eBay Pulse was "improved" this week, much to the dismay of frequent users. This was a great tool, that allowed users to drill into sub-categories to see what search terms shoppers were using most. Unfortunately, the "improvements" eliminated popular search terms for all but the top categories. This new, gutted tool is pretty worthless to sellers. It's not a tool, it's a toy.
I'm sure some people worked hard on it. I'm sure they had mock-ups, and brainstormed, and used the white boards. There were meetings upon meetings. Probably (having worked at eBay) there were meetings about meetings.
There were also no doubt, considerations about how to display the information.
- "Could we charge for this information instead of giving it away?"
- "Should we filter the results so we don't hurt a weak category?"
- "Should we consider our paid sponsors when displaying results?"
- "How could we turn this into a revenue stream?"
- "How do sellers use this tool?" (This question likely prompted inquisitive looks at each other.)
- "Will it be pretty?"
So, anyway - it was released. Sellers are complaining. I can't imagine why though. Look at this screenshot I grabbed this morning of the Biggest Movers on eBay Pulse:
Now I understand people have a hard time making up their minds about products. But really? Everything is moving up and down at the same time?
Part of the problem with the new tool is the addition of the "Internet Pulse" showing top searches from "selected" blogs. How will I use that information when creating my titles? How can I use it to determine a niche market for my business? The current terms on internet pulse are:
- fashion week
- iphone
- stamps
- coin show
- game
- blog
- xbox 360
- money
- david foster wallace
- launch
How will those terms help me as a seller? They are so broad as to be useless. They will always be broad terms.
The top searches by category are equally as broad. They contain the top searches for the main category only. Under Collectibles, the top ten search terms cover a category with one and a half MILLION items.
I know new things have bugs, so to be fair I thought I'd take another look to see if eBay had fixed the problem shown above. Here is a screen shot from an hour later:
Popularity: 28% [?]
3 comments ↓
eBay still has a pulse?
Hi,
Based on users feedback we have rolled back the old pulse page for a limited time. The new pulse can be found at: http://new-pulse.ebay.com
Until the old application is live in the data centers, we will work to get the detailed information the community needs into the new Pulse project.
The Internet pulse is intended to give sellers and buyers an idea what experts are talking about. Here you can check which products will be the next big hit.
Kind regards,
Dennis
Dennis,
I’m sure this will be appreciated. The upside is you certainly can’t say this tool isn’t appreciated!
Thanks for your comment. We sure look forward to a revised version. I’m not sure whether sub-categories will be included - but you’ll be a hero if they are.
Steve
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