Today in New York, eBay announced at its “Future of Shopping” event that the online-auction website will be undergoing a massive redesign. In hopes of achieving a cleaner, more modern look, eBay will take a page out of Pinterest’s book and roll out a more user-friendly feed.
According to The Next Web, the redesign is currently live and will completely sweep the U.S. over the next 100 days. If you don’t have direct access to the new feed yet, you can activate it by going to ebay.com/feed. Certain pages, however, including the new product pages, should become available over the following 24 hours.
The redesign allows users to create their own feeds while simultaneously tracking those of others, a function championed by Pinterest.
In a statement, eBay President Devin Wenig said “Our refreshed logo is rooted in our proud history and reflects a dynamic future. Shopping anytime, anywhere? This is the new eBay.”
The Next Web also notes that eBay has undergone a substantial shift over the years, starting out as the go-to site for selling used everyday goods to, as of late, selling mostly refurbished or brand new items with little (if any) shipping costs–eerily similar to rival Amazon.
But eBay isn’t the only popular website undergoing a makeover. According to my colleague Alex Shadrow,
“Facebook has just launched a new experimental feature, where users can “collect” items to a wish-list, and “want” various items from the list (“wants” function the same way as “likes”). “Wanting” an item doesn’t mean you have to buy it, though Facebook does provide the option, but rather helps brands to understand who their products appeal to.”
Pinterest-like feeds and pages seem to be all the rage when it comes to website design these days. In fact, there’s a pinboard on Pinterest that has pins to 37 different Pinterest knock-off sites that “borrowed” from the site’s layout.
It’s still too early to tell what kind of effect eBay’s new design will have on its business, but what do you all think? Will eBay’s new feed add more convenience or another hindrance to your online buying and selling? Can it compete with the likes of Amazon? Will the feed be deemed unique or fall into the desolate category of generic? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
