Sun Oct 14 2012 22:25:35 |
Ten Things You Should Know about eBay's Cassini Search
By: Ina Steiner
|
Sponsored Link
|
Monday's EcommerceBytes Newsflash includes an article about some of the tools eBay has been testing as part of its new Cassini search engine scheduled to be officially rolled out side-wide next year. As we wrote, the changes eBay will be implementing have the potential to be very disruptive to sellers. To be prepared, here are 10 things you should know about the changes that may be coming to eBay in 2013:
1) Right now, when you search for an item on eBay, you may get tens of thousands of results. eBay will be limiting search results to a fraction (hundreds) of what it returns today.
2) eBay will mine the text in item descriptions to gather additional product attributes to enrich its catalog and to help it bring back more relevant search results.
3) eBay will use behavioral data to make assumptions about product listings and about shoppers to filter and rank search results unique to each buyer.
4) eBay will let buyers personalize search results, by adjusting four factors - Trust, Value, Diversity and Relevance - and how important each one is to them.
5) eBay is mining the text of feedback comments to try and get a more accurate picture of buyer satisfaction and a seller's trustworthiness and performance. It will use such data in its search algorithm and risk models.
6) DSRs may still play a role in determining seller performance, but will not be used in the same form that you know them today.
7) eBay may implement Price ranges in buyer search, and place a listing's category tree directly in individual search results.
8) While today's Best Match algorithm uses 10s of factors to help it match listings to searches, Cassini's relevancy algorithm will use 100s of factors.
9) Personalization in search will include shoppers' past buying behavior.
10) eBay will move to a free listing model in most categories.
Monday's Newsflash newsletter has more about eBay's "TVS Beacon," which offers searchers more control over certain factors while still using its relevancy algorithm to rank results, and also includes perspective from a seller, Ty Neil, who's been using such features on eBay's testing ground.
How do you feel about eBay limiting search results? What do you think about eBay making search a more customizable experience? What do you think of a free listing model? Is extracting relevant information from feedback a more accurate representation of how good a sellers is than DSRs?
We know this is a lot to wrap your head around, but the impact will be significant for sellers! Take a look at today's articles, and let us know what you think of features such as the TVS Beacon and buyer sentiment tools. Which sellers would benefit, and how do you plan on coping with eBay's new search engine?
|
|
|