From eBay Search Forum - More about Best Match:

From eBay Search Forum
More about Best Match:
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000511099&tstart=0&mod=1202165121692

[email protected] View      Feb-04-08 14:45 PST
Hello everyone…This is Julie on the Finding team. As Bill mentioned, Best Match will become the new default sort in search and browse in March. I’d like to give you more details about Best Match and the changes we are making to it.

As most buyers and sellers know, eBay’s Best Match sort option is an important Finding innovation that is intended to help buyers find relevant items quickly and easily. Best Match has been a sort option on our site for over a year, and it has been the default sort in other international markets. Since its launch, our data shows that Best Match helps buyer conversion more than any of our other sort methods. That’s why, starting in March, it’s going to become the default sort method site-wide.

[email protected] View      Feb-04-08 14:46 PST     1 of
How Best Match works
In addition to using factors like the listing end time, Best Match sorts the listings you see based on a concept called “relevance.” A particular listing's relevance is based on past successful buyer behavior for similar items. Essentially, buyers ‘vote’ on relevance every time they search for and buy an item, because these activities provide valuable input into the relevance system.

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. These types of items might then display higher on the page in subsequent searches.

There are particular areas of the site where relevance plays a more important role in improving the buyer experience (e.g. Nintendo Wii queries) and others where it plays a smaller role (e.g. Collectible lunch boxes queries) We’re committed to using relevance where it drives more buyer success.

It is important to remember that Best Match will not change which listings are returned for a given search. Also, Buyers may still select alternate sort orders, including Time Ending Soonest and Newly Listed from the sort drop down menu at any time. Buyers may also customize their search options to always display their preferred sort as the default.


Adding Seller Performance to Best Match
One thing Best Match has not done is differentiate between sellers who provide consistently positive buying experiences and the small percentage who don’t. In March, we will be enhancing Best Match so that it makes greater use of Detailed Seller Ratings and a seller’s buyer dissatisfaction rate. As Bill Cobb said, this enables us to reward the great sellers on the site with increased listings exposure, and reduce negative buying experiences from sellers with high rates of buyer dissatisfaction.

For great sellers: Sellers with all DSRs of at least 4.6 within the last 30 days will get higher visibility in search results than sellers who have lower rates of customer satisfaction.

Sellers with high buyer dissatisfaction rates: Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction rates greater than 5% in the last 30 days or lower than 4.2 on the Shipping and Handling Charge DSR will experience decreased exposure for their listings in search results. This affects only a small percentage of all sellers and listings, but will make a big difference for our buyers.


In summary
We hope you’ll agree that this will be a positive change for the eBay marketplace and we welcome your questions and comments. We’re committed to helping buyers have the best experience on eBay as possible.

lin***  (4611 ) View      Feb-04-08 14:58 PST     2 of
No, we do not agree!!!!

Only an idiot will continue to list auctions here if they have no guarantee of ever being seen at the prime top spot on the search results pages.

If I am correct I can sit back and watch this site self destruct quicker than ever before!

dor***  (955 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:03 PST     3 of
Can you tell me how this is going to work with auctions? Don't you (we) want items that are ending soon to be more visible than those that are ending later? I'm obviously a non search expert, lol, but if I search auctions for pink elephants-I want to see the ones that are ending soon so I don't miss them incase one of those in the one I want. Is there some kind of default that at least gives you the ones that end in 2-3 hrs upfront?

D

fin***  (2951 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:13 PST     4 of
Hi Julie..

I am a Platinum Powerseller with over 3000 100% Positive Feed Backs. I am in the Toys and Hobbies category that has already been affected by BEST MATCH and I can tell you IT DOES NOT WORK. I have been on the phone with Ebay the past two weeks. They can not give me an answer as to why with a 5.0 DSR rating and very good listings my items appear on page 4, 7, 8. My sales have been destroyed and I am just about to close down my store is this issue is not rectified. So you can all make all the announcements you would like and tell us how BEST MATCH is SUPPOSE to work...BUT it reality unless you are a LARGE VOLUME SELLER WITH .99 cents auctions not minding selling you items for pennies.. BEST MATCH IS NOT FOR YOU. Sorry but it has been two weeks of disappointment. All the hard work I have put into my store to make it was it was and you all took that away by the flick of a switch.

the***  (2 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:22 PST     5 of
"our data shows that Best Match helps buyer conversion more than any of our other sort methods"
HOW was this data gathered?  And more importantly how are you comparing data ... mine against whose?

"It is important to remember that Best Match will not change which listings are returned for a given search. Also, Buyers may still select alternate sort orders, including Time Ending Soonest and Newly Listed from the sort drop down menu at any time. Buyers may also customize their search options to always display their preferred sort as the default."
Then answer WHY I keep (and have been) being dumped into Best Match, when I have clearly changed back to the sort I want?
In addition, my preferences are NOT being honored ... and this is nothing new.

eBay has provided mixed messages for years on various issues and this whole experience has been no exception.

It's nice to welcome our questions and comments, but of late I've not seen a PINK answering any questions, especially when the issues seem to be contrary to what has been stated by eBay.

Thanks for listening ...
the_ospreys_nest

lin***  (4611 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:26 PST     6 of
osprey...sure it does. People load up on those 99 cent items. lol

But, let's see how long they shop here when that is all the site has left for sale.

egn***  (1222 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:32 PST     7 of
As a collectible seller best match is by far the worst thing Ebay has ever done . If you want everyone to sell new chinese junk then just say it and we will go elsewhere.

