eBay to Roll Out New Simplified Search

by: Moonwishes

This is the equivalent of a grocery store rearranging all their isles, especially the baking goods isle right before December so nobody can find what they want or need to make Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza goodies. eBay needs some people with common sense to run the place since obviously no one else there has any!

by: VV

How about if I type in search "abc123" it brings back "abc123" and not what THEY think I want? Why can't that be coded?

by: Flying Childers

Sounds just like Etsy.  Let's face it- small sellers of genuine vintage and handmade items are doomed.  There's not enough money to be made for the Big Boys and Girls who all think they are the next Jeff Bezos.  They are just not that interested in us anymore, they see no value in what we sell.

by: blueribbon1844

@Ming 100% true I don't believe a word out of his mouth

by: Geetar

I am very skeptical about anything they do. In the last 5 years there is little that they have done that improved anything. Most changes were unfelt or actually did harm.

My sales in the last month-month and a half have gone down 48%. There is no reason for it that I can see. I've added more inventory (about 40% more listings), I had 2 neg's and 2 neutrals that are gone now. Have a very very low late ship rate (less than 1/2%), Very low defect rate (less than 1/2%). I jump through all the hoops....So why the slow down for me when everything indicates that it should be slightly higher?

So now all the playing with the search engine they have been doing for the pat couple of moths is supposed to be a step in the right direction?

Quite a few sellers have told me that their sales have slowed down. I was in the process of expanding with more items. But when I heard that I stooped purchasing for new listings. I am glad I did.

by: I Must be Crazy

Some things have definitely been going on. My sales in August have been the highest they have ever been; 48 percent above August of 2016. However my listing views and click through have both been declining. That tells me my visibility was favorable. Generally if people see my items, they will buy if it's what they are looking for. My pricing is competitive and service level is 100 percent everything Ebay asks and then some. However, the party might be over. During the last two weeks things have been declining at a steady rate. Day to day sales have become volatile again between high and low. Most sales happen within a short window of time in a day. Under one hour on low days, a period of 6 hours on the higher days. This smacks of limited visibility. Never mind the fact I have probably hit one or more of the ''silent'' seller limits that Ebay does not share with the public. In any case, whatever Ebay does will not yield more sales for them as a whole and will not yield any sustainable growth for the majority of sellers. There is not a shred of doubt in my mind they have already been playing with search. In fact if Devin Wenig is talking about it now, it is likely already in place.

by: I Must be Crazy

Oops...my bad. Click through and conversion are both up. Its the impressions and page views that have been declining. To me that translates to better search placement.

by: Bethofvt

I need simpler search. I hope it is true.  Last week I wanted to look for 6000 piece jigsaw puzzles.  There were only 7 on all of Ebay, but any search I did brought back hundreds of jigsaw puzzles with counts from 150 t0 6000, with most being 1000.  I wanted to see 6000 piece, I entered 6000 piece, why did I not get just the 7 I wanted. Then I searched for an Proctor Silex can opener because I wanted a Proctor Silex can opener. Search returned hundreds of can openers, most brands other than Proctor Silex. I want simple search. If I know what I am looking for and enter those search terms, that is what I should see. That is how it is on every other website I use. Why is Ebay so complicated?

by: bpm

New Ebay search? Oh god no......bit off topic - a lot of people have posted their sales in August were up (or even way up); me too - my dismal sales were up 400% from 1st - 31st August. From the 1st Sept, sales have crashed again - anyone else experienced this?

by: eBay Shill Buster

It's simple, the moron is simply going to insert his promoted listings in the search algorithms and utilize his criminal sellers hub to sell them.

by: eBay Shill Buster

BPM, sales going up from 100 dollars to 400 dollars means you are still bankrupt.  

by: toolguy

WOW

We haven't even seen it yet and most of you are already complaining.

Being pessimistic isn't very healthy for ones business. . .

