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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.
Here they go with that “magical” b.s. again?! Does eBay think its users are children? Why use idiotic terms like “magical”?
Maybe they can MAGICALLY lower their take rates?
Maybe they can MAGICALLY improve their HORRIBLE customer service?
Maybe they can MAGICALLY stop with the “tech BS” and get back to concentrating on SELLING THINGS ONLINE?
what can possibly go wrong? the cesspool can not keep the site free from hourly glitches.
since the walmart dope wants these magical innovations, maybe he can make himself and the grifter disappear. abacadabra.
since the cesspool wants to use AI for the listings, does that mean no more inads? highly doubtful
Ebay has it backwards. Stamps originate from issuing countries and are assigned catalog numbers in Scott and other catalogs. Stamps can be described from catalog data, production varieties like grade, and condition data like quality. A program to build complete and accurate descriptions is simple. AI might be useful to build 60-character titles from the most important elements of the description and some understanding of searches that potential buyers may use. Unfortunately, eBay does not have a catalog number Item Specific. Most eBay search filters fail to include enough values or contain non-standard abbreviations. Many expensive stamps have inexpensive look-alike varieties. An AI “tool” would default to the least expensive, and most common variety. Someone selling a more valuable variety could lose their revenue if relying on AI. Sellers who settle on the first instance of a look-alike catalog listing may assign ridiculous prices to their offerings. Should the AI make the same error, who will be responsible when a buyer receives a nearly valueless look-alike stamp as described by an AI “tool”?
What could possibly go wrong, indeed. Let’s see: AI generated description is not accurate and buyer opens a not-as-described return? And eBay sides with buyer over its own AI tool? Own goal for sellers, AI, no thank you.
To paraphrase Ina’s comment, what eBay needs is some magic to generate more sales on what is becoming a struggling platform. Nothing magic about how to do that: go back to the future by cutting fees, keeping listing simple, going all in on getting out of the way of sellers, and stopping coddling buyers. Mercari seems to have discovered that magic, the same magic eBay itself pioneered, back in the day.