16 PDT 120 of 203
Hi beachgal and postcardsandmore.
I'll have the team look into the behavior you're seeing. My guess is that since we've been adding a lot of search capacity over the last few weeks and as we're beginning to replicate items and send traffic to the new locations you're seeing some inconsistent results. This should completely stabilize shortly as we lock down for the holiday.
Regarding using straight boolean search on eBay, while definitely powerful, it’s generally considered overkill for most web applications and I expect would be understood/used by only a small handful of users. A lot of search engines added this over the years and none ever got much traction with the feature. As I mentioned in another post, we are working on improved classification technology that will bring improved structure and flexibility to the items which we hope will make items more findable, hopefully without having to teach buyers boolean commands.
Postcardsandmore, BTW, great store! If you come across any PC from Morgan Hill, CA (my small hometown) list em’ & I’ll be the first bidder.
Jeff
.
.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 09:10 PDT 121 of 203
Thanks Jeff...I'll keep my eye out. I'm sorting them out my city now so I can start concentrating on listing one town or group of small towns by state a day. (trying to increase multible purchases )
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 09:11 PDT 122 of 203
my city = by city
lee** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 19:49 PDT 123 of 203
Jeff,
once more since today the Advanced search is broken.
The check box 'Search title and description' gets unchecked once more after entering two words betwene double quotes (Example: "Berton Braley").
This was broken for at least a week and a half and then got working again for a day or two until today.
Now it is out again.
Obviously anyone relying on his description field content to sell his items will be seriously affected again, especially in media categories (like books, magazines, cds, dvds etc) where media content needs to be described.
Peter
lee** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 20:13 PDT 124 of 203
Jeff,
If it were true that few use boolean search on your Ebay site, then how do you explain just a few of these recent boolean searches I found in your Omniture Traffic stats?
They were created by our customers to find our items:
Cad* Washburn -genealogy
"Life magazine" ebay LEEFLANG ARCHIVES march 1908
Gayle Hoskins*
Dr." Frederick B. Robinson"
Murray (bicycle, bicycles, bikes, bike)
"October 13, 1958"
Coming from a professional archivist -that's me - (so trained expert in searches) I suggest you do not underestimate your buyers ability and intent to search. With help of your Advanced search, we created a 7 figure market around boolean search customers buying our antique periodicals.
------------
Best,
Peter
bey** (6284 ) View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 21:35 PDT 125 of 203
It is complete and utter nonsense that a) users do not understand, and b) users do not utilize Boolean logic searches.
Jeff -- that's just absolute crap.
beyondthetreeline : BTTL : 
: Beyond the Treeline : blog
Exceeding the needs of serious athletes. item rss + guides
.
.
[email protected] View Listings | Report Oct-18-06 22:17 PDT 126 of 203
leeflang_archives & beyondthetreeline,
I get it. I'm interpreting beachgal's request not as what we already support, but as pure boolean with all of it's features in the main search box.
.
.
peg** (250 ) View Listings | Report Oct-19-06 11:26 PDT 127 of 203
OK...DO YOU GUYS AT EBAY ACTUALLY READ WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY????? I DON"T THINK SO!!!!!
lee** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-19-06 15:13 PDT 128 of 203
Jeff,
I have no clue what you mean, but your answer is not any refutal of the fact that we proved that your premises about buyers behaviour are fundamentally wrong. It is like you guys live in a phantasy world and even deny the facts when they are right in front of your nose.
Try selling goods like we do. Maybe the only thing that can make you understand is 'empirical knowledge'? Very sad if that is the case when the rest of us can actually integrate concepts without 'living them'.
Peter
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-19-06 18:46 PDT 129 of 203
jeff -
hello from the beach and thank you for your response.
i guess what i was trying to say is PLEASE GET RID THE SEARCH THAT YOU CURRENTLY USE (WHATEVER YOU CALL IT) because it absolutely DOES NOT WORK.
For example, last nite i tried to search for a new BUY IT NOW auction item i listed and i couldn't find it. i used ROSE CUP SHELLS as my search perimeters and the results i got was a gazillion CUPS! fat lot of good that did me. tonite i did the same search and it worked. Why were the results so inconsistent?
now fast forwarding to your proposed changes, what category would you guys put the same search in? the category an item is listed in or something else?
bottom line, are you guys ever going to fix searches or are we all going to have to buy Yahoo ads to direct people to our ebay listings?
btw, last nite i was able to find what i was looking for in Yahoo last nite in less than 1 minute.
Wanna know why???? they use boolean searches!
lee** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-19-06 18:56 PDT 130 of 203
beachgal - That is exactly what I am doing right now. Since Ebay's Search is broken severely, we signed up with Google to have them direct buyers to my Ebay store until we move out of here.
leef** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-19-06 19:00 PDT 131 of 203
ps - Jeff, want to know why Google became a multibillion dollar company with a much larger market cap (129.68B) than Ebay (43.16B)? Because it is succesful with BOOLEAN SEARCHES !!
mal** (838 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 01:13 PDT 132 of 203
Searching on eBay since year #1 has presented buyers with a major problem that has never been addressed or fixed, while every other search factor has been considered by the eBay techies. What's the problem?
Why do I have so many returns in my searches, because there is no separation between Item Description and the Seller Information which often times includes pull down menus wherein hides HTML names. This is keyword spamming, though eBay claims it to be a third party problem and can't solve it.
When is ebay going to create 2 distinct description boxes on the auction page - One for item description, and another for seller information. That way buyers can search for keywords within the item description, which is what most of us want, or buyers can search the seller's description for other information. This break into two boxes would simplify every single one of my searches. I would spend less time scrolling through irrelevant titles, less time refreshing pages since there would be fewer pages to view, but I would be more likely to spend money since I will be looking only at items of interest to me.
I don't understand why this concept keeps being ignored by eBay personnel. If I only get 5 returns to a search and bid on three, isn't that better than getting 100 returns and not finding the ones I would have bid on?
Relevance doesn't matter to me. I bet $1000 eBay programmers can't identify my reason for buying items within the Stamps category based on my searches and purchases. Why? Because most of the items I buy don't have in their descriptions words telling me about the features I collect. It's sort of like searching for a car that has a special carburetor that is unknown to the used car dealer. I would have to look at every vehicle from the time period I knew they were made and look under the hood myself.
No matter what eBay thinks, it can't determine relevance based on my searches for the car, or by which dealers I visit!
Roger
194** (801 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 04:39 PDT 133 of 203
Jeff, please comment about this article from Forbes.com:
http://snipurl.com/zush
EBay's 'Best Match' A Bad One For Small Retailers
Smaller eBay retailers might just have been dealt a swift one-two punch from the auctions giant.
At issue is a new sorting option for customers searching eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) listings. Until now, they had two choices: sorting the search results by price or by the date/time the auctions end. But the new option, called "Best Match," uses a ranking system that eBay will not discuss (only to say it includes a "wide variety of factors from listing sellers as well as buyers") to list items in an order that will supposedly mirror the priorities of the customer.
This goal of successfully sorting large numbers of items according to "relevance" is of course what Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) devotes millions of person hours a year to. It naturally wants to deliver the most appropriate results based on the keywords a searcher has entered. But even the king of all search engines--and this is its core business, remember--admits that it has a long way to go to find the "perfect" algorithm for establishing relevance. Am I allowed to express my doubt that eBay has found the secret sauce?
But no one could accuse eBay of undue modesty. After all, it is boasting that "[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."
OK, let's try to translate that into plain English. As I understand it, the eBay search engine will perform an analysis that incorporates historical buyer behavior information, words found in the auction product listing title and description and keywords customers entered into the "search" box. Taken altogether, these factors will judge which auction items are the most likely to interest a particular customer.
But there's a little hidden assumption: The most "relevant" items will be the ones that have previously been the most popular. So a customer types in "Barbie dolls" in the search field. What is likely to show up at the top of the page? My guess is--and it's just a guess, mind you--items from sellers who have sold the highest volume of Barbie dolls to date. If you're a newer entrant into that market or have a smaller volume online retail business, you will probably see your listing fall well below that.
