How to Choose Best Category for Listing

Question

What are the strategies and tools to select the best category for a listing?

Several searches and the Ebay Help Center have yielded surprisingly little information. I've been checking which categories similar sold items are listed under, but that hits a dead end when the same item is listed in different categories, and no category stands out as having more sold listings than others. I found several paid 3rd party analytics/ebay management sites, but I'm not looking to make that shift right now. I tried out the Ebay Product Research page, but it doesn't show the categories of each sold listing. Is this a gaping hole in information availability, or am I missing a trick or tool I can use to see which categories my product will best (be found) sell under?

lisa5768 · Answer

@fairandfound

If the items have sold by listing in different categories it may not make much difference. Do a search for the item like you were a buyer. Put in the words you would use. Once the results come up look to see what the default category is. You can see it next to the search box. Then switch up the search words order (that makes a difference) and see if it changes. If not that is the category I use when there is more than one option based on sold items.

rfmtm · Answer

Use to be just opening the listing would show the category at the top. You now have to click sell similar to find it. Once you find the category, you can click on that and then search only within that category to see how many items similar to yours is listed or sold

Remember you can also list you item in multiple categories by selecting secondary ones when you create the listing, but it isn't free. Also most buyers really don't scan for items by category and usually just search for the item, which will return items across all categories.