eBay Image Recognition: Find items on eBay with your camera

Coming soon are two eBay image search features, according to the latest press release from the auction giant.

This fall, two new features taking advantage of machine learning will allow you to use image search for a better shopping experience.

The first, Find It on eBay, is designed to connect to social media. For example, you can search for sneakers or a watch on Amazon or Zappos, then share the image to eBay, where they show you the same item or other related objects.

The second new feature is Image Search.  This lets you take a picture or even select an image from your gallery, then conducts an eBay Image Search for that product. Fell in love with your friend’s watch? Just take a photo, upload to eBay, then find that item or similar ones in a matter of seconds.

“Moments of shopping inspiration can come at any time, whether you’re walking down the street or browsing your social media feed,” said Mohan Patt, Vice President of Buyer Experience, eBay. “At eBay, we’re focused on creating new complementary technology that helps our millions of shoppers easily find the things they love at the best value. eBay Image Search and Find It On eBay make it possible for people to shop eBay using any image or photo that inspires them.”

eBay image search will be available on iOS and Android at launch, but Find it on eBay will be Android-exclusive.

These features are similar to Pinterest Lens, a service that lets you take a photo of a real-world object, then find similar items on Pinterest. That tool works best with home decor, food and clothing. This means there is a big chance that the eBay image recognition features will work the same way at launch. Of course, seeing that we’re looking at machine learning, the apps will learn how to recognize new items with each update.