eBay

rishmadish · ‎10-12-2021

There are at least 120,000 postcards listed under the Collectibles->Postcards.

Without warning, all of the drill down categories for Postcards have been reduced to only two categories: "Non-Topographical Postcards" and "Topographical Postcards".

Are you kidding me???? Searching by collectors is nearly impossible now!

maxine*j · ‎10-12-2021

Yes, there are innumerable threads about these changes and there have been for months, as they were implemented. There is another thread of this board, today, about changes affecting collectible photographs.

This is an ongoing, and major, change and it is permanent: There will be fewer and fewer categories and sub-categories. Many such changes have already been made.

Here's another thread on the change to only two categories for POSTCARDS:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Postcard-Categories-ERASED-OVERNIGHT-with-NO-ITEM-SPECIFICS/m-...

Here's a link to the Fall Seller Update about category changes, with .pdf files for the current and previous ones:

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2021-fall/listing.html

and more

https://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/categorychanges.html

argon38 · ‎10-12-2021

The board below is the best place to make your voice heard on this topic:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Updates-are-happening-to-some-item-specifics-and-category/m-p/...

somanypostcards · ‎10-12-2021

It's the blunt way this was done that is inexcusable. There were over 9 million postcard listings broken down into over 100 subcategories like U.S. States/Cities/Towns, International Cities & Towns, Holidays, RPPCs, Comic, etc. and less than 1000 supplies and references. eBay changes Collectibles -> Postcards to Collectibles -> Postcards & Supplies -> Postcards to get to the 9 million postcards, one level deeper. Then it crudely moved all the postcards in sub-categories International Cities and Towns, U.S. States/Cities/Towns, and Other to Topographical Postcards, but EVERY other sub-category to Non-Topographical Postcards. This introduced many errors. Examples: at least half the real photo postcards (RPPCs) are topographical. Most Buildings/Architecture postcards are topographical. Ditto Expositions, Events, Roadside America subcategories (gas stations/hotels & motels/restaurants/attractions), Military forts, battles, etc. Why would I search for a topographical postcard in a non-topographical category? Ridiculous and unacceptable!

argon38 · ‎10-13-2021

The dedicated thread I linked to is a better place to make those points, as it's being monitored by eBay employees who have promised to respond in due course to the issues raised in it. This board has a relatively small readership, with very few contributions from eBay staff.

booster-gold · ‎10-13-2021

Thanks I just responded in the linked thread. This change means I'm deleting all my saved searches for postcards. They are utterly useless now that the location category structure is gone. Even if I wanted to try to recreate them the searches I have now are returning tons of unrelated items.

saganguy · ‎12-02-2023

In most, if not all Ebay decisions, ill suited and inexperienced persons are taking actions without enough knowledge of how objects are sought after, the many varieties which exist, and any history regarding them.

It won't get any better on this platform, which wants to compete with Amazon and has forgotten/ignored its own roots.

kh-phdan · ‎12-02-2023

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!