Categories? POOF

[mrgoodlite]

What fresh hell is this mess.  the categories are gone, everything is broad, no more specifics.  i sell most in collectibles/holiday seasonal/christmas/vintage pre 1946/then a category.  this is all gone today and so will the buyers,  collectors will not sit there and search or read 20,000 listings.  everyone reads newly listed.  period.  WE ARE DOOMED

[wrong66]

It appears they've deleted a multitude of categories across the board. Nice of them to give a heads-up.

[fern*wood]

Wow, I just looked.  I received an email from ebay this morning about changes to the trading card categories, but nothing about collectibles.   I'm also reading that book categories are a big mess.

[bimm_corp]

@wrong66 

>Nice of them to give a heads-up

They did. it was announced in the Spring Seller Update.

[fern*wood]

This is in the spring update.  I knew they announced changes (which they always do), but I hadn't dug into all the links.

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

[ittybitnot]

They did. it was announced in the Spring Seller Update.

Did they mention in that update that they would be removing all your item specifics as well?  That books will just be books? Of course you can filter by "newly listed"....but that won't show you the rare volume you may be looking for if it was a GTC listing and you wish to scroll through all the magazines as well. 

[aeparts1]

As a buyer, I have never, in 20 + years on eBay, ever searched for an item I wanted to buy via categories. I have always typed exactly what I am looking for into the search & found what I wanted. That would be how I would fine a rare volume, & I wouldn't have to search thru pages of magazines. Hopefully most of your buyers search the same way.

[d-eberly]

We are DOOMED!  I could be spending my time on new listings rather than updates of existing ones.  And WHY did they have to remove my Items Specifics I already included when beginning an edit of the item.  (Yes I know it still shows up in the listing - until I start an edit.)  How totally inconvenient (and I'm trying to be nice here!)  All is workable, but what a time waster.

And while it was included in the spring update, here's what the two info statements pertinent to me said....

"Before 11 May: If you would like your listings to be moved into an appropriate category, please use the applicable eBay recommended item specifics."

and

"After 13 May: As a result of this category change, existing item specifics are likely to change. Please update your listings with the new item specifics after the category changes for optimal visibility."

Yes the category changed, but NOTHING was said about wiping out EVERYTHING already there when I attempt to make a change.  Of course the day is still sort of young.

[fern*wood]

I just completed a new listing using the new collectible holiday categories and item specifics---wow, can someone tell me what a Bacon Bandage is.  I'm not sure if my Christmas ornament is one or not.

[coffeebean832]

---

@ittybitnot wrote:

They did. it was announced in the Spring Seller Update.

Did they mention in that update that they would be removing all your item specifics as well?  That books will just be books?

---

Yes- all the specific category changes are in the update. When Seller Updates come out, category changes are the first thing I dive into. I need to know which- if any- of my listings might be affected by changes because it usually means a big mess with item specifics.

What people always forget about is this part- "Generally speaking, when your item(s) is moved to a new category with different final value fees, it will adopt the final value fees of that new category. Insertion fees and optional listing upgrade fees will also be based on the new destination category."

One example- If you listed anything in a category that included free Gallery Plus and those listings were moved into a different category that doesn't offer free Gallery Plus- each of those listings will result in $1 listing upgrade fee- I'm not sure if it's today when they're moved to the new category or if it's not until the next time they renew. I think it's today though, then again each month when they renew with GTC. Check stuff like that and make adjustments to your listings where needed.

[coffeebean832]

Oh gosh- ten minutes after I posted this and up pops someone affected. 😞

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/HELP-eBay-charging-me-for-Gallery-plus/m-p/31863599#M1747419

[katzrul15]

Holy catz!  

I noticed today that holiday collectibles now require me to spend quite a bit of time there now.  

As a Buyer, I just type in what I am looking for (i.e. the name), but when I am drilling down and refining, I do use the categories to search, only because as a Seller, you know you can.  Doubt most buyers know, but who knows.  They might.  

Would have been really darn nice to know I was about to have listing revision "homework" soon - I would have waited putting up over 50 new listings.     😫

[coffeebean832]

Every time we go through category changes the Item Specifics get wrecked. I send a lot of e-mails to sdsupport@ebay.com with requests for fixes.

Anybody who wants to do this for their categories, make sure you include-

Category

Specific Change Request(s)

Which eBay site the request is for (.com .co.uk etc)

It's extra work, but gets stuff done faster and makes things better in the long run. The team is responsive, opening tickets within 24 hours- and they almost always follow up with you on the progress.

[skeletonstore]

Why do people act like this is a good thing and to be expected?  Not everyone shops for an item by name.  Why many buyers do not even know what something is called because it's not a mass produced item.  Now they have to scroll for days on end through a mountain of irrelevant things to find something unique?  Not everyone sells iphones and other brand names. Some of us manufacture our own items by hand.  I often list in Halloween now my customers will potentially have to sift through xmas stuff?  I can't believe someone actually thought this was a great idea.  You know what it's like?   amazon.  They're known for not even having a category for many items because they are NOT an American company. They're very far east in mentality and form.  On Amazon there is no Halloween category.  They call any sort of costume cosplay over there. How does search standing work now?   I was in a category with 30k items now I'm in a category with over 1m items.   

[iart]

Absolutely not true from our experience. Just the opposite.  Most people read on the last day.

"everyone reads newly listed"

I'm sure eBay is working on fixing the problems. Wait a day before panicking. But then...