eBay

community_team · ‎09-20-2022

Update 9/21: Earlier this summer, impacted sellers were contacted directly via email and onsite messaging with details about required actions.

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We’ve revised some categories and item specifics to help make your listings easier to find on eBay and by external search engines.

Starting today, you’ll see updates to the following categories:

Collectibles (Figurines)
Parts & Accessories (Motorcycle, Scooter, and UTV/ATV)
Home & Garden (Candles & Home Fragrance, Home Décor, Pillows, Furniture, Window Treatments & Hardware)

During this transition, your listing experience could be temporarily impacted, as well as the visibility of your listings. You may notice some item specifics changing names, listings moved to different categories, or some listings temporarily not appearing in searches.

Any affected listings should return to normal within a week, though some effects to listings’ visibility in searches may continue for up to three weeks.

Once these changes are complete, we recommend checking your listings in the above categories to see if any were affected. Learn more about category changes →

We understand these updates will take extra time and may cause some frustration, but our goal is to help you increase your listings’ visibility and sales.

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.

collectfest · ‎09-20-2022

@skeletonstore wrote:
Why did you not restore a Halloween category? It's the 2nd largest retail holiday after Creditcardmas. No one searches for "seasonal" or "holiday" to find it. The people who refer to it like that or as toys do not buy the stuff we are selling. Is the category being used right now to cater to trouble making manufacturers with their secret sales channels? No American talks like that. Also the "prop" category is too congested. People who are selling the same exact thing should be grouped together. A customer could spend days scrolling as it is now.

Agreed 100% but I hope folks lower their expectations. Just have to look what they did to postcard category. All the present concerns folks are expressing calmly now, well, let's see what folks' temperament is in a few weeks. Walking Sticks, Christmas, dolls, postcards, we all had our day. We vented and not were just surviving with it, trying to make the best of really, shall I say odd(trying to be positive) eBay choices.

debbie6438 · ‎09-20-2022

May God have mercy on us all!

Been here - done this!

Records! Records! Records!
Okay how may times do you want me to say

Records???????

IT”S A RECORD! Okay!

discount_oddities · ‎09-21-2022

I don't mind filling this stuff out but my only beef with it is some of the questions are either repetitive or just dumb. It also can feel like it goes on forever. Such as in movies, your asked what Music Artist and you have Taylor Swift, Queen etc. Why would this be in DVD & Movie category if it doesn't involve a music artist? I can understand if you were looking for the composer of the music score in the film but it's not asking that. Even in figurines, your asking for occasion and pattern (which can also be color and is already asked). I would just ask Ebay to really take a look at these and get rid of stuff such as the Music Artist in the DVD Movie Category.

tgrantmidwest · ‎09-21-2022

last week, and again yesterday. buyer in ireland, and the u.k. cannot buy my items.

they are getting the message i do not ship to their location. both items are in the

gsp.

when i looked at the items, the list of countries i ship to was only 3-4 countries.

again in the gsp.

thanks

moldy5 · ‎09-21-2022

yeah, blah blah blah. can anyone there give us an honest answer instead of the usual "I'll pass this along" garbage?

moldy5 · ‎09-21-2022

yes you can! not in any hurry to see what else they do to tick us off.

moldy5 · ‎09-21-2022

this is very depressing. does anyone have good news to report on eBay for sellers?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-21-2022

@discount_oddities wrote:
I don't mind filling this stuff out but my only beef with it is some of the questions are either repetitive or just dumb. It also can feel like it goes on forever. Such as in movies, your asked what Music Artist and you have Taylor Swift, Queen etc. Why would this be in DVD & Movie category if it doesn't involve a music artist? I can understand if you were looking for the composer of the music score in the film but it's not asking that. Even in figurines, your asking for occasion and pattern (which can also be color and is already asked). I would just ask Ebay to really take a look at these and get rid of stuff such as the Music Artist in the DVD Movie Category.

What you are describing was all caused by eBay's desire to combine categories without considering the consequences. Moving everything under just a few umbrellas is not going to make ANYTHING easier to find. It's just going to cause buyers to go elsewhere. Try clicking on a category and see how much totally unrelated fodder shows up that DOESN'T belong!! Scary sad!!!

-Lotz

dhbookds · ‎09-21-2022

I can see the reason for Music Artist in a Musical Movie..........or in one that only has a title song. In figurines, I list alot of home ceramics and some have "snowflakes" or "holly" as a pattern on the item, some are "quilted".......point being that not all the IS will apply to all, but may apply to some. Obviously, a seller would skip the IS that don't apply to that item.

I agree the redundancy in IS is aggravating, but I think it was done to "link" previously used IS to current IS, so we DON'T have to reenter them.

@discount_oddities wrote:
I don't mind filling this stuff out but my only beef with it is some of the questions are either repetitive or just dumb. It also can feel like it goes on forever. Such as in movies, your asked what Music Artist and you have Taylor Swift, Queen etc. Why would this be in DVD & Movie category if it doesn't involve a music artist? I can understand if you were looking for the composer of the music score in the film but it's not asking that. Even in figurines, your asking for occasion and pattern (which can also be color and is already asked). I would just ask Ebay to really take a look at these and get rid of stuff such as the Music Artist in the DVD Movie Category.

greatstuff80 · ‎09-21-2022

Just as the holiday selling season starts! I guess they learned nothing from last year.

ittybitnot · ‎09-21-2022

We understand these updates will take extra time and may cause some frustration, but our goal is to help you increase your listings’ visibility and sales.

@community_team

Do you have any data that shows an increase in visibility and sales as a result of these restructurings? Some of the changes have been "over" for quite some time, and it would be interesting to note the increase in conversion rate as a result. The "postcard" category was given as an example with only two types. How about Pottery & Glass? Restructuring has been over for a few months now with just Glass or Pottery as well.
Does the data show the favorable increases as indicated?

Unfortunately, all we have is anecdotal information from buyers who can't seem to find what they want, and sellers who see a marked decline in sales. Some general facts on the data would be most appreciated.

meme6253 · ‎09-21-2022

Everything is not fixed from the last time,I honestly am Tired of all this messing with listings, It will never be fixed, & doing more again right before Holiday season, This should be done during the slowest times, Not at busy times, Of course lately it is always a slow time for way to many of us!, Please fix what is broken & leave it alone after that,All of these so called Helps, are not Helping anything

antiquemotorcycle · ‎09-21-2022

PLEASE do not eliminate the ebay motors Motorcycle parts, antique, vintage, historic category. Many sellers in just one day have expressed concern over seeing that the antique, vintage, historic catergory has suddenly disappeared. Many sellers as well as buyers have no interest in seeing countless search results on things that have nothing to do with antique vintage historic motorcycle parts.. My listings in the above category as well as my saved searches have changed. This is NOT a good move on ebays part and no doubt could cause sellers to seek other sales venues than ebay... I thank you in advance for attention to this matter...

wrong66 · ‎09-21-2022

Last year I think they learned that they maybe screwed buyers and sellers more than they had intended with the destruction of categories. Last year we learned that this didn't bother eBay in the slightest.