eBay has introduced an innovative AI tool for its marketplace sellers that can create product listings from a single photograph. Initially available on the eBay app for iOS, with the Android version set to follow in the coming weeks, this tool can autonomously generate a product title and description based on a given image. It also provides additional information such as the product release date, category and subcategory suggestions, list price, and shipping cost.
This AI tool is part of eBay’s broader effort to integrate artificial intelligence into the selling process, including AI-generated product catalog descriptions and a background removal tool for listing images. eBay aims to enhance the user experience and streamline the listing process for sellers by reducing friction through AI.
According to an eBay spokesperson, this “photo-to-listing” tool was developed in-house, and the data generated from listings will be used to further train the AI model. eBay believes that this tool will make listing items significantly more straightforward, efficient, and enjoyable for sellers.
In May, eBay’s head of U.S. business, Adam Ireland, announced plans to launch a plugin that would enable sellers to automatically generate item descriptions using content available on the internet, powered by an OpenAI language model. This new AI tool aligns with that strategy.
eBay designed this tool to address the common challenge of “cold start” for first-time sellers on its platform, where new sellers can find it overwhelming to input all the necessary information to create competitive listings. By eliminating the need for manual data entry, eBay hopes to ease this process.
However, some long-time eBay sellers have expressed dissatisfaction with the platform’s AI direction. Complaints on eBay’s official community forum and seller-focused subreddits highlight concerns about the quality of eBay’s description generator. Users report that the AI-generated text can be misleading, overly verbose, and sometimes contain errors.
Additionally, there are concerns about the photo recognition component of eBay’s AI tool, given the potential for bias in computer vision algorithms. Sellers also criticize the lack of clarity and directness in the AI-generated descriptions, which can be repetitive and fail to mention item-specific characteristics or flaws.
While eBay is not alone in using AI to address marketplace challenges, some sellers question the wisdom of its aggressive AI roadmap. Other e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Amazon have also adopted AI-driven approaches, such as AI-generated product descriptions and reviews summaries, but with varying degrees of success and control over content quality.
