You’re filled with anticipation as you wait to
see whether you’re the winner. Looking good so far...
What's this? Some dastardly competitor is trying
to sneak in a last minute bid? “Take that!” you trumpet, as you enter a bid
with just one click.
The countdown hits 00:00:00—the listing has
ended and you’re the winner!
That eBay moment was made possible by eBay
Countdown. It’s a tool that works in conjunction with Internet Explorer or
Firefox to let you watch eBay auctions that are part of your My eBay activity.
For example, say you find that perfect Hot
Wheels Redline custom Corvette. You add it to your Watch list, where you eye it
over the next several days. After clearing a special spot for it in your
display case, you place a proxy bid. That’s the top price you’re willing to
pay. The current price is well under your proxy bid for now, but as others
nibble away at the listing, the price goes up. You’re not worried, because eBay
is placing bids for you on your behalf (and will continue to do so, as needed,
until your proxy bid price is met).
Days later, the listing is coming to an end. You’re
the high bidder. eBay Countdown shows you a timer that counts rapidly downward,
ticking off each second until the listing ends. While you’re waiting, you can
gaze at the bottom of the Countdown window to see pictures of other listings,
such as those in your Saved Searches. (I personally love that feature because I
can do some productive shopping while I’m waiting!) If you see that someone
places a bid that finally beats yours, you can quickly place another bid with
just one click: another great Countdown feature!
You should definitely give eBay Countdown a
whirl. If you’re into buying and love to win, I think you’ll really like it. Watch what Jeff Loui from our Buyer Experience team has to say about Countdown below.
Ever since Renee's post, I've had the theme from Mister Rogers stuck in my head. I've also joined the popular Coffee neighborhood, and learned amazing things -- like the fact some eBay members drink coffee to help them go to sleep.
Me? I drink many large mugfuls every morning for the opposite reason.
And just in case you were wishing for a complete list of Neighborhoods, look no further. A resourceful member has developed eBay Reviews that showcase all of 'em. Find them on this Neighborhoods Discussion thread.
Remember when Tiger Woods got his first Green Jacket? That was something. I joked a while back about Nathan Sacco looking good in a red sweater. But after seeing all the great press that eBay Neighborhoods is getting, I seriously think Nathan should proudly claim his first Red Sweater.
Neighborhoods are a natural extension of the eBay Community. They are groups of people centered around a shared passion for particular products or activities. Red Sox or Rockies, anyone? I tell you, that Coffee Lovers neighborhood is percolating!
Check out eBay Neighborhoods for yourself, and check out what others have said:
Check out the industry blog and media coverage from GigaOM, Mashable, InformationWeek and ZDNet. And here are the awards, placed in our eBay Innovation Showcase (a.k.a. the end-cap of our cubicle):
Candygram! Step into the phone booth and let me show you a preview of the future! The eBay Desktop application, formerly known to early testers as San Dimas, is here! It’s still in beta, but if you check it out now, you’ll get in early on what I know is going to be a favorite program.
eBay Desktop lets you find, watch, bid, and buy items on eBay using a desktop application. No browser required. Why would you want to do that? Power. And pure fun.
Once you download eBay Desktop, you use it to find things on eBay just as you normally would with a browser. eBay Desktop has a great way of showing watched items and favorites. But what I like most is that you can take advantage of all the disk space your computer has and go crazy with watched items and favorites. And past purchase history? The default is 1,000 items. Excellent!
I also like how search results are displayed in a graphical list down the left side, while the right side updates to show pictures and item information—much like the preview pane works in Outlook. A real-time countdown display is shown, and you can bid right there on the screen.
Listen to this dude, Alan. He knows what he’s talking about. Check out the video and learn more about the eBay Desktop application that Alan and his team created. You’re gonna love it.
Seven habits may be great for highly effective people, but seven steps just to pay for your eBay purchase hardly seems effective—or efficient.
Vamsee and her team didn’t think so either. So rather than seven, paying for your eBay purchase will soon take just three steps:
-First, you review your purchase. Ah, feel those Windorphins flow! You won! You can quickly pay multiple sellers at once.