Again to quote eBay: "The default search results on eBay Express are based on what we're calling Best Match, which means that best selling items are ranked higher." (EBay has already implemented Best Match on eBay Express, although it has not yet been rolled out on its main site.)
Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. If best-selling items are ranked higher, they are likely to become even better selling, thus perpetuating a system that will increasingly favor the bigger sellers. Sounds like something that should alarm any small business.
And I have another concern, which revolves around what will become inevitable attempts to "game" the eBay search results system. Just look at Google. Because of the importance of a Google ranking to businesses around the globe, a whole industry (search engine optimization, or SEO) has grown up around trying to outguess and generally outwit Google. Of course, Google does not divulge how it calculates rankings, but a number of very smart people have written books, organized seminars and built highly lucrative consulting practices around their professed inside knowledge of how to boost your ranking.
The problem with this happening in the eBay sphere is that it costs people a tremendous amount of time and effort to worry about such things. Not to mention there's a certain amount of technical finessing that SEO efforts require. Do you have time, or funds, for this? Again, won't it be the bigger players who will be able to hire the experts who can tell them how to get even higher in the rankings?
No wonder the eBay message boards are aflame with criticism of the proposed new search option.
So what's the answer? Of course eBay will roll out this feature. There's no way to stop that. So are the little guys and gals completely powerless?
I don't think so. What we lack in individual size we make up for in numbers. And eBay would simply not survive without all the individual and small business sellers. So I say, let's keep an eye on what happens. Let's keep monitoring and adding to the message boards. And let's start complaining loudly and clearly if we find ourselves getting pushed aside due to this new way of doing things. EBay can--and should--be put on the hot seat if its new algorithm unfairly punishes smaller sellers.
zun** (2568 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 09:59 PDT 134 of 203
...kozak What experience have you had in the real world of Marketing? Merchandizing? Advertising? Point of Purchase? Sales? Retail Buying? Please list your credentials: Thank you.
zun** (2568 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 10:12 PDT 135 of 203
...and furthermore, how long have you been at eBay?
-from GOOGLE: "Goodbye, SearchFox
January 11, 2006 | Filed under: RSS, For Technology Developers and Investors
Permalink/Trackback
-kozak
"
Unfortunate for me, one of my favorite Web 2.0 applications - SearchFox RSS - is going away. I received an email from Esteban Kozak, which read:
Thanks for all your help in making SearchFox what it is. We have enjoyed providing this service, and hope that you have enjoyed using it. Please export all of your links and an OPML file with your RSS sources before the site shuts down. In accordance with our privacy policy, we will delete all personal information on January 25 after we shut down the services.
I agree with Mike that the RSS reader space is “hyper competitive” in terms of the number of companies in the space. SearchFox RSS came closest to what I wanted but I’m still not happy with what many of them are doing. They need to read my five ways to improve web based feed aggregators as a starting point.
The larger picture though, is that companies in the RSS reader space really fear the writing on the wall - Microsoft is going to eat the lunch of most of these guys. With an integrated reader in IE 7 and Outlook 12, Microsoft will seamlessly integrate this technology and effectively make things like the Attensa Outlook plugin obsolete.
For my part, I still see a fairly solid opportunity to make a web based aggregator for the tech and early adopter community that could really blow all the others out of the water. I don’t see that investment being made though. There is no legitimate business model there and the number of players in this space, especially by the likes of GYM, would cause most companies and investors to think twice.
I’m sorry to see you go SearchFox! Rojo will become my default reader going forward.
tagged under RSS, SearchFox,Attensa - via Google
zun* (2568 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 10:14 PDT 136 of 203
KISS.
You are pushing Sellers away to other venues; Buyers of Media are already preferring Amazon etc. as there are just too many changes on eBay.
Too many hurdles...
Cobb said he was not commoditizing items on eBay but this is just another facet of just that.
See you in a few months after 2 Earnings Quarters when this will be reversed.
Enough already.
zun** (2568 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 10:40 PDT 137 of 203
lee_flang O.T.
I congratulate you on your eBusiness. Niche marketing, great listing layout and cohesive information. Very nice.
When I move, I will be focusing on my Native American and Western favorites and yours is a great model.
Superb!
lee** (7300 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 10:56 PDT 138 of 203
Thanks, zuni4 - Congrats with your excellent taste and independent judgment stndards. Let us know how your new site looks like when it is ready.
We'll be releasing our own site in 4 weeks. It will blow users away, as we will have liberated ourselves finally, and with that our buyers too: finally FREE!
Our search (yes, boolean) will beat Ebay's with both hands tied on our backs. Ain't seen nothing yet....:)
We will offer 'relevance' sorting as optional, not mandatory and certainly not by default. And the 'relevance test' will only be for 'how many of teh user entries match 100% and how many less than 100%', as is common in real professional information database site search engines.
Peter
doc** (1770 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 13:59 PDT 139 of 203
The search is broken...guarantee it.....Fix the current one before you start on anything else. I am liquidating my inventories and will be done selling on ebay by Christmas.. I am also a buyer, but ebay is loosing its appeal for me there too. I am constantly getting the message that I need to narrow my search on a search that I guarantee won't yield more than 15 items. It never has and worked up until the last few weeks. The searches I have created worked well until recently. Now they don't work well at all, and on those moments where they do they are very slow.
kat** (2604 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 17:23 PDT 140 of 203
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - For the love of GOD, stop adding these useless options !
I agree 1000%!!!! How about eBay getting back to basics?!?! Website basics! Right now, just learning how to navigate the site is a NIGHTMARE, plus all the endless policies, blogs, wikis, reviews & guides, My World, eBay for Guests.........
Now eBay wants to ADD this? Theres already 7 items in the Sort By dropdown now eBay is adding an 8th one. 
.
Kath V35
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 18:08 PDT 141 of 203
So sad to see ebay stoop this low.... but will hang on to watch its' demise.
Where are all the billions going??
Search is now a tragedy - buyers can't find items to buy. The sell page fiasco is almost comic if it weren't forcing so many full time sellers into bankruptcy.
EBAY - YOU A TOTALLY LOUSING UP A GOOD THING HERE. PUT EVERYTHING BACK THE WAY IT WAS AND YOU STAND A CHANCE, KEEP FOOLING AROUND AND IT WILL BE TOO LATE.
RIP, old friend.
goo** (117 ) View Listings | Report Oct-20-06 23:46 PDT 142 of 203
Jeff - you have taken the trouble to respond to some other concerns on this thread that do not specifically
relate to the topic.
Can you or SOMEONE please respond to the concerns on the new search format thread? There's been no comment from anyone at ebay for ages on this vital subject.
Why should anyone give ebay the benefit of doubt that the thoughts of users may actually matter if we keep being ignored in this way?
zun** (2568 ) View Listings | Report Oct-21-06 07:44 PDT 143 of 203
From Yahoo Financial news on Oct. 19th re quarterly earnings for eBay...
"Late Wednesday, the San Jose, Calif.-based company said net income for the three months ended in September rose to $280.9 million, or 20 cents a share, from $255 million, or 18 cents.
Here's where eBay is making money as a credit card vendor:
A 41% surge in PayPal sales helped offset higher costs for employee stock options and other expenses..."
Full article is under Yahoo's Financial section and is from Market Watch. Chris
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Oct-23-06 05:13 PDT 144 of 203
jeffking -
just got back from a weekend trip to one of the islands and discovered that whoever is in charge of designing ebays home page just slammed the door in users faces! the home page won't hardly load on dial up and it takes over 1 minute to load on my high speed cable. who do i have to thank for this?
and your argument regarding boolean searches doesn't fly.
I expect would be understood/used by only a small handful of users. A lot of search engines added this over the years and none ever got much traction with the feature.
