Hi Everyone,

Over the last several months, we’ve introduced enhancements to Books, Music, Movies, and Video Games categories to offer buyers more flexibility in finding items. This strategy has involved simplifying the category structure by replacing the lower levels of the existing category structure with Item Specifics.

Based on Community feedback and careful observation of buyer behavior as they browse these categories, in the next few days we will be making a change to the Product Finder feature to make it easier for browsers to use. The current drop-down menus for item specifics will be replaced with links, so that genres, subjects, platforms, etc. will be clearly visible on search pages and listings pages. By showing these links prominently to buyers, it will be even easier for them to find their favorite genres, subjects, and platforms.

This change to Product Finder helps buyers by combining the flexibility offered by Item Specifics with a more familiar category-like interface. We hope this change will assist with any browsers that have had difficulty using the drop down menus to find items in this area.

Below are frequently asked questions and screenshots of how this change will look.

Regards,
eBay

What is Changing?
We are removing the drop-down menus in the Product Finders in the Books, Movies, Music, and Video Games categories and replacing them with links. Here is an example of how the listings pages will look:



We are also expanding the main (or “portal”) pages for each of these areas in order to show many more links for buyers. Here is how this page will look:



Why did we make this change?

Buyers who search for items in the books, music, movies, and video games categories have asked us for more powerful features to narrow down their search results to a more manageable list. In response to this request, we have built product finders in many areas of eBay that help buyers filter their searches using drop-down menus to select item specifics (genre, condition, etc.) . While item specifics are an important feature that allow buyers the flexibility to narrow their browsing lists in ways that are tailored to suit their needs, we have found that the interface presented to the Product Finder itself has needed improvement. We believe there is a better way to display the Product Finder tool so that browsers will find it easier to use. In the next few days, we will replace the drop down menus with links that visually appear very similar to the “matching categories” we had previously. By changing the way buyers use the Product Finder, we offer buyers the flexibility of item specifics with a familiar, intuitive look-and-feel.

Why is this change taking place only in Books, Music, Movies, and Video Games?

We have listened to the buyers and sellers in the BMMG categories and studied the methods and features buyers use to shop in these categories to determine that this change was right for this area of the site. We are currently evaluating other eBay categories to see if this change would be appropriate elsewhere. In categories where buyers are more comfortable with drop-down menus, we may maintain product finder functionality in this format.

What will be changing next?

eBay users shop in many different ways and have different needs in how they want to sort through the items for sale on eBay.com. To respond to their needs and the needs of our growing community of sellers, we will continue to refine item specifics and evolve the eBay platform to help buyers and sellers transact. In time, we may evolve the product finder tool again to offer members a choice, so that drop-down menus are available to those buyers who want to find items quickly and product finder links are available to browsers who want to scan items.