In a move that conjures up images of the "Soup Nazi" from the TV sitcom Seinfeld, eBay pulled a tool sellers were using to optimize their listings for Best Match.

"No BayEstimator for you!"

Not surprisingly, Scot Wingo may have been the catalyst for the tool being pulled, having blogged about how sellers were using the tool to game the Best Match algorithm.

This is not the first time eBay has chosen to limit sellers' knowledge about the auction site's features. When Wingo launched a tool that gave sellers more detailed information about their DSR ratings than eBay provided, eBay quickly changed the API to prevent sellers for seeing the detailed data. While there may be some rationale for pulling BayEstimator, there was no reason for pulling the detailed DSR data, which could help sellers try and raise their scores.

What's certain is that eBay desperately needs to provide sellers with more information about Best Match. How can it expect its best sellers to rank high in search results if they are stumbling around in the dark - and with some sellers spending hours trying to unlock its mysteries.

Unfortunately, eBay has removed the only recipe to the Best Match soup.