We’re testing new default searches in three categories. This thread is to explain more about the features and to find out what you think.
What’s happening? From this week users in three categories will see changed sort orders instead of the usual sort by ‘Time: Ending Soonest’. The categories and sort orders are:
Sort by ‘Best Match’ o Baby o Tickets & Travel
Sort by ‘Category’ o Jewellery & Watches
For many occasions ‘Time: Ending Soonest’ is a useful way to sort results, however we’ve learned that it does not always present the most relevant items at the top of search results. ‘Best Match’ and ‘Category’ attempt to optimise the way items are sorted so that the most relevant items for buyers appear nearer the top of the results.
What is ‘Best Match’? ‘Best Match’ changes the order in which items appear based on their relevance to the buyer. All items matching a keyword will continue to be returned but will be sorted to help buyers find what they’re looking for more quickly and efficiently. ‘Best Match’ uses many factors along with Time in its algorithm. Some of the criteria include:
o The relevance of the words in the item title o The relevance of the category in which an item is listed o Seller feedback % score
An example When a user searches for the keywords ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ they will find about 2,000 items, and there will be typically around 5 Ipod Nano 4GBs in first 50 items.
We know that when someone searches for ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ the vast majority of the time they view only ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ MP3 Player listings, not accessories. In ‘Best Match’, items that share the same keywords and categories as previously viewed or bought items will appear higher in search results for the same query.
Try it here:
1. ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ sorted by ‘Time: Ending Soonest’ 2. ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ sorted by ‘Best Match’
What is sort by ‘Category’? Sort by ‘Category’ groups the items returned for a search by the category they are listed in. The category groupings you see are ordered according to their popularity among buyers who searched for the same thing before, just like ‘Best Match’.
Why are you making these changes? Currently, the sort option for our search results is ‘Time: Ending Soonest’, which means that listings that are closest to their ending time appear at the top of search results. We think that buyers prefer different sort orders depending on the occasion, for example it’s already different in Motors. For buying cars, ‘Time: Ending Soonest’ is not as useful as knowing how far away the car is located and so the default sort order is ‘Distance: Nearest First’.
As a seller, what do I have to do? You do not need to do any extra work, your listings will already be picked up from the information that you have always supplied us.
How do I get my items to show up when ‘Best Match’ is selected? One very important note: sorting by ‘Category’ or ‘Best Match’ won’t change which listings are returned, it will only change the order in which listings are presented. No listings will be added or removed when you use a sort.
To maximise your position we recommend sellers follow the eBay Selling Tips in particular:
o Make sure to include all the relevant keywords of interest to buyers in the title o List your items in the most appropriate category
When will all of eBay.co.uk look like this? This depends on the outcome of the test and what you think of it. We plan to run the test for the rest of the year and then make a decision on future plans.
quite happy with those categories but I just cant see how useful that would be for other categories such as clothes?
If I search 'M&S shirt' I am quite happy to see items ending the earliest - as it is now. Besides, there is a drop down menu now with items ending soonest, newly listed etc.
SO why not add 'best match' there rather than force it on everyone in all categories by default?
1. How can Ebay possibly know what 'best matches' what I'm looking for???
2. Just tried a search in 'Baby' by best match, and the order of items returned is still mainly driven by ending time - they come up in blocks of less than 24h, 1-2 days left, 2-3 days left, etc, but have been re-ordered within those blocks. So actually the list as a whole can't possibly have been ordered by 'best match'.
You state that we need do nothing - as you will give us the searched items from the information we have given you????? Surely we ought to be able to search for items we want - not what you think we want......
I suggest you include another option in the drop down menu and tell everyone which categories this will apply to - 'best match' might not be suitable at all -
Please leave the search function alone - it's bad enough to navigate through it already without adding more options!!!!!!
The left hand selection menu is too specific - and the areas are way down the page and you have to click on each section - once for the 'selection' and then again if you want to go 'worldwide' Too much fussy sorting going on here I think.
People will search in the line and tick the contents button also - still get their requirements.....
What I would like to see is, in the left-hand menu, an option to select more than one category, as sometimes I want to look at a range of connected items, and it's a pain having to keep going back to that and choosing a different category. I'd like to see it all presented together.
