Its called en*bleep*tification, and it isnt just ebay its happening to. Google and Youtube searches have also become completely useless now, where you can type the exact title of the thing youre looking for and they will still show you what THEY want you to see. 

Its all done for the board members and shareholders. So they can say "look how many eyes on advertising we can get", "we can direct traffic to you" etc etc. Theyve abandoned the entire premise of the features they offer in favor of greed greed greed. And by the time the well has dried up the people who sold it down the river will be long gone laughing their way to the bank. Sad!