Auction site eBay (EBAY) has unveiled a new look that delivers a personalized experience based on what users like and what they have searched for in the past.

The new site, which borrows heavily from Pinterest, encourages people to customize the page based on their interests. (See the new look here.) The new eBay relies heavily on photos, displaying them in the bold, tiled fashion first used in a big way by Pinterest and now by many, many others.

Users create a "feed" of items for sale. If you add designer Tory Burch as one of your interests, for example, your feed will start to fill with photos of Tory Burch items currently for sale.

The site's redesign is getting mixed reviews. "With the enormous amount of data eBay has accumulated over the years, the company is delving into personalization and curation in a big way," writes TechCrunch. "We know this is the future of ecommerce, so it’s a wise bet."

But Business Insider's Owen Thomas calls it a "crushing disappointment -- a glaring missed opportunity to take a more substantial leap forward and transform the eBay shopping experience."The site takes some work at first. You need to add some interests, items you might regularly buy, but once you do it becomes quite compelling. I placed bids on two items just in a quick perusal of the new features.

It's a big redesign for eBay, but it's just a small step in the company's ongoing march toward more data mining, customization and social-networking tie-ins. It boldly pushes items in your face via the home page rather than having you hunt down things you like. That's a major change, and one that could either turn users off or spur them into more bids.

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