Fun with auto-complete

Some web search engines use auto-complete to suggest queries or even results after users start typing in the search box. On our site, this feature is called “eBay suggestions”.

Auto-complete suggestions are generated offline by looking at the history of popular user queries and demand over a period of several weeks. For frequently mis-spelled queries, we offer corrected suggestions – for example, entering “addidas” into the search box will result in suggestions containing the correct spelling “adidas”. Query suggestions that match the entered prefix but would not return any active items are filtered out.

The other day we came across an interesting blog post called the “United States of Autocomplete” showing Google’s suggestions for all state names. Of course we immediately had to try this at home.

So here it is, today’s A-Z of eBay suggestions:

• A is for atari
• B is for blackberry bold 9700 unlocked
• C is for coach handbags
• D is for dell laptops
• E is for electric guitars
• F is for flat screen television
• G is for gap
• H is for headphones
• I is for ipod touch 4th generation
• J is for j crew
• K is for kodak easyshare
• L is for led lights
• M is for mens watches
• N is for nintendo dsi system
• O is for outdoor christmas decorations
• P is for ps3
• Q is for quicksilver
• R is for record players
• S is for samsung galaxy s
• T is for toys
• U is for ugg boots size 8
• V is for verizon cell phones no contract
• W is for wii games
• X is for xbox kinect
• Y is for ysl
• Z is for zhu zhu pet