Stupidest decision ebay has ever made. PERIOD!

[glasschaliceantiques]

ebay has made really stupid decisions in the past.  Only positive feedback for buyers, charging fees on shipping... and many others.  But honestly I never thought they could do anything that would actually threaten their existence or give any other site a run for their money.  Until now.

The changes to listing categories has to be the biggest, most epic fail ebay has ever made.  I'm almost, almost, speechless.  And if anyone knows me they know that's a compliment to whomever can make it happen.  Their decision defies logic, utterly.

It used to be that you could browse categories and see how many listings are in each category.  Doesn't look like you can do that either.  Right now if you search Fenton Glass and don't give it a category it returns 91K items.  That's just Fenton. Just one brand of thousands of brands of glassware.  For Fenton you only get a couple of categories to choose from.  

I'm just dumbfounded... I can't even continue writing since there are so many things this is going to affect for both buyers and sellers.  If I held ebay stock right now I'd be selling it as fast as possible.  Good thing I don't have any!

[donsdetour]

on moved items are your item specifics still there??

Some say they are gone....

Oh and it is a mess. But its the new dynamic thing going down man.......

[velvet@ebay]

Hi @glasschaliceantiques! We're in the process of adjusting categories like this from concept-based categories to more dynamic product-based categories and you can go here for more on the announcement we made about it last month. 

The end-goal is to actually cause less disruptions like this, as we shift towards utilizing Item Specifics more and unique subcategories less, and we're confident in that outcome. 

Things may look a little off while the move is in process, but rest assured, we expect everything to be back to running as you'd expect within a few days. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!

[divwido]

Darn, I was hoping  you were going to let us vote on that title.   Making a mess all in the name of progress.

[stormy53_2000]

You should try searching now.  The more you try to narrow a search the more crap they throw in.  I collect teapots and it’s impossible now.   Type in teapot  you get 18,000+.  Take out silver and it cuts to 11,000+ but take out copper and there’s no reduction.  I once took out the maximum words they allowed and ended up with all kinds of jewelry, crafts, fabric, art prints, postcards, anything that might involve a teapot without finding a single actual teapot.  The more I eliminated, the more crap they added.  Teapot is a huge catagory all by itself but it should include only real teapots.  No one would really look for a fabric of teapots without mentioning fabric.  The same with postcards, etc.  As a buyer I’m as angry 🤬🤬🤬 as every seller should be.

[glasschaliceantiques]

You are not getting the point.  Buyers are going to totally miss items because they don't see them.  This throws impulse buying right out the window.  You are also counting on buyers and sellers matching up on item specifics which is 100% dependent on both buyers and sellers using the same terminology and spelling it the same.  Sellers sales are going to plummet and buyers are going to quit buying nearly as much.  This is a disaster.  Years of expert sellers getting ebay to add the categories and subcategories so that it made sense, things were easy to list for sellers and easy to find for buyers is out the window!  For pete's sake you guys didn't even separate Pottery from Glass!!!  Unbelievable.  Not to mention all the sellers that have hundreds if not thousands of items already listed and now they are in BOGUS categories that are WRONG!  They will have to edit each individual item to put them in the right category!  If nothing else, THAT IS AN EPIC FAIL on ebay's part.  I'm just speechless.

[classiquejunque]

I agree,  This is a really stupid move on ebay's part.  I understand trying to use the item specifics,   but the search is so loose and pulling up so much crap unrelated to what you are truely looking for.

[robbbbbb57]

It' as if Ebay has decided to cut everyone's throat including their own.  I just tried to search for my item and it cannot be found!!!! Guess it's time to hang it up till and if they go back. It's as if the fed gov was put in charge.

[stormy53_2000]

Not at all helpful . Just another case of trying to make more money by allowing sellers to pay additional so their listings show up everywhere no matter what they're selling.  I'm not buying it.

[jb-glass]

What a mess. This is a horrible change with no benefit for the buyer or seller!!! It makes searching based on patterns some  impossible! I can only hope that ebays wallet takes a huge impact and they fix it… I know my wallet will be.

Can anyone tell me one way this improves the experience in this category? Because I can list 50 ways it harms it. 

[jb-glass]

It makes zero sense to me how going from pattern based categories to piece based categories make sense. The average glass/China buyer is going to be much more interested in collecting a pattern than collecting a “plate”. When you account for the fact that you guys threw in all China and glass together from all different eras it makes even less sense. For example, there are depression glass patterns named “Floral” and “Dogwood” and “American”. Imagine searching for “floral bowl” or “American plate” in this new system. Before hand they had categories to keep out the crap, now you have thousands of unrelated items in the search. Now let’s say I wanted to see what other pieces are available in said pattern. Before hand buyers could view the categories and see other pieces they did not have… now buyers are expected to type in “floral” I guess.

All that has been done is that it is now harder to find what you want. This concept might work for other categories but it does not work here!!!

[xpud1564]

I listed an item tonight and then I searched for it. I found it with 78,719 other "results" and it was a very diverse 78,719 items.  As you say, stupidest decision eBay has ever made.... . 

[jrkirk]

velvet@ebay 

That link above listed 5 categories where changes in item specifics were to be required (Collectibles/Art, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Parts & accessories, Sporting Goods), and none of them were going to affect my lisings in Glass & Pottery or antiques. I read that notice when it came out, and  no where did it mention any of my items, yet dozens of my listings have been changed. So much for reading about upcoming updates and planning ahead. What is going to be required to fix all of this so buyers can find my items for existing listings?

[velvet@ebay]

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@jrkirk wrote:

velvet@ebay 

That link above listed 5 categories where changes in item specifics were to be required (Collectibles/Art, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Parts & accessories, Sporting Goods), and none of them were going to affect my lisings in Glass & Pottery or antiques. I read that notice when it came out, and  no where did it mention any of my items, yet dozens of my listings have been changed. So much for reading about upcoming updates and planning ahead. What is going to be required to fix all of this so buyers can find my items for existing listings?

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I'm sorry for any confusion @jrkirk but Glass & Pottery and Antiques are a part of the Collectibles/Art category. When we announced this during the Seller Update last month, additional information could be found here. 

[sagelakescollections]

There is no Collectibles/Art category in the category listings, so how are we supposed to know that Glass & Pottery is part of it?