Meaning of a topographical and non topographical postcard

[flapperal]

I am completely confused by this. When I look at the same listing like for RPPC train depot some people put it under topographical and others put it under non topographical. Same for stuff like holiday postcards. Can someone help me who really understands this? Thanks

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I don't know if anyone REALLY understands it, because these are not terms with a long standing definition within the postcard collecting community, they are basically ebay making stuff up, as ebay usually does when it makes these changes. 

But, here, I'll give it a go: Think as a buyer. One area of collecting is basically "views of places" (topographical). Non-topo is, well, everything else. So an RPPC of the Main Street of my home town, circa 1910, is a Topo.  

The challenge is, many postcards have cross-over collector appeal. 

So, a RPPC of the Main Street of my home town showing kids in costume trick or treating....is that a Topo (collectors of views of my home town want it) or a Non-Topo (collectors of Halloween related postcards want it, and don't much care about the town, they just care about the neat vintage costumes...).  You could put it in both categories, but that counts for two listing fees. So, basically, you just have to choose the one you think will draw more interest....

One reason you are seeing postcards in obviously incorrect categories (such as an illustrated postcard of Santa Claus in Topo) is because when ebay changed all this, ebay's computers decided which category to use, and, as ebay does every time they make these changes, many of those decisions were wrong, often laughably wrong. Of course, it's not ebay's job to correct them, it's the sellers job to clean up ebay's mess. That's just the way it works. 

[flapperal · Accepted solution]

Thank you SO much for taking the time to give me some good insight into this. It made my morning waking up and hearing from someone who has their head on straight. Over the years I have handled a lot of cards and your comments have helped a lot. Best,Pat

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Glad I could be of help!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I stand corrected, at least in part. I've been told topo and non-topo apparently are terms used by collectors in the UK, so ebay didn't just make them up. I've never really seen it used here in the US....

[jstars]

As if eBay should be requiring sellers on eBay USA to cater to eBay UK buyers....

[house*of*paws]

Hi @flapperal 

I think you marked the wrong post post as the ‘Solution’.  [Not to worry … it happens all the time.] 🙃

If you’d like to correct it … then do the following:

Click the drop-down menu in upper-right corner of the ‘Solution’    … then click on ‘Not the solution’.

Then choose the post you meant to choose in the first place.  🙂

[postcardcountry]

It probably wouldn't be so bad if eBay included US terminology as well as UK.

When the item specifics changed, all the drop downs were UK only. 

No reference to state - it's region.   No chrome, linen, undivided etc....

Manufacturers - only 3 from the US.

And...the Brits didn't acknowledge the existence of a country called Canada.

We US sellers are still working at getting eBay.com to show item specifics that affect "all", not just cater to ebay.UK buyer/sellers.

[4_seasons_hobbies_and_collectibles]

they even messed it up for Model trains too, My sales went flat after ebay changed categories there too. Why they feel they must mess things up is beyond me.  

[jewelrycollectibles22]

Thank you for clearing this up for me. I sold on ebay many years ago, went away, came back only recently, and lo and behold the entire landscape has changed. Totally confused the h*ll out of me this morning as I went to list my vintage postcards. Topographical? Non-topographical?  So very confusing. Thanks again for a common sense explanation. 

[oneoldbuffalo]

Do you know why they constantly make changes like this? Because ebay has employees that are hired to only come up with new things. If they do not they are not doing their job. If they do not do their job they are fired. So to keep their job they must come up with new crap all the time. (this is my opinion and it only makes sense)

[thebughunter]

Absolutely right. Like spending money in your budget because you have to.

Spend it any way you can, but spend it. Or lose it. Same as these bozo brains who need to keep their puppet jobs. Come up with some useless idea. Or get fired.

Ebay... It WAS fun at one time. 

[eepmig]

Post card sales suck now, thanks to ebay's brain-dead idea of having only 2 categories (topo and non-topo). I sold basically only Michigan cards, because it's where I live and know the market here. Searching for cards from individual states was brilliant, but that's no longer an option. As someone on this thread said, selling on ebay used to be lots of fun, and you could make a buck or two. Those days are long gone. It seems ebay changes things just to change things. And boy do they soak you on their "promote your item" program. Between all the gimmicks, final fees, PayPal charge fees, and other odds and ends they throw in, I figure it costs me about 20% to sell an item. Oh well, such is life!

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!