eBay's VP of Marketing Defends Category Changes
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
July 02, 2004 Michael Dearing is the poster boy for eBay's latest controversy.
Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising, Dearing is responsible for "Category Rollups," which have significantly changed how buyers search and browse items on eBay. To say that many eBay users are unhappy about the recent changes would be an understatement. Not only have buyers had to change their searching and browsing behavior, but sellers have also been inundated with changes in how they list, and are going through a painful transition, and even, some report, significant declines in sales.
eBay buyers have two ways to find items on the site: searching and browsing. Searching works well when users know exactly what they want. Browsing works well especially for window-shopping and for collectors, who may happen upon an item serendipitously when browsing.
Browsing involves "drilling down" into categories and sub-categories. But since eBay "rolled up" some categories, this approach is much more limited. For instance, under the Books category, there is now one combined "Fiction & Non-Fiction" sub-category, with no additional lower sub-categories underneath. Users must look at the "Product Finder" in the left column of the page to search by attribute (Item Specifics), one of which is called "sub-category."
On April 8, Michael Dearing participated in an online Town Hall Forum to discuss Item Specifics and Category Rollups. At that time, he said, "If there were ever evidence that Item Specifics or category rollups had harmed the business, we would immediately reverse the decision."
Last week, AuctionBytes had a chance to sit down with Dearing to discuss his views on categories and Item Specifics and asked him if that statement were still true. Dearing reiterated his commitment that if Item Specifics hurts a business across the board in a category, eBay will go back to the category structure in that particular category, although Item Specifics will remain in place. MORE
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http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m07/i02/s01
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Reading between the lines..they are having a difficult time with this..
They say that it is not working so well in some categories..Then they are in a heap of trouble..You cannot have search work one way on 1/2 your site..it will confuse the buyers to NO end..
I wonder if they will back out of the whole program ? or how they will fix it..
crystal
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If this from the Book board is any indication, there's trouble ahead....
hmm. Won't attach. Ashamed to show its face, no doubt.
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It is the dumbest idea ever. Who in their right mind would change the main access to finding items without doing market research. If eBay had build a test eBay with dummy auctions and ask sellers/buyers to use it, they would have found early on this does not work for most catgeories.
They should unroll the rollups and then roll the whole category management team out the door.
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Is it category 'rollup' or 'rollout'?
Just wondering.
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Posted to the book board:
Planned Changes to Category Structure and Item Specifics
bookscm*ebay.com (view author's auctions)
07/02/04 12:21 PM http://forums.ebay.com/db1/images/en/advise.gifhttp://forums.ebay.com/db1/images/blank.gifHi Everyone,
We have completed a careful review of the feedback on the issues highlighted in our post 6/30 (Proposals for Changes in Books) and of 2 months worth of key performance measurements in the books category. The purpose of this review was to determine the impact of Item Specifics and Category Structure changes in Books and to identify potential improvements to help sellers grow their businesses.
We had originally planned to wait until next week to get enough feedback on the issues we raised, but there has been enough consistency in the initial feedback that we feel we can go ahead and get solutions underway rather than wait until next week.
One thing we'd like to clarify is how we have determined the direction we plan to take on item specifics vs. categories in the books area. While community sentiment on the discussion boards has been negative on category roll-ups, the sales trends in the books category overall have been positive. This would indicate that on the whole, sellers are benefiting from these changes. Because of this, we will not be replacing item specifics with the old category structure. What we're asking instead is that you continue to try to make this work and that you give us feedback on what we can change about the current system to make it work better for you.
Based on the feedback you gave on the issues we raised in the 6/30 Proposals for Changes in Books thread, we'll take the following action:
<LI>We'll split Fiction & Nonfiction into separate areas.
Currently sellers can already browse within nonfiction subject areas or within fiction, but it is not clear to some buyers how to do this and you've identified other drawbacks with the current structure. This is a significant change and will require technical development on our end as well as potentially requiring sellers to change some listings, so we will be back with a more detailed proposal on our approach to this to minimize disruption of your current business.
<LI>We'll Add Fiction & Literature subgenres to Antiquarian & Collectible.
We will use the breakdowns the books voices group proposed, with no changes. We are targeting to make this change Wednesday July 7th.
<LI>We will ensure all the original categories are available in item specifics.
Almost all are present now, but a handful will need to be added. We hope to have all these values available by the end of the month.
<LI>We'll add First Editions and Signed item specifics to Fiction & Nonfiction. I'll be back with a timeline on when this will occur, but also hope to have these values available by the end of the month.
<LI>We will not add an Item Specific for Book Language.
Your feedback was clear on this. However, we will be adding languages to the language study area per our commitment to C).
<LI>We will not add more condition values for Books.
Your feedback was clear on this as well.