I can't see how 'best match' is going to work, to be honest. I don't want ebay deciding what they think I'm looking for. Sure, it might be useful in some cases, so why not just add it as another option in the drop-down menu instead?
Warning - chocolate can make your clothes shrink
Whoever said nothing was impossible, never tried slamming a revolving door.
It's the start of the thin end of the wedge as eBay can use DSR's to rate these searches with the worst performing sellers at the bottom, whereas they can't do this so easily with Time: ending soonest
To maximise your position we recommend sellers follow the eBay Selling Tips in particular:
o Make sure to include all the relevant keywords of interest to buyers in the title o List your items in the most appropriate category
Is this true of all categories? If so, if I search for 'orange shirt' (title only, all categories), why do I get amongst the search results:
EX STORE STUNNING ORANGE BUTTERFLY TUNIC TOP AGE 4YRS
CP Company SS2006 Knit , Orange/Wht , 4 / Large , BNWT
M&S Girls orange zipped cardigan - age 3-4 years
STRAPPY TOP IN BRIGHT ORANGE AGE 8-9
I could go on....
This has been happening for a while. It seems to be associated with Item Specific titles. Please can you point me to the Ebay announcement explaining how it works? Surely an announcement was made??
PS I'm definitely not in any search trials, and just in case you come up with a standard Ebay reply, I do clear my cookies and cache regularly.
Thanks for the responses so far. A couple of comments on what people have been saying:
#2&4 How does Best Match know what I want? Best Match works by remembering what sort of items people clicked on & bought when they carried out the same search.
I refer you to the example in my original post - we know from past history that most users searching for 'Ipod Nano 4GB' are after ipods, rather than skins and accessories. Best Match will surface more ipods - i.e. the actual things people are after - than Time: Ending Soonest will.
Our reason for doing this is to make it easier for buyers to find what they are looking for and hopefully cut down the time spent wading through large numbers of items that are not of interest to them.
People who would still rather see things sorted strictly by end time can still do so using the sorts drop-down at the top of the search page.
#7 The reason you are seeing those items appear is because of the Item Specifics used in those items. In certain cases, the Item Specific is searched along with the item title by default. Since they are Type: Tops & T-Shirts, your search for 'shirt' picks these up. If you search for:
'Orange "Shirt"' then these extra items should disappear from your results.
When a user searches for the keywords ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ they will find about 2,000 items, and there will be typically around 5 Ipod Nano 4GBs in first 50 items. We know that when someone searches for ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ the vast majority of the time they view only ‘Ipod Nano 4GB’ MP3 Player listings, not accessories.
If I search for "Ipod Nano 4GB" I see in the left column:
Consumer Electronics (2048) MP3 Player Accessories (1466) MP3 Players (583)
If I want an mp3 player, I click mp3 players. If I want accessories, I click accessories.
This is a local board for local people. There is nothing for you here.
I take it then that ebay have never heard of point of sale 7 compulsive purchasing. Thats when a buyer is looking for one thing you present them with both the item and accessories for that item so hopefully they will buy more than one item. Creating a search that will only bring up the single item is a good way to cut your own throat. -
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one"
Best Match works by remembering what sort of items people clicked on & bought when they carried out the same search. ~~~ the underpinning assumptions seem to be that (i) I'm adopting the same search strategy as other users (if indeed that could be inferred from what they clicked on - I suspect not) (ii) I want to buy the same sort of things as other people do (definitely not a valid assumption)
In certain cases, the Item Specific is searched along with the item title by default. ~ Why did Ebay not announce this when it was introduced ?? What are the 'certain cases' ?? This could be useful to sellers (if certain words can safely be omitted from item titles - contrary to your advice in #1) ~~ but only if the 'certain cases' (and by implication every Item Specific title in every category?) is clearly listed somewhere for reference. Has this been done? If so, please post the link.
I am already finding searching for items to be no longer an enjoyable experience.
I now ignore the huge list of categorised searches on the left because it just is of no use, not all sellers use the same category when there is more than one choice but this way of searching will be losing them sales.
I do not want Ebay deciding what items I would like, I prefer to make up my own mind and set the searches myself.
I would prefer to be able to search for items in the UK only and not have items in Europe set as the default, an option to permanently change this feature would be of use to me, as I do not wish to search Europe. Neither do I wish to buy from USA which is currently flooding the Europe searches. Why can we not have a permanent option to search UK only?
