eBay rolls out BestMatch in the UK

**UPDATE: Turns out this is live on US and DE also.  Forbes has an article making the case this is bad for small sellers.  I'm not sure I agree, but something to watch.

Today eBay announced they have launched BestMatch.  This is the technology that was previewed at Web 2.0 by ERL.  The general idea is the search result set doesn't change, but eBay learns over time (I imagine the algo uses click through and conversion data) what buyers preferences are and orders results that way vs. the normal temporal/price search options.

Here's an example.  In this screen shot we've searched for an Elmo TMX and you have the normal temporal "ending first" display, but notice the new Best Match option in the Sort by drop-down:

This is somewhat useless for a specific search like the elmo search, so I experimented and found the best searches it helps with are ones where you enter something a little less specific. 

Here's an example.  Let's say I'm looking for some sneakers (trainers to my UK readers).  You enter "mens 9.5 blue".  Normally you'd get a bunch of random stuff ordered by ending first.  With Best Match turned on, eBay zooms me right in on a pair of Nike sneakers which is more relevant than some snow gloves which are also in the result set.

This is an interesting hybrid approach to what eBay has done on eBay Express.  On EE, the entire search engine is different, how it indexes, treats attributes, etc.  With Best Match they are are bolting this new functionality onto the existing search engine result-set.  The pro to this is it's almost zero impact on a seller.  The negative is, Best Match is starting with a less than stellar result-set.

I wonder where eBay will take this?  Will/When will it come to the US? What if BestMatch becomes the default?  That would totally turn sellers upside down because I've found that 99.9% of the sellers on eBay spend a LOT of time timing their auctions to close based on various strategies.   A default Best Match would turn that all upside down.

eBay Strategies readers feel free to sound off via comments - we'll share your comments/concerns/criticisms with eBay.

Comments

[Fruit Helmet Cat]

Most popular eh? Well then theoretically I can keyword spam to get up there. I don't even search anymore and this holiday is the first time in years that I haven't done my xmas shopping on ebay. I came to find ebay because of the unique collectibles. I don't want new items or a superstore. If I did I'd go to Kmart or Office Max. Personally I feel ebay is closing its doors on the very buyers & sellers that made it a success, the collectors. They'll have to bring back the magic with more than just fairy dust of promises to get them back. The passion of the hunt was in the collecting :(

[Tim]

Best Match - implemented in typical eBay slipshod style – will hurt small merchants. If you want to see how truly horrible Best Match is, try out the search system on eE. I am a small niche seller. I tried eE. I spent hours getting ready for eE and the working up new ads for eE – after all they want things shiny new over there. Well, I put my stuff up on eE and waited… and waited. Now, I know things take time and so I waited. Nothing.

So I started to investigate. Using any normal search terms, my items would NOT come up in their search. I asked and asked and asked about this and finally got an answer: My items were NOT POPULAR ENOUGH for the Best Match search. ONLY if a buyer used a near exact match for my ad title would the item come up in search. You see, I am a small seller with niche items. And Best Match won’t even SHOW that kind of item.

Indeed Best Match will favor large sellers who are selling new, commodity, products. It has to – it is a self-fulfilling, self-perpetuating thing. Worse than favoring the large sellers – it will freeze small niche sellers out completely. If my item won’t even show up in search – it cannot be purchased. Think about how this works – and ask some pointed questions as I was forced to - and you will see that Best Match can work no other way.

[Esteban]

Best Match is already available in the US.

[ejames]

I have seen the "Best Match" option on eBay US search options for a few weeks now so it would appear to already be active.