eBay

community_team · ‎10-12-2021

--Final Update, October 28--

The category changes announced in our Fall Seller Update have been completed.

Now that all category changes are complete, while you might still see some adjustments to searches, it is okay to update or edit your listings without concerns of losing data or having it moved again.

We appreciate your feedback on this roll-out. We'll continue to adjust the process based on the input we’ve received here, and we'll take all of these suggestions into consideration for future updates.

As this project is now complete the post is being locked from further comments.

Resources and observations

We’ve heard from you that updating your Item Specifics in time for the February 2022 requirement date may be a challenge.

A useful tool that may help is located in the Seller Hub under Listing>Active. There is a drop-down box labeled ‘Download’ which will generate an Excel document for ‘Missing Required or Recommended Item Specifics’. You can read more about this tool here.

Should you come across any inaccuracies within the new Item Specifics we ask that you report those directly to sdsupport@ebay.com so our team can investigate. Outside of that, please share suggestions as to changes you'd like to see going forward here, selecting the Categories and Item Specifics option.

---Update as of October 19th---

We apologize for this delayed update. Thank you for your patience while our teams worked to finalize category changes.

All listings have been moved to their final destination categories. You may now proceed with checking your categories, revising items, and updating item specifics where needed.

Some item specifics have been renamed, and the value you originally provided has been copied over to the new item specific, so you don’t need to re-add these item specifics. We encourage you to update your listings with item specifics that are showing as “Required Soon.” These will become required on February 22, 2022.

All other item specifics are either Recommended or Optional. Learn more about item specifics.

Some categories were retired and replaced by product-based categories. You and your buyers can still find the items you’re looking for. Simply browse to the product category of your choice and use the filters to refine your search.

More information about key category changes:

Dolls & Bears. The categories based on Brand/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type of doll have been retired. Former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the new Dolls & Doll Playsets category. You can access the filters by browsing to the product category of your choice and using Brand/Vintage/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type filters to refine your search.

Pottery & Glass. The categories based on Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique have also been replaced by filters. You and buyers can now filter by the Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique/Time Period Manufactured.
Postcards. The categories based on Location/Theme/Subject have been retired and replaced with two main categories for Topographical and Non-Topographical postcards. The former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the two new main categories. For example in Topographical Postcards, you can filter by Country and Region.

Jewelry & Watches. The categories based on Main Stone and Metal Type have been retired and replaced by product-based categories under Fine Jewelry. Use the filters for Main Stone and Metal to refine your search.

---Update as of October 14th---
The work continues on this move and is progressing according to plan. We are on track and anticipate all category changes for your listings to be complete by end of day tomorrow (10.15). Thank you for your patience while our teams implement these changes.

---Update as of October 13th---

We continue to work through this change and thank you for your patience as our teams work through it. We wanted to provide answers to some top concerns and questions:

Why are Gallery Plus fees being charged for items that were previously free?

We determined that a technical issue impacted a small number of listings, which resulted in incorrect charges (including Gallery Plus, subtitles, and insertion fees) for some sellers. The issue has been fixed and we will be crediting impacted sellers as quickly as possible. No calls to Customer Service are necessary as credits will be issued automatically.

The eBay Standard Envelope shipping option is grayed out and I can’t select it. When will the issue be resolved?

The eBay Standard Envelope shipping option issue resulted from the category changes update and has been resolved. eBay Standard Envelope is now available in applicable categories if your item meets the established criteria.

Should I edit my listings if they’re in the wrong category, have been moved to another category, or have wrong or missing item specifics?

No. Recent category changes require updates to many thousands of servers and data changes to nearly every aspect of our platform. This level of adjustment takes time, which is why we asked for your patience while the process runs. We expect most data updates to be completed within 48 hours, but can they take up to a week (i.e., through Oct. 19). After that, if you have an item specific in mind that you think would work well for your listing, please consider adding it as a custom item specific.

Why isn’t my item coming up in search?