As a default for auctions it makes no sense. The most important thing about an auction is its ending time.

You might as well just do away with the collectible categories now. Oh how I wish Google would buy Ebay and show everyone at Ebay what a pink really is as in pink slip.

All the collectible sellers have been telling you for a year that this won't work and we don't want it . But you know what, you know more than my years of collecting and the hundreds of combined years of sellers experience in the collectible categories.

When the collectible categories fall flat and all your good sellers leave you will ask yourself why didn't we listen.

das***  (719 ) View      Feb-04-08 16:25 PST     8 of
Julie,

I have to ask, How long do you search EVERY DAY. I do the same searches every day. How will this help. I will now have to go through every page of every search every day.

I used BM last week on one of my searches (VW Key). On the first page half way down was a good seller with a store and his item ended in 2 hours. Above that (top 10) was a stock photo of a "switch blade" blank at more than the going price for a seller I have not seen before. Oh yea that item ended in a few days too.

Now yes you say we can "switch" to the search preference we want but, 1) who will tell this to the new user that will come here and then leave 2) how long will this last till it is the only search (we were told that BM would never be a default search).

eBay really needs to use the site they are running. The more these changes happen the more we see that you don't use this site. Oh and before you look at this ID and say that I have not been around here long, This is my business ID (this is my full time job). My personal ID is WM971252, Yea I have been around for a bit.

lil**  (4335 ) View      Feb-04-08 17:12 PST     9 of
Best Match is a Major Disaster. Leave that trash on ebay express.

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[email protected]       Feb-05-08 14:48 PST       23 of
Good Afternoon Everyone

dorothysew, egnatz1, fflustred: As I mentioned in the posts above, we do understand that relevance plays a more important in certain categories than others (like collectibles). End time will continue to be an important factor in the overall relevance score in these areas.

dasbullihaus: There are no plans to remove the other sort options (Time Ending Soonest, Newly Listed, etc) from the site, and users can continue to set their preferred sort option as their customized default.

all*about*horses: Only sellers with an unacceptable DSR score will be demoted – we will not be demoting sellers with no DSR score.

Ussearch: Best Match is currently the site default for our UK and France sites.

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[email protected]        Feb-05-08 16:24 PST       33 of
Hi spombo: Best Match is just a sort. Playground is an environment where we can show the community new features and solicit feedback. You're getting different results there because the search actually is different. The best place for comments on the Playground results are on the Feedback on Finding 2.0 (New Search & Browse) thread tacked to the top of the Search Board.

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[email protected]        Feb-06-08 16:31 PST       48 of
egnatz, beachgal707 –We’re committed to driving buyer success for auctions and collectibles, and end time is a critical component for success in both of those areas. We know this from our own research, and you’ve told us loud and clear on the boards. Best Match is not a site-wide one-size-fits-all solution, but will be tailored to suit the unique needs on each area of the site.

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[email protected]       Feb-07-08 08:57 PST       65 of
themagicoftime- (post 55) Yes, 30 day DSR rankings were chosen because it does give sellers the ability to rapidly improve their scores. Your example is correct – the seller would only be demoted for that month, and would receive higher ranking in the sort as soon as their 30 day scores improved. (post 57) You are correct - sellers with no 30 day DSR score will not be advantaged or disadvantaged by the seller performance factors in the sort.

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[email protected] View        Feb-07-08 10:48 PST       67 of
all*about*horses - Sellers with a Shipping & Handling Charge DSR of 4.2 and lower will decrease in exposure. We are not evaluating the actual shipping charge on the listing.

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[email protected]        Feb-07-08 11:15 PST       69 of
the_ospreys_nest - Multiple factors including relevance, end time and seller performance factors will play a role in the placement of listings. The length of an auction only plays a role in placement to the extent it affects end time. There is no time of day Best Match starts – it is always on.

Occasional sellers with good 30 day DSRs will be advantaged by the seller performance factors. Occasional sellers without 30 day DSRs will not be advantaged or disdvantaged by these factors.

Regarding sort preferences, I’ll have the developers look into that. I know of an issue on the BIN tab, but I’m not aware of anything else that would prevent your preferences from sticking.

Regarding buyers who do not leave DSRs – I don’t know the answer with any certainty. I’ll look into it and get back to you.

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[email protected]        Feb-07-08 17:11 PST       83 of
lindaspostcardsandmore - The order of the keywords in your title does not have to match the order of the keywords in the user query.

I'm sorry I don't have any more time to post this afternoon. I'll try to pick up again tomorrow and catch the questions I missed.

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[email protected]        Feb-13-08 13:32 PST         107         of

            Hi Everyone - sorry to be away for so long.

the_ospreys_nest: Best Match should not be overriding your customized sort option, and I have raised this issue to our developers. Thanks for reporting the issue.

themagicoftime: Best Match is not currently customized per user. You may be seeing different performance due to customized sort options for different user ids since you won’t see your customized options if you aren’t signed in. I would expect any user without customized sort options to see the same version of Best Match for the same query on the same site. Each site will be tuning Best Match to suit the needs of their own market, so you will see different performance for the same query across different sites.

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