Ebay updates image search function with visual shopping feature

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jul 27, 2018

US-based e-commerce marketplace Ebay has announced improvements to its image search function which now allows consumers to look for products by dragging and dropping an image into the search bar.  

Image Search was launched on the platform last summer and allowed customers to use a photo on their camera roll to search for similar products to those depicted via the Ebay mobile app. With visual shopping, the marketplace’s users can now simply select images and drop them in the search bar to initiate a search.
 
Ebay describes the process on its website, explaining that the marketplace’s users can kick off their search using terms like “jeans” or “shirt”, then refine it if a particular result stands out by dragging the image to the search bar.

The feature uses computer vision and AI technology to process images, transforming them into vector representations and comparing them against the over 1.1 billion live listings on Ebay. The best-matched products are then displayed and ranked by visual similarity.

Ebay’s visual shopping feature will be available for Android and iOS in the US, the UK, Germany and Australia from August 2018.