Then how do you explain Yahoo & Google? Both went from being obscure little search engines to multi gazillion dollar powerhouses and their BOOLEAN search engines are used by more people on the web than anyone elses.
and i don't think BOOLEAN SEARCHES are as misunderstood or difficult for users as you think because i volunteer at our local library a couple days a week and even the kids in grades k-6 use boolean searchs with ease.
i'm pointing this out to you because the thought of your team categorizing my listings is SCARY! can you go into more detail about this? and are you going to use existing ebay categories or make up new categories?
am** (232 ) View Listings | Report Oct-27-06 11:47 PDT 145 of 203
I hate this "best match" idea.
Can't you please just leave the site alone? I am really sick and tired of new learning curves. I don't need to shop here. I can shop anywhere. I am starting to lose my patience with ebay.
tig** (2144 ) View Listings | Report Nov-05-06 23:53 PST 146 of 203
Ok I did a search for refinished trunk. Now there was 10 in this search - mine and 2 other ones came on about the same time. Now how do you explain why does one trunk hit the top of the list that came on at the same time, search best match. How do you define relevance over one trunk to the next trunk or any thing else? They are all different. Have you looked at the items and can you tell the difference in one trunk to the next to say this one rates better than this one? The top one is a featured auction and uses ebays junk pictures. Matter of fact 5 of the top 6 use ebays pictures. The titles are all close. Shipping the top one has the highest shipping, I can ship the same trunk for 30.00 and it will cost sent to me 75.00 plus insurance,I would donate the money before I would have UPS ship it to me. So how do you say one is better than the other one ? How do you know what I or other buyers are looking for in a certain item? How do you people come up with some of this worthless junk ? How do I get a job like yours so I can fix stuff like you people do? How do you guys sleep at night? How do you know how to get to work every day to play with your toys? HOW HOW HOW and why do you do the dumbs things I have seen???????
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Nov-06-06 03:34 PST 147 of 203
Of course it has nothing to do with which one is the best one for you - it has only to do with which idiot used up all of his profit marging to pay for ebay extras.
The dumber you are - the more ebay likes you.
It's all about .................... GREED.
Surprised?
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Nov-06-06 03:35 PST 148 of 203
margig = margin.It's early.
2go** (687 ) View Listings | Report Nov-06-06 09:41 PST 149 of 203
After reading your announcement then reading what Forbes.com has to say, I believe that the small seller is in trouble. It will be impossible for a computer to know what the buyer wants. It can track history of what that person has looked at and bid on and bought. That won't tell the computer what that person wants to buy today. I look at things that didn't sell well just so I won't buy them to sell. That doesn't mean that I want to buy them. Also a buyer may want something this week that doesn't interest them next week. There are too many things a computer just can't do to be able to figure out what someone wants on that day. Forbes believes that the big sellers will go to the top of the list and the little guy will be at the end. Ebay if you kill off the little guy what will your website look like then? It will be like a boring big box store. Rethink what you are doing.
nei** (7 ) View Listings | Report Nov-07-06 12:10 PST 150 of 203
Is Best Match Going to be the Default search. Or will they have to go change to it.
I don't want my searches tailored to what 'other' buyers buy on Ebay. That would be like saying you'll only show best selling books, when I very rarely find any of those to be what I want to read.
I want to search for what I am looking for, not for a mass of other shoppers. I never rush to buy the 'hot' toy for tons more than it is worth. I watch other people's kids play with it for 12 minutes and then move on.
I don't want to have my searches showing what the great masses want. I can go to the mall for that. If searches are going to be defaulted to show only 'relevant to masses of the people made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same,' then I might as well shop at the Mall and Wal-Mart.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Nov-07-06 13:02 PST 151 of 203
Hi neithorisis
I believe it's been stated once or twice at least in this thread that best match will not become the default.
Like you, I don't want my searches tailored to what other buyers buy. I want to search for what I am looking for.
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
roc** (19 ) View Listings | Report Dec-19-06 21:28 PST 152 of 203
Bump...
I think this thing is going to rear its ugly head soon.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Dec-20-06 00:02 PST 153 of 203
Hi rockboss2000,
Best Match is already a sort option - been there for weeks now. The day it rolled out, the PayPal first and the PayPal last sort were removed.
Do a simple search - like for pitcairn then use the pull-down and you'll see it.
Or am I misinterpreting what you're saying?
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
roc** (19 ) View Listings | Report Dec-20-06 07:54 PST 154 of 203
Hi Glenda...
Something has been walking on a few of my regular search queries and returning irrelevant listings within the results... One that should return first printing concert posters is picking up limited edition collector dolls.
Similarly, searching for [example]: (first,1st) (date range) (signed,sgn*) edition is picking up errant results.
Then there is the "BVG Bowman" example from yesterday and this morning's "listed painting" post.
Something is affecting these searches... I don't know for sure but bumped the "Best Match" thread up just in case.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Dec-20-06 10:32 PST 155 of 203
Hi rockboss2000,
I notice the bvg issue has been acknowledged and escalated, so hopefully they'll figure out what is the problem THIS time and get it resolved.
Honestly, I truly long for the days when you searched for something and listings that had that word came up. No expansions, no spelling corrections, no "we're only indexing the first 1000 characters", no poison words, etc., etc.
I really like all the eBay employees on the Finding Team and in the engineering department, because they work darned hard - but man, I wish they'd quit messing with things!
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
pos** (4251 ) View Listings | Report Dec-21-06 11:53 PST 156 of 203
Honestly, I truly long for the days when you searched for something and listings that had that word came up. No expansions, no spelling corrections, no "we're only indexing the first 1000 characters", no poison words, etc., etc.
Me Too!!!
bea** (147 ) View Listings | Report Dec-22-06 00:43 PST 157 of 203
what a #$*#($ mess this is! the only way to fix it is to FIRE THE FINDINGS TEAM and the engineers.
get back to basics - boolean searches work best!
beachgal
su*z** (2718 ) View Listings | Report Dec-29-06 10:47 PST 158 of 203
TERRIBLE FORMAT, DO AWAY WITH IT, PLEASE!!!!
lindallas972 (109 ) View Listings | Report Jan-09-07 05:18 PST 159 of 203
If I want to search a product, cell phone, for example, I want to search price sold between $90-$200. How to do a completed listing search, from all categories?
Thanks for the help
Page 4
glen** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Jan-09-07 09:14 PST 160 of 203
Hi lindallas972
Do the search for active listings. Then on the sidebar of the results page, check the Completed Listings box. See if there is an entry (should be toward the bottom) that says "Items priced" with two boxes below. If so, fill in the amount and click the Show Items button.
If the option isn't there, click on Customize Display on the far right, and add the entry in from the Available Search Options and save. Then, back on the results page, enter the amount and click the Show Items button.
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Jan-09-07 15:21 PST 161 of 203
Glenda, is this one being tested on us at present. I search twice a day - everything has actually been quite good lately .
Suddenly tonight a search of for auto* shows up with 76 items, less than a dozen of which have anywhere in the title. The items aren't even related. Same thing to a lesser extent with motor*.
If we have to start looking through 10 times the number of legitimate responses to find what we are looking for the usefullness of search has been diminished 90 per cent.
Please tell the kids to stop screwing around with what isn't broken yet. Ebay is becoming totally useless as a buying or selling venue for any type of collectible.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Jan-09-07 22:34 PST 162 of 203
Hi webpaper
>>> is this one being tested on us at present
Best match is an optional sort - when searching, it's available only on the results page, from the drop-down toward the top right.
>>> a search of for auto*
I presume you're searching more than just auto*, or you're in a subcategory, right? ('Cause that search brings up 170,000+ listings.)
It sounds like you've encountered a category expansion, but without knowing more what you're searching, it's only a guess.
--
Glenda
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
alo** (111 ) View Listings | Report Jan-10-07 09:39 PST 163 of 203
Judging from the other responses I was heartened to see that us sellers are all unhappy. We get the shaft when we list, when we sell we get it both from ebay and paypal. We also get zero protection. Then there is Paypal's antics with our bank accounts to deal with which is like attempting to scale Mt. Everest. Ebay right now is enjoying it's monopoly. Does ebay care that if Google launches their own auction site we would all abandon ebay in a heartbeat? Then there is the question of Ebay denying phone service under any circumstances, their toll free number is nothing but a recording which does nothing to help anyone. The market is more than ready for another "Ebay" I know I am. Anyone else share my feelings?
