Ebay's Elimination of Antiques Categories and threatened for complaining by CS

[hummingbird*antiques]

I am a buyer/seller since 1997, and an USPAP Certified Antique Appraiser since 1982. Throughout the years, Ebay listened to their customers; their buyers and sellers, and created an awesome auction platform for antiques. Now, that platform is being destroyed with the elimination of very important antique categories.  To begin with, Ebay seems to have forgotten that antiques are items over 100 years old, vintage means over 20 years old, and collectibles often are new items; they should not all be mixed together. This is what is happening now if you go to search by category (which should ALWAYS be an option), Antiques, then look at the left side bar with various antique categories. Gone now are Ceramics and Porcelain, Glass, Textiles just to name a few. On the right side of the page however, there are boxes for Ceramics and Porcelain and Textiles, however if you click on those, you are sent to "Decorative Collectibles", that has MILLIONS of listings, baskets, toys, you name it; no longer can you find the beautiful antiques that used to be there. No one has time to sift through all of those items, me included, and the same exact thing happens when you click on Antique Textiles (picturing an antique quilt), you are led to "Decorative Collectibles". Ebay can try to explain their way out of it, siting they are trying to improve searches with more item specifics, no, you are trying to become a platform for new items. 

This morning I decided to call since I am a Power Seller, and at one time Ebay listened to us and had quality customer service. I was treated rudely when I was simply trying to kindly explain my frustration and thinking that perhaps Ebay did not realize this was happening, perhaps a technical glitch. The customer service representative led me to a page which stated "unsolicited suggestions", and warned me that I could be banned from Ebay for simply making that call, even though mine was a COMPLAINT, not a suggestion. I am shocked at this treatment, and wondering what in the world has happened to Ebay to not care about so many of their customers who are antique/vintage buyers and sellers. Honestly I was just getting ready to get my store loaded with hundreds of items for the new year, now I am wondering why I would bother, especially since I may get kicked off simply for calling in my complaint. I am shaking my head in disbelief today. Perhaps the folks working at Ebay have forgotten Ebay's roots of starting as an antiques auction site, and perhaps they have no good comprehension of the serious business buying and selling antiques can be; just look at Sotheby's and Christie's. Again Ebay; ANTIQUES ARE 100 YEARS OLD, they are not new items. An associate said they also called in a complaint that the antiques glassware categories had been eliminated, and he primarily deals in Lalique. The person he talked to there called  Lalique glass "knick knacks", they just don't understand. 

[katzrul15]

@hummingbird*antiques 

That was quite a read.

Have you tried contacting e-Bay CS thru social media to express/share your concerns?

https://facebook.com/eBayForBusiness

Try sending them a private message.  Good luck!

[dq3141]

Sorry, monolith text blocks aren't my thing. But I did glimpse that you complained "kindly". Lots of people claim that; I find it unlikely.

[aeparts1]

Personally, I could care less about categories & changes being made to them. All I care about is sales.

Across my two personal selling accounts, & the account I manage at work, I have never seen any decrease in sales when categories have been changed. If, when categories change, my sales decreased, then I would care.

In my personal selling accounts, I use maybe 6 categories for a wide variety of items, many are not in anything close to the proper category. I guess people find them by searching key words.

When I buy, I have never, not once searched by category.

[redmodelt]

Not just collectibles, trains, antique car parts, dolls and list goes on. One thing a seller can do is make sure that the title has keywords, besides what it is; like antique, vintage, American Flyer S, Ford Model T, 1920s etc in the title. While it will not get rid of a lot of all the fluff, doing a search such as; "Dodge Brothers" will show mostly what someone is looking for.

Buyers will need to do a bit more target search, using more descriptive wording in the search box. Ya it sucks, once buyers and sellers get use to it, maybe things will go better.

But as was said, the bigger problem with all this, is the use of terms such as antique and vintage. While you may have been selling collectibles for many years, remember, many  sellers are not in the antique business so don't know the correct terms to use, or are using those terms to get people to look at their stuff.

Unless sellers in mass quit selling on eBay, they will note your concern and more than likely round file it. 

When the changes were made, there were more than a few posts around Thanksgiving from many sellers, nothing got changed back.

[aprilmoviebuf2000]

I agree that this is one category that has been messed with when it was working just fine before.  

A lot of the ceramics, porcelain, and glass is now under "Other Antiques" on the left hand side.  But yeah, the boxes on the right hand side are very misleading, and potential buyers will get very frustrated when they see Hallmark Jingle Pals when they clicked on the picture that said Antique Ceramics & Porcelain.  

Calling customer service will do absolutely no good.  As you mentioned, they don't know what an antique is.  Just be sure to place your items in the correct categories when listing (not the ebay suggested ones), and cross your fingers that buyers will actually be able to find them.  

[wildpitchsports]

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@hummingbird*antiques wrote:

Throughout the years, Ebay listened to their customers; their buyers and sellers, and created an awesome auction platform for antiques.   

They sure did.

 since I am a Power Seller, and at one time Ebay listened to us and had quality customer service 

Those were the days - and they sent you real mail and a mug!

Perhaps the folks working at Ebay have forgotten Ebay's roots

Think that ship sailed last decade.

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But in all seriousness I don't understand why they did that either. They used to have breakdowns for each old category (by year, brand, etc) now they just put it in drop downs in the listing itself? Are those options available anywhere in the listing as a drop down? That might help.

[gracieallen01]

@hummingbird*antiques 

Well, look on the bright side - if you are selling sneakers, expensive watches or a few other things,, ebay is right there with pay-per-click promotions and all kinds of helpful hints for selling your items and getting them in front of buyers.  /s

[wildpitchsports]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

@hummingbird*antiques 

Well, look on the bright side - if you are selling sneakers, expensive watches or a few other things,, ebay is right there with pay-per-click promotions and all kinds of helpful hints for selling your items and getting them in front of buyers.  /s

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😂🤣

[gracieallen01]

"But in all seriousness I don't understand why they did that either. They used to have breakdowns for each old category (by year, brand, etc) now they just put it in drop downs in the listing itself? Are those options available anywhere in the listing as a drop down? That might help."

Possibly because their antiquated programming, with all it patching and revisions and such, wasn't up to the ability to handle anything more 'new' and had to be simplified to continue functioning without major investment?

[hummingbird*antiques]

Thank you for your comments. Just this morning I posted the same on Ebay for Business on Facebook. I am truly hoping someone at Ebay will listen and care. There are videos on YouTube addressing this exact same issue. Ebay has also eliminated all antique doll categories, something many of us antique collectors and dealers also have relied on for years; since Ebay's start. Not sure why Ebay no longer seems to care about what gave Ebay's it's start; antiques. 

[hummingbird*antiques]

Then ignore my post and stop harassing me, which is what you're doing. 

[hummingbird*antiques]

Just because you don't deal in or buy antiques. Just because you don't search using categories doesn't mean we all shouldn't. 

[hummingbird*antiques]

There are many complaints on youtube videos, and on facebook's Ebay Marketplace. I think it is taking time for all of us antique buyers and seller's to realize this is the case. I've never sold "collectibles", only antiques and vintage...........again there is a difference between the 3 of those. Now if you type in "antique" you get thousands of items that are new but they use the word "antique" in their titles or item specifics even though their not. You're correct; I doubt if Ebay cares, otherwise they wouldn't be destroying what was once a fabulous venue for buying and selling authentic antiques. 

[hummingbird*antiques]

Agree. Unfortunately for many of my items I want to list, there no longer are "correct categories" to list in, such as those I mentioned above. The way it used to be was so much easier not only to buy, but sell antiques.