1. A computer-implemented method comprising: accessing a seller-generated item description received from a seller of an item, the item description being descriptive of the item; inferring an attribute and an attribute value based on the item description, the inferring being performed by a hardware-implemented analysis module of a machine; including the attribute and the attribute value in an item record for the item, the item record being stored in an item database; presenting a product record stored in a product database to the seller as a proposed record to be mapped to the item record; receiving an acceptance of the proposed record from the seller; incrementing an acceptance count corresponding to the product record; and mapping the item record to the product record by including a reference to the product record in the item record, the mapping being performed by a hardware-implemented mapping module of the machine using the attribute value.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: accessing an unsuccessful auction bid submitted by a user, the unsuccessful auction bid corresponding to the product record; and presenting at least a portion of the item record to the user as a recommendation.