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

[Anonymous]

We're sorry to hear that you have had a frustrating experience today as a result of the category changes. Holiday & Seasonal, Action Figures, Comic Books, Sports Trading Cards and Books were all affected by category changes launched today. These areas were all part of the 2021 Spring Seller Update https://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/categorychanges.html.

In these areas we have transitioned existing category structure into more flexible item specifics. For example in comics the age and character-based categories have been deprecated and replaced by product type categories. These distinctions will now be available as filters which allows buyers more flexibility in what they search for and allows us to maintain and update Item specifics on an ongoing basis without the need for future disruption. For example, in comics you had to choose a comic tradition and then an age whereas now in one category you can see all things Spiderman, then select what Era(s) you want to view.

As the category changes roll out there will be some fluctuation in the item specifics and left-hand navigation filters. This should settle down in the next 24-48 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Thank you again for taking the time to share this valuable feedback, and for choosing eBay!

Kind regards, 

Arthur

[coffeebean832]

@Anonymous- I'd like to make a suggestion for all future changes of this nature.

In certain categories the Gallery Plus option is a free listing upgrade and the box is pre-selected by eBay. When listings from those categories are shifted into new categories where Gallery Plus is not free, that box should be de-selected by eBay so sellers aren't hit with the listing upgrade fees.

If it was an option the seller selected on their own I wouldn't make this request- however Gallery Plus is pre-selected by eBay in categories like Collectibles and Pottery & Glass, so eBay should remove that listing upgrade when shifting to a new category where it's not free.

[friskya]

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@aeparts1 wrote:

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.

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Categories have always been useless. If the seller has a good, descriptive title and enough information in their listing, I've found that I can almost alway find what I'm looking for just through the standard search box, or the standard search box with "include description" checked. 

Even if I'm not entirely certain how to describe what I'm looking for, just looking at those first results will often give me an idea of how to reword my search. 

[katzrul15]

Thanks - I did read/skim thru the Seller update when it came out.  BUT, there is no reason you cannot communicate better with Sellers when changes are actually eminent and about to occur.  

This DO and ask for forgiveness/apologize AFTER is total **bleep**.  

I'm sorry but seriously - if you expect us as Sellers to RUN this like a BUSINESS, than do not treat your Sellers like morons and *HOPE* is does not matter if they are affected.  Who does that?  

Just FINALLY got re-integrated back into search and sales were finally back every day and today is total WALL again.  Thanks, so very much e-Bay.  

[mrgoodlite]

exactly.  this is all **bleep**.  if you are a decades long devoted collector of something and you have a lot of money invested in your collection, you constantly look at the newly listed for 1) things you have never seen. 2) a good buy. 3) BIN.  Some day ebay will ask the sellers and the buyers of antiques and collectibles what/how they collect and/or sell.  In the meantime, ebay will always defer to the mass sellers because that is what amazon does.  instead of owning the antique/collectible market they keep pissing it away.  all rules/policies do not apply to all things.  

[mrgoodlite]

i wonder if anyone left at at ebay is a devoted collector of anything,  they would understand the frustration of buyers now.  Ebay started with us.  remember that,  there were 200 pages total of items for sale on all of ebay back at the beginning and all of it was in the collectible categories.  now we have been cast to the side lines as usual in favor of the giant sellers of new merchandise.  

[fern*wood]

I just listed some vintage glass bead Christmas garland and my category includes plants.  The item specifics are insane for vintage Christmas.

[steelernation2007]

They are doing the "experimenting" again. Why am I not surprised.

[yuzuha]

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@wrong66 wrote:

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

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Honestly, it was desperately needed. The old categories were an absolute MESS, and I say this as someone who also sells holiday/seasonal/Christmas stuff on a regular basis. There were ten times more categories than were actually needed, and the end result meant that it was next to impossible at times to decide which category you should use to list a particular item when it could logically fit into about six different ones.

[vintagescifi64]

I have 1,235 comics on eBay.  I've noticed you've deleted what I've written in the Condition Description box unless I check it.  So if I said it had a crease on the back, it isn't seen unless I individually update all 1,235 comics?  And all this other silliness:  character (it's usually in the listing title), condition (that's usually in the listing title or in the Condition Description), and more.  Are you asking me to update 1,235 comics with silliness such as "type of cover" (it's a comic book, it's a softcover, that's the ultimate description).  There appears to be no universal update for the subtle descriptions that I need to explain my grading of the comic.  I'm looking for a reasonable explanation why you did this, why you didn't tell us, and what I can do to my vast amount of listings without spending the next few weeks doing it individually.  I don't think this is better.  I think you will see a serious drop in sales, therefore a serious drop in eBay revenue.  Why are people who have never listed on eBay, never in particular listed comics, making decisions that seem baffling.  The old system worked even though not all the listings were shown when asking for e.i. D.C. Tarzan #210.  You say all listings will now be shown.  If that were true it would be great, but I doubt it.  There's more wrong with this "eBay update for comics" but let's hear what you have to say about this first.  

[coffeebean832]

I did wonder if the change to books was intended to clean up the cookbook category mess. Instead they'll have just one Books category with subcategory designations moved into item specifics.

[skeletonstore]

What are "probs"(problems?)and why is a search for skeleton showing watches instead of the rigid flexible structure found in most mammals?    Is Ebay trying to suggest watch mechanisms came before bones?  Does the chicken know about this?  Trust me I never look up watches.  most people don't even wear one anymore and use their phone or carry a sundial around.  Is this their idea of a business plan?  Promote watches that no one wants?  The stolen sneaker market dried up?  

[skeletonstore]

Btw Ebay is indicating there are only 37 skeletons "probs" on the site ha!

[coffeebean832]

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@skeletonstore wrote:

What are "probs"(problems?)and why is a search for skeleton showing watches instead of the rigid flexible structure found in most mammals?

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An embarrassing typo. Click on it and you'll see it's intended to say Props not Probs

brittanie@ebay- Please go to the home page and search the word skeleton. On the left you'll see what's displayed in the screenshot above- a typo that needs to be fixed in the left hand category filters.

[skeletonstore]

I've typed the word 1M times.  I was also having trouble finding "skulls".  So I sit and wait to raise cash to manufacture some item but I'm not sure I can use those words if they're not producing any results. This is ridiculous.  Halloween just happens to be the 2nd biggest retail holiday.  I'm pushing year round type stuff but again the keywords seem to be filtered out.  If more typos exist it will make it just that more difficult.  A very common typo is Hallowen, and Holloween.  This is like they're not even trying.