Categories and such

[wkburney]

Does eBay even consult with people who are knowledgeable about how the categories are laid out or just go into it blind and ignorant? I would be more than happy to be a team member consulting how to best sell to model train people.  The categories have gotten more and more messed up with every change you guys have made. Now it is to the point that it is almost imposable to find the things you are interested in.  I know I will not be trying to make sense of this mess, I will find another place to purchase items I need.

[chapeau-noir]

"We guys" are just sellers.

As for consultation - a number of us offered our expertise (some of us had decades of experience in our markets) in setting up proper categories in a catalog structure and were brushed aside. 

[dnasilver]

No they do not care about how different businesses really operate. We used to get emails telling us to lower are prices and would show us the competition to prove we were over priced. The missing link was that they did not understand the business and were comparing junk to high end items. It proved that they were clueless and did not care about us as a seller and only about themselves. Not the greatest for "goodwill" value.

[ckimodog]

Exactly...I kept getting notices suggesting lowering my prices lower than what I payed for my supplies.  Not only that,  I had a gold filled genuine pearl bracelet that in their opinion, were selling on an average of $7.77...however,  the glass pearl silver plated bracelet was selling at an average of $39.99....ridiculous...who comes up with these stats?? They're a joke. 

[farmalljr]

eBay does not actually have any clue about what sells on their platform.  At one time they may have consulted with a few sellers who knew what they sold. Today, they don't.  These latest Fall "updates" show without a doubt eBay is clueless and doesn't care if it screws up. They think they can keep milking sellers for more money (see the latest PLA idea). 

This won't last too long. While I am not one of those "eBay done it now and it's going out of business" people, this is defiantly going to hurt eBay. This has pretty much obliterates the collectables and jewelry categories. eBay has gutted how items are found. They have made searched irrelevant to how buyers search and browse.  They have added a ton of IS's that don't help anyone accurately find what they are looking for. Buyers will be frustrated and leave. Sellers will be frustrated and leave. No one benefits. 

Some may say "Great! Less competition!", but when buyers are leaving too, it means less sales. Less sellers doesn't mean more sales. It may be a sad state of affairs, but in a free market, buyers and sellers vote with their dollars. So this just makes opportunities for other platforms. I know I am spreading out and moving away. I buy and sell, so why would I want to work with someplace that makes both of those hard and more fruitless with every  new "update"?

[katzrul15]

No, they do not ask/consult/inquire of those of us who spend every day in the weeds in these categories.

That would be too easy and logical.

[forward-motion]

Isn't just like any big business? The upper management doesn't know how the system really works, we call them bean counters. In my industry when the "BIG WIGS" come down to talk to us they haven't a clue how any of this works and asking us would make sense, but they can't even think that way. To them we are just another bean to count.

Ebay, and all the other ecommerce platforms run reports, then adjust here and there not knowing that the adjustment just changed major things for us little people. 

At my place of employment we had an accounting issue. One week my pay was short $1500. Everyone had the same issue, the pay was short significantly. We were told that they had been over paying us for the past year. They had the document so show it. I couldn't find it, but ok. So instead of talking to us about a mistake and working out over time. They just saw an issue, moved some beans and fixed the problem. 

Don't think for one minute that you are more than a bean selling on ebay. 

[luckythewinner]

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@wkburney wrote:

 Now it is to the point that it is almost imposable to find the things you are interested in.  

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Can you give a specific example of something you are interested in that is hard to find? 

[stainlessenginecovers]

I don't understand why this is so difficult

Put in 'model train' in the search at top; comes back with 73000 listings.

Then click on the left side what you are looking for; by brand, or scale, or type of cars, or, or, or. 

You can also click on 1 thing; then it hones down and you can click again another category

For example; Scale HO

Then when those come up; click 'Passenger Cars' or or or

Or, you can just put 'HO Model Train Passenger Car' in the search