The category change update is still in process. We anticipate search issues will resolve when we complete most data updates during the next 24-48 hours.

There are more item specifics now than ever before. Do I need to fill in all of them?

No. Item specifics that you have already filled in will be maintained as the category moves are completed during the next week. In addition, new soon-to-be-required item specifics are being added and will become required by Feb 22, 2022. As always, the more item specifics you fill out, the better visibility your listing has to buyers.

For Parts & Accessories, when will fitment/compatibility charts start working again?

There was an issue with parts compatibility not working properly as the category changes rolled out that has been resolved. You should now be able to see the options to add fitment compatibility when editing your listings.

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We’re updating some of our categories and item specifics to make your listings easier to find.

Starting October 12th, you’ll see updates to the following categories. Learn more about category changes →

Collectibles & Art

Jewelry

Musical Instruments

Parts & Accessories

Sporting Goods

As these updates go into effect, you may see temporary impacts to your listing experience or to the visibility of listings in the affected categories.

This is a result of listings transitioning to the updated item specifics and category structures. Your affected listings should return to normal within 48 hours, though you may see irregularities on some listings for up to a week. We recommend checking your item specifics and categories in affected listings after these updates are complete.

These updates also include new item specifics in the above categories, which will be required February 22, 2022. Starting today, these item specifics will be available as you list, with the “Required Soon” tag. Learn more →

Keep an eye on this page over the coming days—we’ll be sharing up-to-date information on affected categories and listings, and answering any questions you have.

vintagedollsandtoys · ‎10-15-2021

AGREE!! I'm a Buyer so the restructuring of categories has made it frustrating and time consuming to find what I'm looking for.

To the people who thought this format would be better for Buyers and Sellers you obviously do not use this site as a Buyer or Seller. It's like going through a horrible Maze!

IMO if Ebay doesn't listen to Buyers and Sellers then take action to restore the categories as they were, I believe there will be a mass exit from Ebay.

Personally, I don't have time go on an "archeological dig" to try to find the antique and vintage items I'm looking for. I will take my business to another site, like Ruby Lane, where the categories are straight forward and easy to find items.

tankpictures · ‎10-15-2021

The retiring of the specific military, scale modeling categories makes no sense. You're now mixing completely different genres together by placing armored vehicles, artillery, and ancillary vehicles in the automotive section. They're not found together in a brick n mortar store, nor are they judged against each other at model contests. You're category change is completely illogical.

When searching on eBay, some will use keywords. Others, especially impulse buyers, will go to the specific category to see what's ending soon. By consolidating so many categories into automotive, you make buying more difficult. You'll reduce the number of impulse buyers as they'll be spending more time trying to find the genre their interested in. This will of course result in few sales for your sellers.

The consolidation of categories was clearly done by people who have no idea how the scale modeling hobby works. Most modelers are very type specific in what they build. I've been building for 40+ years and have built only three cars during that time. The rest have been all military oriented items. Many modelers stick to one genre because that's what they're interested in and that's what they've invested in with regards to supplies and references.

eBay really needs to rethink these changes. While I do agree that change is good, change for the sake of change isn't. Changes should only be made if they're going to provide improvement in the product. As a seller, your changes in the scale model category are detrimental for me. I guess I'm better off selling in the Facebook or Instagram market places where it's easier for my customers to find what they're looking for.

yesterfun · ‎10-15-2021

Last night (10/14) I had to cal Ebay Support about another matter that came up with my orders, and the rep was nice and helpful with that particular problem . At the end of the call, I said, "I list mostly vintage Barbie and other other vintage doll items. All the vintage Barbie categories have been deleted. This is really affecting my selling." She replied that Ebay is working on it right now and things might seem in limbo now, but it will soon be "back to normal".

Me -- "So, the vintage Barbie subcategories will be coming back very soon? All the subcategories will be back??"

Rep -- "Yes they will."

