eBay to launch new search features worldwide

[mandy]

***Coming soon: changes to search ***

We’re changing the way search works, and giving our search pages a new look. Everybody who searches on eBay.co.uk will see the changes from this week.

You’ll see that we’ve updated the layouts and improved the way that search works.  You’ll have greater flexibility in how to refine your searches and the results will be more comprehensive.

    * Find out more about how the new search looks and works
    * To try out the changes in advance, visit the eBay Playground

Previously, buyers only saw search results where item title keywords exactly matched their search terms.  For example, a search for a broad term like ‘MP3 Players’ would not return items with specific titles like ‘Apple iPod Nano 8GB’.  Search now looks at the category an item is listed in and any item specifics the seller provides so that buyers are more likely to find what they want.

While you get used to the new system, you’ll be able to switch to and from the old and new systems from within the search results pages.  This ‘opt out’ will last for 4 weeks, after which the old search system will be retired.

more:

eBay is moving to a new finding platform worldwide, Jamie Iannone, Vice President of Global Search, told AuctionBytes on Thursday. It is rolling out the new platform this week in the UK...

Iannone went on to explain the four factors that influence eBay's new Best Match search technology. Factors do vary by category, he said.

The four factors are Item Information - including category, title, attribute, and information about listings; Seller Information - including seller DSR scores, and other bad seller metrics; Demand Data - what are buyers doing on the site; and, he said, "Time Ending Soonest" plays a role...

full article: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y08/m06/i20/s03