And with the ads at the bottom of pages instead of the pages no.'s for searching, well, why not just make the site for external links and large companies only? Then maybe everyone will go elsewhere and we can buy and sell as we used to?
I have noticed that there are a lot less items to buy this year, whereas before there were maybe 9 or 10 pages of items, I am now finding only one, and where there were 20 pages, there are now only 9. I do know to look below all the garbage at the foot of the pages for the other page numbers, they are just not there.
While I am here, please could we also have an option to turn off the flashing gifs advertising stuff (I don't know what it they are for as I try to avoid looking at them) which are appearing in My Ebay and on the sides of random search pages? These things are much too big and intrusive and distracting and a big problem if you have visual difficulties. Animated gifs are not allowed on the forums so why should we have to see them on the pages?
I do not want to change my PC programs and download something just to resolve an Ebay 'improvement' I want a user friendly experience.
It looks to me as if Ebay are driving away the sellers. I am certainly listing only rarely these days.
I opted out of the new search pages, as I couldn't use them.
#13 & 14 - Sorting by Best Match here does not show ipods exclusively, rather it re-balances the results to better reflect the mix of items buyers tend to actually look for in their search. There are still plenty of skins and accessories on the first page, just not quite as many as before.
Clearly not all buyers are after the same thing, but in many cases there is a pretty clear indication of what they want, which is not always reflected by sorting by end time. However, the more specific your search term, the less difference Best Match will make to your results as the items shown will be closer to what people tend to click on anyway.
I would also point out that we are not changing the items which are returned for a particular search. We are just presenting the results in a way which takes more account of what people actually buy than simply sorting by whatever happens to be ending first.
#15 The certain circumstances refer to particular item specifics in particular categories (e.g. 'Type' in Girls' Clothing). The idea behind this is to return as many interesting items to people as possible without them having to construct massively complex search terms to take account of all the different ways sellers can describe their items. I would still continue to put relevant words like 'shirt' in your item title to help people when looking at search results.
#16 You can 'opt out' by selecting a different sort order from the sort drop down at the top of the results page.
The only problem I have with things like this is listing time. When I first started listing it used to take me about a minute a listing but now it takes about 15 minutes a listing and as a result I have gone from listing about 1000 - 2000+ to listing about 300 - 500+ as I just don't have the time on my hands to spend all day listing and corrcting old listing due to the lastest tweak otherwise none of the orders would get filled. If you carry on tinkering at the rate you have been it wont be long before it takes an hour to do a single listing and the end result will be that nobody will list and ebay will disappear into oblivion.
Ebay has already seen a 5% drop in listing in Q3 compared to the same quarter last year I wonder what the drop will be next month. -
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one"
eBay----- You never heard of the age old saying...... "IF IT'S NOT BROKE-DONT TRY AND FIX IT!"
Surley ebay have so many more pressing matters to deal with ....like why they have introduced sponsored links? Links that take buyers AWAY from ebay to corporate/big company sites that are undercutting ebay sellers due to their buying power. If sellers even try and hint at our own websites to customers-ebay come down on them like a ton of bricks. But it seems its okay for ebay to do it!! Seems like one rule for the poor sellers and one rule for the big cats in ebay!
how annoying, i've searched for stuff in the past and for some reason the best match filter butts its head in, i thought that most people on ebay use ebay for a last minute bargain so they are gonna look at time ending soonest more?
Hi Trevor, I have never posted before but feel i must about this! The best thing about Ebay was the fact that it was a pretty level playing field, i.e. big company or bedroom, you payed yer money and sooner or later you got to the front of the Que. You mention some criteria for the best match but not all. what are the others? wouldn't be something to do with whether you are a big company / powerseller or such would it? Or maybe you are just trying to get more featured listings? You say people can just choose a normal search by using a drop down menu, but we all know the uptake on that! if anything best match should be in the drop down menu, then you would see how much it won't be used. I can see keyword spamming becoming rife as people attempt to get to the top, and then no-one will be able to find anything. Just my thoughts, sorry if i have offended / posted any thing wrong but as i mentioned this is my first time (hopefully the last if you don't change anything else for the worse). P.S. please could you remove the flashing adverts off my homepage as i don't want a credit report, to gamble, or to join a blXXdy gym.
