CARad Inventory Management Tool | eBay
Role: Lead UI Designer
Car dealers were the primary users of CARad, a power seller product for listing and managing vehicle auctions on eBay. The product was invaluable to its users and yet had major usability issues. Existing users knew the tool very well, so the main design objective was to minimize the redesign's learning curve. After launch, the account manager reported positive feedback and increased satisfaction from users.
After
- Retained the same categories and color scheme dealers are already familiar with.
- Added thumbnail images to help differentiate listings quickly.
- Added sorting, filtering, and batch processing to easily manage large quantities of listings.
- Incorporated commonly used eBay functionality and listing details thus eliminating the need to login to eBay separately.
Before
- Legend mixes multiple types of status, Column headers are not clickable.
- Users could not figure out how to sort and assumed the functionality was unavailable.
- Difficult to differentiate listings solely by stock # and make/model.
- Redundant actions in each row.
- Unscalable format.
- Scattered global functionality.
- Visually overwhelming; however, users were accustomed to and relied upon color coding.
- Users forced to log into My eBay for information and functionality not available in CARad.
Brainstorming
- Exercise in understanding possible actions and use cases to apply to listings.
Wireframe
- A series of wireframes were developed to explore potential layouts.
Timeline
- An on-site field study with car dealers who used CARad created a baseline understanding of the role of CARad in their workflow and their key needs.
- A usability study and multiple design reviews evolved a series of design iterations to the final deliverable.
- Retained the same categories and color scheme dealers are already familiar with.
- Added thumbnail images to help differentiate listings quickly.
- Added sorting, filtering, and batch processing to easily manage large quantities of listings.
- Incorporated commonly used eBay functionality and listing details thus eliminating the need to login to eBay separately.