eBay

community_team · ‎10-12-2021

--Final Update, October 28--

The category changes announced in our Fall Seller Update have been completed.

Now that all category changes are complete, while you might still see some adjustments to searches, it is okay to update or edit your listings without concerns of losing data or having it moved again.

We appreciate your feedback on this roll-out. We'll continue to adjust the process based on the input we’ve received here, and we'll take all of these suggestions into consideration for future updates.

As this project is now complete the post is being locked from further comments.

Resources and observations

We’ve heard from you that updating your Item Specifics in time for the February 2022 requirement date may be a challenge.

A useful tool that may help is located in the Seller Hub under Listing>Active. There is a drop-down box labeled ‘Download’ which will generate an Excel document for ‘Missing Required or Recommended Item Specifics’. You can read more about this tool here.

Should you come across any inaccuracies within the new Item Specifics we ask that you report those directly to sdsupport@ebay.com so our team can investigate. Outside of that, please share suggestions as to changes you'd like to see going forward here, selecting the Categories and Item Specifics option.

---Update as of October 19th---

We apologize for this delayed update. Thank you for your patience while our teams worked to finalize category changes.

All listings have been moved to their final destination categories. You may now proceed with checking your categories, revising items, and updating item specifics where needed.

Some item specifics have been renamed, and the value you originally provided has been copied over to the new item specific, so you don’t need to re-add these item specifics. We encourage you to update your listings with item specifics that are showing as “Required Soon.” These will become required on February 22, 2022.

All other item specifics are either Recommended or Optional. Learn more about item specifics.

Some categories were retired and replaced by product-based categories. You and your buyers can still find the items you’re looking for. Simply browse to the product category of your choice and use the filters to refine your search.

More information about key category changes:

Dolls & Bears. The categories based on Brand/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type of doll have been retired. Former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the new Dolls & Doll Playsets category. You can access the filters by browsing to the product category of your choice and using Brand/Vintage/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type filters to refine your search.

Pottery & Glass. The categories based on Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique have also been replaced by filters. You and buyers can now filter by the Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique/Time Period Manufactured.
Postcards. The categories based on Location/Theme/Subject have been retired and replaced with two main categories for Topographical and Non-Topographical postcards. The former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the two new main categories. For example in Topographical Postcards, you can filter by Country and Region.

Jewelry & Watches. The categories based on Main Stone and Metal Type have been retired and replaced by product-based categories under Fine Jewelry. Use the filters for Main Stone and Metal to refine your search.

---Update as of October 14th---
The work continues on this move and is progressing according to plan. We are on track and anticipate all category changes for your listings to be complete by end of day tomorrow (10.15). Thank you for your patience while our teams implement these changes.

---Update as of October 13th---

We continue to work through this change and thank you for your patience as our teams work through it. We wanted to provide answers to some top concerns and questions:

Why are Gallery Plus fees being charged for items that were previously free?

We determined that a technical issue impacted a small number of listings, which resulted in incorrect charges (including Gallery Plus, subtitles, and insertion fees) for some sellers. The issue has been fixed and we will be crediting impacted sellers as quickly as possible. No calls to Customer Service are necessary as credits will be issued automatically.

The eBay Standard Envelope shipping option is grayed out and I can’t select it. When will the issue be resolved?

The eBay Standard Envelope shipping option issue resulted from the category changes update and has been resolved. eBay Standard Envelope is now available in applicable categories if your item meets the established criteria.

Should I edit my listings if they’re in the wrong category, have been moved to another category, or have wrong or missing item specifics?

No. Recent category changes require updates to many thousands of servers and data changes to nearly every aspect of our platform. This level of adjustment takes time, which is why we asked for your patience while the process runs. We expect most data updates to be completed within 48 hours, but can they take up to a week (i.e., through Oct. 19). After that, if you have an item specific in mind that you think would work well for your listing, please consider adding it as a custom item specific.

