Auto parts: eBay aims to improve the customer’s experience

The shares for the online listings of auto parts in eBay Italy are very high - probably the highest. Maybe, it is for this reason that in the next months there will be noticeable news coming in this field.  

The starting point is represented by the following statements:

1. the search engine of “text” type is not comfortable to search auto parts
2. the buyer must be sure to be buying, also in eBay’s interest, parts that are appropriate for one’s own car

The solution is the new tool called “Fitment” that will allow to the seller to specify, in a single listing, a list of vehicles where this part can be installed and will also allow the buyer to find easily the right auto part online.

Let’s see in detail the advantages for both the seller and the buyer

Advantages for the buyer

Each online buyer, indeed, can search his/her own auto part starting at the model of the car (as it is for eBay.de).

Moreover, the buyer can verify, directly by “surfing” through the attributes of the listing, if the item selected is suitable to be installed on one’s own vehicle.

Advantages for the seller

The advantages are many also for the seller, in particular:

• more efficiency in managing the products: fewer listings and more addressee
• more visibility following the adoption of these standards by the search engine’s algorithm
• best sales performances in terms of:
• lower costs for duplicated listings
• lower managing costs, to reduce some questions on products
• fewer costs related to the decrease of refund

Fig. 1. The product which uses Fitment appears for full-text research

In the figure below, you can see how the page of the product will be and where the buyer can see the models of cars compatible.

Fig. 2. on the VIP (view item page) you find the heading “Compatible with”

Fig. 3. The Finder, the tool to search auto parts, it provides to search inside the items that use  Fitment.

At the end, to carry on the “users’ experience” there will be launched two functions:

• “Search for license plate” that will give you way to verify that the auto part is right for the vehicle  
• “my car”, that allows the buyer to save data of his/her own vehicles to get the purchase of auto parts faster  

The possibility to use Fitment, for all the sellers in Italy, will be actual in August 2016. For the function license place and my car, instead, we must wait until the beginning of 2017.