eBay

glasschaliceantiques · ‎10-12-2021

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!

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eBay: "We're not happy until you're not happy!"

chloestreasuretrove · ‎10-13-2021

That couple of days is going to set me back hundreds of posted items right before the busy season. I get that eBay is trying to help so how about giving all the sellers this is hurting some reimbursement for eBays failed upgrade?

While we are discussing the fails of eBay you guys really need to stop trying to create a blanket shopping experience. A lot of the recent features like "similarly sold" prices are hurting unique item sellers. I specifically deal in vintage jewelry where no two items are ever the same. I have been getting low balled because some other bracelet was sold for $5.

jrkirk · ‎10-13-2021

velvet@ebay as someone has already responded, there was no Collectibles/Art category, so how were we sellers supposed to anticipate what eBay's experts might consider to be part of that new category? It was eBay's experts that set up the existing categories, and they seemed to work fine the way the were, so why was this change needed?

I can now see the item specifics column on the Manage Active Listings database, and will monitor that for new infor on items that need more item specifics, but the question remains, why was any of this needed in the first place? And further, how long will it take eBay to make all this work right once again, when buyers are out there right now looking to shop for replacement items for the things that are sitting in a ship in the LA harbor?

rubiano98 · ‎10-13-2021

Sounds like Ebay might be using Rudy Giuliani as an advisor.

stormy53_2000 · ‎10-13-2021

People collect everything from stamps to barbed wire and EVERYTHING in between just as art includes just about everything too. What a waste of everyone’s time.

jeanjone_4 · ‎10-14-2021

I agree with the OP - - horrible, horrible move by Ebay.

jrkirk · ‎10-14-2021

I had thought that perhaps, maybe, just maybe, whoever set up the categories knew just a little about old pottery and glass, but now I can see that did not happen. Whoever set up the categories, knows nothing about old stuff, and just about new items. The collectible value of old items here on eBay, is going to be valued just like the new items on every other site, because buyers cannot use the search function to find the old stuff. Ebay screwed this up completely, and did so right when sellers had a chance to do well because of the mess in the retail supply chain. I do not have to sell here, and do it mostly to give me something to do, but if this stays like it is, I will find something else to do with my time. I have sold here since 1996.

f1x1tman · ‎10-14-2021

I agree. I have been selling on ebay almost from day one and this the worst decision they have every made. The search feature is a joke. When I do a search now to see what is selling in items I have I got so much stuff that is not even close to what I am searching for.

f1x1tman · ‎10-14-2021

I just did a search on items I listed Fostoria Glass in Century pattern. Only a half dozen items showed in search and not one of them was mine. I used all of the right information with your new item descriptions. You are going to lose a lot of money and also sellers if it stays this way.

chjwgordon96 · ‎10-14-2021

I am not a high volume ebay seller, I use to sell mostly out of a B&M shop, but I use to do high volume buying on ebay, and sold alot of that in the shop. Now I just sell some here and there on ebay, and I just realized what ebay has done and IT IS TERRIBLE. Please ebay, bring back our categories. The categories were fine the way they were. People need to be able to go to their category and do the searches, and I doubt many sellers minded having to know what category to list their items in. Please ebay reverse this.

219kailuadave · ‎10-16-2021

Yes, my French porcelain jam jar was now listed under "plates" until I corrected it as much as I could--totally agree that this is an outrageous change! I only became aware of this today.

mightymouse · ‎10-19-2021

Again you don't get it.

I don't mind you going to item specifics but you when about it the wrong way. I sell dinnerware and can not list pieces of the set anymore without changing the catagory every time for the different shape of the item. That also means starting from scratch every time on a very large list of new item specifics. None of them carry over like they use to when the category was say Mikasa or Wedgwood. My 40 to 50 listing per hour are now down to 4-5 per hour. Where is this in any way helpful for the sellers?

glasschaliceantiques · ‎10-22-2021

So yesterday I listed an item for the first time after they started all this crap. It was so ridiculous. I was listing a Civil War era photo album. There were zero item specifics other than "vintage" and "antique" that would fit for this album. Zero of the terms for antique albums and photos. The item specifics were all geared toward very new photos like souvenir celebrity photos.

This is exactly why it is such a bad idea to use this type of search for selling things. ebay has to come up with specifics that are the exact same ones that both sellers and buyers are going to use. But sellers had no input on how to set those specifics. Sorry, but ebay is NOT expert on all of the items that are being sold on the site. At least with categories we could find things most of the time even if the seller didn't put them in the correct category. Impulse buying is gone! It's just not going to happen as often as it did before.

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eBay: "We're not happy until you're not happy!"

madamezulu · ‎10-23-2021

I don't understand the business model on which the reduction of categories in Pottery & Glass is based, but if that is ebay's marketing decision, we all know we have no control over that.

What I found interesting this morning in searching for a dog collar for my mutt was there are still 30 subcategories under the Dog Supplies sub, under the Pet Supplies hub. Heck, there's even a category for dog "Pooper Scoopers & Bags". I couldn't even bring myself to look at cats.

So my $2000 Tiffany vase has to go in Dinnerware / Bowls, but a dog pooper scooper gets its own category. I just think ebay wants to eliminate Pottery & Glass altogether, they've been moving down this path for a long time, and I'm not really sure why?