eBay: Testing of New Home Page Designs

[mandy]

***Making eBay More Fun – New Homepage Tests*** 

Hi everyone. I'm Mike Osborn with eBay's Marketing team. As Philipp Justus mentioned in his last announcement, we're working on ways to make your experience on eBay even more fun and engaging.

The eBay homepage is really like the front door to eBay – especially for new users. We want to make sure that people's first (and subsequent!) impressions of the site are positive.

My team has worked hard to develop some new versions of the eBay.com homepage that we're now ready to test. Some of our new designs include more personalized information, so you feel like you are being welcomed back by a site that knows you. Plus, we've streamlined the information we display, so new and existing members feel invited to explore a number of interesting areas – without being overwhelmed with too much information coming at you all at once. Finally, we've worked to make sure the whole page communicates the fun eBay spirit.

In the next few days, a very small percentage of members will start seeing one of several new versions we're testing. We expect our tests to run for the next couple of months, and hope to settle on a new design later this year.

If you're curious, you can see a screenshot of one of the versions we're testing below.

screenshot: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200706111436382.html

[dimucci]

Hate it! 

[amy]

eBay needs to decide what it wants to be when it grows up--an ecommerce site or the second coming of MySpace.  :

[mandy]

Update.  New eBay homepage to be launched "in next couple of weeks"

the new Home Page is more personal. People-centric. It's a quick way to see the things you've been desiring and considering, and is a great way to see relevant things you're likely to find interesting. The new home page will be driven by your individual activity, so each eBay home page will be as unique as each eBay member.

Watch for the new eBay home page coming in the next couple of weeks!

full article: http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2...entri.html

a screenshot of the new page is in the 'Coming Soon' section: http://pages.ebay.com/sneakpeek/

eBay is also testing a new homepage design in Australia.  A screenshot is available here:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/au/200708.shtml#...8-15135305

[mandy]

***A Message from Philipp Justus – Making winning on eBay even more fun*** 

Hello everyone... We've been talking a lot with you about improving the buyer experience on eBay, and I'm pleased to let you know about some great new enhancements that we're adding to the site over the next two weeks. We've been working hard to ensure that these enhancements will add to the thrill you feel when you win a great item at a fantastic price. Winning on eBay is a big part of the great experience you have on eBay and we want you to win faster, more often and have even more fun than ever before.

If you've been keeping on eye on Sneak Peek (www.ebay.com/sneakpeek), you're probably aware of many of the products and enhancements we're working on. I'd like to give you a quick snapshot on a number of enhancements that are on their way.

Our new eBay home page – A homepage is like a front door, and it can say a lot about the business inside. Making its debut this week, our new eBay homepage has a simplified interface that puts the focus on you and what you love. Quick access to key My eBay information, featured items and recent activities helps to make a more inspired and fun shopping experience. We hope you like our new "front door" – and that you find it welcoming, informative and fun.

Bid History redesign – Through research and talking to a lot of you, we know that our competitive bidders spend a lot of time on the bid history page. We've enhanced the page to be more functional for you. You'll now be able to bid directly from the Bid History page. We heard that it's really important for you to be able to see more information on all items you're bidding on, so we've restored some transparency when bidding on items over $200.

New look & feel in Search – We're making a number of visual changes to our current Search to make the search results pages less-cluttered. Soon you'll notice subtle changes to color and other details that will help the most important content on the page – your items – stand out better.

Snapshot View on Search Results – Snapshot View allows you to browse quickly through larger item images – it's a little like window shopping but with faster results. Browse for what you are looking for, or refine your search by color or price, and let your visual sense be your guide. You'll find the link to Snapshot View at the top right of every search results page. This is an exciting new way to help you to find and win items on eBay.

You'll be hearing more about these projects and others – like progress with our new My eBay beta, our Finding tests, and more – in the coming weeks. Until then, keep checking our General Announcements board, and visiting our Sneak Peek page for updates. We also hope you'll use our sneakpeek@ebay.com email address to let us know what you think about our new projects. We really want to hear from you – so don't be shy.

[amy]

I hate their new "fun" home page.

[mandy]

A related article:

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Amazon.com should look with pride at the changes going on at eBay.

The Web's largest auctioneer is revamping page designs, overhauling search functions and launching new services that bear a strong resemblance to features that work well at Amazon, the Internet's biggest retailer. To be sure, this is no casual face-lift for eBay.

For more than 10 years, eBay, with its fat margins and zealous user base, has been the dominant force in the battle between the two e-commerce superpowers. Currently, however, the momentum appears to be with Amazon...

full artucle: http://news.com.com/eBay+surfers+get+an+...04438.html

[BellisimaJ.]

Currently, however, the momentum appears to be with Amazon...

Not at all surprising........

[bargainbloodhound]

launching new services that bear a strong resemblance to features that work well at Amazon,

The momentum is with Amazon because they're still innovating while eBay has seemingly lost its ability to innovate and has spent the last few years mimicking others.