Part of me thinks that she is mistaken, and giving out wrong information. Part of me is very hopeful she's right. Not only for me but for everyone else who lists vintage and antiques here. But if the subcategories are coming back, why doesn't Ebay let us know that?

nords_chris · ‎10-15-2021

Well, it's currently day 3 of this mess and things only seem to be getting worse. I have tons of active listings piling up under the "Item Specifics-Required Soon" and "Item Specifics-Recommended". If ebay seriously believes that I'm about to go back and edit hundreds, if not thousands, of listings - they're dead wrong. I'll pull every single item before I cave to that **bleep**. Also, it seems that every time I go to list something, it doesn't pop up under active, my active # actually decreases, and/or I can't promote said items. Totally screwed the pooch on this one. Unbelievable that they would try something like this during the busiest time of the year. It may be time to enact this "cancel culture" unto the bay.

tweetyboyd1971 · ‎10-15-2021

Although a little off from this topic, ebay does something else that is really rude to the seller. If a buyer is on ebay shopping for a Barbie doll, why does ebay show 4 ads at the bottom of the page that basically encourages buyers to go to a DIFFERENT site to do their buying:

"Low prices on Barbies at Kohl's"

"save 10% on your 1st Barbie purchase at QVC"

"Buy Barbie clothes on Wayfair"

These ads should not be on ebay. Does ebay not make enough on seller fees that they have to try to snatch business from the ebay seller and give it to a big box retailer instead?

replacementradios · ‎10-15-2021

@community_team

One thing I noticed about editing listings while this is all going on is: the return policy is sometimes being set to 'Seller Does Not Accept Returns' after the edit is complete. This despite the fact that return policy was set to '30 days' before the edit. How this is related to Item Specifics or categories, I do not know. So it seems to me there is a bug affecting some listings.

Take listing 273042710235, for instance. Someone purchased from that listing, so that set the quantity to zero. We still had another, so I went to edit the ad to change the QUANTITY ONLY. (Back to 1.) I had noticed a few other listings recently edited saying 'No Returns' now, so I started paying more attention. Before the quantity edit, returns were set to '30 days'. After the edits were saved they're set as 'Does Not Accept'. This does not happen for every listing, but there is a 'tell'. If, during the edits you do not see the Returns selections presented towards the end, it's going to delete your existing return selections if you save your edits. I confirmed this. Listing 272740142274 was set up for '30 day' returns but, unlike the previous example, it still had the Returns selections presented during the edit process, and then it retained the '30 day' returns after the edits were saved.

I know you recommend not making edits but I am only editing quantity from 0. It is not reasonable to expect sellers to stop selling items during this transition. An edit to quantity, price, description, etc is totally unrelated to Specifics or categories and there should be allowances for us to make changes to some or all of those unrelated elements (certainly critical ones like quantity and price) without breaking something else...

gloryglorygifts · ‎10-15-2021

How long after the changes have been made can we expect our listing visibility to get us back into business?

eternal_loot · ‎10-15-2021

Basically eBay is trying to change categories into Item Specifics. They are lumping all of the items into very large categories and trying to separate them by Item Specifics. If Item Specifics were straightforward and correct for each category, it might be okay, but there is a major problem I see and have seen in other categories already implemented.

If someone picks the wrong IS or mistakenly leaves in an IS for another item they are listed that is incorrect, it completely messes up the searches (i.e. "category"). This is going to be a major problem in the future, even for people listing that are watching out for careless mistakes. "Categories" are going to be full of items where people have the wrong Item Specifics.

auctionpet · ‎10-15-2021

@somanypostcards wrote:
@somanypostcards wrote:
eBay showed I needed to update item specifics on 1 item. I added an item location and clicked Update. I got the following error message:

"Sorry, something went wrong. Please wait a moment and try again.
Item specifics cannot be changed if an auction-style listing has a bid or ends within 12 hours, or a fixed price listing has a pending Best Offer."

I see 2 problems:
1. eBay should NOT tell me to update item specifics on an item that cannot be updated.
2. eBay should NOT tell me to "Please wait a moment and try again." This will only result in the SAME error message.