Just out of curiosity I have not seen the word "whilst" used so much in my life. In fact until I read these posts I don't think I've ever seen it used outside a Shakespeare sonnet.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Jan-10-07 17:01 PST 164 of 203
Hi again Glenda,
Search was under stamps - us - covers. Both auto* and motor* wildcards are run twice a day and were back to normal quantities tonight so it must have been a temporary problem, thank goodness.
The added items were from other us categories - very strange. Ebay appears to be highly unstable at times lately, in addition to the problems created by design.
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Jan-21-07 11:18 PST 165 of 203
http://www.freshpatents.com/Esteban-Kozak-SanFrancisco-invdirk.php
Esteban Kozak
San Francisco, CA, US
Recent patents listed: 20060161524 - Reputation based search
http://www.freshpatents.com/Reputation-based-search-dt20060720ptan20060161524.php
Reputation based search
A method of providing relevant search information comprises receiving a search term. The method also comprises locating a first search result that matches the search term, wherein the first search result is associated with a first measure of reputation, locating a second search result that matches the search term, wherein the second search result is associated with a second measure of reputation, and preferentially presenting the first and the second search results based on the first and the second measures of reputation.
http://www.freshpatents.com/Reputation-based-search-dt20060720ptan20060161524.php?type=description
Reputation based search
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to search techniques. More specifically, a system and method of reputation based search is disclosed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] As computer networks and electronic data continue to grow, users are becoming increasingly dependent on search tools to find the desired result from a myriad of available information. The first generation of Internet search tools rely on META tags, which are created by publishers of a web page to include relevant keywords of the page. When a user query is received, pages with META tags that match the words in the query are identified and presented to the user. There are some issues associated with this approach. Some page publishers, hoping that their web pages will turn up in searches, include many keywords unrelated to the content of the page in META tags. As a result, irrelevant pages often turn up in the search results, making the search results less useful. Furthermore, it is difficult to rank pages with matching META tags.
[0003] The second generation of search tools address some of the problems associated with the first generation search tools. The second generation solutions do not strictly rely on META tags. Instead, they match the user query with words in the page. Alternative ways of assessing page ranking are used, such as determining the number of times a page is referenced by other pages. However, these tools face similar challenges as the first generation search tools. Some publishers have learned ways to defeat the search algorithms to make their pages appear in searches by adding irrelevant words in the page, cross linking pages, etc. Furthermore, users conducting the search typically need to enter accurate search terms that match words in the page.
[0004] It would be desirable to have a way to provide relevant search results that are not easily defeated by publishers' manipulation of pages. It would also be useful if the search technique can easily rank the relevant pages, including ones that do not have the exact keywords as the user query.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
[0006] FIG. 1 is system diagram illustrating a search system embodiment.
[0007] FIG. 2 is flowchart illustrating an example process of providing search results.
[0008] FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the processes for determining and changing the reputation.
[0009] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a user interface used to display search results and provide user feedback, according to one embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a composition of matter, a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium or a computer network wherein program instructions are sent over optical or electronic communication links. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention.
[0011] A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.
[0012] Providing search information is disclosed. Upon receiving a search term, the system locates search results that match the search term and preferentially presents the search results according to measures of reputation associated with the search results. In some embodiments, the search results are initially submitted by authors who are users of the system. As used herein, reputation measures the usefulness of a search result in response to the search term. In some embodiments, reputation of a search result depends on the reputation of the author that submitted it, as well as other factors such as past relevancy of the search result based on user feedback.
[0013] FIG. 1 is system diagram illustrating a search system embodiment. In this example, system 100 includes a search engine 102 and a database 104. Search engine 102 receives a user query that includes a search term (e.g. a word or phrase such as "wedding photographer", "wedding AND photography") used to locate search results in database 104. Search results that match the search term are presents to the user. As used herein, a search result includes a data structure returned in response to the search query. It may include reference to resources such as a universal resource locator (URL), some other kind of link to a document, a title of the document, a keyword list, or other appropriate information. In some embodiments, if no matching search result is found in database 104, search engine 102 optionally redirects the user query to a general purpose search engine on the Internet to obtain results.
[0014] In the example shown, database 104 is populated by users of the system. Users who associate search results with search terms and enter the associations in database 104 are referred to as authors. The database implementation may vary for different embodiments. For purposes of illustration, databases that store the search results and use keywords in the search term for looking up the search results are discussed in detail throughout this specification. The techniques are equally applicable to other databases, such as ones in which the entries are encrypted, compressed or otherwise processed. Additional processing steps may be used as appropriate.
[0015] In some embodiments, each combination of a search result and a search term has a measure of reputation that depends on factors such as the reputation of the author and the past relevancy of the search result. Users in the system can provide feedback, which is used to adjust the reputations of search results and authors over time. User queries and feedbacks can be provided via a single interface or separately.
[0016] FIG. 2 is flowchart illustrating an example process of providing search results. In this example, process 200 starts when the search engine receives a search term from the user (202). A first search result that matches the search term is located in the database (204). Various matching algorithms are used in different embodiments. For example, a search result is found to match the search term if all the words in the search term appear in the keyword list of the search result. In some embodiments, the database stores its entries in an encrypted and/or compressed form, therefore appropriate processing steps such as encryption, compression, hashing, etc. are applied to the received search term to find a match. A second search result that matches the search term is then located in the database (206). More search results, if available, are also located. Each search term/search result pair has an associated reputation, which measures the relevancy of the search result with respect to the search term. The matching search results are preferentially presented to the user, ordered according to their reputations (208). In some embodiments, a search result has the same reputation for every search term that matches the search result. In some embodiments, a search result has a different reputation for different search terms.
[0017] The reputation of a search result changes over time as other users make queries and evaluate the search results returned in response to their queries. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the processes for determining and changing the reputation. FIG. 3A is a flowchart illustrating the initial calculation of search result reputation according to some embodiments. At the beginning of process 300, a search result and its associated search term is submitted by an author (302). In some embodiments, the author has an author reputation, which, as will be described more fully below, is acquired over time based on feedback from other users and reflects the quality and relevance of the author's past submissions. The reputation of the search result is computed initially using the author reputation (303). The search term, search result and the corresponding reputation are then added to the database (304).
[0018] Process 300 is repeated as the system continuously receives author submissions. Sometimes different search terms are associated with the same resource. For example, "wedding photographer" and "photo journalism" may both reference a web page of a photographer who provides wedding photography service in photo journalistic style. As will be discussed in more detail below, the reputations of the search results may take on different values because of differences in reputations of the authors making the association.
[0019] Over time, as the search results are presented in response to user queries, users can provide feedback on the relevancy of each search result. FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating a user feedback process according to some embodiments. Process 350 initiates when a user query is received (306). The search term is extracted and used to locate a match in the database (308). Matching search results are presented preferentially according to their reputations (310). The display interface gives the user the option to provide different types of feedback, which is used later for adjusting reputation (312). If the user feedback is positive, i.e. the user finds that the search result is a relevant one in response to his search, the reputations of both the search result and the author are increased (316). If, however, the user provides negative feedback indicating that the search result is irrelevant, then both reputations are lowered (318).
[0020] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a user interface used to display search results and provide user feedback, according to one embodiment. In the example shown, a user query (in this case, "wedding photographer") is entered in query box 402 of user interface 400. The search results displayed include several URLs. The user is given the option to bookmark, hide, remove, or mark each search result as spam. For example, the user may bookmark a URL to a web page that offers useful information on how to select wedding photographers, hide a URL to a general purpose photography web site, remove a URL to a web site about wedding cakes, and mark a URL to a web site about get-rich-quick schemes as spam.
