eBay Expands Tests of New Search and 'My eBay'

eBay said it has gotten feedback from members about its new search experience, with about 10 percent of members currently using it. Starting this week, eBay will begin defaulting more members to the new search, which users may opt out of if they choose. A small percentage will also see a new merchandising placement highlighting auctions eBay is testing for a limited time, though it did not reveal the specifics of that test.

eBay is also continuing testing of its newly designed "My eBay," an area where registered users can track and manage their eBay buying, selling, messaging, account information and preferences.

There appear to be a number of users who are upset about the new "My eBay," however. eBay started a forum thread on June 24 announcing the third round of testing, and it has already received over 2100 responses. Some sellers are able to opt-out of the testing, others may not.

One forum participant wrote to AuctionBytes and said the new My eBay "is a program wrought with so many flaws that most of the folks who are in the NON-OPT OUT version for 4 weeks have given up selling, or they have been recieving false information and mistakes through this forced testing interface, that affect their buyers and their selling practices, including, but not limited to, using some very high cost software that they were encouraged to purchase on ebay to grow their business."