eBay launches tool to create product listings from photos | TechCrunch

Image credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

eBay is rolling out a new AI tool for marketplace sellers that can create product listings from a single photo.

Available in the eBay app for iOS to start, with an Android app coming in the coming weeks, the tool can automatically write titles and descriptions based on photos as well as information including release date product and category recommendations, subcategories, list prices, and shipping costs.

The tool builds on eBay’s other efforts to bring AI into the selling process, including AI-generated product category descriptions and a background removal tool for listing photos.

“The ‘listing photo’ tool was built in-house and the team will use the listing data generated to ‘train’ the model internally. eBay’s terms and conditions state that we have a license to use listing data,” an eBay spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “At eBay, we are using AI to reduce platform friction and transform the listing process. With this tool, it makes the seller’s job of listing items extremely easy, effortless and even fun.”

In May, Adam Ireland, head of eBay’s US sales, said in a blog post that eBay plans to launch a plugin that will allow sellers to automatically generate item descriptions based on the content is already available on the web – powered by the OpenAI language model. In that same blog post, Ireland telegraphed the tool’s release today.

eBay says the tool aims to solve the “cold start” problem often faced by first-time sellers on its platform. It’s no wonder new sellers are overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to enter to create competitive listings, eBay claims – so what better way to fix that than to eliminate the need to enter information altogether? ?

eBay’s tool converts photos into listings. Image credits: eBay

“There’s no need to start from scratch with AI: as soon as you’re ready to sell, your listing is ready to post,” eBay wrote in a blog post. “We’ve been working hard to create the next version of our magical new listing experience, using AI to analyze, research and extrapolate information from the small amount of data provided by sellers .”

But longtime eBay sellers seem unhappy with the platform’s AI direction.

The official eBay community forum and subreddits frequented by sellers are being flooded with complaints about the poor quality of eBay’s description generator, which is only available in limited tests – with one user on the forum, vssoutlet, claims that eBay’s AI-generated text is misleading and, in some cases, downright dishonest. Vssoutlet points to a listing for a Pentax SLR camera in which eBay’s AI created a description that said the camera came with a lens kit – an obvious error.

On the subreddit /r/Flipping, a Reddit community dedicated to the art of selling popular goods, an eBay seller named IJustWondering writes that eBay’s description generator frequently “restates the specifics of the item.” lines and headings” and merely “add a little fluff.” Another user, Hardcorelogic, recounted an experience similar to vssoutlet, noting that the AI-written descriptions “contain errors” and “[are] too long.”

“When I finished fixing it [one of the descriptions] and shorten it, I can write it myself,” Hardcorelogic wrote.

This writer is also concerned about the photo recognition component of eBay’s new creation feature. Given that some of today’s best computer vision algorithms are so biased that they can’t reliably distinguish blacks from gorillas, I don’t have high hopes for eBay’s win. .

Also, eBay sellers seem to be having problems with more than just the creative AI’s tendency to emit falsehoods and illusions – eBay is well aware of this, as the new listing generator warns disclaimer that the text may not be entirely accurate – but with the use cases that eBay envisions for it.

Sellers point out that eBay’s AI-generated descriptions aren’t clear, concise, or direct enough for most buyers. They claim that description generators tend to be repetitive and verbose – even for basic items. And the generated text does not list the individual characteristics of the items, including their flaws.

eBay is certainly not the only marketplace that uses AI as a way to solve the funnel problem (i.e. convince more sellers, who pay a sales fee to generate revenue, to list items – and making its pages more discoverable on search engines). Shopify recently introduced AI-generated product descriptions, while Amazon rolled out AI-generated review summaries.

The Information reports that Amazon is also testing an AI that allows sellers to create titles, descriptions, and bullet points for select products. Unlike eBay’s newly launched tool, Amazon’s tool will work not from photos but from keyword lists and “strictly curate” what content is allowed in the generated product listings.

But eBay’s roadmap is arguably more robust. And sellers – rightly so, I suppose – are starting to question the wisdom of that strategy.