tree*fern
ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
alan@ebay Could this board remain open beyond June 10? If not, it would be helpful to have one place / path to report problems.
Question: Which Item Specifics fields can have more than one keyword (separated by a comma), and which can have only one?
Going a bit off-topic, but @shipscript you might appreciate this story. A Shipping supervisor wanted us to redesign our small saddle-stitched docs (e.g., user guides for installing or "Getting Started") into 8.5 x 11 corner-stapled docs.
Mad that Technical Communications wouldn't comply, she made her own version rather than re-ordering the docs from the printer for her inventory.
Pulled the staples out of one copy, flattened the doc, and used it as a master to copy the pages back-to-back onto 8.5 x 11, corner stapled upper left. Sideways text, out-of-order pagination, and illegible illustrations. And folded in half (by hand) because 8.5 x 11 didn't fit the software packaging. 
@go-bad-chicken As a child, I made some little story books with chipboard covers and crotcheted bindings, LOL. Probably wouldn't qualify as a "book" though—probably more like ephemera. My science project was three-ring ribbon-bound, the kind of thing high schoolers came up with when resources were limited. But I digress into "custom" bindings.....shouldn't there be a custom bindings item specific????
OMG, just what the customer needs, an illegible, unintelligible installation guide!!! Yikes! I can totally relate!
@shipscript wrote:@go-bad-chicken As a child, I made some little story books with chipboard covers and crotcheted bindings, LOL. Probably wouldn't qualify as a "book" though—probably more like ephemera. My science project was three-ring ribbon-bound, the kind of thing high schoolers came up with when resources were limited. But I digress into "custom" bindings.....shouldn't there be a custom bindings item specific????
OMG, just what the customer needs, an illegible, unintelligible installation guide!!! Yikes! I can totally relate!
"As a child, I made some little story books with chipboard covers and crotcheted bindings, LOL. Probably wouldn't qualify as a "book" though—probably more like ephemera."
Sewn binding books are beautiful regardless of who their creators are, be it a child or larger press publisher.
".... the book or book-like structure is an art object and not merely a vessel for their content." Grace Bonney
I have sold quite a few sewn binding books in the past here on eBay and elsewhere that do have ISBNs issued to them. These types of books tend to be published primarily in Asia, but are still published occasionally by small press publishers here in the US. But, as a bookseller I do not feel that it is necessary for eBay to be able to represent every single possible permeation that may exist within any given category's assigned special attributes. Otherwise as a bookseller how would I be able to justify my existence.
@Anonymous Thank you for pushing for repair of the broken page. 
@abfabvintage Thank you for pointing out the return of eBay's Category-based Item-Specifics lookup tool.
https://developer.ebay.com/tools/item-specifics
Yes, the output is not very intelligible, but I have a tool to translate that into a spreadsheet with droplists. That is the spreadsheet tool I plan to bring out after the category conversion, but if it is needed sooner, please let me know. Maybe I can at least post a translator for the list for sellers who need it sooner.
I'm working on two tools to help our sellers during this transition, and I think I'll focus on them in this order (please let me know if anyone thinks otherwise): The archive tool for existing item specifics will be my first project, targeting availability early June. the Item Specifics bulk editor will be the second tool and will target release after the category mashup. That way, if items that are moved to a new category have different Item Specific requirements, they can be recreated in bulk.