I'm excited to see what eBay has in store with their new search (not that the existing one isn't working, I still have sales)

by: eXtinctBay

Wenig had to put on his best CEO face and hype these changes. Guaranteed delivery may not have the participation needed to increase revenue, and product authentication is probably too expensive to use. Image search has been at Amazon for a long time, and finally eBay is enacting it.

The question will be if eBay's broken search engine is finally fixed. ''Compressed'' and ''Simplified'' sounds like ABBREVIATED. Which means items will be even harder to find than before. And this cannot be good for anyone.

Wall Street has responded very well, and the stock is way up.  Time for the execs to cash in now, because when the next financial reports are issued next month, they were not already going to be pretty due to tax deferments and the like.

The proof will be in the pudding if the ''New and Improved'' search engine, artificial intelligence, and other changes actually move the eBay revenue needle in the right direction.

These next two financials will determine the future of eBay. If they don't increase the bottom line by a large margin, the stock will tank, and they will be ripe for a takeover. The 2017 holiday season results will certainly show which direction this company is heading.  

by: Whatever

I've been saving my money - anticipating the demise of ebay - I'm so sad to see what they have turned such a lucrative site for sellers into just a bizarre path of constantly hammering the sellers and buyers alike. Just go a solication for the "new" shiny paypal card yesterday - fat chance folks. I purchased something the other day and ebay demanded I use my paypal funds. I use my own cc to pay for ebay purchases. Got both paypal and ebay on the phone (waste of 2 hours) while the rep is with me we both confirm that it is using my cc and he tels me to hit the pay button  and it sucks the funds right out of my paypal account. He tells me there is nothing he can do. Guess what? there's something I can do - I simply refuse to shop ebay anymore. This makes me sick as I too am a seller and we all hold out hope that the few short window of opportunity (xmas) might salvage the year but I'm pretty sure at this point in time our xmas selling season is a total loss with this announcement.  Guess what else? I went shopping on for what I needed  on Alibaba and was totally shocked at how much more affordable I can get what I need there.

by: Whatever

eXtinctBay - takeover? who at this point would want it? really

by: Marie

Ina, Can you find out what the heck EBAY's definition of a "compressed, simplified search"?  We can all guess what it means, but that really doesn't mean anything.  What is important is how Ebay defines it.  What the heck is it?

by: eBay Shill Buster

Tool, it is funny that you still place confidence in the CEO (Clown executive officer) of eBay after his promoted listings and sellers hub scams, now you think he is capable of fixing search.

The dude is a corporate attorney, he knows nothing at all about technology, he is at eBay to work with investors on Wall Street, nothing more, it is all hot air.

Under Devin eBay is dead, no growth, all smoke and mirrors, nothing is going to change, the marketplace is dead and new marketplaces are taking share even faster from eBay, Donahoe and Devin have done nothing but chase eBay sellers to new marketplaces.

Check out one of them that eBay sellers are flocking to, go to PRICEFALLS.COM  

by: RoKphish

Why does eBay think they can engineer a search engine? If nothing else Cassini should have convinced them that they CAN'T. They can barely keep the website functioning, what with DAILY bugs & glitches that impact sales.

They need to mend their fences with Google and contract search with THEM (uhh ... they know a thing or two about search) and stipulate that eBay items are visible in Google Search ... just like Amazon's.

by: toolguy

@ESB

Check out one of them that eBay sellers are flocking to, go to PRICEFALLS.COM

I did, ROTFLMAO

Not even a grain of sand on eBay's beach. . .

by: eXtinctBay

@Whatever

Facebook has the capital to purchase eBay if and when the stock tanks. And if they really want to get a start in ecommerce, there is a ready-made buyer and seller base that would be available.

Yahoo / Verizon could want to get involved again with EC, though they failed the first time around.

Amazon may want to increase their catalog to include more used and collectible items. Why not?

And Baba, even though Jack Ma is on record stating that they are not interested in venturing into the US market, may take eBay over if the price is right. And how about Google or Microsoft??

In any event, if eBay is purchased, there would be a new management team that would likely put money into the company, and not just be concerned with plumping the stick price. And hopefully listen to their users on how to improve the site, and then place these ideas into actual practice.