Why isn’t my item coming up in search?

The category change update is still in process. We anticipate search issues will resolve when we complete most data updates during the next 24-48 hours.

There are more item specifics now than ever before. Do I need to fill in all of them?

No. Item specifics that you have already filled in will be maintained as the category moves are completed during the next week. In addition, new soon-to-be-required item specifics are being added and will become required by Feb 22, 2022. As always, the more item specifics you fill out, the better visibility your listing has to buyers.

For Parts & Accessories, when will fitment/compatibility charts start working again?

There was an issue with parts compatibility not working properly as the category changes rolled out that has been resolved. You should now be able to see the options to add fitment compatibility when editing your listings.

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We’re updating some of our categories and item specifics to make your listings easier to find.

Starting October 12th, you’ll see updates to the following categories. Learn more about category changes →

Collectibles & Art

Jewelry

Musical Instruments

Parts & Accessories

Sporting Goods

As these updates go into effect, you may see temporary impacts to your listing experience or to the visibility of listings in the affected categories.

This is a result of listings transitioning to the updated item specifics and category structures. Your affected listings should return to normal within 48 hours, though you may see irregularities on some listings for up to a week. We recommend checking your item specifics and categories in affected listings after these updates are complete.

These updates also include new item specifics in the above categories, which will be required February 22, 2022. Starting today, these item specifics will be available as you list, with the “Required Soon” tag. Learn more →

Keep an eye on this page over the coming days—we’ll be sharing up-to-date information on affected categories and listings, and answering any questions you have.

auctionpet · ‎10-17-2021

@andnowitsmine wrote:

Wow, look at all these "antique" dolls with "specifics" applied. I love getting mansplained my OWN hobby to me.

Some of that is sellers selecting specifics that are plain wrong! Just like they spam title keywords. That first doll is clearly NOT vintage.

I believe that ebay in their brilliance (etsy does the same thing) puts 'sponsored' items at the top of search results regardless of whether they meet customer search expectations or not! They stupidly think they may change the buyers mind and that true antique doll buyer will suddenly want some overpriced made in china mass produced "collectors doll"!

Ebay is a total mess! It was bad enough things would often take months or even years to sell here due to the oversaturation of products and competition. Now, it will be near impossible to sell anything!

The alternatives don't look very promising either. I've looked into many of them. Same thing there with sellers misrepresenting items and convoluted search, the sites only care about collecting your monthly fees. One would think in this day and age, there'd be plenty of viable alternatives with a large customer base. The sites that aren't over saturated with sellers, look stale like they're from the 1990s. I searched antique doll on one of them and the first thing to come up was some awful beanie baby, not antique nor a doll!! SMH

yesterfun · ‎10-17-2021

I'm 6 1, and like the others, I love your comment about "not living long enough" to view all the thousands or random search results! I'm the primary caregiver of my 98-year-old family mom with severe dementia and advanced Alzheimer's. My Ebay business is my creative and financial lifeline right now. I work on my Ebay listings in the time I snatch away for myself between tending to my mom, but my Ebay work has been making me lots of money every month, even though I don't have much time to do it. Your comment got me even more bothered about this, because it's basically true. Our work time is limited, and our buyers' time is limited. It's hard enough to grab enough time to finish all my scheduled listings. Now for every listing we have to spend more of our precious minutes putting in extra item specifics that are mostly meaningless for what we sell. And what about all those parents of young children who work on their Ebay business at home while taking care of their kids? The Fall Seller Update message told us that the new changes will "make it easier for buyers to find our listings". We have tons of proof that the opposite is true.

beehaventrading · ‎10-17-2021

Postcard category ruined. Photographs category ruined. Everything collapsed into one or two categories! Here is an idea for the poor eBay leadership: Why don't you ask customers how they shop for items like this? Using words that collectors don't use ("topographical" postcards for instance...go to a paper show and use those terms and they'll look at you like you are an idiot!).