[0021] Saving a search result in a bookmark for future use indicates that the user finds the search result to be a useful and relevant one, thus the action is construed as a positive feedback that enhances the reputations of both the search result and the author. Hiding the search result indicates that the user does not want to see this search result in the future because he does not find it to be very useful; however, the author of the search result does not appear to have intentionally misrepresented the association between the search term and the search result. Removing the search result indicates that the user has found the association to be misleading and should be prevented from being shown in response to the search term in the future. Marking a result as spam is the highest form of negative feedback in the example shown. Other embodiments offer different user feedback options; some provide the user with greater granularity in rating the relevancy of a search result. The amount of change in reputation depends on the type of action and can vary for different implementations.
[0022] In one example, the reputation of a search result is calculated based on the following:Rr=Ra*(C1*Nb+C2*Nh+C3*Nr+C4*Ns), where Rr is the reputation of the search result, Ra is the reputation of the author, Nb, Nh, Nr, and Ns correspond respectively to number of times the search result has been bookmarked, hidden, removed, or marked as spam, and C1, C2, C3, and C4 are preset coefficients. Ra is computed according to the following:Ra=D1*Tb+D2*Th+D3*Tr+D4*Ts, where Tb, Th, Tr, and Ts correspond respectively to the total number of times search results submitted by this author has been bookmarked, hidden, removed, or marked as spam. There are other ways of computing the reputation based on search history that are used in different embodiments. In some embodiments, a user's impact on the reputation system depends on his own reputation, so that only users with a good reputation can influence other users. In some embodiments, only a prescribed set of users can be authors. In some embodiments, the privilege of submitting search results is revoked if an author's reputation falls below a prescribed level.
[0023] Since an author's reputation has a significant effect on the reputation of each search result he submits, authors have strong incentives to post high quality, accurate information. If an author posts entries that are misleading or attempts to spam the database, users will consistently hide or delete the entries or mark them as spam. As a result, the author's reputation will decline, as will the reputation of the entries submitted by the author. Consequently, it is less likely that the author's submissions will be seen by other users. Conversely, if an author posts useful, accurate information, then users will bookmark his results, causing his reputation to go up and his submissions to be featured more prominently. The reputation system essentially provides the checks and balances to ensure a properly functioning marketplace for search results.
[0024] Providing search results has been disclosed. Allowing authors to provide search results and using reputation based on user feedback to present the search results greatly improves relevancy of the search results.
[0025] Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limited to the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementing the invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive.
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Jan-21-07 12:06 PST 166 of 203
The Kozak algorithm fails in at least two aspects.
1) Dependent on the assumption that the Searcher is always accurate.
2) Requires Search items to be unique.
In a perfect world the Kozak algorithm would work. For everyone else ...
(1) Simplistic example one, ever here of typoos?
Searcher dead sure they want "Bill Cob", and constantly search using "Bill Cob". For this example the correct item name is "William Cobb."
According to the algorithm "Bill Cob" will be elevated in future searches and "William Cobb" demoted or made invisible.
(2) Simplistic example two, toe may toe, toe mat toe.
Searcher uses "sabre" to find a certain type of sword. Seller uses "Saber". They're both right (mostly). Kozak algorithm elevates "sabre" and demotes "Saber."
And consider the abbreviations used in stamp collecting and collector cards. Some overlap, some differences. Were there 10 times more stamp collectors than card collectors, stamp items would be elevated and cards demoted.
Ever wonder why Best Match sometimes gives weird matches? See #1 and #2. Hope you're getting the point.
There's an old programming motto that goes, GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out. An algorithm that requires perfect conditions is a good classroom tool, but will have problems in the real world.
kel** (98 ) View Listings | Report Jan-24-07 20:11 PST 167 of 203
Very "trick," but this is exactly the sort of "Father eBay Knows Best" approach that we DON'T need at this point. Let the EBAY USER determine what is relevant! What's needed is a robust search program that allows 10x the existing number of characters, permits searchers to manually add Ebay subgroups as parameters, and, most of all, that retains ALL the designated parameters when the Advanced Search button is clicked.
And as it stands, the Search program barely scratches the surface. Why, for example, can't we search by years that may appear in the description? 1900-1920, 1920-1940, and so on?
Before you go off and tackle fancy fuzzy logic, create a robust and comprehensive Boolean system!
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[email protected] View Listings | Report Jan-24-07 21:14 PST 168 of 203
Polywater, Kellytom,
The invention described in Polywater’s post is unrelated to eBay's "Best Match".
Esteban
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pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Jan-25-07 13:16 PST 169 of 203
> [email protected]
> The invention described in Polywater’s post is unrelated to
> eBay's "Best Match".
Esteban Kozak don't neglect to mention that this is YOUR invention.
"Reputation based search
A method of providing relevant search information comprises receiving a search term. The method also comprises locating a first search result that matches the search term, wherein the first search result is associated with a first measure of reputation, locating a second search result that matches the search term, wherein the second search result is associated with a second measure of reputation, and preferentially presenting the first and the second search results based on the first and the second measures of reputation."
This Is where 'Smart Search' And 'Best Match' are derived from, as decribed by various Pinks posting to various discussion boards. Your rapid denial tends to, well, fill in the blank.
I see no reason why you would not take credit for being the father of the two major search engines eBay is implementing. Unless you feel uncomfortable with the notion that eBay hired you to have the right to use your invention.
poly** (Private ) View Listings | Report Feb-04-07 00:09 PST 170 of 203
punt
weeny_roaster (0 ) View Listings | Report Feb-04-07 14:57 PST 171 of 203
Did you replace Nico Posner, Esteban? Did Nico Posner run away? He was on the finding team with his new search design that has made everyone flippin' nuts.
Are you his replacement Esteban? Are you going to make us all flippin' nuts too?
Just curious 
bro** (6 ) View Listings | Report Feb-10-07 10:35 PST 172 of 203
Greetings everyone,
I just stopped in to say my little piece about my first selling experience.
I listed a Nintendo Gamecube for my daughter, and the next day she asked me why it was not showing up in the search. I logged in and typed in "gamecube", and I was redirected to a page that had 4 pics of different colored GameCubes, including mine, which was platinum. I then clicked on the Platinum one, and discovered that among the 77 items listed, mine was nowhere to be found. After some research, I realized that my item somehow got lost in the shuffle due to this "Best Matching Product" nonsense. I then got on chat with customer service for 1 full hour, only to learn that there was nothing she could do and it would be reported to some "Watch Team". Then I had to go to billing and write them as to why I deserved a refund. I am awaiting a reply. Needless to say, I will be using Craigslist from now on. Shame on eBay for not recognizing this flaw.
Sorry to ramble..BUT I AM PISSED!X-(
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Feb-21-07 09:28 PST 173 of 203
punt
Hi everyone,
I’m NOT Esteban Kozak
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Feb-26-07 14:38 PST 174 of 203
Free Kick.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Feb-26-07 19:32 PST 175 of 203
To the top - just another example of big brother thinking it knows what I want better than I do. I searched for something the other day and suddenly went from my normal 60 hits to 78,000 - and the first three pages had -0- (yes, zero) of the search words in ANY of the entries.
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Mar-03-07 11:17 PST 176 of 203
punt
cho** (2039 ) View Listings | Report Mar-03-07 18:05 PST 177 of 203
Is it just me or is Jeff the only guy that works around here. He seems to be the only one who knows what is going on around or what needs to be corrected.
I hope you are paying him enough to stick with this Ebay company. I hope you go to value added performance reviews so some of you marketing guys can hit the employment development program.
No tech or engineer likes to clean up someones mess.
CSS
Shields up, beware of the cloaking devices!
It's a Junka Lunka Clunka!
I watched the Sopranos, I know what a shakedown looks like!
poly** (Private ) View Listings | Report Mar-05-07 13:46 PST 178 of 203
> chopsueysisters
> Is it just me or is Jeff the only guy that works around here
Mayhaps Jeff is lone computer person there old enough to grow fuzz.
sko** (580 ) View Listings | Report Mar-11-07 15:49 PDT 179 of 203
There are only two things I want to search by: ending soonest and newly listed. And when I search by either I want to seek everything that includes the keyword I've chosen.
After I do my search I look at what it yields and will narrow it based on other keywords that I see used by sellers that may more closely give me what I want.