Hopefully this post will prevent some sellers from trying to update item specifics on listings that cannot be updated.
I am pleased to announce that eBay has fixed this. I no longer see "Add recommendations" in the Item Specifics column of my auctions with bids. It's nice to know that eBay technicians are reading this board and fixing some of the problems reported here in a timely manner. I thank them and respect their efforts.

Exactly how have they fixed this? Have they brought back all the categories and eliminated these dreadful endless Items Specs? If not, they really haven't fixed anything. Buyers won't know how to find anything and don't want to go to a website and basically have to take a class on how to find what they're looking for! I know I'm not about to scroll up and down on either a laptop or mobile device having to open drop downs and try to tick tiny boxes.

duffy4444 · ‎10-15-2021

@tankpictures wrote:
... eBay really needs to rethink these changes. While I do agree that change is good, change for the sake of change isn't. Changes should only be made if they're going to provide improvement in the product...

That's one of the best and succinct evaluations of this train wreck that I've seen.

Cheers, Duffy

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-15-2021

@auctionpet wrote:
@somanypostcards wrote:
@somanypostcards wrote:
eBay showed I needed to update item specifics on 1 item. I added an item location and clicked Update. I got the following error message:

"Sorry, something went wrong. Please wait a moment and try again.
Item specifics cannot be changed if an auction-style listing has a bid or ends within 12 hours, or a fixed price listing has a pending Best Offer."

I see 2 problems:
1. eBay should NOT tell me to update item specifics on an item that cannot be updated.
2. eBay should NOT tell me to "Please wait a moment and try again." This will only result in the SAME error message.

Hopefully this post will prevent some sellers from trying to update item specifics on listings that cannot be updated.
I am pleased to announce that eBay has fixed this. I no longer see "Add recommendations" in the Item Specifics column of my auctions with bids. It's nice to know that eBay technicians are reading this board and fixing some of the problems reported here in a timely manner. I thank them and respect their efforts.
Exactly how have they fixed this? Have they brought back all the categories and eliminated these dreadful endless Items Specs? If not, they really haven't fixed anything. Buyers won't know how to find anything and don't want to go to a website and basically have to take a class on how to find what they're looking for! I know I'm not about to scroll up and down on either a laptop or mobile device having to open drop downs and try to tick tiny boxes.

It may unintentionally force buyers to go back to searching on pc so they can see everything. And we all know how well that would go over especially for the cell phone/smart device centric society we currently live in!!! This may work well for me but not for everyone else.

This is what happens when AI kicks in to the tenth degree!!!

-Lotz

whatnots2like · ‎10-15-2021

They really, really need to add HEIGHT to the doll filters. I don't see a way to search for a certain height along with Material = Hard Plastic and Vintage = Yes. Not only that, but I used to get the full page of 192 or whatever results per page.

Also, as a retired programmer, I am appalled these changes were rolled out without complete testing done first. At least that's what it looks like. And I know it would be hard, but couldn't they have made the changes in smaller increments?

This is a disaster.

minnieclark · ‎10-15-2021

Gosh, these item specifics are SO helpful. When listing a cookie jar for sale in the new mega-category "Canisters and Jars", ebay offers me so many materials to choose from:

Material

Main or most used material of the product itself, does not include the product’s packaging

10.1K searches

100% Cashmere	100% Cotton	100% Linen
100% Polyester	100% Wool	Acetate
Acrylic	Alfa	Alginate
Alpaca

Yes, my canister or jar might be cashmere or wool. Good thinking ebay!

mightymouse · ‎10-15-2021

Biggest issue is you did not tell us in advance what changes you were going to do. I sell in pottery and glass and for some reason I have 1300 plus items now need new placement. I completed all the required item specifics back in August for this update. What I have seen so far is the Title information is no longer needed as you will not be doing search's from it. So all I need to do for a title now is say dinner plate or just plate, bowl or such and then just fill in item specifics for my items to show up. I do feel sorry for the big sellers with over 20,000 or more item needing this update.