Traffic down. Sales down. Future on eBay bleak and getting dimmer

CHANGE THIS BACK TO HOW IT WAS IDIOTS!

Oh, and screw your item specifics.

4somethingdifferent · ‎10-17-2021

I agree with you about the change in categories without informing buyers about it makes us all look like idiots. I've been training managers and team members for years at my real job and one of the things I try to instill in them is look confident. At least look like you know what you're doing! This is undermining the consumer's confidence in EVERY seller on eBay. People are already hesitant buying antiques and collectibles online with all the fakes and frauds out there. By moving items to incorrect categories, it makes everything stated in our listings questionable. The real shame here is that eBay has a tremendous resource of long term, reputable dealers with a collective tens of thousands of years experience that could have been consulted.

It reminds me of us installing a new computer in a pizza restaurant a few years ago. The owner just gave the company a menu. The programming came back with no options for half and half pies or removal of toppings from specialty pizzas, etc. Took me four days to fix before we could actually use it. It was very obvious that whoever did the programming had never worked in the field. The only computer class that I had ever had was in high school on the original TRS-80 computers. It took a couple of weeks of tweeking to fix all the small issues but we came up with a system that was fairly idiot proof and was still working well four years later.

all_in_one · ‎10-17-2021

Thanks

duffy4444 · ‎10-17-2021

@a_c_green wrote:
@decadeslostvintage wrote:
This also make the seller seem unknowledgeable and junks up the categories which makes YOU look bad as well. For example, I have a listing for a Rosenthal Bjorn Wiinblad porcelain bisque bowl that should be categorized under decorative pottery but in your world only vases can be decorative pottery. All bowls are lumped together as Cookware, Dinnerware and Serveware which makes no sense because not all glass and pottery bowls are serveware.
In addition, if I'm browsing the subcategory names looking for a bowl, it seems reasonable to me to expect to find a category of, you know, "Bowls." What I'm seeing runs the gamut from Ashtrays to Vases, but no Bowls:
... As above, that category of Bowls can be found buried under the Cookware path...
... Is there a technical limitation that prevents a subcategory in one path from having the same name as a subcategory in another, or is this just an oversight? I can't believe you can't have a subcategory of "Bowls" under both, one for decorative and one for functional/non-decorative.

I just ran across the exact same problem with an Avon Japanese porcelain decorative bowl with display stand (among others) that I have had to edit.

Strike 1: The Avon Collectibles category/subcategory has been totally removed.

Strike 2: There are over 3,000,000 items in Decorative Collectibles, and how many buyers will spend so much time drilling down to find what they're looking for before giving up?

Strike 3: My Avon bowl, and many others, CANNOT be appropriately listed as a "Cookware, Dinnerware & Serveware" item. What a joke!

The idiots who thought up this train wreck should be immediately fired, a huge apology to both buyers and sellers, and monetary compensation should be offered by eBay to all the affected sellers, and this whole mess should be backed out of and an immediate return should be made to the categories that WORKED JUST FINE before there was any juvenile tinkering.

In the 23 years I have been buying and selling here, I have never seen such a large number of complaints on this forum in such a short period of time as right now... MAJOR, MAJOR screw-up, eBay!...

I only have ~700 items that I have had to go thru, and have spent 5 days so far playing whack-a-mole with my listing edits so far, and am still not done. I really feel sorry for all the sellers who have tens of thousands of items to have to go thru and modify... I won't blame them a bit if they just simply jump ship.

Cheers, Duffy

4somethingdifferent · ‎10-17-2021

So the big question I keep seeing is WHY? May have found an answer. My son brought over a dozen things for me to sell and I was telling him about the problems. He was aware that eBay's new CEO came from Walmart and told me of a CEO trick. This may get me kicked off the site, and it's just a theory, but here it goes:

Already wealthy CEO transfers from company A to company B. CEO then makes changes to "improve" company which are actually designed to cause major chaos resulting in large stock drop. CEO then purchases large amounts of company B stock at very discounted rate. CEO either reverses changes or makes others to put company back on track resulting in stock rebounding quickly to previous levels. CEO not only receives credit for steering the company through a rough patch, but also makes HUGE fortune personally!

