• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 29, 2017

Driven by a conversational interface, voice search, eBay now lets consumers shop across the company's marketplace using Google Assistant. The news was announced Tuesday in a blog post by eBay Product Manager Jay Vasudevan.

eBay's engineers collaborated with Google, allowing developers to carry a voice conversation on Google Home to a mobile phone. When the consumer tells Google Home that she wants to buy an item on eBay, it easily switches the conversation from the Home device to the phone.

"Natural language is rich with context and meaning," Vasudevan wrote. "When paired with the science of understanding language, deep learning and predictive modeling, we can begin to harness the power of human intent, enabling us to create a radically better and more personalized shopping experience for everyone."

The key is bridging the shopping experience in the home with devices that allow consumers to stay on the go. eBay also made updates to the "What’s It Worth?" experience on Google Assistant, so consumer can quickly find the value of the things they want to sell on eBay.

"We are in the early stages of this new commerce frontier, but we are excited about the prospects of bringing the eBay shopping and selling experience closer to our customers’ everyday lives," he wrote. "AI has the potential to dramatically reshape online shopping with breakthrough merchandising and personalized shopping experiences. Paired with the power and reach of cloud computing, commerce can take place where and when you want it. And, when combined with eBay’s inventory and knowledge base, we see something really exciting and transformative: online shopping will be as easy as talking to a friend.

Google Assistant is available on Google Home, Home Mini devices, and on Google Assistant apps on Android and iOS. The eBay service is available in the U.S. and Australia.