-Next, pick your payment method. Of course, we highly recommend using PayPal because you don’t have to reveal any of your financial information (credit card number or bank account number) to the seller. And now you can sign in to PayPal right here on the screen if you don't already have an account.
-Last, confirm your payment. If you paid with PayPal, your money is then transferred to the seller as quickly as possible, which helps get your stuff to you faster!
Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?
Given my recent “People” post, you might think I’m nostalgic for old songs. :-) Well, sometimes they’re just the perfect way to capture a sentiment. I loved watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood because his was a neighborhood that was always interesting: It was vibrant, and he had cool guests in his neighborhood who shared new things with me. Of course I wanted to be his neighbor!
That’s exactly the sentiment behind Neighborhoods. They are ideal micro-communities: groups of people centered around a shared passion for particular products or activities. They’re vibrant and interesting because the people who join them want to share new things with each other. In addition to discussion boards, Neighborhoods show you snapshot views of related products - for example, the Harrison Ford neighborhood might show listings for Star Wars or Indiana Jones. They also pull in related reviews, guides, and blog posts. And my favorite: Neighborhood members can vote on pictures submitted by other members.
Watch Nathan Sacco in this video and he’ll tell you more. ...Don’t you think he’d look good in a red sweater?!
I love buying things on eBay. To spend a moment here and there looking around to see what's new and what's cool--ah! Place a bid. Buy It Now. It's both easy and fun.
I love selling on eBay, too. In fact, nearly half of my 860+ feedback is from selling and I think it's quite fun to watch that money come in to my PayPal account! But if you're a casual seller like me, I'm sure you'll agree that selling is not something you can do in just a moment here and there--right? Guess again!
Give a listen to this video by Mike Maffeo, one of our product managers on the Selling team. Very soon - if you want to - you'll be able to list with a one-page form, needing only to fill in the fields associated with the most common options. We pre-fill many fields for you (such as setting your auction starting price at $0.99), but if you don't like the way we fill in the blanks, you can easily change them.
Now, this is totally your choice. You can continue to list with the standard Sell Your Item form if you'd like. In fact, for many sellers, Sell Your Item will remain the listing form of choice since it makes all features available to you. But if "a quicker and easier way to list" is a phrase that catches your attention, try out our simplified listing form. We've actually already launched this on a few of our international sites, and you can read some of the impressions in Tamebay, a blog that closely monitors what we're up to.
We're going to roll this out slowly, so only about 40-50% of sellers might see this option at first. We're then looking to make it available to all sellers roughly a month later. To find it once it's available, click Sell in the header of any eBay page, just as you usually do, then select "list with popular options."
If you're like me, you'll occasionally run across some items in your house that you just don't need any more and have good value, but would be a big pain to ship (maybe a dresser, or an older TV). For a lot of people, that type of stuff is easiest to sell locally, and to offer pickup or delivery to your buyers.
However, when you list those things on eBay, you can only choose one option when you get to the Shipping section: "Local Pickup/Delivery." Not being able to split up those two choices causes some sellers to bypass it completely - they understandably don't want their buyers thinking they'll deliver an item when they only want to offer pickup, or vice versa. So we're making a simple change that should make these options much more attractive: we're splitting those two out! Now you'll be able to explicitly say whether you're willing to deliver that dresser, or whether the buyer needs to pick it up.
Amit from our eBay Local team has been leading the charge here, and sat down to talk with us about the change and how it can benefit you. You can also check out the announcement he made today for more info as well.
One of the things I’ve always loved about eBay is that it is one of the few companies I’ve worked for who actively solicits feedback from its members and responds as quickly as possible to constructive criticism.
Many of you have sent both praises and critiques to us via sneakpeek@ebay.com. Of course, we also continue to monitor the discussion boards and solicit feedback through our Voices program. Just as you probably know from your own business experience, we can respond to some things quickly, and some programs can take longer to implement.
Today I thought I’d pop onto this blog to let you know about two of the changes you’ve requested, which you’ll see in the next couple weeks.
