Sports Trading Card Categories Changed - Item Specifics Missing

[paytonrules2003]

Ebay changed its categories for sports trading cards from sport oriented to product oriented today without any advance notice.  I noticed it when I went to sell a new item by referencing one of my existing items and doing a "sell similar" and got no category listing. Since the item specifics still existed I could fill all of them out and list my item but it defaulted to the catch-all category of trading card singles as there were no others. I called and complained and got an email 2 hours later explaining the new approach.

Then eBay found a way to completely destroy the sports card category. If you try to revise a listing to get it into the correct product group or try to enter a new listing ALL ITEM SPECIFICS DISAPPEAR! I am a generalist and only have 100 of my 11000 items in sports trading cards but imagine if you have thousands of items in this category and can no longer revise them or add new ones with correct item specifics! What a disaster. Why doesn't eBay check things out before they destroy something that works?

[abundant_collectibles_and_more]

Agreed, I have over 3,000 sports cards listed and this is an unmitigated disaster unfolding

[paytonrules2003]

I would suggest calling ebay customer support as I have done and tell them to have the technical department specifically try to add a new listing and when they find that the item specifics are missing to please add back the drop down boxes.

I'm used to ebay not taking sellers into consideration when making unnecessary changes but this is the first time in a while they have tried to completely annihilate a category without any advance notice.

Hopefully enough people will let them know and they can fix it without harming too many sellers. In the mean time I would counsel people NOT TO REVISE ANY LISTINGS so you don't lose your item specifics.

[mrhws]

Not only that, but if you try searching MMA under Sports Cards you get ZERO results, other than a few ads.

[perfectgamesportscards1]

It's 100% fouled up.   Conditions...gone.   Item specifics...gone.   Why do they have to change things that work?

[perfectgamesportscards1]

HOLY SHIIIII!!!!  the ebay standard envelope option is missing on my last small order!!!!!   this is nuts.  

[paytonrules2003]

And even if they get the item specifics problem fixed they may have the same migration problem they have encountered with other categories. I have the product type and sport already in my item specifics. Supposedly that would migrate the item to the correct product category but everything has defaulted to that trading card singles category only.  Why they don't test things out on a small home made sample of listings first before messing up millions of listings all at once is a mystery for the ages. It certainly is not a good business practice.

[paytonrules2003]

Also, if you wanted to sort sports cards by product type, why wouldn't you keep the sports type first and then use the product type as a sub-category. People want baseball cards or football cards etc. more than they want singles or sets differentiated.  Sports Cards - Sport - Product Type makes much more sense than Sports Cards - Product Type and has the added bonus of not messing up the existing category flow. It could have been accomplished by simply making product type required and migrating seamlessly instead of the stupidity on display today.

[fern*wood]

You should have an email from ebay describing their latest attempt to torture.  

[mrhws]

Filed complaint with Customer Service. Search feature also gives no results..... it's a never ending selection of choices that result in ZERO.  They sent a transcript of our on-line conversation and when I looked in my messages, they was one for Sports Cards "UPCOMING CHANGES" I told them whoever did the updat needs to be fired.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for reaching out to us about the recent changes in the Sports Trading Cards.

We're sorry to hear that you have had a frustrating experience today as a result of the category changes.

Sport-based categories for cards and etopps cards have been deprecated and replaced by product-type based categories. The categories will be replaced with item specifics and left-hand navigation refinements for Sport. Categories were added for Single Cards, Sealed Cards, Lots & Sets, Breaks, Uncut Sheets & Grading Tools among others.

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

[paytonrules2003]

None of which is useful since you have changed all of the item specifics and have not migrated anything from the old item specifics to the new ones. I just finished revising a single listing. You retained nothing from the old already inputted information and I ended up having to input everything from scratch. You also have everything mis-categorized as you did not even look to see the product type from the old listing. All of this aggravation to accomplish what exactly? Another case of eBay taking something that wasn't broken and making all sellers' lives more difficult without even test driving it first.

[timetoretire24]

SAME HERE! I went to ship several sub-$20 items using EBay Standard Envelope, which I use about 10 TIMES PER DAY! The first label printed fine. On each of the next four, the option is not given, and it states "items in this category are not eligible ..." It's a ONE OUNCE FOOTBALL CARD THAT SOLD FOR $8!!! That is exactly what this shipping service was designed for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure it has something to do with e-Bay's ridiculous changes to sports card listings, which were announced today AND implemented today. Not only do I have 9,000+ cards that need to be updated, but I have no way of shipping the cheaper cards that I sell (unless I want to ship a $5 card using 1st Class Mail, at a cost of $3.50 (way less than my shipping charge). Thanks again, eBay!

[timetoretire24]

I have 9,000 CARDS that now have to be individually updated! There goes my summer ...

[ky_hockey]

The issue is, sales occurring while this is "settling down" don't appear to be eligible to ship with eBay Standard Envelope. 

Despite my listing having it, the buyer paying for it, it's greyed out when i try and print labels. It doesn't seem to think this listing was a Trading Card.

Help!