You’ll soon be able to search eBay using just images on its mobile app

Why it matters to you

This new feature further expands the use of image-based search, and demonstrates the strength of the underlying artificial intelligence.

In an effort to improve the eBay shopping experience — and keep you shopping on the site — you’ll soon be able to find and purchase items by simply taking a photo. On Wednesday, July 26, the company announced two new upcoming features — Image Search and Find It On eBay — which will allow shoppers to use pictures instead of words to search for items through the mobile app.

Through artificial intelligence and machine learning, you’ll now be able to find any item you’re searching for using only visuals and the search bar. This especially comes in handy if you ever spot a pair of shoes or a piece of furniture that you’re interested in, but don’t necessarily know the exact name of. The new features on eBay’s mobile app will apparently be able to guide you to similar items if not the exact match.

If your phone is filled with photos of desired items you’ve seen in person or screenshots from scrolling through social media, they won’t just have to sit in your camera roll anymore. With the Image Search feature, you can either take a photo or pull up the existing screenshot from your album and enter it into the search bar right on the app. Your results will consist of the closest matches to the item for you to then purchase.

With the second feature called Find It On eBay, users can shop on any social platform like Pinterest or Instagram. When you see an item you’re interested in, you’ll see the option to “Find it now” on your smartphone via the eBay icon. Once you “share” the image with eBay, you can crop the photo to highlight the exact item you’re looking for and the mobile app will pull up search results.

The eBay mobile app uses two parts of artificial intelligence — known as computer vision and deep learning — to easily find the items you’re looking for. Once you upload the image, it goes through a deep learning model — known as a convolutional neural network — that processes the image and produces a representation of it to compare to live listings on eBay. The items are then ranked based on visual similarity, and surface as your options to choose from — which eBay hopes will lead to your purchase of the item through its site.

Image Search and Find It On eBay will be rolling out in the Fall. The Image Search feature will be available for both Android and iOS, however, the Find It On eBay feature will only be supported on Android upon launch.