http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?t...2000191568
I found proof of the search manipulation. I posted this on the stores board:
Oooh boy, am I angry.
First, I found this article by searching on Google for "eBay search algorithms". The following article is the first result on that search:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-0...ults_x.htm
Vivisimo to organize eBay search results
By Brian Bergstrom, The Associated Press
NEW YORK Vivisimo Inc., developer of a well-regarded Internet search technology that clusters results into categories in seconds, has found another messy corner of the Web to organize: the product listings on eBay.
EBay's search engine mines the descriptions and categories that sellers attach to their wares. Vivisimo believes its search algorithm, which analyzes text in product descriptions and generates its own categories, produces more intuitive results.
For example, a query for "digital camera" on eBay yields a wide range of items, plus links to confine the search to the electronics, sports or consumer electronics category or a few subfields. The same search on Vivisimo clusters cameras by brand or functions.
Neither method is perfect. A Vivisimo search for digital cameras on eBay included a small "Star Wars" category. It turned out that someone selling action figures had written that the pictures of the toys were blurry because "I have a bad digital camera."
Still, Vivisimo offers a few other tricks in the eBay search function that it launched this week on Vivisimo.com. They include the ability for "advanced searches" that can distill products by several factors, such as price range, sellers' location and currency accepted.
Pittsburgh-based Vivisimo has no official relationship with eBay, and works through eBay's "application program interface," which lets outsiders create programs that connect to eBay listings.
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So, I wanted to know what tricks they have to offer to eBay, so I went to their website, read their "Mission" and clicked on the "see how" (
http://vivisimo.com/html/solutions):
The right stuff.
None of this would matter if we didn't have the right stuffthe latest and greatest in search technology. But we do. Velocity is now one of the very few enterprise search solutions that can crawl and index all of your content (including metadata) plus federate the results from all of your search engines within existing applications. The combined search results from indexing and federating are then displayed visually in a way that makes sense to users and helps them easily find the information they need.
All of this is managed from a web-based administrative interface that gives you and your company enormous flexibility. You control what content is indexed and how it is weighted. You determine if existing search engines need to be federated. You select what types of third party feeds need to be added. You decide what content is both applicable and permitted for a given group of usersdown to a within-the-document level. Last but not least, if application integration is necessary, you choose how it is done.
So there you have it. A search company that combines the innovation and simplicity of a consumer search engine interface with the power, flexibility and control that enterprises require. Intuitive, easy-to-use search solutions from a company that cares about helping you achieve real business results today, not tomorrow.
They state on their demos page:
On these pages, you can see how the:
Vivísimo Velocity
...our comprehensive and highly-customizable package that includes search, metasearch and clustering - built for rapid deployment. Try it.
Vivísimo Clustering Engine
...organizes search engine results - typically 200 results, from any of dozens of searchable repositories, including the open web. Try it.
Vivísimo Content Integrator
...sends your search query to multiple sources, removes duplicates, collates the results, and submits the integrated search results to the Clustering Engine. Try it.
http://vivisimo.com/html/demo
Now, do you understand why your sales are so low and you have so little traffic when others are enjoying boom times?
Anyone recall a certain purveyor of postcards cryptically posting on the Seller's Assistant Pro board about "Velocity?"
Lynda
.
Seller since 1998
Store closed: 7/20/06
For whom the magic died.
"I don't think there's gonna be a return journey, Mr. Frodo."
Sorry BELLE that You're in JAIL! Come on back and give um ...