I would never trust eBay to develop a reliable "Best Match" search. I know it will eliminate too many things that might be of interest. All I have to do is take a look at some of the things eBay lays in front of me after I buy an item that they think "I might be interested in". Most are totally unrelated to my interest. And I can see why. The search engine can't differentiate the keywords. Ashtry for example, may mean an Kellogg Ashtray Telephone or an ashtray!
eBay should let us do our own "best match" based on what we find or by using the menu system on the left of the page.
dvm** (4436 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 14:39 PDT 180 of 203
Is "Time: Newly Listed" no longer the default sort order for Browsing? I noticed it changed this week and my hits from people browsing via Newly Listed are almost non-existant. When I browse categories, the default seems to be Ending Soonest now. Newly Listed still shows as the default when you choose to customize display but reverts back to Ending Soonest when I reopen my browser or browse categories from a different computer. This has had a huge negative impact on my sales this week. Live Help has been no help at all explaining the situation.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 16:08 PDT 181 of 203
Search is just getting more and more strange every day. If they can't get it back to ground zero they are going to be in a heap of trouble.
And the day ebay thinks it knows what I want to search for better than I do is the day that I tell ebay to ......well, you know.
Hey, it's almost summertime and the flea markets will be busy soon.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 18:00 PDT 182 of 203
Hi dvmstudios
I just went to the Customize Search Display and clicked on the Reset Defaults link.
The Search Sort by default is Time: ending soonest
The Browse Sort by default is Time: newly listed
Glenda
--
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
dvm** (4436 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 18:53 PDT 183 of 203
Hey Glenda, thank you for checking that out. I get the same thing that newly listed is indeed supposed to be the default. However, if you close your browser, delete cookies and open ebay back up, it resets back to ending soonest for browse. That means that even though the customize display sets newly listed as the default, and all the information I can find states that newly listed was previously the default for browse, it is no longer the case. Buyers who visit the site for the first time or who do not bother to change their custom settings will see items ending soonest when they browse categories instead of newly listed items. This completely changes the former way in which traffic was previously directed through ebay. I think they should make some sort of announcement about the change so that sellers can make an informed choice about whether to invest in optional featured fees that will generate much less traffic than they did before. Or maybe it is just a glitch and no one has noticed it yet?
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 20:41 PDT 184 of 203
Hi dvmstudios,
I'm sorry, I don't get those results. I brought up Internet Explorer, cleared cache, deleted cookies, clicked Buy and a subcategory - it's showing items listed March 28. I did the same thing with Firefox, and it's also showing items listed March 28.
Glenda
--
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
dvm** (4436 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 21:40 PDT 185 of 203
Hey Glenda, I wish I was getting those results. I have tried IE 6 with Maxthon and Firefox on my downstairs computer, IE 6 on my laptop, and IE7 on the upstairs PC as well as my Nintendo Wii in the living room. All show Ending Soonest as the sort when I browse via category. I checked a PC at the library yesterday and got the same result. This is the reply I received from customer support confirming the change:
Dear David,
Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your concern about the change in the sort for browsing.
David, I do apologize for the inconvenience this situation may cause you. Actually you are correct the default sort by was changed to ending soonest. If you would like to leave a suggestion on this matter please click on the link I have listed below.
To send suggestions to eBay:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/suggest.html
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely,
Luis B.
eBay Customer Support
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Mar-28-07 22:13 PDT 186 of 203
Hi dvmstudios
I was just able to reproduce that issue. I wonder if perhaps it was random, because I swear I did two browses before and it was showing up newly listed. But the two browses I did just now came up ending first.
I've reported it to eBay.
Glenda
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V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
dvm** (4436 ) View Listings | Report Mar-29-07 01:25 PDT 187 of 203
Thanks for looking at it again Glenda and I really appreciate that you took the time to report it as well. Now I don't feel like the only person this is happening to. I wonder if it is indeed random, a glitch, or Ebay testing things out along with the search changes they've been slowly rolling out. I certainly hope that they revert it back to Newly Listed as the default. My hit stats show that a large chunk of traffic comes from people browsing newly listed and it is crucial for early opening bids.
dvmstudios (4436 ) View Listings | Report Mar-30-07 14:01 PDT 188 of 203
Well, there seem to be a lot of other sellers over in Seller Central and the Art forum expressing the same concerns I've had about the Browse sort. I guess it really is a sitewide problem. I was hoping it was just a random glitch. The question now is whether they are just tesing it out to see how it affects sales or if it is a glitch and they haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. Either way, I think sellers should definately think twice about using Featured Plus on their listings until some clarification is made on Ebay's part.
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[email protected] View Listings | Report Apr-02-07 11:25 PDT 189 of 203
glenda, dvmstudios, webpaper,
I want to let you know that the issue with displaying “Time: Ending Soonest” to some users as the default sort option when browsing was successfully fixed. Thank you very much for the feedback.
.
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gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Apr-02-07 12:44 PDT 190 of 203
Thank you, Esteban.
Glenda
--
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
sko** (580 ) View Listings | Report Apr-02-07 14:36 PDT 191 of 203
So tell me when you can get newly listed as the default setting? When I search, I still get "ending soonest" as the default setting.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Apr-02-07 15:57 PDT 192 of 203
Hi sko74517
Ending soonest is the default for search. Newly listed is the default for category browse.
Glenda
--
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
dvm** (4436 ) View Listings | Report Apr-07-07 11:59 PDT 193 of 203
Thanks Esteban!
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Apr-16-07 22:46 PDT 194 of 203
U.S. tax deadline April 17.
Best Match to be implemented in Core according to eBay Executive.
Punt.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Apr-17-07 02:25 PDT 195 of 203
Perfect. The end is near. Add in SWY3 and the aliens will have succeeded in destroying ebay.
Goodnite Esteban, Nico, Miko, and others. Your mission is nearing completion and you will be able to go home soon.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report Apr-17-07 02:26 PDT 196 of 203
That's SYI3, early morning error.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Apr-17-07 07:52 PDT 197 of 203
Which eBay executive announced this, and when?
Glenda
--
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Apr-18-07 18:39 PDT 198 of 203
> glenda
> Which eBay executive announced this, and when?
Try searching for anything relating to Post 0. Esteban Kozak will not deny that Best Match IS in core now. That is the gist of Post 0. Then again he might.
Related threads were deleted and posters banned, for being specific.
http://pages.ebay.com/townhall/archives.html
There's an interesting cat out of the bag slipup and quick change of subject in the February 2007 Town Hall.
We are in Q2 ..........
Page 20
Jim Ambach: "Just that so everything is out on the table now. We're looking at all sorts of product solves that we can put in place to disincent our sellres from offering excessive shipping cost. We will launch a total cost sort in Q2 and we're also looking at doing other things, like factoring in shipping cost for instance, in our "best match sort" as well. So..."
|| at this point Bill Cobb cuts off Ambach and quickly changes direction ||
Bill Cobb: "So why don't you explain that total cost, how that will be optional for the buyer. You know."
|| Ambach receiving spoken cue as what to say next ||
Jim Ambach: "It'll be an optional sort available at the top right hand part"
Q2 timing is good. eBay Live, followed later by major announcements that will not be well received.
gle** (1326 ) View Listings | Report Apr-18-07 20:51 PDT 199 of 203
Hi polywater
If that is what you're referring to, then best match sort isn't "going to be implemented in core" - it already has been - which is what esteban said in post 0. It was implemented in October 2006.
Do a search. On the right-hand side, toward the top, next to "Sort by:" it will show "Time: Ending Soonest" or "Time: Newly Listed." If you click on the pull-down, you will see the optional Best Match sort.
Glenda
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V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
Page 5
pol** (Private ) View Listings | Report Apr-30-07 11:21 PDT 200 of 203
The gist of your 4/17 question gave the appearance that you thought Best Match was not in core.
> glenda (1319 ) Apr-18-07 20:51 PDT 199 of 199
> If that is what you're referring to, then best match sort isn't "going to be implemented in core" - it already has been - which is what esteban said in post 0. It was implemented in October 2006.
