EBay’s bid for price predictor successful

Founded by the creator of shopping comparison engine Netbot, Oren Etzioni, Decide uses data aggregation to help consumers find the best price and the best time to buy products.

Since its launch in 2011, the company said its price predictions have been 80% accurate and have helped uncover $200m in savings.

Over the past year, Decide has been experimenting with eBay and in a letter to members, its president and CEO Mike Fridgen said the company had “discovered an exciting opportunity to apply our team’s strength in data and predictive analytics to help over 25m eBay sellers make smarter decisions and be more successful”.

The Decide team, excluding Etzioni, will be moving to eBay by the end of September and the site will shut down to members with subscriptions being repaid.

However, the move hasn’t been welcomed by some members – one member replied to Fridgen’s note saying: “Instead of being a part of your journey, the initial feeling was that we were a part of your ride and the ride has just ended leaving us stranded.”

Fridgen ended his note: “We want to thank you – our loyal users, members, media partners and investors. You supported and trusted us and are the reason we have this incredible new opportunity ahead of us.”