As Evan shared, the Bid History page is becoming more informative and functional. We made a change several months ago and showed user IDs as “Bidder 1,” “Bidder 2,” and so on, for members bidding on items that are over $200. This was an important safety measure designed to confound professional fraudsters. We are now going to mask the IDs in a way that still can thwart the bad guys, but I think you’ll agree that it’s much more useful to members trying to determine a bit about their bidding competition. You’ll soon see IDs displayed as a label derived from two random characters from the ID: for example, a**b. That label will remain consistent across all auctions over $200 for which a particular bidder places a bid. You can read more about that here, and make sure to check out Evan's video at the end of this post!
In addition to this helpful transparency on Bid History, you’ll also be able to bid directly from that page. No longer will you have to go back to the View Item (description) page after checking out the current bid history. Instead, just place a bid right there!
Likewise, we’ve heard your comments about the Search testing we are running in Playground. We are developing it in phases so that we can test particular things first. You’ve told us, though, that Completed Items search is very important to you, so we’ll be adding that very soon.
Please keep your feedback coming. We never make changes or add new features without a reason that’s grounded in the needs of our Community. So when we do make changes, we love to hear from you so that we can make refinements if necessary. Your voice counts!
"People. People who need people, are the luckiest people in the world."
Remember that song? It used to play in a music box I had as a kid. Though it's a vintage tune now, the message is still contemporary.
I got to thinking about how eBay is all about people. People who need people (and their products!) are certainly what makes the eBay marketplace work. People are just as integral to making eBay work behind the scenes, too.
Specifically, eBay people -- Community members like you -- have been providing us feedback in a variety of ways. We visit you in your homes and places of business to see how you use eBay and to listen to your suggestions. We invite you to our labs to watch you try out new features and to see what you like and what you think we can improve. And we run multiple variations of eBay pages on eBay itself; many of you have been in test groups and we've monitored how easily you've been able to find, bid, and purchase what you want on the eBay site. Of course, this cycle of feedback is the way in which eBay lives and breathes.
Yesterday, Josh Loftus gave you an update about how we're continuing to refine the new Finding Playground. Hilary reports that Window Shopping is testing well. And if you've been following Sneak Peek, you know that a better eBay home page is coming.
"Tailored." "It's about ME." "There's a connection."
That's how people in test groups have been describing the new home page. This is one of my favorites:
"I like it... it's more visual... you can zero in on what's hot... it's more personal."
I think that pretty well sums it up: 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!
By the way, is it just me, or is "people' one of those words that makes you smile when you say it a lot?!
Ever since Jeff King announced the Finding Playground, our test lab for trying out what works best for people finding stuff on the site, debate has been raging in our discussion forums, notably on the Search discussion board. Jeff and Josh Loftus have both been posting actively, answering people's questions and explaining what we're testing and why.
From the clamor of people expressing their opinions about the Playground, it's clear that Finding is something we need to approach carefully. And that's precisely why we launched the Playground: so we can learn from the Community what works and what doesn't, before making it available widely. Yes, trying something new can be annoying, to say the least (like trying on new shoes that don’t "feel" right – at first). As Josh says, "Even though change can be exciting, it can also be a little disruptive."
The good news is that we're learning fairly rapidly what's working and what isn't. We got a pretty candid perspective from Josh about the reasons why we're testing so carefully on the Playground (watch the first video right below).
A little later, Josh also told us about the Finding team's … well… findings from the Playground. As we test more, we’re getting a better idea of the direction in which Finding is headed. For instance, we're learning that showing "landing pages" selectively is better than showing them always.
What are landing pages? Well, if you search "vintage" from the home page or the header on eBay today, you see this landing page: http://buy.ebay.com/vintage. We show that page instead of the search results for "vintage" when you type that word into the search box (http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?satitle=vintage). We do this because buyers are typically more successful at finding what they want after narrowing their search by a category. On Playground, the new experience will use a self-learning system to determine when to show landing pages.
The more we test things like this, the more sure we are whether something works or can be tossed out. Watch Josh's second video to get an idea of what we've learned.