> glenda (1319 ) Apr-17-07 07:52 PDT 197 of 199
> Which eBay executive announced this, and when?
Yes we both know Best Match is in core. The optional part is another matter. The loose-lips executive Q2 Best Match implementation quote, is more a reference to the non-optional infiltration of Best Match into core.
It is a very slow phase in. You can see different parts of the Best Match phase in by looking over the so-call search glitches that have occurred since 2006. The glitch is reported, given a glossed over explaination, and then like an annoying back pain is put up with.
At some perhaps not too distant point in time the Best Match optional button will go away, because it will be redundant.
dix** (1449 ) View Listings | Report May-04-07 00:00 PDT 201 of 203
Why do you people feel the need to reinvent the wheel. I’ve been on eBay for years and NONE of the many changes you guys have made has boosted my sales in fact its done the opposite. All you have done is made me have to constantly educate myself and adjust. Everyday there is something new that I have to take time away from my business and figure out how to either work around it incorporate it into my system
If you want to save some cash, Stop your studying and just ask a veteran seller and I’m sure their ideas will be simple and to the point. Just look at the message boards. Sellers are screaming from the hilltops to deaf ears. You talk about wanting to improve searching yet you hide the stores making them all but invisible. If you want to boost sales lower fee’s.
I’m posting less than a 3rd of the auctions I used too because the gamble of not selling an item costs to much. I’ve cut my store in ½ since the last fee increase. Now the postage fee’s are going up making items cost even more to buy online. If you people would stop trying to change a working system and conducting unnecessary studies, Maybe you could lower fee’s thus increase the number of items posted.
I don’t mind paying more if I got results but that’s the problem, I get no results when you do charge more money, In fact since the last fee increase my sales have dropped. Most likely because we have to ask more for items to cover the fee increases. There will come a point where people will not be able to compete with the non cyber world. When you have your discount posting days and the number of items posted skyrocket. And when those items sell you make more money. Study that
dix** (1449 ) View Listings | Report May-04-07 00:23 PDT 202 of 203
Oh by the way, Reading the posts on this thread it looks as though the people don’t really like this idea Mr. Kozak. Im curious to see if you guys go against the majority and push ahead implementing this “Great Idea” Or will you back down and keep the status quo. Not that it really matters I guess other than it will show me how much eBay management listens to our opinions. Now this is a interesting study.
web** (1543 ) View Listings | Report May-04-07 02:59 PDT 203 of 203
Just read Jeff King's announcement - made my decision ato leave final. They don't csre what we think.
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jo_g*** (45 ) Nov-07-07 17:40 PST 247 of 259
I would also like to disable this feature. It keeps coming up Best Match, though I keep changing it back to Newest First. Over and over and over again. How annoying to be part of a test group! I hope your stat counters are keeping track of my attempts to change it back. I feel like a hamster in a cage at a test lab. Best Match is NOT my best match!
bordstuf (0 ) Nov-07-07 18:33 PST 248 of 259
Still trying to determine how to disable the new Best Match "enhancement."
Dumping Cookies, Temp files, History, changing underwear, etc. has no effect.
It seems that Best Match has been made the default - - which persistently overrides Customized Settings.
alas** (1035 ) Nov-08-07 00:56 PST 249 of 259
Why are all of my bloody ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED bookmarked searches giving me BEST MATCH instead of ending soonest? This crap is NOT optional if BEST MATCH is the default. In Firefox (mac) I can't even change the stupid best match back to ending soonest unless I enable JavaScript, and everyone knows that JaveScript REALLY slows down eBay searches. EBay needs to hire some heavy eBay searchers as consultants, because the idiots driving this train haven't got a clue. WHAT A MESS!!!!!!!!
jo_g** (45 ) Nov-08-07 05:26 PST 250 of 259
Esteban, no offense, but I can't make sense of your long and complicated explanation. The title of your post doesn't make sense either. How can it be " new sort option based on relevance" when we do not have the option of saving our customized search? As for relevance, Best Match is neither relevant nor the best match in the collectible categories which I search. Please give me back my freedom of choice to set and save my own best search options!
[email protected] View Listings | Report Nov-08-07 09:57 PST 251 of 259
jo_girardelli, bordstuf,
The preferences set in "Browse Sort Type" through "Customize Display" are not overriding the site settings in a few categories. A fix for this problem will start rolling out on Monday (11/11). I'll keep you posted. Thank you for your feedback.
usse*** (1534 ) Nov-08-07 11:28 PST 252 of 259
So ebay Ya'll are listening your just too freakin good to get in here and answer some questions.
If I were in California or where ever the main office is I would picket ebay !
All I can say at this point is ...However the tests turn out for you ...You've brought it on yourself !!!!
No sympathies from me when/if you lose your tail ends !
I'll be @ ebay !
glenda (1366 ) Nov-08-07 12:12 PST 253 of 259
Thank you, Esteban, for posting about the fix. The information is appreciated.
Could you take a look at these threads as well, please? They are threads about some other search issues that are occuring.
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000462307
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000463622
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000593814
And a suggestion your Team might want to add to the list of "think abouts":
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000587642
Those aren't all the issues, of course (you can tell that neither Price+Shipping and Best Match are popular functions), but they are stand-alone, specific thread topics that may suffice as bug report jump-off points.
Glenda
--
V3 You can write to eBay support by clicking on Help then Contact Us.
It's hard to tell where the road will lead, just looking at it from the one end.
pmne*** (348 ) Nov-08-07 12:52 PST 254 of 259
I certainly hope the announced fix on 11/11 works. I get "Best Match" on all of my saved searches and it does not go away by changing my settings. This category is useless for my search preferences. I seem to have been included in test groups on several ocassions and spend wasted hours in these discussion groups trying to figure out what's going on. When I eventually track down the issue it has to do with new feature testing. I'd rather not have to read and post here when there is an unannounced change. I understand the drive to add these features in an effort to increase ebay's profit margin, but I would consider it good customer service to alert me to these tests and allow me the opportunity to opt out. If there was a comparable auctions service with the items I am looking for I would certainly consider opting out of ebay at this point.
naug*** (980 ) Nov-08-07 17:55 PST 255 of 259
I strongly endorse pmnet's message.
In addition, I'm completely confused by Estaban's announcements in this thread. In the original, on Oct 9, '06, he states:
"One thing I want to make sure I get across: we will continue to use "Time: Ending Soonest" or "Time: Newly Listed" as the default sort orders for Search and Browse results, just as it works today."
On Nov 8, above, he states in response to folks (myself included) who cannot get rid of Best Match as our current default:
"The preferences set in "Browse Sort Type" through "Customize Display" are not overriding the site settings in a few categories."
If I interpret this latter statement correctly, Estaban is saying that Best Match has indeed been instituted as the site default sort setting, since Best Match is the setting that we cannot override.
I wish there were more consistency in these messages to the user base; it's really disheartening.
odie*** (277 ) Nov-08-07 19:55 PST 256 of 259
Looks like eBay changed it's mind . . . again!
hurs*** (258 ) Nov-09-07 05:49 PST 257 of 259
Hello,
I am just a simple buyer. When I go look, it is set at best match. I hate it. I can't figure out how to make it back to what it used to be set at. I miss auctions ending soonest. If I can't figure it out, I wonder how others can? No wonder there are 7 pages of people bitching about this feature.
gijo*** (956 ) Nov-09-07 12:33 PST 258 of 259
Esteban first off I like watching you guitar show on HSN.Next why get rid of the completed auctions high to low price search?!!!!This is how sellers find what price to list items!!!Or how buyers find what something is worth.
fez7*** (132 ) Nov-10-07 11:09 PST 259 of 259
why does this keep reverting to best match when i keep changing it to ending soonest? please make this & any future crap you add something the user has to turn on instead of just foisting it upon us. please make this right.