So glad I've got another job and regular's that look for me at the local flea market! Good luck everyone!

9live65 · ‎10-17-2021

WE SELLERS AND BUYERS WANT THE CATAGORY "CARNIVAL GLASS" PUT BACK ON! SELLERS ARE LOOSING CUSTOMERS AND BUYERS CANT FIND CARNIVAL GLASS BEING SOLD.

DELETE SOME OTHER CATAGORY!

I PERSONALLY AM NOT GOING TO SELL ON EBAY FOR THE ABOVE REASON!

EBAY EXPECTS SELLERS TO POST CARNIVAL GLASS ITEMS UP FOR SALE AND CHARGES US BUT WE ARE NOT SELLING. PEOPLE CANT FIND US!

CARNIVAL GLASS IS NOT PITTERY AND GLASS! ITS CARNIVAL GLASS!!!

EBAY, YOUR GOING TO LOSE ON THIS ONE! NO ONE IS GOING TO LIST CARNIVAL GLASS BECAUSE NO ONE CAN FIND IT TO BUY IT!!

FIX IT

cobblestone-glass-and-porcelain · ‎10-17-2021

You and your son are giving eBay and the CEO way way to much credit. The only thing he knows is what the Board of directors wants him to know. He is not smart enough to do something like this they just have no experience in real antiques and collectibles they are really all just stupid running around trying to find a magic solution to problems that don't exist. From what I have seen under his watch of Sam's clubs they closed most of them on the west coast. He probably was getting ready to be fired when this job popped up because the previous CEO saw what was happening and wanted no part in the deceit . He got lucky and we got unlucky that's all there is to it no magic here.

Have you ever considered that we have turned our money and business and hard work over to Stupid. We want to believe that they care, how can they care if we don't even exist in there minds. They pay eighteen dollars an hour to the undertrained reps to field phone calls and be a buffer. If you have ever called eBay customer service you will soon learn there go to phrase is "I will report this and send it up for you" THERE IS NO UP its all recorded on computers that no one who can change things every will see.

I have been doing this nineteen years and I am telling you they have no clue how they hurt the individual small business by what they do. If they did know Amazon would not be the lead company. I noticed a new phrase they are using now when you talk with Managed payments. They come on the phone Hi thanks for your loyalty for the last 19 years. I always stop them and say I am not loyal to eBay there is nothing to thank me for just as there is nothing to thank you for. Its all nice words and **bleep**. I tell them there is absolutely nothing better about managed payment then using PAYPAL . You can sugar coat it but Paypal gave me my money right now this minute when buyers purchase and eBay holds the money two to five days. Screw the rest of it we are here to make money the faster you have your money the faster you can turn around and do something with it. Just remeber there is nothing and I mean nothing better about the managed payments program all they are doing is blowing smoke up your ass.

We have 16,000 feedback at 100% we have about 1,500 followers. When I read our feedback from buyers sometimes I am blown away by how much they appreciate the quality and how we packages there antiques and collectibles. We treat our buyers much better then eBay treats us and we have 1000% better customer service for our buyers then eBay ever dreamed of having. eBay is todays prime example of the Tale Wagging the Dog and we are simply the fleas holding on trying to get a bite.

newlifeforoldstuff2 · ‎10-17-2021

"end of day tomorrow (10.15)." rofl It is now the 17th and nothing but a total mess.

andnowitsmine · ‎10-17-2021

Now that eBay has completely ruined doll collecting, I tried to list some costume jewelry today and instead just deleted the draft instead.

Does eBay understand what costume jewelry is? Now they have "specifics" of carat weight, stone clarity, and metal purity. ITS A FREAKING RHINESTONE. Oh my god. Along with 24 additional irrelevant item specifics.