Here I am with another Sneak Peek update. The old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" is never truer than when you're shopping for shoes or jewelry (or items like them) on eBay. Hilary Holmquest, one of our product managers, can speak with feeling about this, from her own personal experience. As a 7-year eBay veteran, and someone who loves to buy all things Art Deco, she's been looking for a way to quickly look through the zillions of Art Deco collectibles on eBay and zero in on something that would look great in her dining room (an Art Deco martini bar is her latest quest).
She says that she and her husband disagree over the need to introduce yet another Art Deco collectible in their home, but they both agree on the need for buyers to have the ability to quickly look through eBay items by focusing on the pictures, rather than reading the descriptions. This way, you'll be able to make quick decisions about whether you think an item is worth a closer look, or whether you should keep on looking for the right treasure.
[UPDATE: Window Shopping is now available on our Finding Playground! Check out this example for "orange Nike shoes," and then do some searches of your own!]
Coming soon! Window Shop on eBay Fortunately for us all (though maybe not for Hilary's husband), Hilary and a team of people at eBay are working on a project they're calling "Window shopping." Here are some of the cool things that you'll be able to do with Window Shopping:
When you search for items, eBay will display pictures of the items that match your search results query. You can then hover your mouse over these pictures to see more detail about the items that interest you. Click through the list, and you'll see even more pictures matching your query.
Tan shoes or beige? You won't have to click through different listings to compare colors. Instead you'll be able to filter your results by color, just by sliding a color slider along on the screen.
Figuring out how much you're willing to pay for that collectible gets easier with a new price slider that the team is developing. No more typing in ranges, just slide your mouse along the price slider.
Take a look at this picture (and also watch the video below) to get an idea of what Hilary and her team are doing. I love the big pictures and the clean look-and-feel. It gives me just the right amount of info I need to look through a lot of items quickly.
Hilary told her team is working hard to release a test version of Window Shopping in late August. When it launches, you'll be able to "window shop" from a link on your eBay search results pages. We're hoping to make it more widely available by October. Feel free to send your questions or comments to Hilary and her team at sneakpeek@ebay.com. And, get ready to Window Shop on eBay!
Now Jeff is back with more information on exactly what we're trying to achieve through this project. He recently posted this in one of our discussion forums, and I thought I'd share it again here.
It's a bit long (and sometimes it gets technical), but it's well worth reading to get an idea of how we're improving the Finding experience. Here goes: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello all,
Thanks
for all of your continued comments on the Playground and the test.
We’re committed to getting your feedback and engagement. I thought it
made sense to outline again some of the issues with the current search
that we’re trying to address with the new system.
So, what are some of the major things we’re trying to improve?
Improved ‘recall’
Recall
is the term for the items that get returned for a particular search
query. Try searching for something on eBay now and in Finding 2.0
(playground) and usually you’ll find more stuff.
For example, “size 12 puma shoes” on current search = 129 items, but in Finding 2.0 it’s 267. We think that searching for “size 12 puma shoes” should show return ALL the size 12 puma shoes on eBay.
BTW, I compare the two systems side by side all the time by having http://search.ebay.com in Internet Explorer and http://playground.ebay.com in Firefox. Since they use separate cookies you can keep each up and compare side by side.
1 click bid is for all those people who have always wanted an easier way to win an item in the last few precious minutes before an auction ends (yours truly included!). Hi Everyone! My name is Subha and I'm excited to be the newest blogger on The Chatter!
Very soon, you'll be able to use 1 click bid in the last 15 minutes of an auction to re-bid with one click only (how fast and easy is that!). You don't have to keep refreshing the page in your browser and bite your nails as the page loads to see if you're still the high bidder. Instead you'll see a little layer appear on the item page displaying the information you need to plot your bidding moves in the last few minutes -- how much time before the auction ends, what's the current high bid, and most importantly, are you still the high bidder? Instead of refreshing the entire page, you'll just need to refresh the smaller layer. Much faster, and more convenient.
Take a look at the picture alongside to see what I mean. (Note - we're still tweaking the design so it may not look exactly like this when we launch. But you get the picture....).
One more thing. To use 1 click bid, you'll need to be signed in to eBay and have at least one bid on the item already.