<LI>We will add the ability on view item pages to see other listings of the same genre.
This was a feature that was available before the roll-ups so our goal is to simply bring back what was there before. This will require code work on our end and we need to determine how soon this will be possible. We will come back to you with more details as soon as we have them.
We believe solving these issues and continuing to gather feedback from the community on other improvements we can make to item specifics will be the best solution for Books.
Finally, we apologize for any disruption these changes have caused and thank you for your participation in the debate and discussion. eBay is a better place because of it.
Regards,
Michael, Bob and Clay Posted to the Pottery & Glass board:
Planned Changes to Category Structure and Item Specifics
pottery*ebay.com (view author's auctions)
07/02/04 12:24 PM http://forums.ebay.com/db2/images/en/advise.gifhttp://forums.ebay.com/db2/images/blank.gifHi Everyone,
We have completed a review of the feedback from Community members and of several weeks’ worth of key performance measurements in the Pottery & Glass category. The purpose of this review was to determine the impact of Item Specifics and Category Structure changes in Pottery & Glass.
Community sentiment on the Pottery & Glass sub-category rollups, as expressed on the boards, in email, by phone, and in person was negative. The trends in key performance measures in the category were mixed when comparing the post-rollup period to the pre-rollup period. Some measures improved versus the period prior to the rollup, while others declined or remained stable.
Based on these facts, we are proposing the following:
- Restore the sub-category structure – as it was pre-rollup – during the week of July 12
- Revise the sub-category structure during the coming months based on substantial input from Community members (we have already received excellent suggested structures from several users);
- Remove Item Specifics from Pottery & Glass beginning the week of July 12 (removed from sell process first, then from the buy process a week or so later);
- Redesign Item Specifics for Pottery & Glass with extensive community review and discussion during the next six months to focus on attributes that reflect the unique needs of the collectors and traders in the category;
- Reintroduce Item Specifics to Pottery & Glass – to complement and live alongside search and browse – in early- to mid-2005 after additional community review and discussion.
We believe this is the best solution for Pottery & Glass. While the approach in other categories will differ, we will tailor our approach to Item Specifics elsewhere on the site based on the lessons learned in Pottery & Glass.
Finally, we apologize for any disruption these changes have caused and thank you for your participation in the debate and discussion. eBay is a better place because of it.
Regards,
Michael, Bob and Suzanne
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It's rollup, meaning that multiple sub categories have been "rolled up" into one humongous category. Meaning in books, for instance, there is one category called "Fiction and Nonfiction" with something like 400,000 items listed in it. To narrow your search you are expected to use the "product finder", which requires that your item was listed using the dreaded "item specifics". If your item wasn't listed with IS, then your item won't be found by the product finder.
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While community sentiment on the discussion boards has been negative on category roll-ups, the sales trends in the books category overall have been positive. This would indicate that on the whole, sellers are benefiting from these changes. Because of this, we will not be replacing item specifics with the old category structure. Looks like the pottery people "won" more than the book people.
As I read this, if I want to sell books on Ebay, they will expect me to use the stupid IS. Well, I won't! I have my own little protest going, and refuse to fill out the IS for books. Of course, I'm not listing many books, either, lol. And the few books I do list, I try my darnedest to get into other categories than books.
I am very curious about the "sales trends in the books category overall have been positive." I wonder how they came to this conclusion. From what I've read on the tracking threads, sell-through in the books category plummeted and has remained abysmal. Are they perhaps looking at sheer $ volume brought about by the influx of half sellers, and the frequent listing promos for the books category? Did they get this positive trend $ amount by figuring it out BEFORE they issue us the listing rebate that was promised for "sometime in June?" (HEY EBAY, It's JULY and I still don't have my rebate!)
I am not an Ebay cheerleader, but nor am I usually a doom-and-gloomer. But in this case, I don't see how Ebay taking a few steps back from a totally disastrous change, but still vowing to return to that place, can be called anything like a victory for "us."
I'm also curious why they paid so much more attention to the almost unanimous animosity toward things like adding a grading IS and the universal cry for splitting fiction and non-fiction--but chose to ignore the equally cohesive demand for a return to the catgory structure. From reading the letters sent to both bookies and potties, it seems to me that the $$$ amount of sales was the overriding decision maker, and if so, it seems to be extremely shortsighed AGAIN--any increase in $$$ seems more likely to have come from the half migration and promos rather than the stupid IS. As far as I know there was no similar influx of sellers to the pottery categories, and no comparable listing promos, meaning the disastrous impact of IS on those categories was a little more reflective of reality, I would think.
Oh well. As I said, I have very few books listed on Ebay right now and most are listed in non-book categories, so I don't have to worry about changing them all yet again. I'm glad I have most of my inventory on Alibris and a chunk on Amazon. It's staying there.