Mixed about this.
On one hand, eBay has been expanding and expanding item specifics, and it has NOT improved the search nor has it made it easier for customers to find items. So many of the specifics seem like a waste, and it's an unnecessary hassle to have to spend so much time on data entry.
On the other hand, is this going to actually help the search at this point? Is removing data from search going to cause more problems, or less. That's what it really boils down to. Customers being able to find the items they ACTUALLY SEARCH. And disqualifying fields from search may cause problems unless done properly, and there's not a lot of faith in eBay at this point since search has degraded for 5+ years now.
I'm of the opinion that part of the issue with search is eBay is trying to consider TOO MANY VARIABLES. With that said, I don't believe item specifics are the problem at this point. Because let's think of all the things search is trying to consider - in addition to IS, they're looking at location, shipping time, shipping type, PLS, PLA, pricing, promotions, stagnant listings, seller velocity, service metrics, and more. And many of these variables are linked to completely different systems (such as the marketing/promotion systems, etc).
They've also integrated AI in to search more and more over the last 5 years.
And certain things are just at odds with each other. When the system is both trying to find best prices for buyers AND trying to factor in who is paying the most for promotions it is impossible to balance. Either low prices won't get enough traffic, or people who pay the most for promotions won't get enough traffic. It's a see-saw that goes back and forth.
The search is just split WAY too thin, and with the reliance on other eBay functionality, if any of those systems are having problems, it's going to cause the search itself to have problems.
So my conclusion based on my opinion... EBay needs to stop worrying about Item Specifics and start worrying about everything else. The search algorithms are impossible to balance.
Search worked SO MUCH BETTER when it simply browsed for the terms the buyers are searching for within the chosen filters. And if the algorithm is going to weigh anything else heavily, it should be only things that will benefit the customer. Back in the day, the biggest factors weighed were seller level, selling history, and feedback - this made sense - if sellers have a positive history they are a good example to customers of what an eBay seller should be - and the better the feedback the more positive experience a customer will have. From a customer POV, this is great, they are given better experiences. And from a seller POV this is great as well, as sellers could simply focus on giving the best deal to customers and taking care of them, something that SHOULD be rewarded.
Nowadays you have items on top of search that are NOT the best prices, for sellers who can't even meet Top Rated standards, with poor feedback. They are giving customers WORSE experiences and WORSE deals. And the only benefit is that at the end of the day, eBay is making extra profit from the promotion investment.
I guess we should be glad that after so many years, they're finally realizing that focusing on Item Specifics for 4+ years probably wasn't the best move. But I don't believe they've actually realized just how far off the rails they've went and that the design of their search is flawed at the foundation.