#19 - No, it's true that we don't know precisely what you are looking for when you enter a search, but we do know what everyone previously did when they did the same search.
You still get the same items back as you did before, just sorted slightly differently. To turn the question around, is the end time alone really the most useful way to present results?
#20 - As I said, this change requires no extra work from sellers, so shouldn't take you any more time to list.
#21 - I disagree that it wasn't broken before. Whilst Best Match is clearly not perfect, neither is Time: Ending Soonest. We think that Best Match is a better way of sorting search results for buyers, but we will be monitoring the results of this test very closely to see what happens.
#22 I will look into getting the complete list of item specifics if you are interested in this.
#23 End time still plays a part in the Best Match sort, so buyers ought to still be able to bag a last minute bargain with this.
#24 Provided the keywords in your title accurately describe your item, then of course this is not keyword spamming. However, if you start adding in irrelevant keywords just to get more visibility, then this is keyword spamming just as it was before.
#19 - No, it's true that we don't know precisely what you are looking for when you enter a search, but we do know what everyone previously did when they did the same search.
You still get the same items back as you did before, just sorted slightly differently. To turn the question around, is the end time alone really the most useful way to present results?
#20 - As I said, this change requires no extra work from sellers, so shouldn't take you any more time to list.
#21 - I disagree that it wasn't broken before. Whilst Best Match is clearly not perfect, neither is Time: Ending Soonest. We think that Best Match is a better way of sorting search results for buyers, but we will be monitoring the results of this test very closely to see what happens.
#22 I will look into getting the complete list of item specifics if you are interested in this.
#23 End time still plays a part in the Best Match sort, so buyers ought to still be able to bag a last minute bargain with this.
#24 Provided the keywords in your title accurately describe your item, then of course this is not keyword spamming. However, if you start adding in irrelevant keywords just to get more visibility, then this is keyword spamming just as it was before.
Just a small point but surely EBAY works because (and Im sorry if it offends you) its a bit like a large car boot sale...
So if you do a search on 'say' beads because you are looking for some inspiration ... you end up spending an enjoyable half an hour looking through lots of different items..
Then you make an impulse purchase...
If everyone knew what they were looking for that would be great and the proposed search would be great but the reality is people like finding unusual things!
Also the auction concept is sucessful because people see items ending soon and this creates a sense of competition... why do people list lots of items to end in the evenings? Well, simply because thats when more people are browsing and when the chances of impulse purchases and bids are greater...
Item specifics are also a total waste of time (how many people actually complete their search using the facility??? Yet it deters sellers from listing items because its so time consuming).
Likewise, tinkering with search results will have a detrimental effect on EBAY as well...
Just look how the sponsor results have been received... why should they have preference over shop sellers on EBAY?
Surely before EBAY bring in these changes you should ask the Communities opinion and take notice!
We think that Best Match is a better way of sorting search results for buyers, but we will be monitoring the results of this test very closely to see what happens.
In other words, "We know you better than you know yourself, we are doing it & stuff what the customer wants"
I only ever use 3 sorting methods: Time ending soonest, Time newly listed, and very occasionally, Price lowest first. I have never used Best Match in my life and I don't want it forced upon me now. People should be given the option of how they want to do their searches, they shouldn't be told what they should do.
I am still miffed how this Best Match is supposed to be such an enhanced experience.
I just searched for 'bag' All items came up in the order of ending soonest.
Then I selected Best match and...........
they came up all mixed terms of time.
Now how does ebay know that I like the brown bag that came on top of the list when Best match was selected BETTER than the green one which is ending soonest
Just think it should be up to us what search results we want......best match ???? how on earth will eBay decide what is a best match for me .......I need to see what is ending soonest so I can bid before the auctions end......that's the whole point of searching isn't it ? Getting items in order of listing ? I will also still need to see newly listed........if you muck about with that I will scream !! Don't need to search by category......what's the point ? I search for what I want...not what category it's in...I don't care what category it's been listed in. Please leave it alone !!!
So does this mean that I will be able to type in 'fake lacoste polo shirt' and get thousands of hits? At the moment if you type that in you get 0 results, even though there are thousands of them!
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