Question
***Coming Soon: More Search Expansions***
Date: 03/14/05 Time: 03:36:08 PM PST
Late last year, we added search expansions in several Business & Industrial categories to help buyers find more of the items they're interested in. Starting this week, we’re going to add more expansions to other areas of the site, gradually increasing over the next few months.
What Are Search Expansions?
Many buyers who aren’t as familiar with searching on eBay will often type in a general description of what they are looking for into the search box (for instance, action figure). When this happens, the results they get are often only a portion of the relevant listings, because many of them will not have action figure in the title.
With search expansions, when someone uses the search box to find a particular type of item, we’ll display those listings that have the keyword in the title as usual, but we’ll also show all items in a relevant category that we’ve mapped to the keyword. So, for instance, in our example the search results would show all items with action figure in the title, as well as all items in the Action Figures category. Or, if the buyer types in Superman action figure, we’ll show all listings with Superman action figure in the title, as well as all listings with Superman in the title that are in the Action Figures category.
If you don’t want to have the expanded results shown, simply use quotation marks around any single keyword in your search terms (for example: “Superman” action figure). To let us know your thoughts on these changes, please join us on the Search Board by clicking here.
Message Address: http://www2.ebay.com:80/aw/marketing...05-03-14152723
Answer
More bad news for eBay Store owners.
Less exposer in eBay searches.
Answer
This looks like a disaster in the making for all eBay users.
It will have significant negative impact for buyers, most sellers and/or Store owners.
Threads are appearing all over the eBay site and two very informative threads are in process on the eBay Store Board. Links below.
Search expansion: is disaster coming to a category near you?
New Search Expansion
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If you don’t want to have the expanded results shown, simply use quotation marks around any single keyword in your search terms
...and that's a bad thing and the sky is falling and oh nooooooo Mr. Bill
"This will invalidate the opportunity for Store items to be included in search results (because data return latency will allow the numerical thresholds to be exceeded"
"So what if I type in "gauze peasant top..."
"GRRRRRR...this may be the straw that breaks my back. I lived through the fees increases, I'm doing a major expansion, and now this. Thanks for nothing."
"eBay's loss! I have one of the largest inventories (hundred of thousands of $s) in the US for this category (been selling these items since 1972) and I'm not listing a thing...just waiting for eBay to do something to make it worth my time and effort."
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...11091 0444555
What a HOOT!
Designer Inspired Toenail Clipper NOT Gucci NOT Porsche
I'll take "Gauze Peasant Latency" for two hundred please, Alex.
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Originally Posted by reston_ray
It will have significant negative impact for buyers, most sellers and/or Store owners.
yeah that exposer latency sux, don't it
(Sorry, couldn't resist. Actually there is a compliment buried somewhere in there, about your ability to communicate, as back handed as it may be.)
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automemories outlines one of the problems with the following post copied from the Store Board.
************************************************** ******
Correct-- depends on how they map it. But don't count on them to be overly selective-- it would probably be a simple word match mapping.
So, in the "hippie gauze top" example (great example!), you might get stuff from the following categories:
Clothing: Infant & Toddlers: Tops
Clothing: Athletic Tops
Collectibles: Bottles: Medicine: Screw Top
Collectibles: Beer Cans: Flat Top
Collectibles: Holiday: Christmas: Tree Toppers (maybe)
Collectibles: Cookie Jars: Tops & Bottoms
Entertainment: Music Memorabilia: ZZ Top
Home & Garden: Appliances: Freezer Top
and so on, where there was a partial match in those categories. eBay will likely claim that only relevant results will be shown, but I don't buy it. No way of ensuring relevancy with a data pool this large-- and search results are already loaded with carp.
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It used to be that you only cringed in fear with:
"Hi...I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you"
"Don't worry....this won't hurt"
"Of course I'll respect you in the morning"
Now we have to add:
"We at eBay have ENHANCED something to make your using the site more enjoyable"
Starting this week, we’re going to add more expansions to other areas of the site, gradually increasing over the next few months.
Sounds WAAAAY TOOOOOO MUCH like the same words when they started shoving "item specifics" up our wazoos!
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Ick
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well, this certainly explains the crackdown on keyword spamming
if you wait, ebay will eventually expose their reasoning, as warped as it is
how do they figure MORE results will help anyone
no one can look at 14,981 items, so like.....why bother???
but they could look at say 347 items......
What is this supposed to do for us
more white pages and glitches to come soon for an upgrade/downgrade because some "ebay-usage-retarded programmer" has to justify his job....
EBAY...PLEASE buy another website to give these programmers something else to work on. I'll even chip in ten bucks to help pay for it.
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Yes, it certainly seems like the eBay fippies (f***ing idiot programmers) are trying to justify their salaries by coming up with wild ideas to implement. Too bad they can't focus on the core problems...