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http://labs.ebay.com/raghavgupta/
Raghav Gupta
Principal Research Scientist
eBay Research Labs
2145 Hamilton Ave,
San Jose CA 95125
Relevance Sort (aka Best Match)
For a long time within eBay it was considered impossible to sort live listings by relevance in real-time, without human training/classification. Unlike regular web-search where the index does not need to be updated immediately as soon as someone somewhere in the world changes his/her webpage, eBay' search engine would need to constantly update its index as thousands of items get listed and expired every second, coupled with confusion over the meaning of "relevance" in an auction style e-commerce scenario. In 2005 I came up with an approach and built a prototype, and it worked remarkably well. After months of evangelizing to business, I led the project's production implementation. It was one of the most difficult architectural, performance, and deadline enabled challenges I have faced. By far the most challenging part turned out to be the abstraction of "relevance" across all the machines in the massive eBay search grid.
All in all, my personal belief is that when used appropriately, this capability will open the doors to significant revenue opportunities, not just for eBay, but also for the vast network of affiliate developers. Every developer who provides search functionality using the eBay API can now provide a better experience to end users.
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. The term "Best Match" seems to be getting used as an umbrella term for many things, including sorting category links by relevance on the new keyword pages: http://buy.ebay.com/laptop (this uses another algorithm I invented separately), product recommendations and also regular items. Esteban Kozak has done a great job as product manager, and I hope this feature will continue to evolve. To check out relevance sort, compare the search results you see for ipod nano with the default Time Ending Soonest sort with the the results for ipod nano sorted by relevance.
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http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?messageID=1011458591&forumID=80&x#1011458591
Feedback on Finding 2.0 (New Search and Browse)
[email protected] Jan-07-08 14:13 PST 2239 of 2340
Good Morning Everyone -
I hope you had a nice weekend.
stoneware3 2161 & 2170 & 2173 & 2181
Currently Product Finders are available in some of the categories for the original item specifics. Custom item specifics are not available on those categories that do have the original item specifics.
In order to make the CIS searchable, we need for them to be around a little bit longer so that we can define the top trends in the Custom entries and return them appropriately.
I suppose you could think of CIS as data provided to eBay, but I think of CIS as data provided to your potential buyers, in the item specifics box, in a clear & concise way so that the salient selling points pop out from your general description.
(I see that you wrote in 2173 that you are not too keen on that box. So if you decide that they are worthwhile, I could suggest to the View item team that that box be customizable as to where it displays. Let me know.)
Should you feel so inclined, please direct me to the underdeveloped Product Finder you referenced in post 2181 so we can take a look.
Thanks so much for your time!
friarlen2 2162
The objective is show items from those sellers who provide a bad buying experience lower down in the list. Items likely to promote Bad buyer experience would be from those sellers with unacceptably low feedback or exorbitant shipping. Items from these users would be displayed further down on the list in the Best Match Sort.
All of the items you search will be returned. Other sort options will still be available.
I hope that addresses your concerns.
Thanks for taking the time to post,
the_ospreys_nest 2163
I found out that Best Match has been set the default sort in browse for the following five categories:
Collectibles
Consumer Electronics
Cameras & Photo
Computer & Networking
Toys & Hobbies
The discrepancy from A to B is due to searching the term Postcards. When you search "postcards" KW search returns only those items with that word (+ iterations: Postcard, post card & post cards) in the title.
If you do a search that culls out (postcard, post card, postcards & post cards) you can see there are currently 1242 items that are in the Holidays Postcard categories with out those terms in the title. (note the number of items have changed since your posting)
On Playground, the behavior is different because everything in the postcards area is assumed to be a postcard, you will notice that if you try to narrow your search with in postcards on the playground the term "postcard" is not retained.
I hope that is helpful.
Thanks for posting
lindaspostcardsandmore 2165 & 2166 & 2175
No need to apologize. That is correct. Custom item specifics are optional and the Original Item specifics were not launched for postcards. It is also true that the representation for Custom Specifics is currently limited to the view item page, and is not in the title search results. At the point where they are integrated in the search they will be more beneficial to getting your item found.
With respect to 2175, I think I got a little lost in the exchange between Glenda and yourself and am not understanding your response. If you feel so inclined, please reiterate.
I will do my best not add to your frustrations but instead try to alleviate them. I will communicate to the appropriate team that entering these CIS is time-prohibitive and try to get specific guidelines for entering them to help you. Thanks so much for bringing it up.
& Thanks so much for taking the time to post.
webpaper 2168
We did an internal review of Item Specifics last year. In all studies that have been conducted since IS have been available on the site, the average conversion rate is consistently higher for listings that use IS than for those who do not.
Keep in mind please, and I apologize if I didn't make this clear in my original post, the study is for the Original Item Specifics and not for the Custom Item Specifics, which have not been around long enough to be included in last years' study.
Thanks for asking!
glenda 2174
Thanks for letting us know. I will see what we can do about making Widescreen/Fullscreen & region searchable for US.
Thanks again.
permacrisis 2182
I am not sure what you are asking or implying.
What is going to happen to those categories with respect to what?
Beachgal707 2185
Please point me to where you see those suggestions, and I will try to get answers for you.
Thanks
Back Tomorrow,
MarniSue
PS I pulled my post to make some minor corrections. Sorry if this causes any confusion.
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[email protected] Jan-09-08 11:17 PST 2298 of 2340
Good Morning Everyone -
I wanted to take a quick moment to let you know that I won't be able to spend as much time posting answers to this thread through the balance of this month. I apologize in advance if I am unable to respond to some of your direct requests in a timely fashion.
Some Quick Followups
on Best Match
Best Match is a sort. You can find it by using the dropdown where you would find the price and the newly listed sort. In some categories, the best match sort is the default sort. This means if you browse to those categories, the sort employed is Best Match. You can still opt to open that drop down and change your sort to newly listed or price or any other sort.
Best Match sort is tailored to drive those sellers who provide a bad buyer experience lower on the list of items returned. So those users who have very low feedback ratings or those users who list a very high shipping rate w/ respect to the item would be shown last in the best match sort.
On Seller Suggestions (for Beach)
I have sent an email to the SYI team and am waiting answers. I have pointed them to your post, so you may get contacted directly by an eBay team member.
On Product Finders
Glenda is correct, there are many specific Product Finders, not just one. If you have concerns over the behavior of a specific product finder, please send me the URL ([email protected]) with what you believe should be happening and is not and we will investigate.
Thanks for your patience,
MarniSue
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http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000628285&tstart=0&mod=1200550601024
[email protected] Jan-16-08 15:42 PST
We’ve been working to improve how Best Match works to enhance the buying experience. We wanted to let you know that beginning today, Best Match will be tested in the following five categories:
- Consumer Electronics
- Computers & Networking
- Cameras & Photos
- Cell Phones & PDAs
- Toys and Hobbies
We’ve provided FAQs below in anticipation of the questions you may have about the enhanced Best Match functionality. We also encourage you to post additional questions to this thread.
Regards,
The Finding Team
Question 1: What is "Best Match"?
Answer: "Best Match" is a new sort feature that gives buyers another way to organize their search results, helping them more quickly find what they are looking for.
Question 2: How does "Best Match" work?
Answer: When "Best Match" is selected, each listing's Best Match score is calculated using a number of factors, and is tailored to each buying situation. Along with the listing keywords and other information, one of most important elements in this calculation is the historical buyer behavior on the site for similar searches. One thing to note: Best Match scores are only used to sort listings, and won’t be shown on the site.
Question 3: How do I change the sort back to “Time: Ending Soonest”?
Answer: You can simply change the sort by selecting your preferred sort option from the “Sort by” dropdown menu in the upper right corner of Search Results. You can also customize the sort options from “Customize Display” if you want your preferred sort option to be the default option.
Question 4: I don’t see my item in the Best Match sort - why not?
Answer: The "Best Match" sort doesn’t change which items get returned for a particular search - it just changes the order of the items themselves. If your item isn’t appearing at all, please check this page: 'How can I find it'.
Question 5 (for eBay Developers): How do API users take advantage of the "Best Match" sort option?
Answer: The "Best Match" sort option includes additions to the eBay unified schema API. The GetSearchResults and GetCategoryListings calls will enable you to specify that the best matches are returned first.
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