Last month, at eBay Live!, Bill Cobb announced that we're working on a number of new ways to make bidding more exciting and convenient. This is just one of several projects that we have in the works for you. I’ll be back from time to time to give you updates and sneak peeks at other cool features.
We're planning to start testing 1 click bid in early August for a small percentage of members, and hope to have it available for everyone by the end of August. If you happen to be in the test group, I would love to hear what you think – just send me an email at sneakpeek@ebay.com.
I shared some plans with the Chatter team when they interviewed me recently (see the video they shot).
I hope you saw my previous blog post with some of the details about the new My eBay my team is working on. A few days ago I sat down with the Chatter team to give a quick update and some more information about the upcoming changes - check out the video to learn more!
Wow, my first Announcement Board post and first Chatter post in the same day! It's a good thing I have something important to tell you about. Make sure you check out sneakpeek.ebay.com - it's a page we've put together that shows you a lot of the neat stuff we have on the drawing board (or have already launched to the site).
You've been hearing us talk lately about how we're working to make eBay more fun, more exciting, and well, more "eBay" than ever. Because in a world where so many shopping sites look and feel the same, eBay is really the only place to come and have a totally different experience. We're looking to reinforce that by coming up with new products, features, and other things that really make eBay stand out. Our Sneak Peek page is a great place to start to see what we're up to, and to tell us what you think! As I said in my announcement, this is YOUR site - we need your help to keep it great.
I'll be behind the scenes a lot helping my colleagues to get out, put their projects on Sneak Peek, and come out and blog. But I'll stop by myself from time to time to give you an idea of where we're going. So visit sneakpeek.ebay.com, and I'll see you later....
Hi...my name is Blair and I’m a Product Manager here at eBay (maybe you saw my picture on my recent announcement about improvements to Favorite Searches). My main focus is My eBay, and I, along with a fabulous team, have been working on some new designs for this important tool.
We're still well in the development stages, but because My eBay is such a big part of most members' day-to-day activities, we're planning on sharing a few ideas and concepts with you along the way, both to let you see what we have in mind, and to get your feedback. Our overall goal is to improve your eBay experience by simplifying the My eBay views and tasks and making it easier to shop on eBay. I'll be popping onto the blog occasionally to give updates, so be sure to check back.
In terms of timing, we’re aiming to have a new version of My eBay ready for a beta-type test in the next couple of months, more information to come as we get closer to the date.
Below are a few links to screenshots of our designs, along with a brief explanation of what's new on the page. I've also set up a thread on the Chatter Blog discussion board for you to leave your feedback.
I look forward to hearing your feedback, comments and questions - and I'll be back out here again soon!
NOTE: All the content and graphics are directional in nature - essentially, these are far from being finalized. We expect them to evolve substantially over time.
My eBay Today (possible new name for the Summary page):
This page provides you a snapshot of your eBay Buying and Selling activity and gets you to the items you need to take action on faster.
At the top of the page, there is a new section called “My Reminders.” This section is your "notepad" on eBay. Use it to remind yourself of anything you want, related to eBay or not, and you can even tie it to a specific date if you like. For example, maybe you'd put “Buy replacement gas cap,” “Sell records on Sunday” or "Get Father's Day Gift". You can use this section if you want, and if not, you can remove it.
The next two sections are a different display of the current Buying and Selling Reminders. In the new design, instead of just showing the number of items you need to leave feedback for, we’ll also show you the items.
The last section previews results from your saved searches and sellers, so you can easily find out about new listings you’re interested in.
Live help
You’re filled with anticipation as you wait to
see whether you’re the winner. Looking good so far...
For example, say you find that perfect Hot
Wheels Redline custom Corvette. You add it to your Watch list, where you eye it
over the next several days. After clearing a special spot for it in your
display case, you place a proxy bid. That’s the top price you’re willing to
pay. The current price is well under your proxy bid for now, but as others
nibble away at the listing, the price goes up. You’re not worried, because eBay
is placing bids for you on your behalf (and will continue to do so, as needed,
until your proxy bid price is met).