Specifics are obviously meant to "replace" categories but it's impossible to do. And the "specifics" you require for Antiques & Vintage looks like they were thought up by someone who only knows about MODERN BOX BULK MASS PRODUCED items. Someone who has never spent an hour at an Antique Show. Someone who has never sold anything beyond 30 years old. Someone who has never even spoken to an Antique Dealer in ANY category.

You cannot tell me to take this seriously when the specifics mean absolutely nothing to the antique community. It is beyond obvious nobody did their homework.

You also cannot tell me that the average seller who doesn't specify in dolls will know every single thing about the doll their selling. Do you expect someone who is selling their deceased grandmothers cherished dolls to know the difference between a Simon & Halbig and a Jumeau based on the makers mark symbol alone? Do you think an average seller knows that an Armand Marseille was manufactured in Germany rather than England or France?

You have made sellers reliant on your website to do their business. You have squashed or bought up any real competition for our market. And then you take away the very means we do our business, without consulting ANYONE from the Antique Community. You are frankly taking away our livelihoods, during the Holidays--no less.

And yes, I know you haven't spoken to anyone within this community due to "specifics" like *complexion* and *brand* for Antique Dolls, and *occasion* for Vintage Doll Clothes, and "pre-war" as an era for Postcards, and "stone depth" for Costume Jewelry.

The list goes on and on and on. And because our livelihoods are in jeopardy, we will not just go away quietly. I will stay here and everywhere and keep voicing up.

Your poor Reps are instructed to tell us condescendingly that "Oh Sweetie, Change can be SO HARD."

Great change isn't hard at all. I'd love some change and updates to eBay that make sense. This isn't Change, this is DESTRUCTION. I have no problem with good change and have never complained about any update before. Not even when you broke from PP, I accepted it and changed because I knew it had to be done from a business corp perspective. THIS IS DIFFERENT.

valeries_trunk · ‎10-17-2021

Oh my! You have summed it up perfectly! I am not going away, either. I will be calling AGAIN tomorrow to see where my Gallery Plus fees are & also to complain AGAIN! Why are my antique glass childs sets listed in Pottery & Glass. Cookware, Dinnerware & Serveware> Bowls? I have seen in some categories they ask for Item Height, length, width, & depth. Why not measure on the diagonal? Or the height of a handle on a cup? What is the difference in finish between glossy, shiny, high gloss, semi glossy, etc? Who thinks this stuff up? It is getting that nit-picky. And eBay has the audacity to have Item Specifics required by 2/2022 on our Seller page. Why would I waste my time on Item Specifics when eBay is going to dump them again in another change? I can only hope that the lives of the people who implemented this are a living hell right now! Because that is what eBay has done to us!

andnowitsmine · ‎10-17-2021

Let's see if today the lack of categories is any better...

"Antique Doll" Newly Listed in Dolls&Bears, normally I want to see ALL Antique Dolls, but being forced to narrow it down, selected Bisque and Antique.

DOES ANYONE SEE ANTIQUE BISQUE DOLLS IN THIS SECREENSHOT?

1786davycrockett · ‎10-17-2021

"Update as of October 14th---The work continues on this move and is progressing according to plan."

If this actually had had a plan, the individuals involved at eBay apparently must have failed miserably at business school.

After they are fired from eBay, please do not suggest for them a future in medicine, law, engineering, teaching, baby sitting, grass cutting, pencil sharpening, watching bananas ripening, or any other mentally strenuous pastimes.

valeries_trunk · ‎10-17-2021

Aanndd....GreedBay has taken my store fee out of my pending payouts, leaving me a negative balance. But I still don't have my $375.00 Gallery Plus fees back in my account. So now I have no payout tomorrow & eBay is getting a free loan from me. I am going to rip someone a new one tomorrow! Sorry to be unlady like, but I am really ANGRY!