eBay

valueaddedresource · ‎05-24-2023

You may need to update to the most recent version, but the ChatGPT powered AI description generator is now live in the Android and iOS eBay apps.

In the listing flow, tap the AI description icon in the bottom right and the new description will automatically populate.

I haven't played around with it too much, but here are a couple examples generated from very basic title info.

Anyone else tried it out yet?

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎05-28-2023

Well then, it's fortunate for ebay that there are no cynics here LOL

turnpiketreasures1 · ‎05-28-2023

I don't get it at all. If you have to add more details in order to get a description that isn't just like a cut and paste thing for the item you're selling, then why not write it yourself. We need to perhaps ignore AI for things like this because if we don't we will soon be a society of people who not only don't know how to write a simple sentence, they'll be unable to carry on a conversation, or deal with sales people, or even talk to their family. There is great danger in using AI for things like this. It has a purpose, but writing descriptions for things you sell on eBay, shouldn't be one of them. Our brains are going to turn to mush very quickly if we keep finding ways to not use them.

valueaddedresource · ‎05-28-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Well then, it's fortunate for ebay that there are no cynics here LOL

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I wonder if any of those investors find the irony in going back to read the 2019 public letter from Elliott Management calling out management failures and misexecution.

Fast forward to recent years and the platform still faces issues. In 2018, eBay sellers complained about countless technical issues including incorrect billing, lost photos, warped titles and many others. On this month’s end of year podcast, eBay senior management apologized to sellers and admitted, “This is a 2018 that we don’t want to repeat on a number of levels. And the technology issues that we have had with the platform is top of the list.”

We agree: The consistent reliability of the platform is central to eBay’s success, and management must do all that it takes to achieve it.

While innovative endeavors in new pursuits like machine learning and augmented reality are promising future technologies, eBay’s publicly touted initiatives in these areas will add little value if the core platform continues to have critical functionality failures.

That last line in particular......the more things change, right?

simba6 · ‎05-28-2023

Nothing but run on babble.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎05-28-2023

@valueaddedresource Agree 100%. Maybe spend a little less on stock buybacks and a little more on maintaining the site?

kayomi@ebay · ‎06-01-2023

@gienna2 wrote:

Sorry, I'm confused. This is a button that appears in the description portion of the eBay listing tool when you are editing a listing. While in the eBay app. So not the Chat GPT playground site.

Be nice if eBay would give some info, here.

Thank you for raising this issue. And I apologize for the experience you had. We are constantly testing new features to simplify your selling experience, and we regret that there was an issue on this experience for some Android users. The issue was resolved on the 25th, and the improved experience is being rolled out to sellers over the coming months.

valueaddedresource · ‎06-01-2023

So basically it was prematurely launched without basic functionality in order to hit Q2 headlines for Wall Street but won't really be ready until some vague timeline in the "coming months" 🤣

valueaddedresource · ‎06-01-2023

@valueaddedresource wrote:
So basically it was prematurely launched without basic functionality in order to hit Q2 headlines for Wall Street but won't really be ready until some vague timeline in the "coming months" 🤣

I guess this doesn't make much sense now but if you know, you know. 😉

chapeau-noir · ‎06-01-2023

I agree that it was rushed out to goose Wall St., but eBay is hardly the only company to have done things like that and it was interesting to get a look-in at it.

IAC, I've read a lot of chatGPT, and fiddled with it, and can write that kind of dreck myself without any help. I even used to get paid for it.

When you dine with leopards, it is wise to check the menu lest you find yourself as the main course.

#freedomtoread
#readbannedbooks

tabcu51 · ‎06-01-2023

I am sorry but as an older individual I have been through and through people feeding me corporate lingo (aka male bovine kawkaw) and to be quite frank if a seller wants to make sure I know they fully believe I am an idiot then by all means use this AI generator, just don't expect me to be a buyer. Because I doubt very much I would buy from such an individual any faster than the next seller, while having the absolute cheapest price would help a seller doesn't need an AI generated listing to catch my attention that way.

brightlightbookseller · ‎06-02-2023

Considering our description is almost always only about the condition of the item, not the actual item's history or relevance (we leave that to the buyer to decide what they're interested in), this would be beyond useless for us. Interesting, but absolutely not something we would ever put into practical use.

bwoodruff · ‎06-14-2023

Actually, we started rolling out an update to sellers in a limited ramp which is typical of all companies today when introducing new features. This also coincided with a new update from the Android and iOS clients. However, a bug in the client logic exposed the experience without the surrounding service details (button label, undo button, banner explaining the optional generative model, etc.) which created a broken user experience and confusion when found by sellers who had just download/installed the Android update. They were not intended to see these changes at this point in time. It was a bug. This did not affect the iOS experience.

The unintended consequence of this bug was exposing a broken experience for a feature that we have been actively collecting feedback from our sellers. The actual feedback has been very positive and this feature has been very effective for many sellers. Depending on your listing category & details (title & aspects), your mileage may vary.

huntfishdie45 · ‎06-14-2023

Who needs this when you can just cut and paste someone else's description? While you're at it steal their pics too.

valueaddedresource · ‎06-15-2023

@bwoodruff wrote:
Actually, we started rolling out an update to sellers in a limited ramp which is typical of all companies today when introducing new features. This also coincided with a new update from the Android and iOS clients. However, a bug in the client logic exposed the experience without the surrounding service details (button label, undo button, banner explaining the optional generative model, etc.) which created a broken user experience and confusion when found by sellers who had just download/installed the Android update. They were not intended to see these changes at this point in time. It was a bug. This did not affect the iOS experience.

The unintended consequence of this bug was exposing a broken experience for a feature that we have been actively collecting feedback from our sellers. The actual feedback has been very positive and this feature has been very effective for many sellers. Depending on your listing category & details (title & aspects), your mileage may vary.

Thanks for that info @bwoodruff - sounds like you work for eBay?

If so, devon@ebay kyle@ebay elizabeth@ebay brian_burke@ebay can we get this account properly labeled as an eBay employee account here in the community please?