Comic categories?

[lovecraft68]

I went to list some comics today and noticed that all of my listings now have the category of comics and graphic novels and when I click browse categories that's all I can choose. As of last night I had options for what type of comic (horror/romance etc) and by character and by era-bronze/silver/modern

Now these options are all gone and every listing I've checked is the very generic and useless comics graphic novels

Does anyone know what's going on? Is this another "improvement" that's everything but? 

[alwaysthebest4u]

Tons of specific categories changed today into generic Messes

[funnymaniac2]

Imagine all the folks with no reserve auction ending and the categories and comics in general goes nuts. I saw only 459 items listed IN GENERAL. Nothing in Gold, Silver.... I saw the same thing you saw, the category change and I thought they booted me for talkin smack against the system these days. What happens when the people who wait till the last minute to bid on those old comics don't show? The sellers have to honor their sales? They probably won't even know this is happening and really, there's nothing anyone can do about it. I mean, don't most of the bids come in at the last minute?

[mondex]

It is quite obviously a terrible idea.  It's like they woke up one morning and said, "hey, how can we completely screw up comics on ebay?  I know, let's eliminate all the categories."  It's mind-boggling how someone with such little understanding of the market could even be in a position to make a decision this bad.

[funnymaniac2]

Day 2, I have to ask this... is ebay crashing? Or under attack or something? I've never seen it this bad in 20 years.

[almostanythingopelika]

I have several hundred saved searches for specific books like "Real Life 3" based on the category like "Golden Age" and now all those are completely useless.  The filtering by item specifics doesn't work.  This problem pervades all of ebay and you are more likely to find what you want by going to Google and typing in your search and adding the word "ebay".  Type "Neil Young Greatest Vinyl" into ebay just for fun.  You get 32 results total and almost none of them are a vinyl record.  Using item specifics instead of the title is the absolute dumbest idea since New Coke.   All the time sellers have put into creating comprehensive & accurate titles means absolutely nothing now.   Our brick & mortar store is currently having its best retail year in our 30 year history (after several down years) but our ebay sales are below average (member of ebay since 1998).  Our inventory is higher in both items and value than ever but if buyers can't find it they can't buy it.  I know as a buyer I can't find it so it seems it would be a good idea to fix this ASAP.

[greatstuff80]

"Is this another "improvement" that's everything but? "

yes

[Anonymous]

Hi lovecraft68,

Thank you for reaching out to us about the recent changes in Comic Books categories. In Comic Books, Age and Character-based categories have been retired and replaced by product type categories, divided by comic tradition: American & English speaking Comics, Franco-Belgian and Asian Comic. The categories have been replaced by item specifics and left-hand navigation refinements for Era, Character, Series, Publisher, Universe and Tradition. This should enable a more flexible browsing experience going forward, for example there is now a refinement for Silver Age Comics. For example, in comics categories you had to choose a comic tradition and then an age and then a character, whereas now in one category you can see all things Spiderman, then select what Era(s) or any other filter you want to apply.

Following the category changes there may be some fluctuation in the item specifics and left-hand navigation filters. This should settle down in the next few days.

We apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Kind regards,
Arthur

[craft-stash]

My sales are tanking lile ive never seen. 😂

[mld_radio]

The "Era" categories in Comics are essential; without them Buyers cannot search for what they're looking for and Sellers are unable to target potential bidders.  I've run a number of my usual searches in the past week and looked at the "Era" filter, but at least 90% of the search results were "Unspecified", which makes the searches useless.  Given the large number of comics titles and the tendency of Buyers to collect a single era or two, being able to search by "Era"  assists Buyers, Sellers, and, by extension, ebay.

[sltom6]

And try searching Frank Sinatra vinyl records by "duration"....single, ep or lp.  No can do anymore.  Idiots!

[wheredidiputthatremote]

@Anonymous 

It's beyond terrible.  For example, for Grade their should be option for "ungraded".  The Grade item specific counts for 3 characteristics.  (1) grade (2) grading company (3) certification number.  If you leave the first one blank because it's not professionally graded, all 3 get flagged for missing recommended characteristics.  Meaning, my listing gets kicked way down in best match.

I put in a ticket for this but it was rejected because it's not a required item.  Tell that to my 500 missing recommended missing characteristics.

[cwhite1898]

100% agree. This is a horrible decision. I can't even understand why it would be put in place as it hurts eBay as well.  This is what happens when a global decision is made without paying attention to the needs of the specific sub markets. Likely trying to save money which actually will end up costing them more. What a mess.